Lyman stood to describe his search. He said Audrey had appeared nervous, that his training led him to inspect beneath the driver's seat, and that the bottle was found in the place named in his report. Audrey did not interrupt. She let his version become complete enough to compare with the surviving documents.
When the panel invited her to respond, Audrey requested permission to inspect the bag without opening it. The presiding member agreed. She raised it toward the light, turned it slowly, and found the little orange circle exactly where she remembered seeing a mark beside Lyman's fingers.
"Exit 74," she read. "Three dollars and twenty-nine cents."
The room fell silent. Rusk leaned forward. Derek looked toward the bag, and for an instant he seemed to encounter the bottom of the bottle for the first time. Audrey lowered the bag and set it on the table.
"Sheriff," she said, "the bottle your deputy says he found under my seat still carries a store sticker from the fuel market where your county purchasing card was used that morning. I have the duplicate receipt and matching county card record."
"Anybody could've put a sticker on there," Lyman said quickly.
"That is a possibility you would need evidence to support. It also means the bottle's handling history matters. I hope the evidence-room records are complete."
Drummond objected that a sticker and receipt did not identify who bought the bottle, and he was right about the limits of those two items. Audrey acknowledged the point rather than attacking it. "Then a recording of the transaction could resolve a question the paper alone cannot," she said. "I have asked the company to preserve the relevant video."
The presiding member said the council could not compel a private store in the course of this judicial conduct review. Audrey agreed. She explained that a separate action had been filed and an outside judge was being assigned. The panel postponed its finding pending additional documentary evidence, leaving Audrey's courtroom duties on hold.
Rusk carried the evidence bag toward the exit. He stopped near Audrey and lowered his voice. "You found a sticker, Judge. Congratulations. I've still got the bottle."
"For now," Audrey replied. "The rest of the record is still being counted."
Eckert joined her in the elevator. She had remained silent in the hearing room, observing the same limits she expected of everyone else. Now she looked toward the closed doors and asked how much time remained before the store's camera overwrote the October second footage.
"Until around one on Sunday morning. Two days."
"And still no outside judge?"
"Not yet."
"A sticker isn't a camera, Audrey."
"I know."
"I hope you also know that a deadline doesn't become less real because you've decided to be principled about it."