Page 70 of Private Exhibit
Devon waved his hands, then idly rested them on his keyboard. “Tell me about your night,” he said, changing the subject.
Oliver was silent.
“Oli?”
A heavy sigh sounded from across the table. “I spent all night,” Oliver quietly began, “trying to make myself hack into Dannika's hospital file again.”
“Oh.” Devon winced.Shit. He'd actually forgotten all about that. With everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, it had completely slipped his mind.
Now that he was done with all the morgue files at work, could he sneak in an hour to look up Dannika's records before he moved on to his next assignment?Gods. He hoped so. Time was slipping away from him. He had to get that done before he lost the chance.
“I couldn't do it,” Oliver went on. “I keep worrying it's gonna turn out to be worse than I thought.” He paused, snorting a humorless laugh. “Which is stupid. She's dead. It can't get much worse than that. But I have no idea how she died. Or really why she did it. Her note got so thrashed, I still don't know what it meant. Or who'he'is. Ineedto know. But I'm also afraid that knowing will make it worse somehow.”
“In case she suffered,” Devon said quietly.
“Yeah. I need to know that it was quick. And painless. She suffered enough in life. I can't stand the thought of knowing she died slowly or something.” Oliver blurted out the last few words in a rush, then shot to his feet, breathing hard. He started to hurry off, then stopped and whirled back, flying right upto Devon. Oliver grabbed Devon's hand and clamped it to his forehead.
Devon winced.Gods. Poor Oli. He sat there, trying to hold still while all of Oliver's tension seemed to flow right out of Oliver's body and into Devon's hand instead. Devon took a slow, deep breath, forcing himself not to rock. Oliver needed this. It was usually the quickest way to diffuse an anxiety attack.
After a minute, Oliver muttered a curse and let go. He whirled away and rushed off to the washroom, nearly slamming the door.
Devon flinched. He could almost imagine what Oliver was going through. Not necessarily in the sense of losing someone he loved, but in having some big, glaring questions with no answers. Oliver was never going to be easy until he found out exactly how and why Dannika died. The poor boy had been the one to find her body, for gods' sakes.
Oliver would probably be the one to find Devon's body, too. Assuming it was quick. Otherwise, Oliver would be right there beside him, watching him die.
Shit.Would his own death be sudden? Over and done with before he even realized it was happening? Or would it drag on for hours? Days? Weeks?
He let out a shuddering breath, knowing he could literally die in the next few seconds.
Devon grabbed his keyboard, turned to another monitor, and started a new hack. Through one of his custom hacking programs, he logged in remotely to University Hospital, tricking the system into thinking he was using one of its own terminals. It bypassed the fingerprint scan and allowed a username and password combination instead.
His monitors all flickered and flashed. Then his computer made a horridbeepand popped up a warning.System overload.
“Shit!” he gasped. Devon stared at the screens, trying to decide what to do before the computer crashed on him. Two hacks at once were apparently too much for the ancient machine to handle.
Devon jabbed at his keyboard, terminating the hack into University Hospital. He closed his eyes and sighed, then made himself take a slow, deep breath. Devon peeked at the screens and saw the warning disappear, his paid hack still running.Thank gods. He didn't want to think about having to start that all over again.
Still, he hesitated. He could stop the hack forGrimand log into University Hospital instead, but he was pretty sure he was almost through with that job, which would mean getting paid. Which would mean being able to pay the rent. Buy groceries. Keep Oliver—and himself—under a solid roof. Hacking the hospital wouldn't serve any of those needs. Besides, assuming he didn't die that night, he'd be back at work in the morning. Maybe he could get in early and check Dannika's files first thing before he moved on to cleaning out Andy's old office.
There was really no question. Dannika would have to wait.
Devon's screen flashed as his program finally broke through the target firewall, only for an automated counterattack to launch his way. He snatched up his keyboard and started typing as fast as he could. A few tense moments later, the counterattack was stopped, and Devon had full access to the target server. He heaved a sigh of relief.That was close.
He took a minute to let his nerves calm, then finished out the job, typed up his report, and uploaded it to the chatroom.
Devon sat back and gave himself a moment to enjoy having something off his plate, the relief almost a physical thing, like an actual weight or pressure off his brain. Now, maybe he could at least start on Dannika's file.
But then a dozen other things all seemed to rush in at once. He had to pee. And needed a shower. Plus, his t-shirt was slightly twisted, having caught on his chair when he relaxed against it.
Everything was so loud.
Devon eyed the clock and inwardly cursed. It was already running up on his bedtime, and he still had things to take care of before that could happen.
He logged out of the chatroom, put his computer to sleep for the night, then got up and rushed for the washroom, realizing as he went that it was empty. Oliver must have quietly crept out while Devon was working, then gone to his own room instead. Devon ducked into the washroom, tore off his itchy clothes, relieved his bladder, and got into the shower.
Once he was clean, Devon found himself standing there under the hot spray, feeling almost cold, wishing Andy could have been there with him.
Gods. He couldn't help thinking of the shower he'd taken the night before. Of having Andy wash him all over, teasing and touching him, getting him so turned on and worked up that he almost couldn't stay on his feet.
