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there that night, as did the bar owner. Under oath.’ Paige opened the other two picture files. The first showed two men exchanging a piece of paper. ‘The guy taking the paper is the bar owner, Denny Sandoval. He’s looking up at the camera, like he’s posing almost.’
    ‘His insurance policy,’ Clay said quietly. ‘Who’s the guy with the fake mustache giving the paper to the bar owner?’
    ‘I don’t know. The mustache is cheesy, but it does the job of disguising his face.’
    ‘Nice hands,’ Clay noted. ‘The guy gets regular manicures.’
    Paige zoomed in on the man’s hands. ‘And wears a pinky ring. Maybe a diamond, but it’s too grainy to be sure.’ The third file was a receipt. ‘Wire transfer. Lots of zeroes.’
    ‘Fifty Gs would be enough to get a lot of guys to lie under oath.’
    ‘And enough to kill a woman who found out about it?’ she asked.
    ‘I’ve known murderers to kill for a lot less. Look, I know you told me about this case when you first took it a month ago, but all I really remember is that Ramon’s in jail for murder and his mama thinks he’s innocent. Tell me the details again. Who do they say Ramon murdered?’
    ‘A college girl named Crystal Jones. She’d gone to a party at a big estate where Ramon worked as head gardener. She was found dead the next morning in the gardener’s shed, strangled, then stabbed to death. One of the pruning shears was missing. Cops found the shears in the closet in Ramon and Elena’s bedroom. They said most of the blood had been wiped off, but there was enough to do a DNA check and link the shears to the dead woman. They also found one of Ramon’s hairs on her dress.’
    ‘Pretty damning stuff.’
    ‘I know. Plus there was a note found on the body. “ Gardener’s shed, midnight .” Signed “ RM ”. Ramon said it wasn’t his. Handwriting analysis was inconclusive. Ramon claimed he was innocent, that he had an alibi, but nobody would confirm it.’
    ‘The DNA on the weapon gave the prosecution a slam dunk.’
    ‘Exactly. Ramon was the gardener, he had access to the shed and the shears.’
    ‘Did he live on the estate?’
    ‘No, the job didn’t include living quarters. He and Elena had an apartment about a mile from Maria’s house. But he had a key for the back gate, so he had access. The prosecutor presented Ramon as a player, that he killed this woman when she teased him, then wouldn’t give him sex. The jury came back in a few hours. Guilty on all counts. Maria met me after I moved into this apartment. She was cleaning one morning and we got to talking. When she found out I was a PI—’
    ‘In training,’ Clay interrupted.
    ‘In training,’ Paige acknowledged. ‘She and Elena begged me to help them. They were so sure someone was dirty. That the cops were involved. Elena said she’d get proof. She did.’
    ‘What made them believe cops were involved? What did the cops do?’
    ‘Maria said people in the neighborhood avoided them after Ramon was arrested. There were whispers that they’d been intimidated by the cops on the case to keep quiet, but nobody would tell her the truth. Elena believed that the bloody shears and the note that was found on the body were planted.’
    ‘Who were the investigating detectives?’
    ‘Gillespie and Morton. This was all six years ago. Morton is still Homicide, but Gillespie retired a few years ago.’
    His eyes flickered for the barest instant. ‘Who was the prosecutor?’
    ‘Assistant State’s Attorney Grayson Smith.’
    ‘I’ve heard of him. Never met him.’
    ‘Me either. I did check out his record, though. Smith has the best conviction rate in his office. But he didn’t have to work hard in this case. The evidence all pointed to Ramon being guilty.’
    ‘So what’s next?’
    Paige transferred all three picture files from Elena’s flash drive to her old computer’s hard drive. She then removed Elena’s drive and dropped it back in her pocket. ‘I’m going to put this