“You would've been a good lawyer.”
“I like children more.”
“Questionable judgment.”
She laughed.
Then became serious.
“Come home when you can.”
“I will.”
Malcolm slept badly.
The next morning he met Deputy Lena Ruiz at a diner outside the courthouse.
She had called Rebecca Shaw first.
That mattered.
Not secret.
Not improper.
A request to speak through counsel.
Rebecca sat two booths away.
Ruiz drank coffee.
Hands shaking slightly.
“I need to tell you something.”
Malcolm waited.
“Sheriff Harlan breaks IDs.”
His expression did not change.
“How often?”
“I've seen three.”
“Before mine?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He says fraudulent cards should be destroyed.”
“Policy?”
“No.”
“State law?”
“No.”
“Department procedure?”
“No.”
“Does anyone report it?”
Ruiz looked toward the window.
“That’s the problem.”
“Explain.”
“When people are booked, property gets inventoried.”
“If license is already broken, intake writes damaged ID.”
“Then charge is suspended license, no valid ID, whatever.”
“People complain.”
“Who do they complain to?”
“The sheriff.”
Malcolm stared.
“Internal affairs?”
Ruiz laughed without humor.
“Two deputies.”
“One reports to Harlan.”
“County board?”
“Mostly budget oversight.”
“State?”
“Sometimes.”
“What happens?”
“Nothing I can see.”
Malcolm leaned back.
“How long have you worked there?”
“Six years.”
“How long have you known?”
“About the IDs?”
“Three.”
“About other problems?”
She looked at him.
“What do you think?”
“I don’t want what I think.”
“I want what you know.”
That answer changed her expression.
Ruiz reached into her bag.
Rebecca appeared beside them immediately.
“Before anything comes out,” she said, “we need to clarify whether this is department property.”
Ruiz nodded.
“Copies.”
“Of?”
“Property logs.”
“Tow logs.”
“Cash seizure sheets.”
Rebecca sat.
“Who gave you authority to copy them?”
“No one.”
“Then do not hand them over to us yet.”
Ruiz froze.
Malcolm nodded.
“My lawyer is right.”
Disappointment crossed her face.
“I thought you wanted proof.”
“I want proof that survives.”
He looked toward the folder.
“If you violated law or policy collecting it, we need counsel to handle that correctly.”
Ruiz swallowed.
“I can tell investigators where to look.”
“Yes.”
“That may be enough.”
It was.
Over the next month, the Red Mesa review expanded.
Not publicly at first.
Judge Harper authorized focused preservation and document requests under the existing monitoring order.
The state attorney general’s public-integrity section joined for limited review of cash and property handling.