The room went silent.
The clerk slowly took off her glasses and stood up from her chair. The deputy at the computer pushed back from the screen like it had suddenly gotten hot.
Miller turned toward the sheriff’s office. His voice shook.
“Sir,” he called. “Sir, you need to come out here. Right now.”
Voss came out of his office with an irritated scowl, ready to chew somebody out.
Then he saw the credential case in Miller’s trembling hand.
His face changed so fast that even the deputies standing next to him noticed. The swagger went out of his shoulders.
“That’s impossible,” he muttered. He snatched the credentials out of Miller’s hand and held them up to the fluorescent light, turning them over like he expected to find a price sticker on the back.
Before he could say another word, my phone lit up again on the booking desk. The screen showed a preview of the message from Chief Judge Brennan’s secure line, and Miller was close enough to read it.
“Amara, where are you? Call immediately. The FBI has advised that the Pell County investigation is moving today. Agents may be on the ground in Halvorsen Springs this afternoon. Please confirm you are safe and away from the sheriff’s office.”
Miller went completely white.
I finally raised my eyes to Voss.
“Sheriff,” I said, “you told me nobody was coming to save me.”
In the distance, very faint at first, sirens were approaching.
“You were right about one thing,” I said. “Someone is coming. But they aren’t coming for me.”
Voss stood frozen behind the booking desk, gripping my credentials as if he could make them disappear by staring at them long enough. Around him, the deputies traded frightened glances. The confidence was gone from their faces, and panic had taken its place.
I stayed seated with my hands still cuffed behind me and watched the man who’d threatened me a few minutes earlier fumble for something to say.
“This has to be a mistake,” he finally muttered. “Nobody told me a federal judge was in my county.”
Miller swallowed hard and glanced at the front entrance.
“Sir, those credentials are official. And that message came straight from the Chief Judge’s office.”
Voss snapped at him to shut up, but his voice didn’t carry the way it had in the diner. He turned toward me and tried to smile. It came out as a grimace.
“Judge Whitlock,” he said, “if that’s really who you are, maybe we can clear up this unfortunate misunderstanding privately.”
I tilted my head.
“You arrested me without probable cause,” I said. “You accused me of resisting when I never resisted. You told me no one would hear me scream.” My voice stayed calm, but every officer in that room heard every word. “And now that you know who I am, you’d like to resolve things privately?”
Voss opened his mouth, then shut it when he saw his deputies listening.
