That answer surprised him.
Her mouth curved into the smallest smile.
“That’s why I’m counting the recordings.”
The sheriff’s boot lifted from her back.
Only for a moment.
Then came down again.
Harder.
Elena grimaced.
Not dramatically.
Enough.
“Five.”
Hollis’s face reddened.
“Five what?”
Elena turned her head toward the station entrance.
The external security camera.
The dash camera.
Mason’s body camera.
Her own body camera.
Sheriff Hollis had ordered all deputies to wear them during public contacts after a lawsuit two years earlier.
He had apparently forgotten Elena’s was still running.
Or assumed he controlled the footage.
Normally, he did.
Not today.
Elena said:
“Five is aggravated intimidation of a witness after I told you I was preserving a misconduct report.”
The sheriff’s expression changed.
There it was.
The first trace of uncertainty.
Mason looked between them.
“Sheriff…”
Hollis snapped toward him.
“Shut your mouth.”
Mason did.
Elena closed her eyes.
Not from pain.
From disappointment.
Eleven weeks.
She had hoped that at the moment it mattered, Mason might be different.
Maybe he still could be.
Sheriff Hollis bent closer.
“You listen to me, Deputy Torres.”
Elena opened her eyes.
“You are a probationary hire in my county.”
“Not your county.”
Hollis’s jaw tightened.
She continued.
“Red Mesa County.”
His face came closer.
“Same thing.”
There it was.
The sentence investigators back in Austin had spent months trying to prove.
Same thing.
The sheriff believed county and self were interchangeable.
Elena looked directly into his eyes.
“No.”
A radio crackled inside the nearest cruiser.
Everyone froze.
Static.
Then a dispatcher’s voice.
Not the normal Red Mesa dispatcher.
Female.
Professional.
Calm.
“All Red Mesa County units, maintain current positions.”
Sheriff Hollis straightened.
Mason stared at his shoulder microphone.
Another transmission followed.
“Do not deactivate body-worn cameras.”
The sheriff looked toward Elena.
She smiled faintly.
“Six.”
His face lost color.
The radio continued.
“State Public Integrity Task Force personnel are entering sheriff’s office property from the south and east gates.”
Mason whispered:
“What the hell?”
Sheriff Hollis stepped completely away from Elena.
She rolled onto one side.
Pain moved across her shoulder.
She ignored it.
The sheriff looked toward the gate.
Three unmarked SUVs appeared beyond the chain-link fence.
Then a marked state vehicle.
Then another.
No sirens.
No dramatic convoy.
Just movement.
Controlled.
Deliberate.
Sheriff Hollis looked down at Elena.
“Who are you?”
She slowly pushed herself onto one knee.
Dust streaked the front of her tan uniform.
One elbow had torn.
Her cheek carried a thin scrape.
She reached for neither the sheriff nor her weapon.