Page 40 of Go First

That point was probably true, but neither agent looked satisfied.

Marcus leant forward and tapped the file he’d just looked at.“In here, you've got Whitfield’s movements, down to the hour.You knew his life better than his secretary did.How?And why?”

Stone’s face hardened.“You rifled through my files?Without a warrant?That’s a violation.You think I don’t know procedure, Agent Reid?”

“Answer the question,” Kate pressed.

“Answer?”Stone barked a laugh.“You don’t get answers without the proper paperwork, sweetie.That’s the law.”

Kate shifted tactics.“Where were you Thursday night, between midnight and one?”

Stone leaned back.“With a client.”

“And Friday night?”

“The same.Actually, notwith, on that occasion.Speaking to.Thanks to the wonders of the World Wide Web.”

“One client, both nights?Or two different clients?”

"I can tell you that it was one client.And sorry, I got that mixed up.My meeting on Thursday was online, and Friday was in person."

Kate and Marcus exchanged a glance.“Is that your final version of the story?”Marcus asked.“Or do you want to change it again?”

“Agent Reid, I simply made a mistake.”

“Who was the client?”

Stone tutted.“I am not going to disclose that.Attorney-client privilege is absolute.”

Kate’s eyes narrowed.“We’re investigating two murders.”

“Bella veniunt et abeunt, reges nascuntur et moriuntur, et tamen lex, lex manet,” Stone replied smoothly.

“Once more in English?”Marcus growled.

“Wars come and go, kings are born and die, and yet the law remains the law,” Kate said.“Virgil, isn’t it?”

“Perhaps,” Stone replied, with a shrug.Kate was beginning to dislike this man intensely.

The phone rang, slicing the silence.Stone snatched it up.“Mother, I told you—yes, I sent the check—no, Consuela doesn’t come today, it’s Sunday— SUNDAY, Mother, please—” He turned away, shoulders tight, his voice rising in frustration.

Kate leaned toward Marcus, her voice low.“He’s a schmuck, but he knows the law inside-out.If we want anything solid, we’re going to need a warrant.”

Marcus nodded."And we'd better get it fast."

Now Kate’s phone buzzed.She glanced at the screen: Winters.

“Valentine,” her boss’s clipped voice snapped through the line, typically without preamble.“Cox has been stabbed.He’s in the hospital wing.The guy visiting him—priest called Santos—is in custody.Prison’s on lockdown.”

Kate’s pulse spiked.She met Marcus’s eyes across the paper-strewn office.

Stone’s voice droned behind them, still arguing with his mother.

But the crucifix loomed above, its shadow sharp on the peeling wall, and Kate had the sick sense that Stone wasn’t the only one living in its shadow.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Monday morning broke clear and sharp, the kind of winter light that made the pines along I-295 look like they’d been painted overnight.Kate eased the Bureau sedan through a slow curve, the road rising and falling like a held breath.