He looked up.
The former deputy stood beside an old sedan wearing jeans and a plain gray shirt.
No badge.
He looked younger without the uniform.
Clara opened the door behind Vance.
“Who?”
“Former deputy.”
“The nervous one?”
Pike heard.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Clara looked him over.
“You hungry?”
Pike blinked.
“I…”
“That’s yes.”
She disappeared inside.
Vance put down the drill.
“What are you doing here?”
Pike looked uncomfortable.
“I wanted to return something.”
He held out a small plastic evidence bag.
Inside was Vance’s old commission badge.
Clean.
The task force had issued a replacement after the original became evidence.
Vance took it.
“They released this?”
“Mercer said I could bring it.”
Vance studied the scratches.
A deep mark ran along the lower edge where Keller’s boot had ground it into gravel.
“Thanks.”
Pike looked at the porch.
“I applied to a community-college program.”
“For?”
“Emergency management.”
Vance nodded.
“Good.”
Pike seemed disappointed by the small reaction.
“What?”
“I thought you’d say something.”
“Like?”
“I don’t know.”
Vance smiled.
“You want a speech?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Clara shouted from inside.
“Food!”
Pike smiled nervously.
Vance gestured toward the door.
“Come on.”
They ate chicken soup.
Clara asked Pike questions direct enough to qualify as interrogation.
Why did he become a deputy?
His father had been one.
Did his father know what happened?
Yes.
Was he angry?
Yes.
At him?
Yes.
Did Pike deserve it?
Probably.
Clara approved of that answer.
After lunch, Pike and Vance stood outside.
The younger man looked toward the fields.
“I keep thinking about the first time.”
Vance waited.
“Keller took forty dollars from a guy.”
“Forty?”
“Truck driver.”
Pike rubbed his hands together.
“He said the guy offered it.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“And you said nothing.”
“No.”
Pike looked ashamed.
“Then the next time was two hundred.”
Vance understood.
“Lines move.”
Pike nodded.
“I thought if I spoke up, I’d lose the job.”
“And then?”
“Eventually I realized keeping the job was changing what kind of person I was.”
Vance looked at him.
“That’s the real danger.”
Pike nodded.
Vance continued.
“People think corruption is about greedy monsters.”
He leaned against the porch rail.
“Sometimes it is.”
Then:
“Mostly it survives because normal people keep finding one more reason to wait.”
Pike looked at the old badge in Vance’s hand.
“Do you think I’m one of the bad ones?”
Vance did not answer quickly.
Pike appreciated that.
Finally:
“I think you failed.”
The young man looked down.