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“Excuse me?” Mitch said, his gaze cold, piercing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Deckard pulled the envelope from his jacket and dropped the pictures of Markowitz taking the bloody shirt from William Richards. “Looks like your two buddies had a vested interest in getting you out of prison.”
Mitch’s jaw tightened as he walked toward the pictures. “What are these?”
“See for yourself,” Deckard said.
Mitch picked the one of Markowitz holding the bloody shirt in the evidence bag.
“He got you out of prison, right?” Deckard prodded.
“No.” Mitch’s voice grew as cold as his stare. “Igot me out of prison. I had what they all needed, and I certainly wasn’t going to give it up unless they got me out.”
“What’d you have that was so valuable they’d go through all they did?” Deckard asked.
“The land rights. They’d have been out millions without me,” Mitch said, picking up the picture of him with Richards and Markowitz.
“And Anne...” Deckard said, his chest squeezing. “She discovered something, and you killed her for it.”
A wicked grin spread on his lips. “So you finally figured it out.” Mitch chuckled. “Took you long enough. And the great thing is”—Mitch dropped the picture back on the table—“thanks to you and a little thing called double jeopardy, you can’t do a thing about it.”
“So what was it? She figured out you and Markowitz were duping investors in the real estate development projects, cheating families who bought homes you were never going to build?”
“Stupid...” Mitch rambled on with a string of curse words describing the woman he’d killed in cold blood. “She was listening when she shouldn’t have been, looking for things she shouldn’t have.”
“So you and the councilman are running a Ponzi scheme, and Anne discovered it. Maybe even found evidence against you.”
“I admit no such thing. I barely know the councilman.”
“Really? Sure sounded like you knew him well. And there’s this...” Deckard pulled out the last picture Randy had given them. The one of Mitch and Markowitz exchanging an envelope.
“There’s no harm in knowing a councilman,” Mitch said. His lies were so clear now, but he was no longer playing a part.
“I wonder what you two were exchanging. I’m assuming not the money we located in your and Markowitz’s offshore accounts.”
The muscle in Mitch’s lip twitched. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Well, the FBI fraud unit is digging into it. I’m sure they’ll figure it out. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing you back behind bars.” Deckard clapped Mitch on the shoulder. “Thanks for the soda.” He set it down. “We’ll see ourselves out.”
“You have nothing,” Mitch hollered. “These pictures prove nothing.”
“Feel free to keep them. The FBI has all they need,” Deckard called over his shoulder.
Deckard let Harper head out first as they strode to the front door, his hand on the grip of his gun just in case Mitch’s fury got the better of him and he tried anything stupid.
Mitch stalked after them. “You can’t do this.”
“That’s the thing, Mitch, I already did.” Deckard stepped outside in the warmth of the sun and smiled at the FBI vehicle in the driveway.
SIXTY-SIX
CHRISTIAN HELD THE DOORof Christie’s Auction House in Los Angeles open for Andi. Agents still moved around, crime scene tape cordoning off an open door to their right.
Once on the ground, they’d checked in with Greyson. He’d located all five yachts Christian had texted to him. One was dry-docked, and four were in various marinas, stretching from San Diego all the way to a marina near Rosewood. He didn’t recall any of the yachts they cased having a Mesoamerican collection, so what were they after?
They decided Greyson would do a little more research, and they’d call back once they were finished at Christie’s. Perhaps one had acquired an Aztec or Mesoamerican heritage collection since they’d first researched them in what seemed a lifetime ago. For him it was. He had a new life in Christ. He prayed the same for Ethan, that his bitterness would leave him, that he’d stop the course he was on that would only end badly—possibly in death, given his violent partner. He prayed Ethan hadn’t crossed that line, prayed God would open his eyes to the new life he could have in Him.
Christian released a pent-up exhale as they took in the lobby and followed voices down a hall.
