She picked up her notepad. Professional. That was how she got through this. It was the first time and it would almost certainly be the hardest. It would be easier in a couple of weeks. She would be able to smile at him and not feel sick inside. In a month or two, she wouldn’t feel sick. She would be wistful. In a year, maybe she would question what she ever saw in him. All she had to do was wait and time would work wonders. It always did. “How did he come to be injured, Sheriff?”

He hesitated as though he’d expected something different, but he quickly regained his footing. “I pulled him over on the highway. He was swerving, and it wasn’t all about Otis. He ran his car into a ditch. I think he was trying to get away from me. Didn’t do a good job.”

“So he was in a car accident?” Was it wrong that she was hoping for something complex? Maybe he had internal injuries. That would take her mind off things.

“Not exactly. He was going about twenty miles an hour. I’m pretty sure he thought he was in a high-speed chase. There might be more than alcohol in that kid’s system. He went off the road and slid into the mud. It’s been raining, so that land off the highway is incredibly soft. Herve is going to have to haul that car out.”

She knew the place. She avoided it. If Otis was on the road at that point in the highway, she waited him out. It was precisely why she’d loaded up her phone with audiobooks. It wasn’t because she’d read a couple of old-school bodice rippers she’d found in her now torched house and gotten addicted. “So how did he injure his ankle?”

It was the romances. She could blame them for all the heartfelt icky love stuff. She’d read too many romance books in the last couple of weeks, and they’d affected her brain.

“I tried to give him a field sobriety test,” Armie admitted. “I know. It’s obvious he’s plastered, but I have to follow protocol. He tripped and landed wrong. I knew I needed to bring him in here before I take him to lockup. I don’t think he’s dangerous or I promise I would have brought in Roxie or Major to stay in the room with him.”

“It’s okay.” It wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. “I’ve dealt with plenty worse. The hospital I worked at in Dallas served the county jail system, so it won’t be the first time I’ve treated a prisoner. Is there anything else? I’ll go take a look at him and then we’ll get an X-ray.”

“Are you all right?” Armie asked, his tone going low.