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Prompt #6: Sealed - He'd promised not to snoop, but circumstances being what they were, Gabriel valued his partner's well-being over her privacy.

Words: 690

He'd promised not to snoop. Besides, she'd told him the important bits already.

So there it sat in his brain, sealed per her request and bright as a burning coal, with three words decorating the front.

Riley Neal. SEALED.

It was like Pandora's Box. He caught himself looking it over half a dozen times, wondering about its contents.

Riley told him the bare bones of it. While protecting her mother from an abusive boyfriend, she'd killed him. Police called it manslaughter, but the courts didn't convict her, sealed the file, and let her get on with her life.

But Gabriel was a curious soul, and it burned to know more. What else happened? What did her mother have to say? What was the evidence?

As soon as he started to think that, he grew ashamed. Riley trusted him with the information, and she almost begged him to leave the rest alone. She was his partner and his friend. What kind of friend was he if he broke her trust?

So it sat on the hard drive in his brain like a sleeping dragon, always there but off-limits.

One day, Jameson picked him up instead of Riley. Gabriel demanded to know why. The only answer he got was, "She took a week off. Personal time, she said."

Gabriel took three seconds to chip Riley's phone and found it in her apartment. Accepting Jameson's answer, he went with his temporary guardian to Angel's Bluff.

But for the whole week, he found his mind wandering. For some reason, he felt as if that first day had been important. Something about the date nagged at him. He checked his calendar, current events, even Wikipedia, but came up empty. So he cyber-flipped through news archives as he listened to Lillian and Cassidy talking about some sort of firewall update to his chip.

LOCAL COURT DROPS TEEN MANSLAUGHTER CASE

Gabriel straightened in his seat. The newspaper article was dated nearly fifteen years ago and was only two inches long, buried in the back of a local newspaper. There was no picture, but he locked on to the name he found.

Riley Neal.

He scanned the article for the facts, but he already knew most of them. While defending her mother, Riley had killed her mother's abusive boyfriend. Police arrested her and the local DA charged her, but with the history of abuse, nobody's heart was in it. A week after the incident, the judge dropped the case.

A week ago... Gabriel frowned. A week ago, Riley had started her time off. Which meant... "Lillian, I've got to go."

His boss looked over, clearly surprised. "Gabriel, you're in the middle of a sweep. You can't leave."

"Just reschedule me, would you? I've gotta get home."

"Why?"

"Uh..." He quickly latched on to the one thing that made sense. "I forgot to put the glasses away, and Chip has a bad habit of knocking everything off the shelves unless I kitty-proof the apartment."

He must've saved all his luck for the week, because Lillian bought it. Gabriel left Jameson behind and drove himself home. It took no time to chip Riley's cell phone and find out that she was still in her own apartment. He parked in the lot, climbed the steps, and stopped outside his partner's door. He hesitated for a moment, then drew a breath and knocked three times. "Riley?"

The door cracked open slightly. "What do you want, Gabriel?"

"Just checking in on you. Heard you took some time off." He held up the six-pack he'd picked up on the way home. "Invite me in for a drink?"

"I'm not in the mood, Gabriel."

"No funny business, I promise. Just a little talk between friends."

"I don't feel like talking."

"Then I'll talk. We both know I can talk off your ear." He gave a little smile. "You seem like you could use some company."

She hesitated for several seconds. Then she opened the door enough to let him in.

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