Jonah, Talon, and I sat facing the warden of the prison. We’d been ushered into his office after we asked to see Larry Wade.

“We don’t usually give out this information, but you three have been in to visit Wade quite a few times since his incarceration. Plus, there are extenuating circumstances. We were going to have to contact you, anyway.”

“What information? And what extenuating circumstances?” Joe asked. “I want to speak to my uncle.”

“We’d let you if we could,” the bearded man said, “but Mr. Wade was murdered last night.”

My veins turned to ice. Not that I gave a shit that the motherfucker was dead, but now another source of information had dried up.

Talon looked visibly relieved. He hadn’t wanted to face Larry again. He’d had issues the first time he’d tried it, but my brother was nothing if not strong, and he would have done it. Now he didn’t have to.

“Murdered?” Joe asked.

“Yes. And it appears to have been an inside job.”

“Another inmate, you mean?” I said.

The warden cleared his throat. “No. Not another inmate. Mr. Wade was in a solitary cell…on suicide watch.”

I widened my eyes, and Talon’s looked like they were going to pop out of his head.

“Suicide watch?” Joe said.

“Yes. Our psychologist had determined Mr. Wade was a suicide risk. Plus, he’d been routinely attacked by other prisoners. He was fading fast and succumbing to severe depression. So he was put in solitary on suicide watch.”

Joe scoffed. “Putting prisoners on suicide watch. Give me a break.”

“They’re still people, Mr. Steel.”

“If you knew what this so-called person—”

Talon gripped Joe’s arm. “It’s okay, Joe. We don’t need to go there.”

“We’re well aware of what Mr. Wade was accused of. However, he was still innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. He hadn’t gone to trial yet.”

Joe stood. “I guess our business is done here. We won’t be getting any more information out of our dear old uncle.”

“Please have a seat, Mr. Steel,” the warden said. “I’m afraid our business is far from done here.”

“Look. If you think I’m going to shed tears over the loss of that piece of shit, think again.” Joe motioned to Talon and me. “Let’s go, guys.”

I stood as Joe headed toward the door, but a large guard blocked his exit.

“What the hell is going on here?” Joe demanded.

“Have a seat, like the warden said,” the guard said.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Get the hell out of my way.”

“Joe,” Talon said. “Let’s just see what the guy has to say.”

Joe rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He plunked back into his chair. “What is it?”

“Like I told you,” the warden said. “It was an inside job. But not by another inmate. A prison guard killed Mr. Wade.”

“And we should care because…?” Joe said.

“You should care, Mr. Steel, because I have sworn testimony from two of my guards that you paid them off to rough Mr. Wade up.”

Joe’s eyes widened. “That’s bullshit.”

“That’s not for you or for me to say. Now, that said, normally we look the other way when this happens. A few beatings don’t concern us. But a murder? We have to investigate that.”

“I can assure you that my brothers and I had nothing to do with Larry’s murder,” I interjected.

“Maybe not. But one of my guards murdered Larry Wade. It couldn’t have been anyone else because no one else had access. And oddly, one of my guards has since disappeared into thin air.”

“So what?” Joe said.

“So this,” the warden countered. “It seems pretty plausible that this guard might have been given a sum of money to do Mr. Wade in. A large sum of money. And you three certainly could have come up with a large sum of money.”

Joe stood again, raising a fist. “Don’t you dare try to hang this on us.”

“We already have evidence that you paid a couple of guards to rough him up,” the warden said.

“So? That’s their word against mine. And that doesn’t mean I had him murdered.”

“No, it doesn’t. But it does mean I can have you questioned, and I will.”

“We don’t have time for this,” I said. “We’re going on a trip. A very important trip. You can’t hold us here.”

“You’re right. I can’t. But the police want to question all three of you. Don’t leave the state until they do.”

Joe rubbed his stubbled chin. “Christ.”

“It’s not your fault, Joe,” I said.

Talon punched some numbers into his phone. “I’m calling Jade. We need an attorney.”

“The police expect you sometime today,” the warden said.

“My girlfriend is a detective on the force,” I said. “I can assure you this will all come to nothing.”

“For all of your sakes, I hope you’re right,” the warden said. “But we have to investigate. Good day.”

We all stood, and the guard moved from the doorway, letting us pass.

“I’m sorry,” Joe said, once we were alone. “This is on me. I did slip a guard a benji. On two separate occasions.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” I said. “We all wanted to see him get the shit kicked out of him.”

“You were just taking care of things,” Talon said. “Just like you always have, big brother.”

“I wanted him to suffer for what he did to you,” Joe said.

“We understand that,” I said.

Joe rubbed his forehead. “Shit. I swear to God I never paid anyone off to kill him.”

“We know, Joe,” Talon said. “He’s no use to us dead.”

“Look,” I said. “We’ll talk to the cops, assure them we had nothing to do with Larry’s murder, and then we’ll get out of town.”

Talon eyed his phone screen. “Jade just texted me. She’s getting an attorney at the top criminal defense firm in the city to meet us at the station. Everything will be fine.”

I sighed. “All right, then. Let’s get this over with.”