“Excuse me?”
“You do not have authorization to access that device.”
“I’m the sheriff.”
“That does not change the answer.”
Something hardened behind his eyes.
Sarah saw it immediately.
Not rage yet.
Injury.
Authority encountering a boundary.
Boone stood.
He came around the desk.
“You’re in my station.”
Sarah looked around.
“This is a county building.”
His smile disappeared.
Evan closed his eyes for half a second.
Wrong sentence.
Not legally.
Emotionally.
Boone moved closer.
“Say that again.”
Sarah looked directly at him.
“This is a county building.”
Boone grabbed her upper arm and forced her back into the chair.
The metal legs scraped across the tile.
Evan stepped forward.
“Sheriff.”
Boone ignored him.
“You know what your problem is?”
Sarah’s cuffed hands rested calmly in her lap.
“You keep asking that as though you want an answer.”
The sheriff stared at her.
Then laughed again.
Shorter this time.
Meaner.
He slapped the secure phone from one palm into the other.
“You come through my county in a government-looking sedan.”
Sarah said nothing.
“You refuse to tell my deputy why you’re here.”
“I answered the questions relevant to the traffic stop.”
“You refused a vehicle search.”
“Yes.”
“Refused to unlock this.”
“Yes.”
“Corrected me in front of my own people.”
Sarah glanced toward Evan.
Then back.
“I corrected inaccurate statements.”
Boone’s face reddened.
He suddenly threw the secure phone into the metal property tray.
CLANG.
The sound echoed across the booking room.
Sarah’s gaze shifted to the device.
For the first time since Boone had met her, he saw something that resembled concern.
He smiled.
“There.”
He leaned closer.
“Finally found something you care about.”
Sarah looked back at him.
“You should put it back where you found it.”
“Or what?”
“No threat.”
“Sounds like one.”
“It is information.”
Boone laughed.
“Everything with you is information.”
He gave the tray another shove across the desk.
The phone slid against the steel.
Then he kicked Sarah’s black handbag away from her chair.
The bag struck a cabinet and fell onto its side.
Evan stepped forward again.
“Sheriff, come on.”
Boone turned.
“You want to join her?”
Evan froze.
There it was.
Not an order.
A warning disguised as a joke.
Sarah watched him.
Evan’s jaw tightened.
But he stopped moving.
Boone returned his attention to her.
“You got a lawyer?”
“Yes.”
“Call them.”
Sarah looked toward him.
He opened a drawer, removed an old corded landline receiver, and threw it onto the desk.
The handset bounced once.
“Go ahead.”
He sat again and spread both arms.
“Call your lawyer.”
Sarah looked at the receiver.
“Call your husband.”
Nothing.
“Boyfriend.”
Nothing.
“Daddy.”
That earned him a look.