In other words, they were proud of him.
“Just worn out from a long day of saving Gotham City. You?”
“Not as awesome as you, precious. But listen, I wanted to tell you something in confidence. Totally off the record, just a rumor, but where there’s smoke there’s fire and so forth, otherwise I wouldn’t be calling you now.”
“Shoot.”
“Word is that Davenport is retiring at the end of the year.”
He was quiet for some time.
“Huh.”
Which was Eli’s way of saying, “Holy crap.”
Davenport had been county sheriff for twenty years. The end of the year was a month and a half away. This was indeed monumental news.
Cam was a cousin of a cousin or something like that. She had her finger on the pulse.
“And Devlin is of course being talked about as his replacement.”
Leigh Devlin was the obvious choice, since he was the current undersheriff. A good man, smart as hell, gruff. He’d worked with Eli’s dad, and he’d been immeasurably kind to Eli’s family after his dad was killed. It was Leigh Devlin Eli had turned to for advice when he’d decided not to take that football scholarship and instead become a sheriff’s deputy.
And suddenly Eli knew exactly where Cam was going with this.
“Among others, Barlow, your name came up for undersheriff.”
Yep. That confirmed it.
“You fall asleep on me, Fabio?”
“Fabio?”
“Hot guy on a lot of covers?” Cam tried.
“Okay, now you’re really reaching. And now I know what you do in your spare time.”
“Hey, at least I got a hobby. Who or what are you doing in your spare time?”
That question just made him feel bleak and surly, when what he wanted to do was savor the possibility of a triumph for a few moments longer.
“Shut up,” he finally said, with typical eloquence.
She laughed.
Undersheriff.He savored that word in his mind.
Second in command in the whole county. That would mean no patrolling. Almost double the income.
And leaving Hellcat Canyon for good.
“So anyway, Barlow, I thought you might like some time to think about what you want to do, when it comes down. In case it does. Is that cool?”
“Yeah, of course. Thanks, Cam.”
“I’m having a barbeque for my bae’s birthday in a few weeks. You comin’?”
“Love to. Remind me, though. Send me an e-mail or text.”
