Promises Promises

Chapter 7

By the time it was all said and done, Mikey the troublemaker could get off with a few hours of community service, and it wouldn't surprise me at all. Damn it. At least his record would follow him around.

For a little while anyway.

My fingers did an anxious tap against my desk, itching to find the keyboard and type his name into the system. Marceline had filed the report for Mikey's arrest over the weekend, and so far—I'd resisted the temptation to look it up, not wanting to wake up my inner Debbie.

But now, well...it was getting harder to resist. I was dying to know what ended up on that report and find out what might be next for Mikey.

Too bad it went against everything I believed in. Other people's woes were not my concern, I reminded myself. I was only supposed to file them with care.

My fingers traveled to the keyboard.

What to do. What to do...

After deliberating another minute or so, I couldn't take it anymore and went in.

Sparing a glance over at Leann, I found her busy with her own work, and I was grateful it was just the two of us in the annex for the time being as Marceline and Debbie went on a smoke break together. Less people to witness my heinous curiosity.

I loaded up the online database, took a deep breath, and started typing.

Michael Patrick Sullivan

It felt like a lifetime passed as the ancient PC worked through all the files and searched up the one I was looking for. A swirly icon rotated in the center of the screen, spinning like the anxious thoughts in my head, signaling the time it was taking to load.

And then the results came in.

Only problem was, nothing came up.

There were no results for Michael Sullivan's DUI.

I stared at the screen in shock.

This can't be right.

I tried again. Nothing.

Hang on.

A lightbulb went off as something occurred to me, and I looked over at Leann. "Is the system running complete again after the computers took a shit last week?"

How could I forget? That day was so chaotic, I texted Spencer to come fuck the frustration out of me before dinner. It was the same day I found out about the whole DUI thing in the first place, and the computers seemed to be working fine when I went back to work the next day. But hey, technology. You never know.

Leann's brows scrunched together. "I think so," she said, clicking around a bit on her screen. "Everything I put in since then is still here."

"Okay." I turned back to my own screen and typed the name in again.

Nothing.

"Fuck," I muttered under my breath.

Where the hell did that report go? For as long as I'd been working in the records department, one had never just disappeared before. Ever.

***

My head was all over the place for the rest of the workday. I couldn't concentrate on anything besides that missing report, and I was dying to get home so I could run over to Spencer's house and see what he had to say about it.

After making a stop at the pharmacy for Mom, I stopped by her place to drop it off. Stayed for dinner and a chat. The visit went longer than I intended, and it was dark by the time I finally got back home.