Sinister: A Paranormal Fantasy (Sinisters Book 1) by Colleen Fleshman Page B

the entire state's election, down to every tiny village. He supposed it made sense; why spend the money on software if you weren't going to use it everywhere? Still, he thought they would test it out first before just installing it. He tried to remember the day they’d talked about the election in his political science class. VoTech had, of course, come up, but he didn't remember Mr. Rodney saying anything about it being in use before this election. Dean might remember more details, but Matt thought it unlikely. Matt found politics fascinating and actually paid attention in that one class, but Dean was usually doodling soccer balls on his notebook.
    "Whatcha looking at?” A chirpy voice asked behind him.
    He jumped guiltily. Anna had clearly finished in the filing cabinets and was peering over his shoulder, trying to read the pages he held. He’d been so absorbed in his thoughts he hadn’t heard her walk up.
    “It’s the contract for the election on Tuesday. I got nosy,” he said, chagrined.
    “And here I thought you were trying to find out what nefarious misdeeds Caracalla’s up to. That,” she said, waving her hand at the paper, “is perfectly legal.”
    Matt hurriedly stuffed the contract back into its place. “Can you look in the bottom two drawers over there? I haven’t gotten to them yet.”
    She set to work, and he returned to his task. A brief scan of the remaining pages convinced him they were all company contracts, so he moved on to drawer number three.
    This drawer contained a tablet, which he quickly confirmed was password protected, and a box of tissues. He let out a frustrated groan. Unless Anna had found something, this trip was turning out to be a complete waste of time.
    Matt started to slide the drawers back into place and froze, his hand on the top drawer. He pulled it out as far as it would go and looked down at the gaping drawer below it. A smile started to creep across his face. Maybe this wouldn’t be a waste after all.
    “Guys, look at this,” he said.
    The two hurried over, and he gestured at the desk. Anna looked baffled, but Oliver clapped him on the back. “Brilliant. Let’s take it out and see what’s back there.”
    Matt found the catches on the bottom of the drawer and pushed them up, allowing him to slide the drawer off the gliders and out of the desk. As he did so, he explained to Anna: “The top drawer is about three inches shorter than the other two, even though on the other side it’s the same. And, when I pulled on it, it felt like it was getting caught by something. I think there’s something behind the wood at the back here.”
    The drawer sprang free, revealing the true back. Between the end of the drawer and a piece of plywood, there were about three square inches stuffed with miscellanea. He carefully lowered the drawer to the floor.
    Oliver grabbed hold of a small, leather-bound book whose cover was the same color as the bathroom tiles. The removal of the book unbalanced the rest of the drawer’s contents, and the objects fell. A piece of chalk clattered out of the handkerchief it had been wrapped in, leaving a mark on the wood. Matt reached for the other two items still in the drawer.
    His right hand held a six-inch ruler that appeared to really be just a plain ruler, no matter how carefully he studied it. In his left, he clutched a thumbnail-sized piece of metal. It resembled a crescent moon with the ends twisted inward. He could see a gouge on one side, and the inside of the crescent contained prongs that looked as though they had been attached to something at one point. A piece of black string extended from the middle of the moon. He let the metal part drop and held the object by the string, watching in fascination as it lazily oscillated. Light caught the planes of the moon, reflecting into his eyes, and he had a brief idea that it had, at some point, curved more. When he tried to figure out where he'd seen it before, the memory slipped away like