Read Impervious (City of Eldrich Book 1) for Free Online Page A

days.”
    “Jamie?” Meaghan asked, in shock. “Jamie Smith, my deputy? Oh crap, Russ. Look at me.”
    “Relax. You look fine. It’s Eldrich, not Manhattan. Nobody expects you to be all dolled up.”
    Meaghan scowled. “I’d settle for bathed.”
    Russ dismissed her with a wave of his hand. The doorbell rang. Russ trotted out to help Matthew with the front door.
    Meaghan hobbled after him. So much for a professional first impression.
    She knew Matthew had known Jamie since he was a boy. It was Matthew who encouraged him to go to law school and Matthew who gave him his first legal job clerking part-time in the solicitor’s office.
    After several hours of relatively normal behavior, even if he still didn’t recognize his daughter, Matthew got weird again. She had a moment to register Jamie—tall, young, athletic build, wearing khakis and a black golf shirt, shy smile— standing in the hallway. Nervous to meet his new boss, she thought.
    Then Matthew swept into a deep bow in front of him and said something in a language Meaghan had never heard before. He straightened up and smiled. “Welcome.”
    Jamie blushed. “Matthew, it’s me. It’s Jamie.”
    “I know who you are, Jamie. Your father is well?” Matthew accented Jamie’s name oddly, making it sound something like “szhumay.”
    Meaghan gave Jamie a sympathetic smile while Russ came to the rescue. “Dad, it’s Jamie. Your old law clerk. He works for Meaghan now.”
    “Russ, don’t interrupt,” Matthew said. “I’ve known the prince since he was a boy.” Matthew bowed again. “I am, as always, at your service.”
    Jamie’s nervous grin smoothed into a deeper smile. He bowed his head. “For which I am always grateful, my friend.” He spoke in a slow, rich voice. He glanced up at Meaghan and winked. His eyes were dark indigo blue. If he were twenty years older, I’d be in trouble, Meaghan thought. Too young for her tastes, thank God, but a honey, no doubt about it.
    Satisfied by this response, Matthew patted Jamie’s arm with a smile. “I’ll leave you kids to talk shop.” He ambled back to the kitchen.
    Jamie took a couple steps toward Meaghan and held out his hand. “You must be Meaghan. I’m Jamie Smith. Welcome to Eldrich.”
    Meaghan shook his hand. “I never thought of playing along. All day long he’s thought I’m somebody else. This morning he thought I was a witch. At least you get to be royalty.”
    Russ coughed. Jamie stiffened for a moment, then shrugged. “It seems to make him happy.”
    Again, she had the quick intuition of a lie—some shared information her brother and this young man didn’t want her to know. Too much stress, she thought. It’s making me nutty.
    Russ served them lemonade and a plate of cookies, and left them alone in the living room. Jamie had brought her a copy of the city ordinance book along with some other documents—budgets, memos, a city organization chart. He had the Pennsylvania Code on a flash drive until she could access the online version at city hall.
    Meaghan needed to get better acquainted with the specifics of Pennsylvania law, but it was familiar stuff after all the years she’d spent working in local government. With just over five thousand residents, Eldrich was small enough to keep the politicians from getting into expensive trouble. Shallow pockets meant less of a fiscal safety cushion, but also limited the range of bad ideas available to elected officials. A $100,000 boondoggle was much easier to clean up than a multimillion dollar one.
    As if reading her thoughts, Jamie said, “Eldrich is kind of sleepy. Must seem like Mayberry after Phoenix. It’s not a badly run town, but things have slipped a bit since Matthew left.”
    Meaghan shook her head with a smile. “I never actually worked for Phoenix itself. I worked for a couple of smaller cities and the county.”
    “But it’s basically all one big city, right?”
    “Yeah, sort of, I guess. Not as self-contained as