And Power wasn't a Mormon. That could be a benefit. McBride had carried the Mormon vote, and the Mormon vote had carried him. It would be good to pick up some additional strength before the next elections. On the other hand, he did owe the Mormon community for his victory, and they would want a Mormon, not a Gentile, in the undersheriff's office. Though Mormons were the majority in Graham County, their history was that of a minority, an outside-the-mainstream religious sect, viewed with suspicion and distrust. The killing of their founder and leader, Joseph Smith, in 1844 and the fear that people held for Brigham Young and his protector, Porter Rockwell, still echoed into the twentieth century. The massacre of 120 people by the Mormons at Mountain Meadows and the whole business of polygamy, which had been largely, but not completely, left behind, seemed to the Gentiles clear proof that the Mormons were a sect led by a succession of madmen. And McBride had won only the northern section of the county, which was Mormon. He didn't have a lot of support in the south, where he and all Mormons were likely to be seen with some distrust.

Though he continued to think about Power and the odd meeting, McBride never really considered Power. He knew that Power was involved in the illegal rodeos that moved through the southern reaches of the county, and he was fairly sure that Power had some connection to the bootlegging that plagued the state. People were already talking about the probability that the law was entangled in the bootlegging, whether simply turning a blind eye or actively running the operation.

McBride himself had suggested that Sheriff Alger's connection with various bootleggers, evidenced by the lack of convictions of arrested bootleggers, was the largest legal problem in Graham County. And the church, which had put its resources behind him, was adamant about the necessity of prohibition in the county, in the state, and, soon, in the nation. He wanted support from the Gentiles. He wanted to be the people's, all people's, sheriff, but he understood that it was the Mormon vote that allowed him to win despite the surprising success of the Republicans in the state elections. It was the Mormons to whom he owed the greatest allegiance.