Free Drop of Doubt by C.L. Stone Page A

the drawers to the dragon desk.
    “Go ahead,” Victor said, not taking his eyes off the screen. “Open them up if you’re curious.”
    I didn’t want to pry, but waiting for answers had me craving doing something. I felt so out of place with everyone else working. I simply didn’t know what to do or how to help.
    The first drawer was lined with a collection of miniature tools. I imagined it was for breaking into the smaller tablets and cell phones. The tools were mostly silver metal, with ebony handles. I didn’t know what to do with some of the various tools, but the moment I saw the set, I was itching to find another cell phone to take apart.
    The second drawer was shallow, with an organized collection of USB drives and a couple hard drives not taken out of their boxes yet.
    The third drawer was much deeper and had a collection of typical desk set doodads. There were pencil cups, business card holders, a holder for sticky notes, letter openers, fountain pens, a couple of pocket-sized day planners and a collection of desk clocks. Some of the clocks were still ticking away at incorrect times.
    “I thought I heard something ticking,” I said, picking out a circular black clock that was still running. The hands appeared to be made of silver, and the face had what looked like a diamond at the twelve o’clock position. There weren’t any numbers painted on or even lines to help figure out the exact time. “Why do you hide them in the drawer?”
    “Don’t really need them,” Victor said.
    “Why do you have them?”
    “They were gifts. I place a set on the desk when my parents throw a dinner party and they’re giving a tour of the house. Otherwise, they’re just in the way.”
    I fiddled with the black clock, twisting the backside knobs to change the time. I ran my fingernail around the edges. I’d have to wedge one of those fancy tools between the edges to pry open the back. My father often got desk sets as an anniversary gift or as a holiday gift from work. He brought his old sets home. I used to open up the clocks and play with them. We didn’t have a lot of toys growing up, so any new thing that came into the house, I was bound to make use of, or at least break it trying to figure it out. “Are you in love with this one?”
    Victor’s eyes unfocused from his computer and his head slid around, tilting. “What?”
    I held up the clock. “Do you love it?”
    The corner of his mouth twitched. “I’m not sure what you’re asking.”
    “If I take it apart, will you be mad?”
    He laughed. “Oh. Have at it. You can put it back together again.”
    “What if I don’t?”
    His eyes blazed with amusement. “I’ll get you to buy me a new one.”
    I knew Victor was teasing, but just in case, I wanted a backup plan if I broke it. “It’s like ten dollars or something, isn’t it?” Not that I had ten dollars with me, but I thought I could get Luke to let me work at the diner a little bit.
    “Knowing my dad, it’s probably a couple thousand ten dollars.”
    My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open. He had a drawer full of them! I gazed down at the desk sets, wondering exactly how much money the drawer contained under the guise of simple desk top knickknacks. What was the pencil cup worth? Or the discarded business card holder? How come they looked like regular desk sets that I’d seen over the years?
    Silas boomed with laughter. He plopped a hand on his chest and his broad shoulders shook. “I love her face.”
    I placed the clock carefully back on the desk. “So I shouldn’t play with it.”
    “Play with it, Sang.” Victor said, turning back to his screen.
    “Nu uh.”
    “If you don’t do whatever it was you were going to do with it, I’ll let Silas use it for baseball practice.”
    Well, in that case ...
    ♥♥♥
    I had the pieces of the inside of the clock splayed out on Victor’s desk before he took a break and sat back again, stretching. I hunched over the corner of the desk with the