"How were you paid?"
"Sometimes cash from Talbot. Sometimes overtime I hadn't worked. Then Andrew Mercer's company put me on invoices for security consulting. I didn't do any consulting. I knew what the payments were."
He described warehouse arrivals, false dispatch entries, and private trucks that collected equipment listed as received by emergency departments. Talbot managed the inventory changes. Andrew supplied vehicles, labor, and storage space. Keller helped open gates and keep other deputies away. Mercer, he claimed, decided which times were safe, reassured anyone who complained, and used his office to discourage scrutiny.
"You're asking us to believe the sheriff personally directed a theft operation?" Claire said.
"Yes."
"What independent evidence can confirm that?"
Keller hesitated. "There's a notebook. Andrew kept it in the office at his yard. Blue cover, grease on the spine. He wrote down every load because he didn't trust Talbot to pay him correctly."
Nia made a note. "Anything else?"
"A storage property near the old Ash Grove waterworks. They use the maintenance buildings behind the fenced lot. I was there twice. Some of the rescue drones were still in their boxes. They were supposed to be moved out of state this week."
"How do you know?" Simone asked.
"Talbot said a buyer had arranged pickup. He wanted the yard empty before the county's next audit."
Simone felt the room become more focused. The case had spent months following devices that were long gone by the time investigators reached an invoice. If Keller was telling the truth, a substantial quantity of equipment might still be sitting inside reachable buildings.
"Did Mercer know about that location?" she asked.
"He approved it. Andrew was worried about neighbors seeing trucks at his regular shop. Sheriff told him the waterworks were private property and nobody would be asking questions there."
"Did you personally hear Mercer say that?"
"Yes. At the yard office. Talbot and Andrew were there."
Claire made no expression that could be mistaken for belief or disbelief. "We'll check it. What happened this morning with Agent Carter?"
Keller swallowed hard. "Sheriff got a call before sunrise. Talbot told him the FBI had recovered records from Ridgewell's storage unit. He said a woman in a black SUV was taking the evidence east and the county had one chance to find out what was inside."
"Who told Talbot which car to look for?" Simone asked.
"He didn't say. Mercer gave me the plate number before I got in my cruiser. Told me to stand by near Alder Street. He said he'd find a reason to stop you and I was to help him inspect the rear."
"Did you know I was an FBI agent?"
"I suspected it. Mercer said it didn't matter. He said if we found what Talbot was worried about, we'd call it recovered stolen county property and get it into our evidence room."
Simone let the implications settle. The sheriff had not stopped her because she appeared to cross a line. He had tried to take possession of evidence that could expose his associates, then used a traffic explanation to justify the encounter. That was Keller's account. It required verification. But it fit the sequence of the morning in ways Mercer could not explain.