If... Felipe’s throat clenched. He knew that Joe’s life shortened with every hour they wasted gathering evidence, but he didn’t want to think of it. After all this, he didn’t want to fall back into the harsh practicality of fieldwork. Bad things happened to good people, and sometimes no matter you did, people still died. Oliver’s hand tightened in his as he pulled him into the hall. Joe’s startled expression as someone grabbed him flashed through Felipe’s mind. Joe was as valuable to Dr. Yates alive as he was dead, and he had to hope the doctor wanted information more than retribution.
Chapter Twenty
Sharing Burdens
The all hands bellwent off as soon as Oliver and Felipe reached the basement. Above their heads, feet rushed down the stairs and across the foyer until they could hear the murmurs of the other investigators despite the layers of wood, carpet, and metal between them. Watching Felipe from the corner of his eye as they neared the laboratory, Oliver wondered if he wanted to join them. If he hadn’t been tethered to Oliver, would he have insisted upon joining them despite the fatigue pulling at his eyes and slowing his steps? After all that happened, going back to the lab while the others continued their investigation in their stead felt like a hollow victory, but the head inspector was right, the society needed all the eyes and hands they could get for a place that large. A hundred fresh investigators would be far more useful than two people who had been up all night and slept poorly the night before.
Unlocking the door, Oliver was surprised to find the laboratory ransacked from their labors. Papers littered every bench, and the chemicals that were usually neatly arranged along the wall were clustered around the scale. Oliver shoved an errant stool back into position with his foot and sighed. His first instinct was to clean it now to avoid the mental chaos later, but at a pang of bone-deep exhaustion echoing across the tether, Oliver thought better of it. It could wait.
“Bed?” Oliver asked as Felipe reached for the broom.
His hand lingered on it a second longer before Felipe nodded and followed Oliver through the closet and into the bedroom. The lingering astringent odor from the makeshift darkroom drifted under the door, but with the window above the bed cranked open to let in the late-May breeze, the stuffy room quickly became far more comfortable. Shucking off his waistcoat, and tie, Oliver flopped onto the bed. A prickle of anxiety flickered across the tether followed by a wave of deeper fear. When Oliver raised his head from the pillow, he found Felipe standing by the door, fingering his jacket. Felipe’s eyes went distant as another ripple of anxiety passed through Oliver’s chest.
“Felipe, are you all right?” he asked, sitting up.
Swallowing hard, Felipe nodded and drifted closer. Oliver wrapped his arms around his partner and drew him closer until Felipe dropped onto the edge of the mattress. His jaw tensed as sweat gleamed on his forehead and his eyes seemed to look through Oliver again. Felipe tensed under Oliver’s touch as he brushed the curls from his forehead and caressed his cheek. His skin felt clammy, and his pulse quickened under Oliver’s fingers as they slid to his jaw. The emotions coming across the tether didn’t feel like guilt, but what else could it be?
“Is this about Joe?” Oliver asked softly, taking Felipe’s hand in his.
“Yes and no,” he replied tightly. “I should have realized he wasn’t following me. I should have gone back.”
“You don’t know that he’s still at the institute. He might have run the other direction. He wasn’t keen on going to the Paranormal Society, so there’s a possibility he took off. He did say he was leaving there one way or another, right?”
“Yes, but... I don’t know. I just feel it. Call it intuition or what you will, but I don’t think he got away. It feels wrong, not being there, not immediately going back. I was responsible for—”
At his features tightening, Oliver wrapped an arm around Felipe and held his hand with the other. “They’re going to find him, and if they don’t, we will. Right now, though, you aren’t doing anyone any favors by beating yourself up. If I was doing that, you would beg me to stop, wouldn’t you? You would tell me I had done everything I could, so now, I’m saying that to you.”
Nodding, Felipe stared at their linked hands and shut his eyes. “There is something else.”
“The thing from before? If you’re upset, Felipe, you can always tell me after we wake up. I promise, I’ll remind you.”
“No, I need to do itnowbefore I lose my nerve.”
Oliver’s pulse quickened at the edge of sadness and fear thickening Felipe’s voice. His hand shook as he held Oliver’s grey gaze and bit his lip. Across the tether, the other man’s heart pounded.
“I— I think I’m changing.”
