note. The tone was similar to how Elise talked. Mona had no doubt that it was from her.”
“What about you?”
“Relevance,” Felicity said. “We’ve established that my client, a licensed private investigator and computer security specialist, was called in as an expert to offer advice to Ms. Hill on how to proceed after she received a threatening note.”
Banner asked Sean, “What did you tell Ms. Hill to do?”
It was clear in how he asked that he didn’t care what the answer was, because anything Sean said was irrelevant to the murder.
Sean glanced at Felicity, who nodded, and Sean said, “I told her to go to the police.”
“Did she?”
“I don’t know. She wasn’t inclined to because she didn’t trust the police—except for one officer who used her services.”
“You’re not going to rile me, Mr. Rogan.”
“I’ll telling you what she told me.”
“Name.”
“She didn’t tell me.”
“That’s also convenient,” Banner said.
Sean didn’t smile, even though he enjoyed getting under Banner’s skin. He was in no humor, and he just wanted to go home and protect his family.
Because he’d had all day to think about what had happened on Monday, and he now fully believed that Elise Hunt was somehow behind this, which meant Lucy was in danger.
“Did she call that alleged officer?”
“Not in my presence.”
“Did you give her any other advice?”
“She informed me that she had a firearm on the property, and that she would contact a bodyguard she’d hired in the past. I suggested she contact him before I left and have him with her twenty-four seven until I could verify the threat.”
“How were you planning on verifying the threat?”
He didn’t answer.
“Relevance?” Felicity asked.
“Mr. Rogan, you have a nice, neat little story, but Ms. Hill was killed before her bodyguard arrived. Very tight window from when you left to when her bodyguard arrived. If she was so worried about this alleged threat, why didn’t you stay with her until he arrived?”
Sean didn’t answer. He didn’t look at Felicity because he knew she’d want him to answer the question, but he didn’t.
Mona had pissed him off and he’d walked out. But no fucking way was he telling the cops what she’d said, and he wasn’t going to lie.
The cop stared at him for a long time. But Sean was even better at the waiting game. He wasn’t going to be bullied by an arrogant cop who thought he had all the answers. He also knew that the best way for a cop to get a suspect to talk was to remain silent. Far too many people had to fill the silence with bullshit.
Sean wasn’t one of them.
A full minute later, Felicity said, “If that’s it? You have nothing, John. And you know it.”
Mendez spoke. “How do you know Mona Hill?”
Sean didn’t answer.
Banner said, “It’s a valid question. She’s in Houston, you’re in San Antonio.”
Sean didn’t answer.
“We know that Ms. Hill lived in San Antonio for ten years before she moved to Houston, leaving town about six months after you moved there. In the six months that you and Ms. Hill both lived in San Antonio, did your paths ever cross?”
He didn’t answer.
“Why did she call you, Mr. Rogan? Out of all the people in Texas, why you?”
“I told you. She believed the threat came from Elise Hunt, who I also know.”
“But why you?”
He didn’t answer.
“What did you plan to do? When Ms. Hill gave you this information, what was your next step?”
He glanced at Felicity, but not because he wasn’t going to answer. But because he wasn’t sure he should answer. Except … if they got his phone records and talked to Nico, they could easily find out. She nodded, but he still considered how to frame his response.
He finally said, “After I left Mona, on my way back to the airport, I called a private investigator I know in Los Angeles and asked him to locate Elise Hunt and confirm that she was still in L.A.”
“Still? So you were tracking her even before Ms. Hill asked you to?” Banner made it sound like a crime.
“My wife was notified when Elise was released from juvenile detention three weeks ago. She was told that Elise was being flown to Los Angeles, where she had inherited property from her family—the only property that wasn’t confiscated under asset forfeiture laws.” That was a fact that Sean didn’t have to mention, but it was relevant to the situation and would lend credence to Mona’s fear of the teenager.
It was clear that Banner had no idea who Elise was or