She was so engrossed in the files that she didn’t hear the men approach until she felt Nick’s stare.
She turned to him and smiled. “You locked me up, what was I supposed to do?” She closed the file she was looking at and put it back on the passenger seat.
Nick held up his cuffs, which she’d draped over the door. “I see you have many talents.”
“And? Do you agree that there was a grave under those trees?”
“It appears to be, but it could have been a pet dug up by scavengers. It might not be human.”
“Who digs a five-foot-long grave for a family pet?”
“You measured.”
“Of course I measured.”
He jerked his head toward Jasper. “Your boyfriend is going to make sure you get back to your hotel safely.”
She hated being kept in the dark.
“He’s not my boyfriend.” Max got out of the Bronco and punched a finger in Nick’s chest. “And the next time you put cuffs on me, it had better be part of a sex game, otherwise I’ll skewer you on the front page of The New York Times.”
Max started to walk away.
Nick said, “I’ll take it under advisement.”
He looked at her a moment too long, long enough for Max to realize she was going to get herself in a heap of trouble if she got involved with yet another cop. Look what happened with her and Marco. And it was more than obvious, even with his initial flirting, even after that kiss in the restaurant, that Nick didn’t like her. The men she got involved with, at a minimum, had to respect her.
Though there was an added benefit that Nick Santini lived three thousand miles away, she would never sleep with a man who didn’t like her or respect her career.
*
Jasper followed Max to the Stanford Park Hotel, but didn’t get out of his car. “You okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine. You’re the one with a sprained ankle.”
“No racquetball for me this week.”
“Too bad, I would have taken you up on a game.” She leaned into his car. “Thanks, Jasper, I mean it.”
“I should be thanking you. We’re one step closer to finding Jason’s killer.”
“I hope so.”
“You’re skeptical.”
“I think we have the motive, but beyond that? I don’t know.”
“It’s more than we had yesterday.”
“Santini really ticks me off. I’m not backing down off this, just because he’s the one with the badge.”
“I don’t think he would have minded if you stayed.”
“He kicked me out.” She eyed him. “Unless you know something I don’t.”
“There’s a cop named Beck who has it out for you. You know him?”
“Yes,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Santini said that when he calls in the gravesite, he has to report who discovered it. He said Beck will be all over the place, and he didn’t want you there in the middle of it.”
“I can handle Beck.”
“It’s a distraction for Santini.” Jasper hesitated, then said, “It’s pretty clear he’s interested.”
“In the grave? He damn well better be.”
“In you.”
She blinked. “Well. You would be wrong. He had some choice words to say about my profession, and me personally.”
“I’ve been wrong, on a rare occasion.” Jasper grinned. “I’m going back. If I hear anything interesting, I’ll let you know.” He drove off.
Max dismissed what Jasper said about Nick Santini’s interest in her. There was no denying the mutual attraction, but what he said last night really bothered her, far more than she’d admitted even to herself, until now. She was her job. Hate her job, hate her.
She walked up to her hotel room, showered and changed. Her suit needed cleaning, so she left it in a bag with a dry-cleaning tag, and changed into slacks and a blouse. Neither formal nor casual, because she wasn’t quite sure what her plans were.
She updated her two boards. On Jason Hoffman’s, she put a sticky note under her “motive” heading related to the grave.
What did Jason find that no one wanted him to talk about?
Brian Robeaux had said that he’d seen three or four small holes, the size of a bucket, that had been filled in. The one she and Jasper had found was huge in comparison. Had Jason found the grave? If so, did he tell someone? Maybe someone at the school? Why wouldn’t he call the police?
Unless he hadn’t found the grave, but someone feared he might.
She had to let Nick and his team do their job—for all she knew they would find a full skeleton, and once they identified the remains, they might have all the answers they needed. Until then, she could do nothing but sit and wait.
She preferred action to waiting.
She turned her attention to the board she’d been working on for Lindy. She added a sticky note about her conversation with Gerald Ames and her follow-up with Olivia.
Max looked back at Jason’s board.
There hadn’t been two murders at Atherton Prep.
There had been three.
Max pulled out a third trifold board that she’d stuffed behind the television and wrote on the top: Unidentified Victim: Grave
The grave was on ACP property. Jason Hoffman was killed on ACP property because he was suspicious—but not so suspicious that he’d shared any specific concerns with anyone, other than being interested in who was digging around on his site.
And Lindy was killed on ACP property.
Max couldn’t see any connection between Lindy and the other two murders, the unknown victim and Jason, but that there were three people killed at the same location made Max’s instincts do more than twitch. They were ringing bells in her head.
She did a quick search on persons who went missing more than a year ago. She wasn’t certain how quickly a body would decompose if buried in the ground unprotected, but she would imagine for a finger bone to be devoid of all flesh and muscle, it had to be there at least a year.
There were about a dozen people reported missing, from Atherton and Menlo Park but no one she knew, and no one who had a connection with Atherton Prep—at least a connection that was obvious. No alumni, no students, no teachers, no parents, no employees.