“Thank you, Chief.”
“The Sheriff wants to see you today, after you finish here.”
“I’ll go right over.”
“Have a good one,” he said as she left his office.
***
When she reached the Sheriff’s office, it looked like a happy mob out front. She parked at the County Courthouse and walked through the crowd to the front door, with people backslapping her and shaking her hand all the way.
Once inside, she looked at Joe Kitchens, one of the older Deputies she’d known for years, and said, “Has it been like this all morning?”
“Sure has. It’s like we’ve got Elvis in the building.”
“Who?”
Kitchens’ eyebrows raised, “You don’t know who Elvis…oh, you’re bad.”
Hunter winked at him as the Sheriff stepped into the hall and waved her to him.
“Come in,” Danny said. He looked tired, with dark half-moons like bruises under his eyes.
She said, “You holding up?”
“Yeah. I’ll sure be glad when the election’s over tomorrow, though.”
“As popular as you are after yesterday, the only candidate that might have a chance against you is the Pope, and he’s not on the ballot. You’re going to win by a landslide, Danny.”
She caught herself, but the Sheriff gave her a tired smile and waved his hand, “It’s alright. I’m getting used to it.” He scratched his ear and said, “I’ve talked to your Chief already, and you’ll need to hang around today.”
“What’s up?”
“Oh, little things like CNN, Univision, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, the AP and UPI, not to mention investigators from the State’s Homeland Security division, and the CIA. I hear NSA’s sending some folks down, too. They asked if we knew where Mona Ingram was, and how they could get in contact with her. Do you know where she is, since the fire burned her house?”
“I think she’s in Alpine. I’ll find out.”
“You might want to talk to her first, give her a heads up on what’s coming.”
“I will.”
Danny said, “I’m sure they’ll talk to everybody they can while they’re here, and so will the news teams.”
“I’ll tell Sam Kinney, too.”
“Good. He’s staying in Presidio, right?”
“Sometimes in Terlingua, but mostly in Presidio.”
“I wonder how he and his Mexican friend are doing today.”
“I’m hoping all right.”
***
Sam and Miguel were at the Enlightened Bean and couldn’t pay for anything. The small restaurant was crowded with well-wishers, and the owners must have taken a hundred photos of the two men posing with fans. When there was a small break in the adoration, Sam said to Miguel, “We may have to shoot our way out of here.”
The corner of Miguel’s mouth lifted a fraction as he said, “We do not have enough bullets.”