"Three to start with."
"Sounds like enough if they're the right ones."
After Jordan went upstairs, Maya stayed at the table alone. She had wanted to serve Pinebridge County since the first time she saw a deputy help an elderly neighbor after a storm. Eighteen years had taught her that institutions could be both deeply valuable and painfully flawed. Tomorrow would not determine whether she had served honestly; she already knew that. It might determine whether a system she had helped build was strong enough to prove the difference between an accusation and the truth.
The hearing room was full before Richard Cole arrived. Commissioners sat behind a raised table beneath the county seal, reporters lined the rear wall, and an investigator from the state inspector's office checked a display beside two forensic analysts. Thomas Keane appeared by secure video from the federal program office. Maya entered with her attorney, placed her yellow legal pad on the table, and sat without turning toward the cameras.
Owen Blake sat several chairs away from both Cole and Maya. His original notebook rested on his knee, its cover worn at the corners. Cole arrived with two carefully organized folders and greeted several commissioners as if he were attending an ordinary budget hearing. He nodded to Maya once. She returned the nod and looked back toward the front.
Evelyn called the session to order and explained the limits of its purpose. The board was reviewing the personnel decision, the reliability of records submitted in support of that decision, and the county's obligations under Safe Communities. It was not determining criminal liability. It would decide which certifications could presently be relied upon and what independent oversight, if any, the county needed while the state inspector continued.
Cole leaned toward the microphone. "I welcome a complete review."
His opening statement emphasized his responsibility as sheriff. He said Maya's credentials had appeared in an unauthorized export, that protected information had been mishandled, and that he acted to preserve confidence in the department. He described the referral to the state inspector as proof that he was willing to permit outside examination, and he insisted that the termination had not been taken lightly.
Maya listened without writing. When Cole finished, Evelyn asked State Inspector Samuel Mercer to proceed. Mercer was a reserved man with silver-rimmed glasses and the habits of someone who had learned never to confuse a compelling narrative with authenticated evidence. He opened the first digital exhibit, the leak report Cole had submitted, and looked directly at the sheriff.
"Do you recognize this report?"
"Yes."
"Did your office submit it as part of the referral concerning Captain Williams?"
"Yes."
"Do you stand behind it as complete and accurate on the basis of the records available to you?"
"I do."
Mercer displayed the confidentiality acknowledgement next. Cole confirmed that his office had submitted it and that he regarded it as authentic. The inspector then displayed the chain-of-custody certification bearing Cole's authenticated approval. Cole confirmed that the certificate was his and that he had personally stood behind the preservation of the evidence submitted.
"So for the record," Mercer said, "you stand behind the leak report, the confidentiality acknowledgement, and the chain-of-custody certification."