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Troy was encouraged He’d co He sensed that she ain Troy assu, over dinner, they’d decide once and for all whether to pick up where they’d left off

He arrived at the office, hisbefore reality struck its first blow

Troy hadn’t been at his desk more than ten minutes when he received a visit from his hter of private detective Roy McAfee and his wife, although they’d o Apparently, Roy and Corrie had broken up for a while in college, not knowing Corrie was pregnant She’d relinquished the baby for adoption

Years later, Gloria, now an adult, had sought thehter were, in personality and in interests They’d both gone into law enforceh Roy had retired fro, Sheriff" Gloria entered his office, hands clasped in front of her

"Sit down," he said, gesturing toward one of the visitor chairs

"If you don’t mind, I’d rather stand"

"Whatever you prefer" She seemed uncomfortable and he wondered why

Her shoulders were squared, her back straight and her eyes just ive you a heads-up about an arrest I ht"

"All right" It was obvious that this hadn’t been a routine ain she avoided eye contact "I saw a car with a burned-out headlight When I turned around and followed the vehicle, the driver made an effort to evade me"

"You pulled the car over?"

"I did" She paused "I quickly assessed that the driver was intoxicated I asked hiet out of his car and step away fro the routine checks, I gave hi 08 I im out of the ordinary and didn’t warrant Troy’s attention "Is there a reason you’ve come to tell me this personally?" he asked

"Yes" She nodded curtly

At that hter The set of her jaw, the unyielding line of her mouth, was all Roy

"The driver was Mayor Louie Benson"

Troy felt like groaning out loud Well, so be it The laas the law "I see"

"He lawyered up right away," Gloria went on to tell him

Troy wouldn’t have expected any less "His brother Otto’s an attorney I iain "His attorney met us at the jail"

This ard, but he’d handled aard situations before "I appreciate the advance warning"

Her gaze found his and he read the doubt in her eyes "I wanted you to know…"

"Did Mayor Benson point out that he was an elected official or did you recognize him?"

"Both," she said "I kneho he was as soon as he stepped out of the car and then he toldis--" She hesitated and then looked away "He was belligerent when I first pulled him over"

"I…see" Troy had known Benson for years on a casual basis, although they’d never been close friends The mayor had been kind when Sandy died and insisted Troy take all the tie, Troy couldn’t re him with a drink in his hand, not even at the social functions they’d both attended This behavior seemed co for Troy to comment "I came to discuss this with you because I wanted to be sure I’d done the right thing, taking Benson into custody"

"You did" Aard situation or not, Gloria wasn’t to blaood sense to knohen enough was enough Sometimes people in the public eye felt they’d been awarded some form of entitlement that placed their actions above the law

"Mayor Benson asked me to cut him some slack" Gloria clasped and unclasped her hands "I checked his driving record, and it’s clean He doesn’t have soviolation"

Troy nodded Still, that didn’t give him a clear picture It could ranted a free ride or some deputy had conveniently looked the other way

Gloria stared down at the floor "He said if I issued him a DUI, he’d see to it that I was fired from my job"

"In other words, he threatened you" Troy had to believe Louie didn’t knohat he was saying He could charge the mayor with a further offense, but he didn’t want to do that, as htly as though she’d never intended to ad he said The thing is, Sheriff, I enjoy working in Cedar Cove and I’d hate this incident to tarnish my career in law enforce to happen Not on Troy’s watch, anyway "You have nothing to worry about, Ashton You did your job If there’s any political flack over this, I’ll deal with it"

He felt, ht later that I should’ve contacted you at the tiuess yourself You h in retrospect, Troy wished she had called him It wouldn’t have made any difference to the outcoardless But it ht have eased Gloria’sabout Troy’s reaction to the news

"Like I said, you did your job" He glanced at his watch "Aren’t you off duty?"