Santa In Montana (Calder Saga 11)

“Hey, RJ,” she tossed the absent greeting over her shoulder. Doris was about the only one who called him RJ; to everyone else he was just Bannon. Doris put a document from the pile beside her into a scanner and closed the lid. A thin bar of light moved from one end of the machine to another as the scanner emitted a faint hum. She looked into her monitor and clicked the mouse a few times to make the image fit a format and then saved it with another click. Turning, she flashed him a smile, a pair of reading glasses perched on her pudgy nose. “It’s been a while. How are you?”

Bannon shot a glance around the area. “Fine. Are you alone?” he asked.

Eyes dancing, she peered at him through her half-glasses. “What the hell do you have in mind, kid?”

He winked at her. “Just wanted to know. Who’s handling evidence now?”

“Hoebel’s son-in-law. Petey leaves early.”

Bannon nodded, then waved a hand at the tall stacks of file folders. “So what’s all this?”

“We’re going paperless. I’m archiving old case files,” Doris said, adding, “Hoebel gave me a month. I’ll never finish in time.”

RJ looked over his shoulder, then turned back to her. “I was supposed to meet with him but he’s out. Want some help or is that against the rules?”

“Sure. He doesn’t have to know.” One shoulder lifted in an uncaring shrug. “Hardly anyone comes down to this dungeon.”

“Good. Hey, I forgot to say congratulations on your promotion.” He lifted his coffee cup in a saluting gesture and caught her faint smile of pride.

“I guess it’s worth the extra work.” She pushed aside the pepper-and-salt bangs that fell into her eyes when she leaned forward to peer closely at the document on the screen. “The information is going to be shared with the new national databanks.”

“State and federal, right?” He crumpled up his takeout coffee cup and tossed it in the nearest wastebasket, then looked over the files spread out in irregular rows.

“That’s the idea. Connect the dots, catch the criminals.”

“About time,” RJ said. “Some of these old cases could be charged or cleared.”

“The chief thought so. For once I agreed with him.” She stopped what she was doing to swivel her chair and actually look at him, using her feet to get around all the way. Doris was slim and she didn’t create much momentum. “So what brings you here?” she asked.

“I had paperwork for Hoebel to sign. Continuance of claim, that kind of thing.”

“Are you still on official leave?”

“Yup.”

“Take your time about coming back, RJ. You did get a settlement after the shooting, right? Enough to live on?”

“For a while. Not indefinitely.”

Doris sniffed. “After being used for target practice, you should have gotten plenty.”

“Tell that to the insurance company and the top brass,” he replied. “Getting better was all I wanted to do.”

“Ever think about catching the guy who shot you?”

“All the time,” he said. “Who did Hoebel assign to the case after the first guy quit? Hope it’s not the baby boy on the desk.”

“No, it’s not him. I think right now it’s up for grabs, actually,” she replied.

He threw up his hands. “Nice to know a shot cop is such a high priority around here. Is it me? Is it Hoebel? Is it something I said?”

“Uh, he does think you’re a loose cannon—”

Bannon had to smile. “From him, that’s a compliment.”

Physically, he was most of the way back to what he had been, thanks to a rigorous exercise routine he’d devised to rehab his body.

“Hard to believe there are still no leads,” she said. There was an edge of disgust in her voice.