Sitting in his Hummer with the seat back, he had his feet up on the dash and was reading the paper. It was getting fairly late—eight-fifteen, according to the clock in her cruiser—but the sun hadn’t yet gone down. Sophia didn’t know how long he’d been parked in front of her house, but he was the last person she wanted to see. Twisting the rearview mirror toward her, she quickly checked her makeup. Would he be able to tell she’d been crying? Yes… Of course he would. Swollen eyes stared back at her from a splotchy face. Even her nose was red from the number of times she’d blown it since leaving that council meeting. He opened her door while she took her time collecting her purse and other belongings. “I dropped by the station,” he said. “I thought you’d be starting at eight, as usual. But the place was locked up. What’s going on?” Briefly protected by the curtain of her hair as it fell forward, she slipped her car keys in her purse. “The sheriff’s office is covering for me tonight.”
