10 Minute Tales

Feb 20 (Untimed)

The deskwork was long, and he was bored out of his mind by the end of it. He groaned as he rose from his desk. The special seat wasn't helping after all.

"You heading off?" Alyssa asked, not looking up. He glanced over. Damnit, she was cute with those glasses...

"Yeah, my hour's up."

"Good luck."

"Huh?"

"You know what I mean."

"... yeah, I do." he nodded, heading out.

"Pardon the inquiry." Sentinel piped up. "What manner of statement was investigator Alyssa referring to?"

"Don't sweat it." Queenson shrugged. He walked past the reception, heading to the door.

"Inspector Queenson, you have a message. It was delivered by hand, and I am unable to read it." Sentinel's voice echoed again, this time from the desk. He looked over.

"Huh? So, what, was it written by hand? Who even writes any more?" He queried, going to his box and opening it. Sure enough, contained within was a letter, held by a simple envelope. He recognised one thing; on the back, there was an elaborate cross mark. The same mark Abe used. "... Sentinel, I'm going for a walk. Should be home by sunset."

"Confirmed." Queenson reached for his watch again, sliding it off as gently as he could. "Pardon, inspector, but is your watch strap uncomfortable?"

"Yeah, something like that. I'll get it seen to when I can."

"Acknowledged. For your own security, I am temporarily disabling the watch's features."

"All of 'em? Shut it down, I'll boot it back up when I put it on."

"As you wish, sir." The watch whined quietly as it powered down. Queenson nodded, heading out to town. He just needed somewhere quiet, somewhere he could read the letter without Sentinel being able to do so...