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Cord’s. “There’s one thing you might want to be aware of before you have a heart-to-heart with Meredith Unger.”
    â€œAnd what’s that?”
    â€œShe has a conflict-of-interest problem you might want to consider.”
    What kind of game was McCaskey trying to play this time? “I’ll bite. What’s the problem?”
    McCaskey’s black eyes drilled into him, as if watching for his reaction, eager to see how he’d take the punch line. “Meredith Unger is your father’s attorney. She represents Dryden Kane.”

Chapter Four
    In prison, when an inmate needed a weapon he could make disappear fast, he filled a sock with something heavy, a handful of batteries, a can of beans. One good swing, and the weapon, known as a slock, could level a man. The revelation that Cord was sharing his attorney with Dryden Kane hit him like a slock to the dome.
    One corner of McCaskey’s lips lifted in something only a hair short of a smile. “You still want to call your lawyer?”
    â€œI’ll pass.” When he’d seen Kane’s reference to Melanie in the note, he’d wondered where the serial killer had learned of their history. And although he couldn’t prove anything, he didn’t wonder any longer. “You can’t think I had anything to do with Kane’s escape. I’ve never met the man.”
    â€œBut your attorney has.”
    Cord wiped a hand across his forehead. Sweatalready dampened his cropped hair. A sign of nerves that McCaskey would no doubt interpret as guilt. “I haven’t talked to Meredith Unger for ten years.”
    â€œThere are a lot of coincidences here, Turner. Coincidences I’m having a hard time swallowing. Meredith Unger. Eddie Trauten.”
    Cord let out a breath. He couldn’t deny the apparent connection between him and Kane through his attorney. He couldn’t deny his own connection to Eddie Trauten. But maybe he didn’t have to. Maybe those connections were the point. “I don’t know what you think of me, McCaskey, but I’m not a stupid man.”
    McCaskey narrowed his eyes. “Go on.”
    â€œIf I wanted to help someone like Dryden Kane escape from prison, I wouldn’t set up my own cellie to do it. The prison yard is a big place. There are a lot of punks I could recruit for the job. Punks that would force you cops to at least break a sweat before you tied them to me.”
    â€œI’m listening.”
    â€œI don’t want Dryden Kane out. The only thing he is to me is a threat. A danger to Melanie. And a danger to my son.”
    McCaskey watched him with sharp, nearly black eyes. A slow, agonizing minute ticked by before he finally pushed back from the table, the legs of his chair screeching across the linoleumtile. He glanced at Detective Valducci and then back to Cord. “We’ll be back.” He stood and walked out, Valducci in his wake, letting the door thunk closed behind him.
    Cord forced a breath of stale air into his lungs. He was probably over his head on this one. Hell, he’d been over his head since before he was born. Unfortunately, unlike the gang bangers he’d hung out with as a kid and the cons he’d done time with, he was smart enough to recognize the fact that he was drowning in sewage.
    Just not smart enough to do anything about it.
    The door opened and McCaskey entered alone. “I just heard from the officers searching your apartment.”
    He let silence lie between them as if waiting for Cord to acknowledge something incriminating they’d found in an effort to explain it away.
    Too bad nothing like that existed. “They found the invitation I told you about?”
    â€œThey did.”
    â€œAnd the note threatening Melanie Frist?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œYou’ve looked through my apartment. I’ve told you everything I know. So am I under arrest?”
    â€œNo. You can go.”
    Cord nodded