Folklore Snippet 2

Okay, still in Bounty Hunter:

Planetary Sheriff Bert Hayden had other things he should be doing, other things than listening to a custom agent worried about a bounty hunter.

She had piqued his interest though. “A fox?”

“Yes, sir.”

“A fox,” the sheriff murmured as he checked the files the agent had sent him. He scanned them, but he recognized her right off. He'd seen her three times before, each time in company with a Neobloodhound. Apparently, she was on her own now though.

“Miss Gomez. I know her. I've seen her work,” he grudgingly admitted. Just to be sure he tapped in an inquiry to the ansible. It only took a moment to get a response back.

He remembered her though. It had been years since she'd been in his jurisdiction. Traveling bounty hunters were a rarity. Most who did something like that didn't do it as a straight-up profession.

He'd come into law enforcement more or less to find a career. That had evolved a bit as he'd found he'd loved the job. It wasn't the sense of power as much as the sense of justice that went with it and the respect he got from most of the law abiding people.

He was getting up there in years despite the newfangled medical tech Gaston had available. Bonny was perfectly happy with him as the planetary sheriff. It meant he had dozens of deputies, and he spent most of his time with his ass firmly planted in an office chair these days. He wasn't out getting shot at, which she feared.

He'd muttered a few times about retiring, and she'd put that down. Her acidic response to him sitting around cluttering up her house was still amusing and treasured by him.

“Sir?”

“Sorry,” the sheriff replied. “What was the question?”

“What do we do with her? She's got weapons, but really, she's a civilian.”

“I know. And I know her profession has a bad rap. But she has a way of getting results.”

“I see, sir. Well, if you say she's legit, sir, we'll let her go.”

“She is. I remember her. I just checked the ansible. She's a bounty hunter all right,” the sheriff drawled. “I'm curious about what she can do here. We've exhausted all our leads. She's got a good reputation though.”

“Yes, sir.”

Look into why she was there and check the backlog of reports ton find out about the predator she was tracking from New Texas. “Well, well, well. Ain't that interustin’,” he drawled. He sat up abruptly as he started to make connections with cases he'd seen. All cold cases all scattered around the planet. But they shared a few similarities.

“Ruffus, I think ya'll better come in here. We need to have another look-see over a few of the older cases …”

“Ah, sir?” the custom agent asked.

“Not you. Yeah, let her go. Tell her if she wants to see our want sheets and work here on my planet she needs to talk to me though.”

“Yes, sir. Will do,” the agent said before he hung up.

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“You are free to leave,” the agent said bluntly as he came into the room. She flicked her ears to him. Despite the sound proofing, she'd picked up some conversations outside of the small office slash interrogation room they'd left her to cool her heels in.

“That was an hour. What gives?”

“The planetary sheriff was in his office, surprisingly. I got him right off. He said to tell you that if you want to see our want sheets or work on the planet you need to check in with him first.”

“Huh,” she said as she rose slowly. She'd sat for an hour in a rather uncomfortable human style chair. It had exactly zero padding and was made to make someone squirm and want to give up their secrets to just get away from it. It was positively evil. She loved it.

“I'll let him know but I don't know if I'll be doin’ much,” she said, tipping her hat back.

“Since you missed the bus to the capital, I got a list of motels for you as well,” he said, holding up a printed list.

“Well, I thank you right kindly,” she said, taking the list from him. “I usually try to find a place out of the way,” she said.

“Keep a low profile so you don't spook your perps. Got it,” he said with a nod.

She turned a sharp look on him but he'd already turned and was halfway out the door. “You coming, ma'am?” he called back.

“Just a minute,” she grumbled, gathering her bags up once more.

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