Page 74 of Private Exhibit
Mr. Mason glanced at his wife, then looked up at Andy again. “How did he–”
Andy took a seat facing them. “Alcohol poisoning,” he murmured. “And if it hadn't been that, it would have been liver failure in the not-too-distant future.”
Mr. Mason nodded as though he weren't surprised. “At least he can be at peace now,” the man whispered.
Andy opened his mouth, then thought better of it. He glanced at the doorway to the viewing room, where the man's ghost had disappeared. If these people couldn't see or hear their son, convincing them of his continued existence would be difficult at best.
And they were in enough pain as it was. Telling them that their son's mind still existed—that Steven was still suffering—would only make things worse for them.
Andy paused with a frown. “You don't happen to know any of the magi, do you?” he blurted out.
The Masons both looked up at him. “The magi?” Mr. Mason asked. “No. Why?”
Damn. Andy shook his head. “I found one of them here,” he admitted. “When your son was first brought in. But he vanished before I could ask him how he knew your son.”
The couple looked puzzled. “No, we've never had any dealings with the magi,” Mr. Mason told him. “Nor did Steven.”
“That we know of,” his wife added.
“True,” Mr. Mason conceded. “We never knew where he was. How he lived. Who his friends were. If he even had any.” He shook his head. “If he ever met any of the magi, he never told us about it.”
Andy slowly nodded.Well, it was worth a shot. Maybe he'd never know who the mage was. Maybe it didn't matter.
Except there had been that moment at the club, too. It had to have been the same man. Andy was almost sure of it. The mage had been watching him. Or watching Devon? Or both?
But why?
He wondered if Devon could track him down the way the boy had found the Masons.
Mrs. Mason glanced towards the viewing room, then pressed the handkerchief to her mouth. She held her breath, blinking rapidly. After a moment, she let out a gasp and lowered her hand just enough to say, “I need some air.”
The couple fled the room, heading for the nearest exit. Andy watched them go, shaking his head and inwardly cursing.Gods. He knew what they were feeling all too well. That overwhelming need to escape. To pretend, for a moment, that this wasn't really happening. The weight of it was simply too much to bear.
And Andy knew he was going to feel all that again.Fuck. What the hells was he thinking, letting himself indulge in this attraction to Devon? The boy was dangerous. Andy was already at serious risk for total heartbreak. Getting any closer to Devon would only make things worse.
He'd been so determined to fight this attraction, yet Devon kept reeling him in at every turn. Every little blush. Every little vulnerability. The sweet, shy smiles. The intelligence and work ethic. The pure enjoyment of simple, beautiful things. Andy was right on the edge. He was going to have to get himself under control before it was too late.
Hells. Who was he kidding? It was already too late. Far past it. It had only been a mere handful of days, but that didn't matter.
Andy was completely—hopelessly—in love with Devon Campbell.
And it was going to utterly destroy him.
Chapter 27
DEVON STARED at the door after Andy left, wondering again how in all seven hells the man could do what he did. How did he face grieving families like that? How did he endure witnessing that kind of pain over and over?
How did he tell them how their loved ones had died?
Devon shivered. He was going to have to do the same thing for Oliver, provided he actually found some answers. Devon took a deep breath, held it as long as he could, then let it back out in a rush as he logged into the computer and searched for Dannika's name.
He knew he was supposed to be moving on to cleaning out Andy's old office, but considering he'd found the man in there that morning, clearly deep in some kind of research, there was no way he could go back up there without asking first.
Besides, this moment of opportunity had dropped into his lap. He had to take it.
One result popped up. Devon tapped on it to open the file, then frowned as he started to read. This wasn't even an autopsy report. Just a regular clinical checkup from two years ago.
Devon searched every page of the file, just to be sure. Finally, he went back to the first page of patient data and checked it all again.
