Page 76 of Private Exhibit
Devon yelped and jumped back. He stared up at Andy, standing in the office doorway, so startled that he almost didn't recognize him at first.
Andy winced. “Sorry. I thought you heard me come in.”
Devon shook his head and felt a blush take over his face.
“Devon?” Andy's expression turned wary. “What's going on?”
“Nothing,” Devon blurted out.
Andy's face went eerily blank. “Devon,” he said, the word coming out low and tight.
“I'm looking up something for Oliver,” Devon blurted out. “I'm sorry. Please don't fire me. He just wanted to know how she died, that's all–”
Andy's entire posture softened as he crossed the room. “Hey. Dev? Baby? It's alright.” He blew out a breath. “I'm sorry. I saw that guilty look on your face and thought you were keeping something from me–”
“No! I mean…” Devon grimaced and looked down. “I know I shouldn't be doing this, but Oliver's my best friend. And if you have to fire me, I'll understand–”
“Devon, hey.” Andy crouched down and grabbed his hands. “Dev? I'm not gonna fire you. Alright? Look at me.”
Devon squirmed, struggling to meet Andy's eyes. “I wasn't trying to keep secrets from you, I swear.”
“I know,” Andy murmured. After a pause, he said, “You wanna tell me what this is all about?”
Devon grimaced again. “Oliver had a friend who died, and he wasn't allowed to get any information about it. He's the one who found her body, but the hospital wouldn't tell him anything because she was brought in under an alias that didn't list him as her emergency contact.”
“Shit,” Andy quietly swore. “I'm so sorry. I hate cases like that. People begging to know how someone died, but we can't give out information…” Andy seemed to stifle a shiver, then asked, “Was this recent?”
Instead of answering, Devon pointed at the file.
Andy glanced at it. “Oh. Yeah. I remember that one.”
“You do?”
“Hard to forget the ones whose ghosts never show.”
Devon's heart sank. “Never?”
Andy shook his head. “There was a whole investigation with that one. I remember something about her being found with a suicide note, but the note was illegible. The investigators asked me if I'd seen her ghost, but I hadn't. There was nothing I could tell them other than how she'd died, and that it was definitely suicide, not murder.”
“Who investigated it?”
“I'm sorry, Dev. I don't remember.”
“So you don't know if they ever figured out the note?”
Andy shook his head again.
Devon slowly nodded in resignation. “She suffered, didn't she?”
“Yeah,” Andy gently replied. “She did. It wasn't quick. And it definitely wasn't painless.”
Devon winced. “How am I supposed to tell him that?”
“As gently as possible,” Andy said, squeezing his hands. “If you want me to do it…”
Devon's eyes went wide, but then he shook his head. “No. You've had to do that so much, and I can't even imagine how you handle it–”
“Dev,” Andy interrupted him. “Let me do this for you.”
