Ties That Bind by Kathryn Shay Page A

ma’am.” “Down” meant behind bars.
    “Did you two talk about things?”
    “Cellies usually do,” she answered casually.
    Frustrated, Kate sat forward in her chair. “Is there anything you can tell us about her that would help us understand why she might have committed suicide?”
    “She, um, she gave that reason in the note, didn’t she?” Parks glanced at the warden, surprise suddenly lighting her face. “You think maybe somebody took her out?”
    “We don’t know,” Evans said easily. “We’re just after the facts.”
    “Is there anyone else we should talk to?” Marcia asked.
    “Got me.”
    The warden stood. “All right, Lena. You can go now.” When the woman left, Evans sat back down. “That wasn’t very helpful. The police said they didn’t get much out of her, either. Though she seemed more unnerved with you.”
    “What’s next?” Reese asked his lawyer.
    “Well, we need to delve into Bingham’s life inside the prison, and determine on our own whether we think this was a suicide or not. In any case, somebody was out to implicate you.” Carl faced the warden. “We need records of her activity, visitor lists, who she phoned, that kind of thing.”
    “The only way you can look at those documents is with a court order. The police had to get one, too.” She frowned. “Why aren’t you working with them?”
    “We prefer to conduct a simultaneous investigation of our own.”
    “Fine by me,” the warden told them. “Get the paperwork and you can take a closer look at Anna Bingham.”
    o0o
    REESE AND KATE had always had a lucrative law practice, with a satisfying number of pro bono cases added to the mix, but when Kate left, Reese worked like a demon to grow the firm from what it was when she was on board. Freud would have a lot to say about that, but Reese didn’t care. When he’d acquired more clients than he could handle, he’d taken in three other lawyers and they were now bursting at the seams and making plans to move to bigger accommodations. The only downside was he’d let the pro bono cases they accepted dwindle in number.
    Due in court in two hours, Reese sat down to review his notes on the upcoming hearing. Ted McAlister had been arrested for a second DUI. The first time around, the man had been fined a grand, given ninety days restriction of his license, and attended a mandated drug and alcohol program. After this second offense, the penalties would be harsher. At the very least, Reese hoped to keep him out of jail.
    As he always did before a court appearance, alone in his office, he leaned back in the chair, closed his eyes, and went over his arguments in his head. It used to drive Kate crazy that he didn’t write them out. But he worked better when his thoughts were fresh in his brain. As planned, his assistant, Yolanda Price, knocked on his door a half hour before he was due in court.
    She entered his office and found him with his feet up on the desk, hands linked behind his head, eyes closed. The lights had been dimmed, so he was in shadows. “Ready, Reese?”
    “Yep.” He righted himself in the chair and stood.
    “You okay?” Yolanda asked.
    “Sure, why not?”
    Her brows furrowed. Trim and fit at almost sixty, Yolanda ran his office efficiently, taking care of details with seeming effortlessness. Often she still mothered him. It appeared that this was going to be one of those times. “You don’t have to pretend around here that nothing’s going on. We all know. We’re all worried.”
    “I called that meeting to discuss this with the staff. They seemed reassured.”
    “That’s not what I mean. We’re worried about you personally.”
    He shrugged into a lightweight heather-brown pinstripe suit jacket. “That’s nice, I appreciate it.”
    “You’ve had to deal with her.”
    No antecedent to the pronoun was needed. Yolanda had been with them from the beginning, but had taken his side in the divorce, believing Kate had been at fault. Reese knew that was