”You a lawyer?” he said.

”I’m a paralegal for Joe Dillard.”

”You his wife?”

”I am.”

”You’re too pretty to be married to him.”

Caroline sighed. ”If you’ll check the approved list, you’ll find my name.”

The officer opened a spiral notebook next to him and took his time searching the pages.

”I can smell you through the window,” he said.

”You smell good.”

”I’ll be sure to tell your boss you like the way I smell.” Caroline looked at the name stitched opposite his badge. ”Officer Cagle? The sheriff comes to our house every year for a Christmas party. He and I have gotten to be pretty good friends.” It was a lie.

The sheriff had never set foot in Caroline’s home, but her words seemed to have the desired effect.

Officer Cagle looked down and slid the ID back through the window.

”You know the way to the attorneys’ room, ma’am?”

Caroline nodded and smiled.

”I’ll buzz you through.”

Caroline quickly made her way through the maze of gates and steel doors. She was a little anxious about the visit, because she never knew what kind of mood the inmate she was about to see would be in. The woman had been in jail for nine months, by far the longest stretch she’d ever done. She’d lifted her own mother’s checkbook, forged a check, and used the money to buy cocaine. Caroline’s husband, Joe, had represented her. He’d talked the prosecutor into reducing the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor, but because of the woman’s long history of problems with the law, in exchange for the reduction the prosecutor had insisted that she forgo probation and agree to serve her sentence in the county jail.