Page 20 of Private Exhibit
“Gods,” the doctor cursed. He paused, glancing towards the doorway that led into the morgue. “Not worth it,” he muttered, sounding like he was quoting someone. After a moment, he added in a whisper, “How did he know?”
“What? Who?”
The doctor stilled, then tore his gaze away from the other room. “Nothing. Never mind.” He shook his head. “Gods. You found all this in minutes. I've been fighting this damned thing fordays.” The doctor breathed a laugh. “Kids,” he muttered, then shook his head again. “Can you…I don't know…put all this into his patient file here?”
“Of course.” Devon executed a few keystrokes, and the patient file populated all the missing information. The dead man's name and aliases, last known address, contact information for his parents, pieces of medical history, and other assorted details instantly appeared in the empty fields, completing the profile.
The doctor muttered a curse. “You make that look so easy.” He reached out and scrolled through the file. Apparentlysatisfied, he straightened up and said, “Go ahead and close it out and forward it to Billing.”
Devon did as he was told. “Done.” The patient file closed, and then Devon started to close the other windows laid out across the desk surface, exiting out of the various databases one by one.
Before he could sign out of the remote access to his home computer, the doctor reached out and pointed at the screen, his fingertip underscoringVoy(ag)eur. “What's that?”
Devon blushed. “Um. My deep web handle.”
“Your what?”
“My username,” Devon clarified.
“Voyager?” the doctor asked.
Devon felt his blush spread as he reached out and used his fingertip to cover the(ag)portion.
“Voy…eur,” the doctor said, reading around it. “Oh,” he gasped, the sound deep and breathy.
Devon's heartbeat kicked up again. He risked a glance back over his shoulder, seeing the doctor's eyes darken and nostrils flare. Devon squeezed his legs together and tried to concentrate on breathing.
The man was so close. Bare inches away, which was both too close and too far all at once. Somehow, he knew they were both thinking of the other night. Of the glorious experience they'd shared.
Devon slowly drew his finger away, needing to hide the sudden trembling in his hands.
The doctor tensed, his unblinking gaze riveted to the desk surface. He swallowed hard, then slowly reached out and touched just below the handle again, pointing right at the middle of it, the part that Devon had covered up. “Ashworth-Grahams,” the doctor whispered. “Inside you.”
Devon winced.
Dr. Gerard jerked back, taking a shaky step away and running both hands through his hair. He paused, glancing towards a corner of the room. “No, not now,” he muttered, then gave a nod at nothing in particular before he put his hands on his hips and hung his head.
Devon waited.Shit. Please don't fire me. Please don't fire me. Mr. Bokin had told him explicitly that he wouldn't allow the doctor to fire him without poor performance, but still.
Finally, after a moment, Dr. Gerard whirled back around and cleared his throat. “You know what you're doing?” he asked gruffly, waving at the mess all over the desk.
Devon glanced at the chaos. He had a rough idea and he was sure he could figure out the rest as he went along. “Yes, sir,” he replied.
“Good.” The doctor coughed. “Get to it, then.”
With that, Dr. Gerard stormed into the morgue and let the door swing shut behind him.
Devon winced, but the discomfort didn't last long. The doctor left a perfect silence in his wake, taking all the tension with him.
Well, almost all. Devon grimaced at the piles of clutter all over the desk. He knew he wouldn't feel truly settled until all of that was gone.
But where the hells was he supposed to start?
Devon took a deep breath and let it out in a rush.Alright. One thing at a time. He started by separating the tablets from the paper files, making neat stacks of each. Then he picked up the first tablet on the stack and turned it on, finding another incomplete patient file.
At least this one had an identity. What it didn't have were the autopsy findings or the recorded video that documented the procedure. Those tabs were highlighted in red, making them easy to spot.
Devon eyed the stacks of paper files. On a hunch, he shuffled through them until he found one bearing the name of the patient that matched the file on the tablet. Devon chuckled. Apparently, the doctor really wasn't fond of technology, resorting to paper instead.
