Cut and Run (Lucy Kincaid #16) - Allison Brennan Page 0,139

to the Albright house the night they were murdered, searched her office, and shredded papers?”

He stared at her. “How do you know that?”

“Were you there?”

He nodded. “I was in shock. I didn’t have a choice. They would have killed me, too.”

“They killed two innocent children.”

He closed his eyes. “Ricky,” he whispered. “He was there, wasn’t he?”

Lucy didn’t answer.

“He heard me. He recognized my voice. I used to go over to the house to meet with Denise … oh, God.” The tears didn’t stop now as Simon Mills broke down.

Nate was so tense next to her, she feared he’d beat up Simon. “We’re taking you into federal custody,” Nate said. “It would be in your best interests to cooperate fully with our investigation, but I will tell you this: You will do a lot of time. I hope you never see freedom again.”

Simon looked at him, his eyes glassy from emotion, booze, or both.

“I deserve it.”

* * *

It was after one in the morning before Lucy got home. Sean had waited up for her, Bandit at his feet.

She sank onto the couch next to Sean, kicked off her shoes, and put her head on his shoulder. She told him everything.

“I don’t think that Faith and Harrison are going to roll as easy as Simon. From what Simon said before he passed out, Mitch was involved in the financial scam but knew nothing about the murders until the bones were identified. He went to Stan and told him, and Stan changed his plea. He figured out that Harrison Monroe must have been involved because of the financial end of the Albright case, but my guess is that neither of them knew that Faith killed Victoria. They probably wouldn’t be surprised.”

“I really thought Mitch would turn himself in.”

“We don’t really know what he knew or when he knew it. But if he wasn’t party to the murders and he comes clean, he might do minimal time.”

“I’ll track him down tomorrow.” Sean kissed her. “Reed called me a couple of hours ago. They confirmed that Carl Chavez was one of the two people in the van that was used at the courthouse. The van itself was destroyed out in the desert, they couldn’t find any evidence inside, but remnants of the paint job and floral design match the van that was used. The passenger was likely his cousin, though they don’t have a clear image of him, only a partial.”

“One more loose end tied up.”

“Reed said you’re a smart fed,” Sean added. “I think she likes you.”

“I tried to be open with her from the beginning. She still doesn’t like Max. How is Max? Did you talk to Ryan tonight?”

“He’s really mad that I wasn’t sitting on top of her like David would have done, and I’m feeling a bit guilty about that as well. You were followed, we had been followed, I guess in the back of my head I figured they just wanted to know what we were doing. I didn’t think they’d actually go after Max. But I should have. That’s on me.”

“No, it’s not. Max didn’t ask for your protection, and she knows what she needs. Don’t blame yourself.”

“I did go over and see her, bring her flowers. She’s not a very nice invalid. Grouchy and quite bitchy.”

“She hates not being in the middle of things.”

“Even though Ryan isn’t happy with me or Max, he’s very impressed with our work. He’s been on the phone with the SSA of White Collar with his analysis of the money-laundering scheme. He was having fun. I think he’s enjoying the fact that Max can’t walk and he gets to wake her up every two hours.”

“We’re going to interview the Monroes tomorrow. We have a strategy, but neither Jennifer nor I is positive that it’ll work.”

“There’s no one better than you, princess, and I was pretty impressed with Detective Reed letting me go into the bar undercover. That was fun.”

“Did you bring Jesse home?”

“Yeah, I grabbed him after I looked in on Max. They were watching one of the new Star Wars movies. Jess likes it over there, but I think he was ready to come home. And Bandit was really happy to see him.” Sean reached down and scratched the dog’s head, earning himself a lick.

“How’s Ricky doing?”

“He was watching the movie, quiet. Not part of the group, but not wanting to be alone, I think. Mateo’s keeping an eye on him, but they had a good talk this afternoon. I guess the