Devil’s in the Details Read Online Free PDF Page B

up the other side of my life.
    The one side where I killed without hesitation and discretion. Doing it for money and my country.
    Waving at Mary as she stood out on the driveway, watering the lawn, I walked into my house. Closing the front door behind me and locking it, I let out an exasperated sigh as I hung up my jacket. I was close to exhaustion and wanted nothing more than to change into my comfy sweatpants and a t-shirt then relax for a few hours before diving into grading papers or whatever new job was waiting for me on the laptop.
    Walking through the living room towards my den, I mentally noted tomorrow's lesson plan that still needed to be typed up. I would finish the last handful of papers to grade and then I could collapse on my giant couch in front of my giant TV. Setting my briefcase on the old mahogany wood desk, I glanced at the nondescript black laptop. Sitting there as lifeless as an inanimate object would, but it wasn't so inanimate. It was ominous. Ominous because of the things I knew would be waiting for me the second I started it up.
    I turned away from the desk and headed to my bedroom, eager to strip out of my Professor business suit. Unbuttoning the dress shirt with every step, stifling a few yawns, I debated just going to bed. It didn’t matter that it was only half past three in the afternoon, I was tired and nothing sounded more appealing than curling up under my blankets and getting a good night's sleep. Hoping some sleep would chase away thoughts of the brunette.
    It only took one look at my big soft bed, and I was done for. I changed into my pajamas of linen shorts and a big baggy sleep shirt. I set my cell phone on the nightstand, drew the room darkening curtains closed and fell into bed. Snuggling deep into the rich down pillows, I reached for the remote and turned on another massive TV hanging on the wall across the room from the bed.
    The screen lit up the room and I smiled as I heard the smooth, giddy voice of Katherine Hepburn fill the room. Her face in black and white quickly following as she traipsed around the screen chasing Cary Grant in Bringing up Baby . I let out a deep breath, pulled the blanket up closer and eventually drifted off to the sounds of her unique laughter.
    Two hours later, I woke up to the sound of my phone wiggling around the nightstand. Groaning, I rolled over and grabbed it without looking at the display. There was only one person who ever called me. "Dani." I half yawned around saying her name.
    "Professor. Did I wake you?" I rolled my eyes as I sat up in the bed, Dani clearly did not care if she had woken me up. She rarely cared about much in our love hate relationship.
    I pushed my hair back, squinting at the TV to see Maureen O'Hara in the Quiet Man, "Why ask if you don't really care?" I sighed, "Let me guess, I need to get the laptop."
    "First, yes, you need to get online. I have your next job and I need to go over it with you, per the request of the old man." I could hear the others she worked with in the basement murmuring in the background, "Second, I care. Sometimes. Well, not all the time, but you are my favorite plumber so far."
    I stood up from the bed, stretching as I walked to head back downstairs, "Should I take that as a compliment?"
    "You should, because you are the one who has lived the longest out of the others." Dani's voice changed to sincere and serious for a split second before she returned to obnoxious, "Anyway, Professor, are you at your laptop? I would like to get home before rush hour."
    "Give me a minute." I jogged down the final few steps and rushed into the den. I had learned over the last few years that Dani could be impatient and the more impatient she became, the more driven she became to irritate me. She was already doing a stellar job by calling me Professor.
    Sliding into the old leather chair, I fired up the laptop. Punching in my password and ensuring that the ISP rerouted and the encryption was operating at a high level, I