Cut and Run (Lucy Kincaid #16) - Allison Brennan Page 0,66

suspicious, and Rogan was tracking him. Stan may or may not be guilty, but he could still be responsible for her death even if he wasn’t the one to stab her. Or he knew who was responsible.

“So you’re staying?” He seemed both surprised and relieved.

“For at least a few days. I’ll let you know if I learn anything that will give you and Judith some closure.”

“Thank you, Maxine. I can’t tell you what this means to me.”

She and Grover talked a bit about family. Jordan, the youngest, in his early thirties, was a doctor in Austin. He’d married another doctor, and they were expecting their first child. “The one bright spot in our lives. It’s a girl, she’s due in March.” Grover talked about Simon, who had taken over much of Victoria’s end of MCG. “He doesn’t have a license, but he can do some of the work. Poor Mitch—he’s been beside himself.”

“I saw Mitch today,” Max said.

“How is he holding up?”

“He didn’t seem to hold a grudge against Stan, not like Simon.”

“I think Mitch doesn’t want to believe Stan is guilty. And Simon was more than ready to believe it. I don’t know why—only that Mitch felt torn between his loyalties to our family, and to Victoria, and his twenty-five-year friendship with Stan.”

“They were in college together, right?”

“Mitch, Simon, and Stan. Stan struggled because he was on scholarship and worked nearly full-time. I offered to cover him; he wouldn’t think of it. He worked for me for a year, saved up money, and went back. After a semester, he got his scholarship back and didn’t let his grades slip again. That’s how he became friends with Victoria, they graduated together. It just seems so unreal.”

“Do you know Harrison Monroe?”

“Monroe? Yes, of course. I haven’t heard that name in a long time. He was Victoria’s boyfriend all through college. Judith was positive they would get married after graduation, but he took a job in Chicago and Victoria didn’t want to leave Texas. Family, roots, home—all important to us.”

Why did Stan and Mitch both imply that they didn’t know who Monroe was?

“Is he still in Chicago?”

“No, Victoria told me he moved back to Texas a little over three years ago.”

Victoria and Mitch legally separated around the time Monroe returned to town, but Max didn’t say that to Grover.

“Why are you asking about Harrison?” Grover asked.

“Stan mentioned his name.”

“Stan never liked him. I thought Stan had a crush on Victoria and was jealous, until I learned that he was gay. He’s not completely out of the closet, some people are still prejudiced against gay men, but all his friends know. Victoria, Mitch, our family.”

“Is he involved with anyone?”

“Not to my knowledge, but I cut off ties with him after he confessed to killing m-my daughter.”

His composure started to slip a bit, and Max didn’t want to upset him.

“When I talked to Stan this morning,” Max said, “he said he thought Victoria was being prickly about the business. Did anything about Victoria change in the few months before her death? Meaning, did she act different? Short-tempered maybe?”

“To be honest, I didn’t notice anything different about Victoria, but Judith did. That’s what they argued about. She felt that Victoria was being rude and secretive and that was no way to run a business. I keep out of my children’s financial affairs unless specifically asked for advice. Judith likes to make her opinion known. And my wife is brilliant in real estate. She helped make our family successful by finding the right properties at the right time.”

Max wanted to talk to Judith, but she wouldn’t disturb the grieving woman tonight. “When Judith is feeling up to it, in the next day or two, I’d like to talk to her. Maybe she has specific insight about what secrets Victoria may have been keeping from Mitch and Stan.”

“I’ll talk to her. I’m sure she’ll want to talk to you.”

“The sooner the better, to be honest. I have some threads to follow, but Judith may be able to help me narrow my focus. And my associate Sean Rogan is following up on a few things as well. We hope to have some answers for you.”

“We met him. Bright young man. We were very comfortable with him.”

She wanted to solve Victoria’s murder, or fully believe that Stan was guilty, before she left. Even if she couldn’t prove it.

Grover continued, “I can’t tell you how much this means to me that you’ve taken so much time from your career and