"It's good," he says, quiet and tired. These small-town politics exhaust him, even on the periphery; he doesn't know how Bill has been able to balance the city, county, and state's demands with the needs of the department and make it look easy.

"Came up out in Dallas -- he's got experience with SWAT and the DEA. Relocated to Carolina to head up Columbia's drug unit a couple years ago, and when he heard through the grapevine we were havin' problems down here, he volunteered."

Dave manages a bemused half-smile.

"He's a fan of what you've done around here, said he wanted to work alongside the real deal."