Chapter 27

The state cable news network called me at the motel but on my cell phone. It wasn't the man from the crash, it was a chick who claimed to be his producer. It looked to me as though they were trying to be a real news agency.

"Hi there, you are Deputy Sylvia Porter?" she asked.

"I am. Who might you be?" I asked. That's when I found out about the producer thing, "So what can I do for you Miss Producer." I didn't even bother to file her name into my short term memory. I didn't expect her to be there that long."

"Robert would like to say thank you and do a human interest piece on you," she suggested.

That left me between a rock and a hard place. The Sheriff wanted the publicity for the department and his own re-election plans. I wanted nothing to do with it. The more video exposure I got the more likely the chances of me being recognized from the party in Mountain Home. I had already done a rational assessment of the danger and it went like this. At the time Simon explained that I didn't have to be worry about being recognized because Mountain Home resort was over a hundred miles from the county seat. Also that it was a party for the festival goers, who were mostly from way out of the area. They would have no access to the local news network, I reasoned.

Since the car hadn't blown and there was no video of it anyway, it would never make a national story. So odds of it being seen by the party goers was remote. I did plan to do as much as possible to keep even that remote chance from being a disaster.

"There is no human interest story here. As far as meeting on camera for a reunion with your reporter, that's fine," I agreed. "I do have some special request. I would like to be in uniform with a patrol car in the background, when we meet. The department can always use the publicity." Which will also help distract the eyes of the viewer, I thought.

I didn't think I could get the Chief Deputy to refuse me permission to do the interview, since the Sheriff was a publicity whore, so I went immediately to the station to have a talk with him. I wanted to at least lessen the impact of the interview.

"Chief Deputy, I know you want me to do the interview, but how will it effect my safety later. I mean not too many people know me as the only female deputy in Warren county, but if I do this interview a lot more will know me. If Sergeant Michaels sends me in to buy drugs or guns, I might be recognized. It could put me in danger," I suggested.

"You do have a point, but refusing the interview is not an option. So what do you suggest?" he asked.

"If we do the interview outside, I can wear my knit cap over my ears and the official cap over that. If I also wear dark glasses and explain to the reporter it should make it almost impossible to recognize me from the interview." I hoped that he bought it. Even though the odds of being recognized by anyone from my past was nil, I didn't want to take any chances.

"I think that sounds prudent. If you explain it to that reporter guy, he should understand." That's the way we left it.

It was a good thing since I had already agreed to the interview. It was set for the next morning at 10AM, in the motor pool parking lot. That gave me a chance to work the car in. The Sheriff would love it and it was a way for me to work in the knit cap. The cap would seem to be keeping my ears warm while in fact it was there to hide the fact that I was bald.

"So Robert you look a lot better than the last time I saw you?" I said.

"Thank you Deputy Porter, I feel a lot better pain wise, and outlook as well. So I understand you had some special requests?" he asked.

"Not many just that we do it here with the patrol car in the back ground. I also want to keep my sunglasses on. I might have to make an undercover drug or gun buy someday soon. I would prefer not being recognized by a thug," It obviously sounded as reasonable to Robert as it had to Chief Deputy Webster.

"That sounds prudent," he said.

"I'm not the TV guy," I said to him, but why not have the camera man film you walking up to the car with your cane. It will kind of put the whole story in context." I suggested. It would also shift the viewers attention to Robert. Hopefully I would just be a sideline. I expected him to agree since TV reporters are all attention whores.

"That actually sounds pretty good," the camera man agreed. And thats how it happened. Robert talked a little and I talked a lot about my life with the Warren Sheriff's office. I knew it is what everyone wanted. The filming took about twenty minutes, so I figured two minutes might make it to air which was two minutes more than I wanted."

The rest of that day I spend either in bed or on the computer. I bought groceries, if you can call two frozen dinners and a deli sandwich groceries. I had decided that if I did breakfast at all, it would be at the cafe on the square at the least. I might drive to the waffle house in the plaza area, but that wasn't likely to happen with my morning run factored into the equation.

The second of my days off, I went for my run at 7AM. The sun was pretty much still behind the mountains, but making an effort to show itself. I turned the corner onto the one block off main back street. It was the headed toward home part of my run. When I saw the car, I didn't recognize it. Since I was coming up from behind it, I didn't recognize the driver either. I slipped my hand into the field jacket and came out with the box opener.