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tossed the empty
bottle in the trash and then took a gulp of the coffee. He knew this would
kick-start his body into overdrive. It wasn’t something he did often, but today
he desperately needed it. Don got back in the squad and then sped off. His
desire to sleep wasn’t as overwhelming as before, and he felt halfway human
again.
    Luckily, it wasn’t too far to the Hart Senate Office Building. When he
pulled up, the security guard walked up to the squad with a clipboard in hand.
Don quickly pulled out his badge and showed it to the guard.
    “Official business.”
    “Who you seeing?”
    “I have an appointment with a Ms. Winslow,” Don said.
    The guard pointed to his left. “Park in Lot B, I’ll have a guard meet
you there and take you over to Human Resources.”
    Don had always been impressed with the building. His father talked
about it often, as it was on his beat. It was distinctly contemporary in
appearance, with its marble façade that was in keeping with the surrounding
buildings in the area. The nine-story building served senators as well as the
various committees and sub-committees that kept the government running. It was
a building that was built for changing times.
    Once inside, Don was impressed with the atrium that filtered natural
light throughout the building. He was in awe of the mobile Mountains and Clouds . It was an
impressive sculpture. Although Don didn’t quite understand it, anyone looking
at the enormity of the structure couldn’t help but be impressed by its creator.
    The guard who led Don turned to him. “That was one of Calder’s last
works.”
    Don didn’t know who Calder was but didn’t want to show his ignorance,
so he just nodded in agreement. Don just raised his eyebrows. It was a large
building, and he was glad now he wasn’t left to find his own way to the Human
Resources department.
    Once he was led into Ms. Winslow’s office he was thankful for the
offer of a cup of coffee. While he waited for her to return with Raven’s
personnel file he made a few notations in his little notebook and then took a
gulp of the coffee and shook his head, trying to shake himself awake. It was
going to be a long day and he couldn’t stop yawning.
    Ms. Winslow slowly walked back into the office. She set the file down
on her desk. Don glanced at it and then looked up at her.
    “So she hasn’t been in the office since last week.”
    “Yes,” she said.
    “Did she say why she was taking the...” Don said and then stopped.
    “Comp time?” Ms. Winslow said a little annoyed with Don’s yawning.
    Don nodded. He would have loved a job like that. Being a detective and
working twelve-hour days sometimes, it would be nice to take comp time. But the
department was short-staffed, and Don was thankful just to have a job. His
paychecks were direct-deposited into his bank account and, with him always
working, he never had time to spend any of it, let alone invest. It was
something he was always meaning to do. But then after the breakup he discovered
Jackie was siphoning his bank account on a regular basis. And he was lucky she
hadn’t taken out any loans in his name to boot.
    Ms. Winslow quickly continued. “There was no need for me to know the
reason. Raven had worked here for nearly seven years. She had a lot of time
built up.”
    “Weren’t you curious?”
    “I have hundreds of people I oversee. Raven was just a name on a piece
of paper.”
    It bothered Don when she said that. He thought for a moment about the
portrait and the woman behind the vision. There was a time she was a living,
breathing human being. Not just a name on a piece of paper. Don held his temper
and then quickly added.
    “What about recently? Senator Maxfield was missing and under
investigation, I might add. You didn’t make a call to talk to Ms. VanBuren
about the situation?”
    Don could tell he had the woman on the defensive. It remained to be
seen whether she would give him the information he wanted that would