“What it looks like?”
My voice rose.
“Michael.”
Mercer warned me gently.
I stood.
“They spent three months trying to take my sister after they were at my house minutes before my parents died!”
Vicky stirred in the bedroom.
I lowered my voice.
Ruiz didn’t react.
“That’s why we’re investigating.”
I forced myself back into the chair.
“What was Howard carrying?”
“We’re working on that too.”
“Did Denise admit being there?”
Ruiz’s eyes sharpened.
“You spoke with her today.”
It wasn’t a question.
I looked at Mercer.
He nodded.
So I told them.
The ledger.
The photograph.
Howard “trying to get out.”
When I finished, Ruiz wrote one word in her notebook.
LEDGER.
“What do you think it is?” I asked.
“Something someone wanted badly enough to lie about.”
The next morning, everything got worse.
I was making pancakes for Vicky when my phone began vibrating.
One call.
Then another.
