“He told me last week the deputies bring him copies of every report filed in this district.”

“I know they do,” Richard said.

“He told me nobody in this town would ever take a report against him,” she whispered, her voice fading into a hoarse breath.

“He said the whole department belonged to him…”

Richard kept his eyes locked on the center lane, his jaw clenched so hard the muscles in his neck throbbed.

The shame of not having known burned in his chest like hot ash.

He’d spent thirty years assessing threats all over the world, and he’d still missed the danger living twenty miles down the road from his own front door.