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she didn’t hear the words. Had he really said he knew she wasn’t guilty?
    â€œWe know you didn’t take the money,” the warden said.
    A surge of white-hot, primitive anger hit her like a sucker punch to the gut. She wanted to smash her fist into Harlan’s smug face. Rage throbbed inside her, more intense than anything she’d ever experienced. It was a full minute before she could speak.
    â€œThen why on earth am I still in this hellhole?”
    â€œI can’t reveal my source,” Harlan replied. “We uncovered the information as part of an ongoing investigation.”
    She clamped down on her jaw and battled the nearly uncontrollable urge to call him a son of a bitch, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her lose it. “Then I’m free.”
    The warden spread his hands wide and the ring on his pinkie caught the light. “No, you’re not.”
    If they knew she was innocent, why wouldn’t she go free? How could this be justice in America? She’d spent over three miserable years in prison.
    â€œIt’s complicated, but I think Harlan has the solution.”
    â€œI’ll just bet he does.” A bitter edge crept into her voice despite her best efforts to conceal her emotions.
    Harlan Westcott adjusted his perfectly knotted rep tie, and a whipcord thin muscle in his neck pulsed. “We can’t just release you without explaining why. At this point it would jeopardize this undercover investigation, but if you agree to help us…” He paused. “You can leave tomorrow.”
    Tomorrow. She could be free. She would be able to raise her face to the sun and smell the flowers and enjoy fresh air. She would do just about anything to get out of here.
    â€œIf I don’t help him, then I can’t leave?” she again asked the warden, unable to believe they could refuse to release her.
    â€œI’m afraid not.” His voice deepened with concern. “I’m legally bound to keep you incarcerated until what Harlan has discovered becomes public record.”
    â€œWhen will that be?”
    â€œWho knows? It’s a large-scale investigation. It could go on for a year or two.” Harlan’s shrug said: Who cares?
    They’d discovered she was innocent but weren’t going to make the facts public. Betrayal whiplashed through her. She should be allowed to leave. She hadn’t planned on returning to Twin Oaks. Why would she? Her own mother and sister had turned their backs on her. She intended to go to Miami and start over.
    â€œI want a lawyer.” She ground out the words, hardly able to keep from shouting. “You’re violating my civil rights.”
    â€œDo you have the money for an attorney?” Harlan asked in a snide tone.
    Kat didn’t bother to respond. They both knew she didn’t have a cent.
    The warden cleared his throat. “It could be months before a PD could find the time to handle this.”
    PD. Public defender. She’d been forced to use one at her trial. The guy had been nothing but an empty suit. She refused to trust her fate again to one of those jerks. If you were rich enough to afford a first-rate lawyer in America, you could get away with just about anything. Everyone else did time. “What would I have to do?”
    â€œFor good behavior, you’d be released on a work furlough program,” Harlan explained. “That’s what we would tell people. You would return to Twin Oaks and work at the Tribune .”
    â€œDoing what?”
    â€œYou’ll be assistant to the editor, David Noyes. No one will know about your connection to the bureau.”
    â€œBureau? Like the FBI?”
    â€œThe Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.”
    This wasn’t logical. Not at all. Why would the bureau need her? “What will I be doing for them?”
    He gazed at her with the haughty superior stare she recognized from the courtroom. “We