Their food arrived—a Cobb salad for Max and a club sandwich for Nick. She filled him in on what had made her suspicious at the construction site, how she met Dru, and what Dru had said when she called to meet.
“The thing that really bugs me is that Jason was killed for nothing. There was nothing to steal. That suggests that it was personal. Someone who wanted him dead followed him to the school, or knew he planned to go there Saturday night. So when the Hoffmans told me you questioned Jessica Hoffman about her mother, I thought there might be a family connection. Put that with the financial trouble of Evergreen before the fairy godfather in the persona of Jasper Pierce took it all away with the sports complex. But Dru’s comment about Jason’s obsession with the trees … well, that seems out of place.”
Max sipped her water, then continued. “However, I don’t know any more. Dru said that odd things had been happening that week. He was at ACP for a specific reason the night he was killed. And that makes me wonder if there’s a completely different reason, not personal, but tied to money—either the funding or an environmental consideration. Holes in trees. That doesn’t make sense. What do you think?”
What was going through Nick’s mind was likely what went through the minds of all the cops who ended up working with her. Should he or shouldn’t he work with her? What should he tell her? Was she going to screw him and make his department look bad? Was she going to jeopardize his case? Would his lieutenant reprimand him? Would the DA get mad?
Scratch that. Max suspected Nick didn’t care what the DA thought.
“I have some ground rules,” Nick said.
“Lay them out.”
“Write nothing about this case without talking to me first.”
“I’m not planning to write about the case, but if I do, I agree.”
“You may not quote me, unless I give you express permission and I approve the quote.”
“Agreed.”
Nick waited until the waiter removed their plates before he told Max anything important.
“I have some suspicions about the financial dealings between Evergreen and Jasper Pierce. Something you didn’t mention in all your research, but Pierce is a silent partner of Evergreen. He profits from the building of the sports complex, which makes it seem like a scam, except he’d disclosed it to the school before they agreed to the contract. Still—he’s also funding the project, along with this guy named Archer Sterling.”
“Archer is my uncle,” Max said.
Nick stared at her. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“It didn’t come up, until now.”
He still looked unhappy. “No matter how hard we looked, me or the FBI fraud task force, there’s nothing to it. I just don’t like when I learn something important that my witnesses neglected to tell me.”
“Did you talk to Pierce?”
“Yes, initially, and he was cooperative, but less so during follow-up interviews. He was irritated that we weren’t doing more to find Jason’s killer.” Nick’s jaw clenched, but he hid his temper well. “I was mad that I was stuck. I interviewed Dru Parker twice—she didn’t say anything about odd behavior or why Jason was hanging out at the site that night. His uncle, Brian Robeaux, was the only one who mentioned it. Robeaux said that Jason walked the grounds repeatedly, but thought it was his way of communing with the earth or something. Jason was apparently big into building structures that blend into the natural environment. He and the architect were friends—Gordon Cho—who’d also been his mentor and boss when Jason interned at Cho Architectural. Robeaux said nothing about any obsession with trees or holes.”
“Maybe,” Max said, “Dru didn’t think anything was wrong until something spooked her yesterday.”
“On Friday I put the case in the inactive file, so when you called me Saturday I was both irritated and interested. Dru Parker was a part-time secretary and didn’t seem to have any useful information. I should have pushed.”
Nick was blaming himself for missing something. For some reason, that endeared him to Max. “She was definitely worried when she called me. She didn’t want her roommates knowing that she was meeting with me, and she planned on visiting her mother for an extended stay. Maybe someone else spooked her.”
“Who else did you talk to?”
“Roger Lawrence. I thought he acted belligerent when I was talking to Dru, but that could have been his personality.”
“He didn’t kill Jason, that I’m certain about,” Nick said. “His alibi is rock-solid. He was in the middle of his twentieth anniversary cruise to the Caribbean. Jason’s parents were home together. Brian Robeaux was at a party in San Mateo. He told me Jason was supposed to join him there, and they were going to drive back together, but Jason didn’t show. Jasper Pierce was home alone, but I couldn’t find any motive as to why he would want Jason dead. Still, he’s the only one who doesn’t have a witness to verify his alibi. We looked at friends, neighbors, even his sister and her fiancé—there was no one with the motive or opportunity to kill him.”
There was a long silence before Max asked, “Did you learn anything about DL Environmental last night?”
“Just an envirogroup. Harmless. They don’t seem to do much of anything except organize petition drives.”
“Then where did they get the money to buy a car?”
“People give money to those groups all the time.”
“Maybe you can subpoena their records.”
“For what cause?”
“The car was present in the commission of a felony.”
He laughed. “The DA would laugh his ass off.”
“Maybe Dru will give them to you, or tell you what the group does.”
“I doubt she’ll talk to me. As soon as she regains consciousness, she’ll lawyer up.”
“She can’t lawyer up with me.” She tilted her head and smiled. “I can get her to cooperate.”
“I can offer her police protection.”
“I can offer her a voice. The ability to control the message. I’ll convince her to help, and then you can give her protection.”
He grunted and responded snidely, “She can be a hero.”