THREE HOURS LATER, I found myself back in Newburgh. I tried to process everything that had happened. The Poughkeepsie police had a lot of questions. They weren’t particularly happy with me. There wasn’t much they could do. It was a mess and there was no chance to spin it in a positive way. A cop had gone bad, and because of him, there were bodies in both Newburgh and Poughkeepsie.

I didn’t knock when I entered the law office of Lise Mendez. There had been some vague reports on the news from Poughkeepsie. I figured she didn’t have any of the details yet.

She didn’t seem surprised to see me as I stood in her door. She looked up from her desk and gave me one of those dazzling smiles. “Hello, Mitchum. What are you doing here?”

“I just came from Poughkeepsie.”

“What’s going on in Poughkeepsie?”

“You can try and play this cool, but I think we’re past that.”

She elected to remain silent.

“I know you sent Katie Stahl to collect the money.”

“I have no idea what…”

“Save it.” I held up the piece of paper that Katie used to read the code for the safety-deposit-box room. It was a blue Post-it note with the logo across the top that said Adirondacks are not only chairs.

Lise froze in place.

“When I saw this Post-it with the security code, it took me a minute to remember where I’d seen this logo before.” I started walking across the room, slowly.

Lise didn’t move. She followed me with her eyes.

I said, “You were the perfect partner for drug dealers. If the cops ever had questions, you could’ve claimed attorney–client privilege. And Pete trusted you.” I stopped at her desk. I saw the Post-it pad with the same logo near her pen in the corner of her desk.

I stared at her, waiting for some sort of response.

She finally said, “That’s hardly a basis for an indictment, let alone a conviction.”

“Not by itself. Phone records will help. Maybe your handwriting on the pad. Who knows. Good cops can be persistent.”

There was no panic in her voice when she said, “I suppose the money is still at the bank.”

Now it was my turn to keep quiet.

She said, “What can we do?”

“You think you can make some kind of deal?” I took a step back so I wouldn’t be tempted. “It’s a great idea. Make Katie do the dirty work. You get a big wad of cash and get to remain Newburgh’s top criminal defense attorney. Pretty sweet deal.”

Then the front door opened and Sergeant Bill Jeffries walked in with three other Newburgh police officers. One detective already had handcuffs ready.