C.J. Urban - Julie Townsend 01 - Hidden Intent by C.J. Urban Page B

shoulder. He turned around to see her pointing at the drawers under the front desk.
    Skye shrugged. It’s worth a shot , he thought. He walked over to the desk and pulled open the first drawer, which was empty except for a stapler and a box of paper clips. He tried the drawer directly underneath the first and was amazed to find a ring of silver keys sitting entirely unprotected inside.
    “Are you kidding me?” he mouthed to Julie. “They just leave them here?”
    Julie shrugged, as he grabbed the ring, wrapping his long fingers around all the keys to keep them from clanging against one another, and crept back to the door.
    There was only one key that looked like it matched the lock, and when Skye tried it, he found it slid in roughly, likely battered from use.
    Once inside this room, Skye found it full of three rows of file cabinets. He had no idea where to start, and was relieved to see Julie already searching the labels. After several minutes they finally found the correct file cabinet labeled “HOME INVESTIGATIONS” and Skye saw the first drawer was labeled “A-E.”
    “Dale Street should be in this one,” Skye whispered.
    “Let’s hope so.”
    He pulled it open, and rifled through the files until he came across Julie’s house’s file. He pulled it out, holding the spot where it was open, and pulled another file out from beneath his jacket, sticking it in the open spot.
    “Thought of everything, didn’t you?” Julie asked.
    “Can’t have anyone catch on to us, now can we?”
    Suddenly a thud had come from the hall outside the clerk’s office, and Skye felt his stomach drop. He pressed his finger to Julie’s lips. He didn’t know if she had heard it, but he definitely had. “We need to get out of here, now,” he whispered to Julie. She nodded, eyes wide with panic.
     
     
     
    Chapter 21
     
     
    He stowed the file safely in his jacket where the fake file had been and took Julie by the hand. They crept silently out of the file room and into the clerk’s office. Skye saw Julie’s eyes grow wide and knew she had seen movement through the glass.
    “What do we do?” whispered Julie.
    “Well, it doesn’t seem like the person plans to come in here, or else they’d already have done it,” replied Skye as he calculated all the possible ways they could get out of the building without being seen.
    Suddenly though, to Skye’s and Julie’s horror, they heard the sound of the door handle being turned, and saw a thin strip of light as the door was pushed open slightly. Skye grabbed Julie’s hand and pulled her down toward the floor, motioning for her to follow him behind several file cabinets to hide beneath a desk against a wall.
    Once they were safely hidden, Skye let go of her hand, realizing he had been holding on to it extremely tightly. He cast an apologetic look toward her and then sat stone-still against the wall.
    The door had now been pushed open entirely, but still no one entered the room. Skye was puzzled until he heard the sound of a disgruntled voice. “Gotta be quick,” it whispered. Skye tried to place it. It was certainly a female voice and somewhat familiar, but the whisper made it difficult for him. Skye felt Julie grip his wrist tightly, and he turned to see her eyes wide with terror.
    “What?” he mouthed to her.
    “It’s her,” Julie mouthed back, eyes still wide.
    “Who?”
    Julie seemed to be deciding whether or not to tell him, as she sat there looking at him with her lips pressed together tightly.
    “Who?”
    “Langley,” Julie finally managed to mouth.
    Skye clenched his jaw. “Crap.”
    He knew they couldn’t move, but he also knew that if they were caught by Langley, there would be hell to pay. At the very least they’d be arrested.
    He heard Langley move slowly through the room, her heavy boots making soft thuds against the thin carpet. What is she doing here? Skye wondered. He had a strange feeling that she was here doing the same thing they were; getting