She agreed to represent him on two conditions. Her first being that she be able to work from Colorado and travel to Shelter Valley only when absolutely necessary. The second condition had to do with Mark Heber.
What Will told her about him shocked her.
MARK HAD JUST finished working on a machine on the line, helping out the technician whose job it was to keep the machines in working repair, when he was paged to the front offices.
Four o’clock in the afternoon and he was getting paged? Pushing through the door from the factory to the office complex, Mark saw the police officer standing there before the other man saw him.
He wasn’t just a police officer, he noted as he got closer. He was the sheriff. Mark’s faculties nearly shut down.
Something had happened to Nonnie. He wasn’t ready.
“Mark Heber?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
A tanned hand reached out to him. “I’m Greg Richards.”
The man’s grip was strong, his shake friendly enough. “Good to meet you,” Mark said automatically. His manners were Nonnie’s doing. He’d made it his business to live a life that would honor her, not shame her.
“You, too,” Richards said. “I’m here because your name came up in an investigation I was involved with....”
This wasn’t about Nonnie. Anything else was superfluous.
“I was made aware that you know about the fact that your Montford University education might be in question.”
He nodded, not quite sure what was going on.
“Ordinarily I wouldn’t have anything to do with such things, but because there was an investigation—and I believe it’s best that the reasons for the investigation remain private—I am here to tell you that your education is not in jeopardy.”
A brick fell from his shoulders. He hadn’t even known it was there.
“Really?” He said the word like a cool guy who didn’t give a damn when he felt anything but cool inside.
“You were administered an IQ test the day you met with your guidance counselor.”
“An aptitude test,” he clarified. “To assess my best course of study.”
The sheriff shook his head. “Montford uses the exam sometimes to help with student placement when other test scores are unavailable, but it is a nationally accredited IQ exam.”
So? Mark wasn’t following any of this.
“IQ scores are kept confidential, and because they are not part of the official entrance qualifications, those scores are not included in any admittance files. However, they are on file in the guidance office.”
Mark stood, without moving, summing up this man that Addy knew—even if just as a professional acquaintance.
“The particular IQ test you were administered is a legally accepted test that allows the university to override all other entrance qualifications, assuming the score is high enough.”
Hot damn.
“You came out here to tell me I have a high IQ, Sheriff?”
“I’m here to tell you that the files you saw regarding your education have been destroyed and to inform you that any doubts placed on your right to be studying at the university or your right to the funds you’ve been awarded no longer exist.”
“Addy sent you.”
“I’m not at liberty to say how I came to know about your knowledge of the files. However, I will tell you that Ms. Keller did inform the university on your behalf that they would be putting themselves in jeopardy of a huge lawsuit if they denied your education after they’d let you enroll. However, the point was moot.”
She’d turned on the people who’d hired her?