Page 85 of Sinner
West went rigid, a sense of foreboding pooling in his gut. “What?”
“I looked everywhere, but I couldn’t find a thing. And you know I’m skilled. I was able to wipe records from Enigma without you even noticing.”
“I kind of noticed.”
“You couldn’t trace it back to me though.”
The signature West had been looking for, the one he’d lied about in the beginning and told Nix was that of the hacker…He hadn’t been entirely dishonest. Whoever had removed the logs had left something behind, and he’d been searching for signs of them ever since with no luck. Even Nix’s attempts had proven fruitless.
Probably because Beck wasn’t a known hacker. Hell, up until now, West hadn’t even known he was that capable with computers at all.
“Everything happened so fast, but I know I did a thorough search. There was nothing, not even a sign of that partial emailwe found on Dew’s computer. The one made to look like a bakery order?”
“Dew, the student you were secretly fucking?”
“How did you…Nix.”
“Don’t talk about him.”
“When?” Beck frowned, but then shook his head. “It doesn’t matter right now. Can we please stay focused for a moment?”
“Rich, coming from you.”
“West, this is serious.”
“No shit.”
“I was trying to come up with a way to tell you, but doing so meant exposing the fact that I knew, and I was afraid you would never forgive me if you found out.”
“Good guess. I won’t.”
“That’s why I had to havesomething, a peace offering of sorts, something to prove my sincerity,” Beck continued as though West hadn’t spoken. “My father is many things, but no one would ever mistake him for a genius. I was baffled when I couldn’t find anything, believed I simply wasn’t looking in the right places. He was on the run, so I couldn’t confront him either. But then Juri died.”
West frowned. “From the same poison given to me.”
“A much stronger dose, meant to be lethal right away.”
“How do you know that?” His eyes narrowed. “Did you pay off the coroner?”
“Not at first. Yejun was bereft because of whatever was going on between him and Nix. I stepped in for him at the hospital. The point is, his death helped narrow down the search. It couldn’t have been my father, and it certainly wasn’t me—”
“Why not?” West interrupted. “How can you expect me to believe that?”
“I’ve never shown any personal interest in Juri Ferd. When would I even have had the opportunity to dose him?”
“The Night of the Nightshade? You stepped in.”
Beck scowled. “I did that because you were about to volunteer yourself. Don’t deny it. I saw the look on your face. You were about to bed Juri Ferd for Nix.”
That night, Hendrix had stepped forward, mostly to get on all of their nerves. Nix hadn’t liked it, had been worried for his friend, and West had wanted to help ease his mind. He never would have slept with Juri, but making Juri give himself a hand job on camera, just enough to satisfy the terms of the Order? Yeah, he’d been willing.
Nix had thrown up on the way there and was practically jumping out of his skin every other minute. He’d been in a delicate state. West would have done anything for him to relieve some of that anxiety.
Would do anything for him in the future.
“You’re saying you got jealous?” West hated to admit it but…he was starting to buy into the story.
“I’m telling you I did it so you wouldn’t have to. No other reason but.”
