Grover kissed her on the head and escorted her to a chair in the formal living room. He motioned for Nate and Lucy to take a seat.
It was generally not wise to tell family who a suspect was if that suspect was not in custody, but this time she made an exception.
“We have evidence that points to Faith Parker Monroe,” Lucy said. “SAPD hasn’t made an arrest, but she will be questioned shortly. However, we are also looking for your son Simon.”
“Simon? He wouldn’t—couldn’t—kill anyone, especially Victoria. His own sister.”
“He’s not a suspect in her murder, but we believe that he has information about the Albright family.”
Grover looked stunned, then tears fell from Judith’s eyes.
“Where might Simon go if he wanted to get away for a while? Is there a property we might not know about? We checked every property that he owns.”
Judith nodded. “We have a cabin in Horseshoe Bay. He would often go there to get away, usually alone. To think.”
“I’ll get the address,” Grover said heavily. He rose slowly, then turned back to Lucy and Nate. “Are you certain? Did he … he didn’t kill those children, did he?”
“I don’t know,” Lucy said. “But based on what we’ve learned, he knew at least after the fact.”
And she knew then exactly how to get Simon Mills to talk.
Chapter Thirty-seven
It took an hour for Nate and Lucy to drive to Horseshoe Bay. It was in Llano County, and they contacted the sheriff’s office for backup.
A lone light was on in the large A-frame-style cabin, and Simon’s vehicle was in the drive. Lucy and Nate walked to the front door and knocked, then stepped back with their hands on their guns. They didn’t know how he would react.
“Simon Mills, FBI.”
“It’s open!” he called out.
Nate motioned for Lucy to stand aside. Nate drew his gun and pushed the door in from the side. He quickly breeched the room, searching for a threat.
There was none. Simon Mills sat in a recliner chair with a nearly empty bottle of Scotch.
They showed their badges and identified themselves.
“Simon Mills,” Nate said, “you’re under arrest for illegal gaming, obstruction of justice, felony embezzlement, and if we’re lucky we’ll be tacking on a first-degree murder charge.” He read him his rights.
“I didn’t kill anyone,” he said.
Lucy kept her gun on Simon while Nate frisked him. He then handcuffed him and sat him back down on the couch.
“My parents told you I was here.”
They should take him to the station to interrogate him, but that would be a long process and the DA would probably insist he be sober. Right now they could get answers that would help them nail Faith Monroe, because a person with that much wealth could get out of the country. They would have an exit strategy, and Lucy didn’t want to give her or her husband time to implement it.
She sat on the table across from him. “What happened, Simon?”
“Everything got fucked. As soon as Harrison came back to town, everything was fucked.”
“What happened with Denise Albright?”
“I told Victoria not to let her look at the records, but Victoria does what Victoria does. At first, Denise went along with it, but she wasn’t happy. But when she found out that we were working on a plan to squash the Kiefer project, she balked. Said no way. Harrison said he would destroy her. She had … well, she had done things for us. Helped us hide some money, move things around. She would have been in serious trouble, lost her license, gone to prison. Victoria convinced her to leave town, used their friendship—saying that if Denise went to the authorities they would all go to jail. She’d never see her kids again. Victoria loved Denise, but she loved the game more. I planned to take her across the border—and if she had just gone when I told her to none of this would have happened! But she talked to her husband, and he was talking her out of it. He was going to go to the police. Denise told him he couldn’t, that Harrison was dangerous, so they agreed to leave together. I took the money for Denise. To help her make a new life in Mexico. And … also, she wouldn’t be able to come back if she was wanted for embezzlement.”
He looked longingly at the near-empty Scotch bottle.
“And then?” Lucy asked.
When he didn’t say anything, Nate pounded his fist on the wall. “What happened then? Did you shoot them?”
“It went to hell. Carl Chavez and his asshole cousin shot them all. Just shot them in cold blood and I stood there and didn’t do anything. I didn’t know that’s what they were going to do. They didn’t have to kill them! I told Harrison that they were leaving town, and he was good with that. Harrison … he said he didn’t know that Carl was going to kill them.”
“Excuse me? You can’t be saying that Carl Chavez spontaneously decided to kill an entire family!”
Nate was on edge. He’d spent hours with Ricky Albright and knew what that poor kid had suffered.
“I told Harrison. I was a mess that weekend—hell, I’ve been a mess for the last three years. Harrison said he told Chavez to make sure the Albrights crossed the border, that was it. He wasn’t happy, but hell, I don’t know anything anymore.”
Lucy frowned. This was not the clear statement that she wanted. Maybe she should have waited until Simon was sober.
“How involved was Faith Monroe in this scheme?” Lucy asked.
“Involved? Hell, she ran everything. Harrison does nothing without Faith’s permission—except for his not-so-secret affair with my sister—but Faith does whatever she damn well pleases. You know, I told Victoria she and Harrison should disappear together. That Faith was going to find out what was going on and destroy them both. Victoria thought I was being melodramatic.” He laughed, then he couldn’t stop laughing, until he started to cry.
Lucy asked, “Simon, focus. Were you one of the men who went 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.