The sun-bleached asphalt turned to compacted dirt as the road straightened, and the car juddered and rattled. Now they passed the houses Audra had seen from the hillside, and the disrepair became clearer. Some of the owners had done their best to cheer the buildings with bright paint and wind chimes, particularly those with For Sale signs staked in the yards, but she could sense the desperation through the glass.
She knew poor when she saw it because she was only a generation removed herself. Her mother’s parents hadn’t lived in the desert glare, rather the gray skies of rural Pennsylvania, but their dying steel town had the same ragged edges. On the occasions they travelled there from New York, she had played on a rusted swing set in the garden as her mother visited with them, her grandfather years out of work, their last days looming bleak before them.
Audra wondered why this place got the name Silver Water. Must be a river or a lake nearby, she thought. Communities in a desert must have gathered around a source of water. And what kept them here? Who would choose to make their lives in such a hard place where the sun could strip the skin from your back?
The houses on either side of the road grew more concentrated, but still hardly enough to make a street. Among the prefabs, a few more permanent dwellings made of wood, the paint blistering and peeling on the walls. An elderly man in shorts and a vest paused from checking his mailbox to raise a forefinger in greeting to the sheriff. Whiteside returned the gesture, his forefinger lifted for a moment from the steering wheel. The old man eyed Audra as they passed, his eyes narrowing.
An auto repair shop, long since closed down, its signage faded. More houses, aligned along the roadside now, some tidier than others. The road smoothed and widened, and a sidewalk joined its path toward the town. A church, so brilliant white it hurt Audra’s eyes to look at it. She averted her gaze, out through the front windshield, and saw single-and two-story buildings stretch ahead for perhaps half a mile, and she realized the main street lay on the other side of the wooden bridge they approached.
She looked over the railing as they crossed, expecting to see a flowing river. Instead she saw a dry bed, no more than a muddy stream creeping along the middle. The water, silver or not, from which this town had taken its name had withered away to almost nothing. Dying, like the town itself. Through the clamor in her mind, she felt a small sadness for this place and its people.
Dark windows along the main street where stores had once done business. To Let and For Sale signs cracked and faded above many. A general store, a Goodwill place, and a diner were all that still traded. A few side streets crawled away, and from the brief glimpses she caught, they were every bit as desolate. Eventually, at the far end, Whiteside pulled into a lot beside a low cinder block building with the words ELDER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE in dark letters on a white board. The lot had room for maybe a dozen vehicles, but Whiteside’s was the only one here.
Where was Deputy Collins’ car?
Whiteside shut off the engine, sat still and quiet for a moment, his hands on the wheel. Then he told Audra to wait, and he climbed out. He went to a shallow concrete ramp, enclosed by a railing, that led to a metal door in the side of the building, found a key from the chain on his belt, and opened it, before returning to the car. His fingers gripped Audra’s arm tight as he helped her out and guided her toward the building, a few seconds of blasting heat before the relative cool of the office.
It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the dimness in here, the weak fluorescent lights flickering above her head. A small open-plan office, four desks, one with a computer terminal that looked at least a decade old. The other desks appeared to have not been used in years. The desks were separated from the front of the space by a wooden rail with a gate that was bolted shut. A stale smell of disuse hung about the place, a dampness to the air despite the heat outside.
Whiteside kicked a chair out from the desk and backed Audra up to it until she had no choice but to sit down. He took a seat and switched on the computer. It clicked and whirred as it booted up, sounding like an engine that didn’t like cold mornings.
‘Where did the deputy take my children?’ Audra asked.
Whiteside hit a few keys to log on. ‘We’ll discuss that in a while.’
‘Sir, I don’t want to be difficult, I really don’t, but I need to know my children are safe.’
‘Like I said, ma’am, we’ll discuss that in a while. Now let’s get this done. The sooner we get this all straightened out, the sooner I can let you go. Now, full name.’
Audra cooperated through the process of details – her name, date of birth, place of residence – and even when he undid the handcuffs, so he could press her fingertips into an inkpad.
‘We do things old-fashioned around here,’ he said, his tone warming. ‘None of that digital nonsense. We don’t have the funds to upgrade. Used to be I had a half dozen deputies and an under-sheriff to assist with this kind of thing. Them, and a police department, such as it was. Now there’s just me and Collins left to keep this town in order, and Sally Grames, who does admin three mornings a week. Not that we see much trouble. You might be the first person to come through here in a year that wasn’t a drunk and disorderly.’
Whiteside held out a dispenser full of moist wipes, and Audra plucked one from the top, then another, and set about cleaning the black from her fingers.
‘Now, listen,’ he said. ‘This needn’t be a whole big deal. I guess if I don’t put the cuffs back on, you’ll be civil. Am I right?’
Audra nodded.
‘Good. Now, I got some checks to do, make sure there’s no warrants hanging over you, but I doubt there will be. Like I said, the amount of marijuana you had—’
‘It’s not mine,’ Audra said.
‘So you say, but the amount I found in your car might, to some people, seem like more than for personal use. But if you’re civil with me, I guess I can be flexible about that. Maybe call it possession, and forget about intent to supply. So, all things being equal, I expect Judge Miller will give you a small fine and a few stern words. Now, Judge Miller usually holds court on a Wednesday morning over in the town hall, but I’m going to give her a call, see if she’ll come over and hold a special session in the morning for an arraignment. That way, you’ll only have to spend the one night here.’
Audra went to protest, but he held up a hand to silence her.
‘Let me finish, now. I’m going to have to put you in a cell overnight, no matter what. But if you’re cooperative with me, as soon as I got you settled in, I’ll make that call to Judge Miller. But if you’re not, if you give me trouble, I’ll be happy to let you wait a day or two longer. So you think you can be good? Not cause a fuss?’
‘Yes, sir,’ Audra said.
‘All right, then,’ he said, standing. He walked to a door in the rear of the office marked CUSTODY, sorting through the keys on his chain, then stopped and turned. ‘You coming?’
Audra got to her feet and followed him. He unlocked the door, reached inside to switch on another row of fluorescent lights. Holding the door, he stepped aside to let her pass. Inside stood a small desk, its veneer surface chipped and stained, a coffee mug with an assortment of pens on top of it. Beyond, a row of three cells, barred squares with concrete floors, two thin cots in each, and toilets and washbasins screened by low brick walls.
She stopped, the fear that had been bubbling in her beginning to rise up. Her shoulders rose and fell with her quickening breaths, a dizzy wave washing over her.
Whiteside stepped around her, went to the farthest cell to the left, and unlocked the door. Metal-on-metal squealed as he slid it across. He turned to look at her, an expression of concern on his jowly face.
‘Honestly,’ he said, ‘it’s not that bad. It’s cool, the bunks aren’t too uncomfortable, you’ll have privacy when you need it. One night, that’s all. I just need you to take off your shoes and your belt, put them on the desk there.’