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.”