On The Couch [Editing]

Chapter Twenty

“What?”

“They’re gone. The files all the work, the testing, all gone…like someone deleted them.”

I searched again, and again. I searched on the desktop for it through the whole computer not just in my design program. Nothing.

“What? That’s impossible,” Eddie came around my desk and leaned over watching what I was doing as panic began to set in my chest.

“I’m telling you they are gone,” I showed him.

“How could they have been deleted only someone with access to your computer could have done that?”

“I know when I left Friday night Ev…even though I hadn’t drank much I came back and double checked my office to make sure it was locked,” whew almost blew that one. “No one could have gotten in over the weekend.”

My heart began to pound in panic and my hands sweated. I had almost completed both websites and would have had them ready for presentation to go live in a week…sooner than I had promised Eddie already.

Who would have done this? How could they have done this? From the time Evan and I left and he went back to check if my office was locked was not enough time for someone to slip and do the damage. I should have gone back with him.

“Okay calm down. We’ll fix this. I’ll get the volunteers here as soon as possible. You find anything you can from your final work. Maybe they can piece it together from the volunteer office.”

“What if someone got to the computers in there and deleted it from them. Oh who would do this,” my voice took on a higher octave with each word.

Eddie grabbed my hands holding both in one and turned my face to look at him. I was too stressed and freaking out to worry about my aversion to him touching me right now.

“Look at me,” I did. “We will fix this and I’ll find out who did this,” he had that confident and determined look back in his eyes. “Let me fix this for you.”

I nodded.

“I’m the only one with a key to the volunteer beta testing room for these very reasons Sonja. I don’t think the computers have been compromised in there.”

He let go of me when my breathing evened out.

“Thanks,” I mumbled.

“Let’s get to work,” he left my office and I could hear him begin to bark out orders.

I took a moment to collect myself and began finding and gathering everything I had on the Cooper and Terry accounts that I could find, digital and physical. Soon as I had it all together I left my office making sure it was locked and hurried to the volunteer room. Eddie had already opened it up and was inside with some of the students that have arrived.

He began a speech about a glitch in the system and we needed their help to compile all the data they had been working on to piece together what we had completed on these websites already. Eddie even went as far as to add an incentive of a bonus if we could get it all done by the end of the week.

This must be his way of making up for what he did. While I wasn’t ready to forgive him completely this was a good start. We worked diligently through the morning and efficiently. Eddie never left as he helped the students and wouldn’t allow anyone else in the beta testing office.

“Go take a break,” he said to me around one-o-clock. I dragged my feet and found myself running into Stacy.

“Hey blue eyes what’s going on?” she asked looking behind me into the test room.