Max walked back to the car, heart beating, remembering all the reasons she loved working in the field as an investigative reporter. The years she’d spent finding the truth. Justice was the system; she was about answers. She wasn’t a cop or judge or lawyer—she left the system up to them. But she firmly believed that when the truth came out—the entire truth—the system worked best.
She slipped into the driver’s seat and finally looked at the note she presumed the stranger had slid into Marie’s house. It was a folded photograph. The picture was of a pretty yellow and white country house with a wide porch and surrounded by trees. A white car—a small Ford Explorer it looked like, but she wasn’t positive—was parked in front on the gravel driveway. No people in the photo.
This had to mean something. What? Why would the stranger leave a photo like this at Marie’s house?
It was time to call Sean Rogan.
Chapter Nine
TUESDAY, EARLY MORNING
Max found Sean waiting for her in the lobby of her hotel as soon as she walked off the elevator.
“Prompt, I like that,” she said with a smile. “Breakfast?”
“I ate.”
“I haven’t. Join me.”
“I could use some fresh-squeezed orange juice.”
“I didn’t take you for a health addict.”
He laughed. “I’m not, I just don’t like coffee.”
“I need my morning coffee.”
“You and Lucy.”
They sat down and ordered, then Sean said, “You’re going to have to be careful—technically, you broke the law by extracting this photo from the mail slot, even if it’s not in use by the post office.”
He had the picture in a plastic evidence bag. She’d dropped it off at his house last night.
“I would argue that whoever slipped that photo in the slot committed the crime because there’s no stamp on it. And the post office didn’t deliver it.”
“Good luck.”
“I don’t need luck. I have good lawyers.”
Sean grinned. “I have some answers for you.”
“Fast. You could have led with that.”
“The paper is generic photo-printer paper available at any number of stores, the ink a decent color printer, but not commercial. Nothing embedded in the image, no markings on the back. I haven’t tracked the house down yet, but I have some guesses. The Explorer is registered to Marie Richards.”
“I didn’t see a license plate.”
“I knew that Marie owned a white Ford Explorer, and when I scanned the photo and enlarged it I got a partial. It matches.”
“It’s a threat.”
Sean didn’t say anything because he couldn’t disagree with her.
“Someone is keeping tabs on her—and they want her to know it.”
“Do you believe Stanley Grant?” Sean asked. “That his sister is in danger?”
“His lawyer was convincing—not that his lawyer believed it, only that his lawyer believed Grant was worried. He’ll talk to me as long as he knows his sister is safe. This photo tells me that she may not be.”
“Where’s David? This is right up his alley.”
“In California visiting his daughter. And I have you, so he can stay put.” She looked at Sean, eyebrows raised in question. “I do have you, correct?”
“Yes, but we’re going to have to be careful walking this line.”
“What line? Are you still hung up on the mail slot?”
“No. But, Max—I think you forget that I’m married to a federal agent. I’m really good at walking the line, but I can’t go over it.”
She stared at him. She had worked with Sean enough to know that his line and the legal line didn’t always match up.
He tried to hide his smile, then cleared his throat. “I’m serious, we have to be careful here.”
“I am,” she said. “Did you call your SAPD contact?”
“Not for this—I can’t abuse that relationship, so I’m saving my requests for something I can’t learn on my own. Instead, I contacted the school where Marie works. She called in sick yesterday but is expected in this morning.”
“And they just told you that?”
“Do you doubt me?”
She almost laughed. She appreciated how resourceful Sean was.
Sean continued, “I’m going to drive by her house first. If she and her brother are close, she might plan on going to the courthouse. Otherwise, I’ll catch up with her at school.”
“I should go with you.”
“Let me talk to her first.”
Max had a control issue. She knew it. It had taken her more than a year to feel comfortable letting David handle interviews and other matters for her. She had gotten better, but she’d only worked with Sean on a few cases and letting go was difficult.
“Okay,” she said cautiously, “but I need to talk to her after I talk to her brother.”
“I expected no less.”
“Is that sarcasm?”
“No.”
She shook her head. Her fruit and toast came. “Would you be willing to keep an eye on her this morning? At least until I find out what’s going on? That way I can tell Grant that she’s safe.”
“If she’s okay with it. I’m pretty good at talking people into things, so I don’t think it’ll be a problem.” He drained half his orange juice. “One more thing I learned last night when you woke me up.”
If he was trying to make her feel guilty, she didn’t. She paid him very well to be on call.
He handed her a folded piece of paper. She opened it. It was a printout from a hotel in Austin, about an hour north of San Antonio. A room registered to Marie Richards for two nights. She must be missing something, because she didn’t see the importance. She glanced at the dates. September. Marie had checked into the hotel the night before Grant went to the police and confessed to Victoria Mills’s murder.
“What am I missing?” Max asked. “Just because Marie left town when he confessed? Maybe he gave her a heads-up and she didn’t want the headache of the press.”
“When I initially ran backgrounds, nothing about Marie seemed off. But last night after I saw this photo, I ran her in another database and that registration popped.”
“Still doesn’t tell me why this is important,” she said.
“Maybe there’s nothing important here, but it shows a pattern. Before Grant confessed, she disappeared for a couple days. Then she returned to San Antonio but kept a low profile. Work and home and the occasional visit to her brother. But this Sunday she visited her brother and then left town.”
“So he told her he was going to change his plea and she left town again to avoid the media spotlight. A lot of people would do the same thing.”
“But she didn’t go to a hotel. My guess? She went to the house in the picture.”
Then it clicked. “And someone followed her.”
“Her brother warned her about what he was doing—maybe suggested she go on vacation. She listened but doesn’t have the skill to elude a tail. Or she went to a location that could be easily discovered, such as a relative or close friend.”