Page 139 of A Forgotten Mistake

“I sure did.”

“Go look at it better.”

“Come, Gabriel. Let us stare at this mesmerizing document with enraptured attention. We mustn’t look away. We must only have eyes for an already solved case,” I declare as I head toward my office.

The noise Michaels makes tells me he is less than pleased, but I’m also less than pleased. We have everythingrightthere, and suddenly, I can’t do anything with it? I turn abruptly and head over to Matthew’s desk. He nervously looks back at me.

“What are you looking at? Stay focused,” I order.

“I’m looking at you. I’m afraid. You make me afraid,” Matthew says as I squat down a bit so I can breathe in his ear and look at what he’s doing.

“Did you solve the case yet?” I ask.

“This is uncomfortably titillating,” he says.

I reach around and grab his hand that’s on the mouse so my hand can force his to do my bidding as I click the document he was looking at.

“Paige, don’t act like I can’t see you!” Michaels barks.

I sink down a little more, but it makes it harder to see the screen.

“I feel like we’re in the movieGhost,but instead of pottery, we’re solving crimes,” Matthew observes as I try to wrap my other arm around him to reach for the keyboard. He tries to help by guessing what I want to be typed, so I’m left smacking his hand off and trying to backspace.

“I see Matthew grew two more arms,” Penny says as she slaps a folder down on his desk.

I snatch it up and try to get a good look, but Michaels is coming. I just start rolling Matthew backward, away from Michaels.

“Paige, you cannot be involved in this case no matter how much you want to.”

“I haven’t seen Paige all morning,” Matthew claims as I roll him away. “You sure he’s even here today? It’s a rare day when I don’t get to see his charming face. He always knows just what to say to make my day just that much brighter.”

“Cute,” Michaels says.

I grudgingly let go of Matthew but slide the file down and into my shirt. “Well, it was a pleasure knowing all of you. Not really. There was no pleasure involved. The only pleasure was given to me by Gabriel.”

“That… no,” Matthew says, face scrunching up.

“What are you thinking about? I was talking about Gabriel’s sweet smile and charming personality.”

Michaels walks up to me as Gabriel stands like a good person, hovering near our office so he can observe. Michaels thumps his hand against my stomach where I’ve hidden the folder thensimply holds his hand out. I sigh and pass him the folder before retreating to my office with Gabriel, who shuts the door. I pull a different paper out of the back of my shirt and sit down to start reading it.

“Did you seriously just trick Michaels into grabbing the folder?” Gabriel asks.

“Was it sexy?”

“I’mwellaware I should say no.”

“But you’re not going to,” I say as I begin reading Penny’s report. Obviously, I put the box in the ground, but I want to make sure sixteen-year-old me didn’t fuck up somehow. But damn… I was good even back then. Honestly, everything played out exactly how I hoped. There were no traces of blood or DNA from Jonah found in the hole, and everything I placed in there made it look perfectly staged in case that shithead ever tried blaming me for something.

“You can give this back to Matthew since Michaels would probably murder me if I did,” I say.

Gabriel takes the paper and examines it before leaving the office to return it.

Once he comes back, I stare at my computer for a short bit, absolutely bored out of my mind. Why even have me if I’m never allowed to do anything?

I sigh.

“How many times are you going to sigh?” Gabriel asks.

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