Page 54 of Into the Fire

“In the will, I assumed. Money. Something. Max was always…” She reached over to adjust a willow branch rising from a massive vase. It scratched against the crystal. “He was always the family disappointment.”

Brust frowned. “Have you noticed any unusual people hanging around who might be dangerous? Was anyone with Max when you saw him?”

“We’ve covered all this already,” Jill said. “And besides, why all the interest now? Why not when Grant was scared for his life?”

“I’m sorry your husband wasn’t protected from this, Mrs. Merriweather,” Nuñez said. “He was a courageous man who was working on some high-stakes cases, cases other people might not have had the balls—if you’ll excuse my language—to take on. We’re worried he struck a hornet’s nest. And we’re doing our best to make sure no one else gets hurt.”

“Like who?” She snorted. “Like Max?”

“Yes.”

“You think the people who killed Grant would want to kill Max?” Jill said. “Why? Grant was important. Prominent people make enemies. No. No. The only overlap between Max and Grant would be if Max implicated my husband in some dirty business. In which case—”

She caught herself. Resumed adjusting the willow branch.

“You’re saying you think we need to look at Max Merriweather as a suspect in this investigation?” Brust finally asked.

Jill’s face contorted with grief briefly before it hardened back into an angry mask. She glowered at the detectives.

“I’m not going to tell you how to do your job,” she said.

23

The Snack Docent

By the time the elevator opened on the twenty-first floor, Evan was dead on his feet. More precisely—he was dead on one sock and one boot.

He trudged down the hall, squinting against the painful light of the wall sconces, eager for the silent embrace of his penthouse.

He looked up to see Mia, Peter, and Lorilee standing at his front door, waiting expectantly. Peter jabbed the doorbell, and Mia hooked him back against her legs and said, “That’s enough.”

Evan walked up behind them. Cleared his throat.

They swung to face him. “Oh, thank God,” Lorilee said. “Just in time.”

“In time for…?” And then, with horror, he remembered.

The fucking HOA meeting.

“We started fifteen minutes ago,” Lorilee said. “Hugh was worried you forgot.”

“No.” Evan scratched his forehead, hiding the dilated pupil. “I got hung up with a work thing. I just have to run inside to grab the…” He cringed slightly. “Nibbles.”

Mia stared at him. It seemed she couldn’t believe the word had come out of his mouth any more than he could.

He smelled of dog and sweat and vomit, so he bladed through them as swiftly as he could and fumbled the key into the lock. The internal security bars gave a clink as the lugs withdrew from the steel frame.

Peter said, “You’re missing your boot again.”

Evan looked down. “I guess that’s right.”

“This time it’s the other boot, though.”

“You’ve never lost a sock in the laundry?”

“Huh?”

“I’m kidding. It’s a new workout. Calf conditioning.” Evan was inside now, peering out, closing the door as he spoke. “I just need a … Be down in a…”