“Yes, he did. I read the summary of your interview with him. I wasn’t allowed inside. Nobody was. It doesn’t get much clearer than that, does it?”

“What are you getting at, Sheriff?” Darrell asked.

Jerry reached into a drawer and pulled out a manila envelope, which he slapped on the desk. He jabbed at it with his finger. “Ajax gave me the results of the fingerprint analysis today. He dusted Gordon’s whole office, and guess what?”

Darrell and I stared at the envelope. We could guess what was in it.

“Jay Brink’s prints are all over the office,” Jerry went on. “He was there. He lied.”

I frowned. “Maybe Jay was in there when they first moved in. Before Gordon set up his office.”

“In the bedroom?” Jerry asked.

I stared at him. “What?”

“The bedroom. The bed. Right where Gordon was murdered. Jay’s prints are there, too.”

Darrell stood up, and I knew he was angry. Angry at Jay lying to us. Angry at being embarrassed in front of his boss. “We’ll talk to him.”

“Do that. But enough of the pussyfooting around, Darrell. Put the fear of God in this kid. Let him know we mean business. Like I said, either he butchered his father or he knows who did. Get him to admit it.”

“Yes, sir.”

Darrell headed for the office door, but as I stood up to follow him, Jerry held up his hand. “Deputy Todd, stay here a minute. I need to talk to you.”

From the doorway, Darrell gave me a look to see if I wanted him to stay. I signaled no, even though I figured my head was on the chopping block. Darrell went outside and closed the door behind him, and I sat down in the chair again. The sheriff’s anger had dissolved into a cold, calm formality, and in my experience, that was worse than when he blew up at you.

“Deputy Todd,” he said.

“Actually, it’s Deputy Colder from now on, sir. Ricky and I are splitting up.”

“Rebecca, I don’t care if you want to call yourself Deputy Dawg.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Ajax has filed a complaint against you.”

My mouth fell open. “What?”

“He says you assaulted him at the 126 on Sunday night. You slapped him and gave him a deep gash on his cheek.”

“I—well, I did, but he—”

“He says you needed to use the bathroom facilities after drinking too much beer, and he offered to let you use the men’s room because the line for the women’s bathroom was too long. After you came out of the stall, you began making sexual advances toward him. When he declined, you persisted. At that time, your husband entered the bathroom, and you covered your inappropriate behavior by striking a fellow deputy.”