"Well, we already know that."

"You laugh, but it's nothing to laugh at. Everything you do, innocent or not, is going to be a political statement from now on. Don't you see that? I thought you would have learned that during the election."

"Nope. I guess not. And, might I remind you, I won."

Sam made a face. "Wes, you won by ninety votes out of three hundred and fifteen thousand after your opponent died the week before the election."

"As though it's a bad thing. No, listen. It's proof that God wanted me to win. He wouldn't have taken Mr. Dexter back into His bosom if He didn't want me to win. It's self-evident. Maybe even cosmic."

"It's hopeless."

"Well, I hope not that. It's only my first day. I'm sure I'll be way more hopeless as time goes by." He got up and crossed back to the closet. "But if you really think it's going to matter," he said, "I'll consider going with tomorrow's T-shirt instead."

"You're wearing one tomorrow, too?"

"Sam, I wear a T-shirt every day. It provides clues to my secret persona."

"Not so secret. The press is going to start wanting to see it if word gets out."

"Good. That'll just make me more je ne sais quoi. Quirky and lovable. But if you want, for the inaugural, I'll trade out this one with tomorrow's." He turned and held out the next shirt on the pile: HEAVILY MEDICATED FOR YOUR SAFETY.

"Much better. No, really, I mean it." Her head fell forward and she sighed. "Never mind," she said. "Never, never, never mind."

"Hey, Sam," he said. "If you can't have fun with all this, what's the point?" Four days later, the fun part wasn't much in evidence.

Wes Farrell's office on the third floor of the Hall of Justice looked more like a janitor's space. A couple dozen unpacked moving boxes lay stacked by the windows that looked out on Bryant Street. His predecessor's comfortable and elegant furnishings were gone. Meanwhile, Farrell had commandeered a desk and several chairs from some offices down the hall. He'd also brought the Nerf ball basket from his old office and mounted it on the bookshelf.