Page 15 of Solstice

She got into the car, wondering which place on this street would be a better bet for finding a phone, and twisted the key just for kicks.

The car started without a sputter and ran perfectly all the way home.

* * *

Jason returned to his office, glanced at his desk and frowned. “Uh, hey, Sheila?”

The receptionist peered in through the open door.

“There was a folder here, just some uh...research I was doing.”

Maggie Shayne117

“Oh, you mean all that stuff about Doreen Stewart being a Witch?”

He bit his lip to keep from swearing.

“Who’d have guessed, huh?”

“Sheila, that stuff was private.”

Her smile faded. “It was?”

“Where is it?”

“I took the folder to my desk when I gathered up the others. I was just filing stuff, Jason, I didn’t mean to...” She lowered her head.

“What happened to it?”

“Some of the guys saw me reading through it.”

“Which guys?”

“Joey, Frank...and Mr. Kemp, he was here.”

Jason closed his eyes.

“I tucked it in my desk drawer. But...well, if it was supposed to be a secret, Jason, I’m afraid it’s not anymore.”

“Kemp knows.”

She nodded.

“Hell, Sheila.” He lowered his head, shaking it slowly. Now what? “Get me Kemp on the phone.”

“I’m really sorry, Jason.”

“Yeah. My fault. I shouldn’t have left it lying around.” And she should know better. It was a police department, for crying out loud. He supposed they were pretty lax on protocol, being that nothing big ever happened here. And that was probably his fault too. “This can’t happen again, Sheila,” he said. “What’s in this office stays in this office.”

She finally looked like she understood that she’d messed up bigtime and hurrying out of his office.

He went to his desk when she left, waiting for the phone to ring, picked it up. “Kemp?”

“Jason. Wanted to call you, anyway, thank you for that research you did on the Stewart woman.”

“That research was not meant to be public knowledge.”

“No? Well, kind of late now.”

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