Page 3 of The Best Lawyer
“You better get that,” he said.
Zombie-like, I walked over to my phone. The caller ID came from the Woodbridge County Sheriff’s Department. As I picked up my phone, adrenaline shot through me.
“Cass?” Katy’s breathless voice sounded thin and far away. “Cass? Please! I don’t know what to do! I didn’t know who else to call. They haven’t … they said … Tom … He’s dead, Cass. My God. There was so much blood. They’re saying that I …”
Then my lawyer brain kicked in. I made eye contact with Eric.
“Katy,” I said, conveying as much authority as possible. “I need you to do two things for me. I need you to calm down. And I need you to stop talking. Okay? Not one more word to anybody. Have you been talking to the police?”
Her breath hitched, and then she sobbed. “I just tried to explain.” She choked out her words.
“Not another word,” I said. “I’m on my way.”
Chapter 2
“Where is she?”
I didn’t expect to see the woman standing in front of the first floor interrogation room. She was six years older than I. I remembered her as a bouncy, perky cheerleader with auburn hair, freckles, and the fancy clothes I always wanted growing up. Her father had been a cop before her. One who had arrested mine for drunk and disorderly conduct on our front lawn at least twice.
Deputy Sharon DePaul. I hadn’t seen her in a very long time. I don’t know if I was just projecting or imagining it, but she looked at me with the same disdain all DePauls had toward anyone named Leary.
“Inside,” she said. “Are you her lawyer?”
“I’m …” I didn’t know how to answer that. I supposed at least for the moment, I was.
“I’m going in there,” I said.
“Cass …” Eric started. But when I shot a glance over my shoulder, he knew nothing he could say would stop me.
I opened the door. Katy, my former sister-in-law, had always been petite with fine features. Nearly twenty years ago, when Joe married her, it looked like he would have been able to lift her with one hand. Somehow, as she sat at that long, metal table, her cheek pressed against it, she looked like a little girl.
Her eyes were bloodshot, her face swollen and distorted from crying. She slowly lifted her head and stared at me.
“Cass,” she croaked. She brought her hands up from under the table. They’d put handcuffs on her.
“What happened?” I asked.
Before she answered, I pulled out my phone and punched in my brother’s number. It went straight to voicemail as it had the three previous times I called on the way here. Their divorce had been messy. I hadn’t yet forgiven Katy for breaking Joe’s heart. But not long ago, she had been family. I knew Joe still cared about her. Which was why I was here.
“He’s d-dead,” she said. “Tom’s dead. Oh my God, Cass. There was so much blood.”
As she said it, I began to notice other details about her appearance. Katy was always put together. Her hair was meticulously styled. Her clothes were fashionable and always the latest trend. This morning, she had on a thin, faded gray sweatshirt and baggy plaid flannel pants. She was wearing her pajamas. But that wasn’t the most shocking part about her. The hem of her left sleeve was bloodstained. She had blood smeared across her forehead.
“Are you okay?” I asked, slowly sinking down beside her.
She shook her head. “No.”
My eyes went to the handcuffs. She looked down and raised her wrists. “They think I murdered him. I told them it’s not what they think. I don’t know what happened. He was just there. They said …”
“Did you ask for a lawyer?” I interrupted her.
“I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t believe anyone would think I would hurt Tom. Iwasn’tthinking that. I was just thinking about what I saw. Oh, Cass. The blood was everywhere. There couldn’t have been a single drop left in his body. He was so pale. Like wax. And his throat …”
Katy pitched sideways and retched. Someone had put a small garbage pail beside her. That’s when the stench hit me. Katy had already emptied the contents of her stomach some time ago.
“Did they offer you water? How long have you been here?”
She righted herself. “I don’t know. A couple of hours. They made me go to the hospital first. I wanted to be with Tom. I wanted to stay right beside him but they wouldn’t let me. They said I had to get checked out. They took some blood.”
