“He doesn’t know I saved every raw database log from the clinic server onto a secure flash drive before I left,” I said.

“Arthur Bennett is expecting us at his office at nine o’clock tomorrow morning,” Paige said.

I looked down at the printed notice on my knees.

The official leave notice looked crisp and white against my dark wool skirt.

Four blocks away, the tall windows of Oak Street Dental reflected the deep orange light of the autumn sky.

I sat in the balcony chair, watching the sun set over the clinic parking lot while I held my temporary suspension notice.

At nine o’clock Thursday morning, I sat across from Arthur Bennett in his second-floor office above the dry cleaner on High Street.