A street away, police located a 2000 Chevrolet Silverado, which they had learned Fertitta was using as a loaner. Blood smeared the rear passenger area, and in the center console was McKay's cell phone. The police also recovered a long-blade kitchen knife - the same brand as other knives found in McKay's kitchen.
McKay and Matthew arrived as technicians combed the house for clues. They agreed to be questioned and that night sat down with detectives in different interrogation rooms at the homicide unit in Crownsville.
Matthew was ready to talk. He had witnessed everything, he said. He claimed that Fertitta and McKay had started fighting violently and that he had phoned Christopher to come help. Matthew said his brother burst in 15 minutes later, attacked Fertitta with brass knuckles, pulled out a chrome revolver and shot him.
Meanwhile in another room, McKay offered a conflicting account: She and Fertitta had spent an amicable night together until he left for work at 2:50 a.m., and then she never saw him again. As to who might have killed him, she speculated that his "gambling problem" had gotten him in trouble with dangerous people.
When detectives pressed her about the incriminating evidence in her house, she covered her face and wept. That's when one of the detectives noticed small cuts on her hands.
Detectives watched in the lobby as mother and son left the station. "What did you tell them?" they overheard McKay quizzing Matthew, according to police documents. "They think Tony was killed in my house. ... All you had to do, Matthew, is tell them you wanted to leave. That's all you had to say."
Matthew's story was incriminating, but it had one big flaw. Fertitta had not been shot. He died from stab wounds to his heart, lung, liver and stomach.
The next day, police decided they had enough to get an arrest warrant for McKay. When they arrived at her home just after midnight, she greeted them calmly. "I was expecting you," she said. "Is anyone else going to get arrested?"
A new version
A few days later, Matthew had a new story to try on detectives. In this version, he hadn't been present for the murder at all. That business about Christopher killing Fertitta, that's what his mother had put Matthew up to telling the police, he said. The brass knuckles, the chrome revolver - all of it had been untrue.
