Page 147 of Head Room

Trying to put Randy Hollister into the role of conspirator challenged the imagination.

She picked up more formally, “In the meantime, we need to talk to Russ immediately —youneed to, both of you, Elizabeth and Mike.You two go now.I’ll check with Russ.If there’s an issue, like he’s not there— I’ll call before you get there.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

Mike closed thedoor to the sheriff’s office behind us.Neither of the men already in the room did anything so overt as lift an eyebrow.

But they might as well have.Their blinks changed cadence.

So there, poker faces.

Mike said hello.No one else did.

We sat and I started.

Telling them what we knew, not how we knew it.

When I finished, Russ Conrad and Shelton looked at us for more beats than seemed reasonable.

Then Conrad reached over, hit a speed dial on his phone and spoke.“Mrs.Martin, will you please ask Jarvis—”

Jarvis Abbott, the county attorney.

“—to join me in my office.Immediately...Yes, my office.”

“Russ—”

The sheriff cut across Mike.“We’ll wait for Jarvis.Do this once.”

Mike and I looked at each other.Neither of us had answers.

As far as I could tell, neither Conrad nor Shelton looked at anybody.They had that cop trick of looking at nothing without appearing to be unfocused.

Finally, a knock.Hallelujah.

“Come in.”

Jarvis Abbott was trim — both in physique and grooming, with white hair and a white mustache.He must have been in a hurry, because he hadn’t brought his usual cowboy hat, which made him barely taller than me.

He was a veritable active emotional volcano.He raised one eyebrow.

Conrad said, “KWMT-TV knows the real identity of our job applicant.”

I breathed out through my nose.

Not a surprise that they knew, considering their reaction.Still, confirmation is confirmation.

“For a story—?”

Mike spoke before Jarvis finished.“That remains to be seen.We have an obligation to the community—”

“As do we.”

Jarvis and Mike looked at each other for several beats.Without looking away, the attorney said, “Might as well tell them, Russ.”

The sheriff said, “We are aware of this person’s background.He used a name other than the one under which he was decertified in another state to apply for a position in the Cottonwood County Sheriff’s Department.”

I tried to pin them down.“He faked his ID to apply here?”