Breaking Point

like the type who would love to pull the trigger on Butch. Maybe I can stop him, and make sure Butch is behind bars where he belongs—for his own safety, if nothing else.”
    “That’s good, Joe,” she said, though without her previous enthusiasm. “You sound like you have doubts about their motives.”
    “I don’t doubt their motives one bit,” Joe said. “They’ve got two special agents down. I’d be the same if it were two game wardens. But they need to let the sheriff do his job.”
    When she looked at him askance, Joe said, “We see this kind of thing too much, and it’s a big problem. Sometimes the Feds are too quick to rush in and assume everyone local is incompetent. It’s like an absentee owner who overreacts because they want to make sure everyone knows who’s boss.”
    “But it’s a federal matter, not a local matter.”
    “Do you know the story behind it?” Joe asked.
    “I’ve heard some things.”
    “It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever heard,” Joe said, “if true. And it’s not the first time it’s happened.”
    She said, “That isn’t our concern right now. I’m sure you’re aware of the conflicts going on between the state and the federal government on a variety of fronts. There has even been talk that the Department of Justice
and
the Department of Interior may sue us because of decisions Governor Rulon has made. He doesn’t want another problem.”
    “No one does.”
    “Maybe,” she said, reaching across the table and touching his hand again in an odd gesture that belied what she said next:
“Maybe you’re a little too close to the people involved.”
    Joe looked back, stung by the truth in it, and said, “And maybe you’re too far away.”
    Her smile wasn’t a smile at all, and he knew at that moment that one of the reasons she was offering him the new job fell partially under the category of
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer
.
    Her iPhone started skittering across the table, and she caught it and looked at the display screen.
    “I need to take this,” she said. “See what I mean about pressures?” And she slid out of the booth. He watched her as she walked swiftly through the atrium, talking on the cell and gesticulating wildly with her free hand.
    —
    S HE RETURNED as he finished his breakfast. A new fruit plate had been delivered that, Joe thought, looked exactly like the first, except moister. He wondered if MayVonne and the cook had spit on it.
    Lisa Greene-Dempsey glared at it and pushed it aside and said, “There has to be somewhere I can get fresh food in this town if I have to go to the supermarket myself. Unfortunately, I came here in the governor’s Suburban and I don’t know where he is right now. I assume your town doesn’t have any taxis?”
    “Correct. But I’d be happy to take you,” Joe said.
    “You would?” she asked, genuinely pleased.
    “I’ve got an errand to run first,” he said, “if you don’t mind.”
    “Not at all.”
    He grabbed the check. He didn’t feel right about her buying his breakfast when she didn’t eat.
    Joe said, “Before you make all your plans to transform the agency, do you want to come along and see a little of what I do?”
    “Then you’ll take me to the supermarket?” she asked, looking at her watch.
    “Yup. Come with me, Director LGD.”
    “I’ll get my jacket.”
    —
    A T THE CASH REGISTER, MayVonne looked at him and shook her head.
    “Piece of work you’ve got there,” she said.
    “My new boss.”
    “I could tell she wasn’t from around here. Is she staying long?”
    Joe shrugged.
    “Because if she does, her and me are going to go round and round like two wet socks,” MayVonne said, ringing him up.
    Joe grinned. He had no idea what she was talking about, but he got the gist.
    “One more thing,” MayVonne said, lowering her voice in a way that made Joe take notice. “If those assholes did to Butch Roberson like I heard they did, I hope he takes out the whole damned lot of them.”
    Joe said, “You may not want to mention that to the governor if you see him.”
    She said, “I already did.”
    “What?”
    “I saw him this morning,” she said with a wry grin. “He had biscuits and gravy, and he left me a nice tip.”
    “Did he say where he was going?”
    “Yeah,” she said, smirking. “He said he was going crazy.”

11
    “HIS NAME IS BRYCE PENDERGAST,” JOE SAID TO Lisa Greene-Dempsey, “and his partner in crime is a guy named Ryan