Cut and Run (Lucy Kincaid #16) - Allison Brennan Page 0,126
stay, but for now I have no new direction to pursue. I will probably leave on Sunday.”
You do, but you don’t want to hurt them. What happened to the truth at any cost? If Simon is guilty—of murder or conspiracy—shouldn’t you stay until you can prove it?
“Tell me this,” Grover asked. “Can you say with one hundred percent certainty that Stan didn’t kill my baby girl?”
What did she say to that? “No, I can’t say that. I don’t think he killed her, but I think he knew who did and chose to remain silent. One hundred percent certain? No. I lean against him being guilty, and he was killed to keep his mouth shut.”
“This sounds like a criminal conspiracy,” Grover said. “What was Victoria doing?”
It was an odd thing to say.
“What do you mean?” Max asked.
“He means,” Judith said, “that Victoria may have been doing something … well, shall we say, something illegal.” Judith and Grover looked at each other, silently communicating.
Grover said, “Mitch came to me three years ago concerned about a major accounting discrepancy in the MCG books. When he talked to Victoria, she told him she’d ask Denise to fix it before it became a problem.”
“Did she?” Max asked.
“I assume so, because Mitch never talked to me about it again. I offered to review the books, but he said no, Victoria was fixing it. He was afraid of an audit, and no one wants to go through one of those, but nothing came of his concerns, so I didn’t really think about it until after you left the other day, when I remembered that Denise did a lot of work for Victoria and MCG and Simon.”
“Simon?” Max asked.
“When he was buying and selling houses. It’s a tricky tax issue, capital gains and things like that. I understand some but always trusted my own accountant to do the work. When you’re self-employed, even when you start an LLC, it’s best to have someone who knows what they’re doing handle the finances.”
“But this was three years ago,” Max said. “Why would you think Victoria was involved in anything illegal? And what sort of activity?”
“We don’t know,” Grover said.
Judith added, “Victoria put some property in my name and I found out about it after the fact. I was furious—I felt used and manipulated. She told me it was a mistake, but I didn’t believe her. I can’t imagine why she needed to use my name. It’s what we were arguing about before—before she died.” She looked down at her empty bowl. “I wish I could take back everything I said. I loved my daughter, even when I didn’t understand her.”
Grover reached over and took her hand. “She knew that, Judith.”
Max had an idea … but it would take time and research.
But she knew exactly where to start.
She thanked Grover and Judith for their time, then headed straight for the Kerr County Recorder’s Office.
Chapter Thirty-three
FRIDAY AFTERNOON
Nate and JJ Young had left Mexico with Ricky before dawn and arrived at St. Catherine’s just after one in the afternoon. Lucy met them there.
She’d already talked to Father Mateo, who ran the boys home attached to the church, and he understood the situation. He had experience working with boys who had witnessed violence.
JJ Young planned to stay with Ricky for the afternoon, to make sure that he settled in. Nate pulled Lucy aside. “Ricky talked. He didn’t want to, but he talked about everything until about halfway through the trip, then slept for the last four hours. That kid is tough, but what he heard when he was nine scarred him. He’s not going to just assimilate back into a normal family. He’s still processing that we know that his family was killed and that he can trust us.”
“So much has happened in the last two days, Nate, and we have work to do. Do you think he’s going to stay put?”
“If there’s a chance that he’s going to bolt, JJ will stay here with him. If JJ thinks that he’s settled okay, he’s going to bring Joe and Ginny to visit tomorrow. Maybe seeing his friends will help him adjust to being back home.”
“Abigail isn’t happy and we might get in trouble for this. She’s calling CPS tomorrow but will try to keep him here or find him an FBI-controlled safe house. Because he’s a minor it’s a whole different set of rules. She also wants him to make a formal statement to a judge and then decide what’s in his best interests.”