They followed her into the spacious office that looked out on a large courtyard and a beautiful garden.

“Do you have news?” she asked, crossing her arms in front of her as if preparing to hold herself up.

“No, nothing,” Mendez said.

Jane Thomas sighed in relief. “Thank God.”

“We went through Ms. Warwick’s home this morning and found a photograph of Ms. Warwick with some friends. I made a photocopy of it,” Mendez said, digging the paper out of his coat pocket. “I’d like you to have a look and tell me who the rest of the people in the picture are.”

She recognized the photograph right away. “Oh, yes, this was our celebration after one of our clients won her custody battle. The courts had given her children to the parents of her abusive husband temporarily while she went through court-ordered drug rehab, then wouldn’t give them back to her when she had finished not only rehab, but our program as well. Lisa was her advocate. She did a lot of hand-holding on that one. In the end Steve was able to persuade a judge to set things right.”

“Steve? This is Steve?” Mendez asked, tapping a finger below the man in the photograph.

“Yes. Steve Morgan. Quinn, Morgan and Associates. He donates a lot of time to us.”

“Was there anything going on between him and Ms. Warwick?”

“Lisa and Steve?” she said, almost amused at the idea. “Of course not. Steve is happily married. He has an adorable daughter. She must be about ten years old.”

“Wendy?” Mendez asked.

“I don’t remember her name,” she said, handing the paper back to him. “The woman to Lisa’s left is Nora Alfano, our client.”

“Did Ms. Warwick spend a lot of time working with Mr. Morgan on her various cases?” Vince asked.

“She spent some time with him in client meetings, that kind of thing. But Steve would never cheat. He’s not that kind of man.”

Mendez said nothing but put the picture back inside his pocket.

“Are you trying to disillusion me for the second time in one day, Detective?”

“No, ma’am. I’m just following leads. Most of them will go nowhere, but we have to follow them to the end.”

“I’ve been out of town,” Vince said by way of an excuse, “so I’m not quite up to speed. Have we looked at any hate mail yet?”

“So far nothing has stood out,” Mendez said.

“This custody case you talked about—how long ago was that?” Vince asked.

“About nine months ago,” Jane Thomas said. “The ex-husband in question is doing a year in county jail.”

“We’ll check out his friends and family,” Vince said. “Just in case one of them is bent on revenge on his behalf.”

“Of course.” She went to her desk and buzzed her assistant to get the file.