“I’m Jude’s friend. You can tell me.”
He narrows his eyes, wary again all of a sudden. But he’s not looking at me. I glance over my shoulder at the blonde nurse walking toward us. “I’ll speak to you later, Byron,” I say, getting to my feet.
Then I’m walking out of the common area before she can catch up to me.
I searchevery part of the facility, but I find no rooms that aren’t accounted for, so I take a detour just before the start of study time. The corridors are filled with residents on their way to one of the few classes that are held in the group meeting room. I hate being touched, but I hate losing even more, so I force myself to push through the teenagers to Jude’s room. It isn’t locked, so it’s easy to enter quickly before anyone sees. Jude said he still had the USB with all the data on St Michael’s Quinn was able to get for him. He must be storing it in his room before he has to hand it over to Jordan.
I just need to find it.
I search in all the places I would hide the damn thing, eventually locating it inside a loose pipe connected to his basin, wrapped in plastic to keep it dry. I pocket it, still sealed in the plastic, and make my way to the dispensary.
There’s one lone computer at the back of the clinic and a single nurse behind the counter.
She looks up at me as I approach. “You shouldn’t be here,” she says, brow furrowed.
I read her tag. Paige, it says. “One of the others said you let him check his emails.”
Paige purses her lips. “I don’t do that anymore.” I take in her appearance as fast as I can—she’s got bags under her eyes and a milk stain on her top. There’s a wedding band tan line, but no band. And on her desk is a worn paperback with a couple entwined in each other on the front.
Single mother.
Divorced or separated.
Romantic at heart.
“It’ll only take a second. My boyfriend said he sent me a love poem.” She stares at me. “I miss him so much,” I add, giving her wounded kitten eyes.
Her eyes soften slightly at that as she looks toward the door. “Fine. You have five minutes.” Reaching behind her, she presses a buzzer and indicates the door.
Best not wait for her to change her mind. I head to the back of the room, where the computer is already logged in. There’s a fake email account that I share with the boys that Quinn set up for us. I log in and see there are two unread drafts—both from Lorcan.
While the nurse has her back turned, I discreetly slot in the drive and access that first since that’s what I came here to do. At the same time, I open a window with Lorcan’s email.
Do not blame yourself for Dino,
I know that what you feel inside is
Tearing you apart. But know, I still
Love you. And will for as long as you’re alive.
—Lore
It’s a shit poem, but the message gets across. The last word of every line is the real message. Dino is still alive. I have no idea why Lorcan insists on sending me messages this way. The email account and email software are Quinn’s creation—completely untraceable and unhackable. There’s a reason I keep her around.
But Lorcan is a paranoid fuck.
I add my reply after his name, which I know will infuriate him, but sometimes it’s the little things.
Good.
—V
Dino is still alive. I knew he was. I felt it in my stained soul. But seeing it in black and white makes me want just to be done with this shitty place and find him. I need to get out of here. Soon.
I quickly open the USB window and hunt for the floor plans and make note of where everything is mentally in my head. There’s only one part that looks unfamiliar. I just need to work out how to get there.
“Your five minutes are up,” Paige calls over.