"Sherry, have a seat."

Mark Echols and Danny Johnson were waiting for Sherry in their shared office. She took a chair in front of the two desks that were pushed together to form a joint workspace. Echols sat at one desk, Danny at the other. Danny wore a pair of reading glasses low on the bridge of his nose and gave Sherry a friendly smile. Echols, never one for warm and fuzzy feeling, just stared at her while sipping coffee.

"That whole mess with Roland Spencer and Chew Lewis was some damn fine leg work, Sherry," said Danny.

"Thank you," she mumbled. "I just... was doing my job."

"You did it well," said Echols. "Have you given much thought to moving up from patrol?"

"Like where?"

"Like here," said Danny. "Work CID. Mark and I both agree you've got the makings of a good detective."

"I don't know," Sherry said cautiously. She worked her hands together and shrugged. "I don't know if I'm that smart."

"Smart ain't all there is to it," Echols said. "It's part of it, sure, but a bigger part is not giving up and keep digging. You did that on the Spencer case. As far as Danny and I are concerned, you solved a murder on your own accord."

Sherry felt herself flushing with embarrassment. The two observant detectives caught it and traded amused looks.

"With Scott's death, Sheriff Parker is promoting Mark to captain and making him head of CID," said Danny. "I'll be getting a promotion to lieutenant, and I'll need a partner to work cases with. With the black/white balance Sheriff Parker likes to keep, I'll need a white officer. We want it to be you."

"The job won't be easy--," said Echols.

"--especially with Mark as your commander."

"-- lots of paperwork and late nights when the shit hits the fan, like it did over the past week. But it comes with a sergeancy and a pay bump. Instead of being reactive, you'll be proactive. What do you say?"

Sherry looked between the two men's expectant faces before she let a smile slip out.

"When do we start?"


--


"Have a drink with me, captain," Parker said to Echols. 

Parker broke out a bottle of scotch he kept in his office and poured two tumblers full. The two men toasted Echols' promotion and sipped in silence for several minutes. Echols saw the silence made Parker uncomfortable. The man was a natural politician, he needed to always be talking and proving some point. Echols always let the silence speak for him. In those quiet moments you could read a man better than if you asked a hundred questions. The uncomfortableness turned into something more, Echols noticed. Parker was deciding something, Echols could now tell.

"Mark," he said slowly.

The sheriff reached into his desk and pulled out a thick file that he slapped on the surface.

"This file right here is the only copy in the world. This won't be found in our records or computer databases."

"What is it?" Echols asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Proof that Scott Andrews was working for Billy Brown."

Echols' eyes went wide at the information. He put his drink down and flipped through it. Thre was bank statements, asset reports, surveillance photos, even a sworn affidavit or two nailing Andrews dead to rights as Billy's point man on the PCSD. It wasn't so much the fact that Scott had been dirty that blew his mind, it was that Parker had concrete evidence.

"How long have you known?" he asked the sheriff.

"I've known for sure for a few years now, but I've always known. Just like you always knew. Just like everyone always knew."

Echols closed the file and looked up at Parker. "When are you giving it to SLED?"

"I'm not."

"Excuse me?"

"This file will destroy the sheriff's department. For someone that high up to be working for Billy for so long with cause the state police to bring down their wrath and scorch the goddamn earth. I'll be thrown out of office, a new sheriff will come in with a mandate to clean up the department. You and Danny will probably be asked to resign, along with half the department. One bad apple will spoil the whole bushel, son. I don't want that to happen."

Echols grabbed his drink and polished it off in two gulps. He wiped the liquor from his lips and put the glass back on the desk a little too roughly.

"Why tell me all this, sheriff?"

"Because Billy Brown is so goddamn arrogant, he's gonna try to keep up business as usual. You taking over as head of CID means either Billy himself or one of his men is gonna approach you with an offer. They're going to reveal they had an arrangement with Scott and they want the same arrangement with you. They'll probably offer cash for muscle work and information from inside the PCSD. If that happens, Mark, I want you to say yes..."

Parker refilled their glasses and sucked his drink down as quickly as Echols did.

"I want Billy to think you're his man inside the PCSD, when--"

"-- I'm your man inside Billy's organization?"

Parker nodded and broke out in a big grin.

"I'm tired of that cocksucker thinking he can walk all over the people in this county. By God, we're taking the fight back to him. What do you say?"

Echols held up his empty glass. 

"To seeing Billy Brown die behind bars."

Parker laughed and clinked glasses with Echols.

"Here, here."