Tough Love

by David Horne

  Jack hung up. Mark moved in and touched his lover’s back. Lover. Not a word he expected to use on Jack. It felt good, even in the current situation.

  “What is it? Has something happened to Josie?”

  “No, she’s safe. She got a call from the guard to our building.” Jack turned. “My office has been turned upside-down. I have to get down there now.”

  So much for having a day to themselves. But Mark wasn’t about to let him go alone.

  “I’m coming with you.”

  “Mark…”

  “Don’t argue. Besides,” Mark threw over his shoulder as he headed up the stairs, “you need to keep an eye on me for concussion, remember?”

  He could hear Jack mumbling something as he followed.

  ***

  Jack had been looking forward to spending the day with Mark, preferably in bed. After taking the initiative and making a move, Jack was glad it had come to fruition. He had thought Mark would be dynamite in bed, but Jack had no idea how explosive it would be. And Mark’s responsive nature made him feel good. Jack was surprised he was able to walk properly.

  Now he was going to have to go in and sort out his office, which had been broken into. Their offices were always locked and security was always around, so how the fuck had someone managed to get in and make a mess without anyone noticing. That was what Jack was worried about right now. He and Josie had made their suite of offices tightly secure. To know someone had got into sensitive files and various documents was unnerving.

  Mark sat beside him as Jack raced through the streets, trying not to go above the speed limit. His partner was silent, but Jack appreciated his presence. It was stopping him from going completely mad and letting out his frustration by driving too fast, which was a problem Jack was struggling with. Having his lover there next to him had Jack feeling a little calmer.

  Lover. Partner. Jack had wondered if he would ever call Mark those titles several times over the years. Now it was happening, and it felt good. It suited Mark.

  Jack didn’t broadcast his sexuality around, seeing it as nobody’s business. A few select people knew, but everyone else had no idea. He wasn’t concerned about people finding out that he was dating a guy, although he was sure a few of his parolees would end up getting upset about having a gay parole officer. They didn’t get to choose a PO, so they would have to lump it. Jack could handle all that.

  Just as long as he got to handle Mark when he wanted.

  They pulled up in the parking garage that linked both of their buildings and Jack practically jogged into the elevator, Mark close behind him. Jack ended up hopping from foot to foot, hoping that it wasn’t as bad as Josie said. Mark took his hand and gave it a squeeze.

  “Calm down. Things are going to be okay.”

  “How do we know that? The cops have been called.”

  “We can sort it all out. At least nobody was there and got hurt.”

  That was something, but it didn’t give Jack much comfort. He had a lot of sensitive information in those files. His parolees had things about them that he was meant to keep away from the public eye. He didn’t need people finding out where they lived and going on a lynching. That had happened before, and Jack wasn’t about to let it happen again.

  He could only hope that whoever broke in didn’t find what they were looking for.

  They stepped out of the elevator and headed down the hall to Jack’s offices. Mark let go as they reached the door, allowing Jack to go in first. Josie was pacing around the lobby, her face as red as her hair. She turned as Jack hurried to her.

  “Where are the cops?”

  “They’re on their way right now.” Josie brushed her hair away from her face. “They’ve said not to touch anything at all until after everything has been processed.”

  Which meant having their big boots stomping everywhere. Jack had had to deal with the cops before, and they often saw him as an extension of his parolees. Almost like he was a pimp for convicts. He didn’t need them looking into his files.

  “Can I at least go in?”

  Josie gestured towards Jack’s office door.

  “Just don’t touch anything. You might not be able to get in, either.”

  Then Jack saw why. The door was half open, jammed stuck by whatever was on the floor. He stuck his head around the door and his eyes widened when he saw the mess. His files were strewn all over the floor, papers scattered almost across every inch of the carpet. His computer chair was upended and the computer had been turned almost ninety degrees. The trophies Jack won for sharpshooting and wrestling had been knocked off the shelves, and there was a massive dent in the wall with the trophies lying in a pile on the floor. Someone had been throwing them. How had security not heard that?

  Mark squeezed past and stuck his head in. He whistled.

  “Wow. What train came through here?”

  Jack drew back and turned to Josie.

  “What the hell happened?”

  “I have no idea.” Josie bristled at his tone. “I came in to pick up my gear that I forgot, and I found this. I swear the place was locked, and Dwayne said he didn’t hear anything.”

  “I’m sure.” Jack muttered.

  Josie flinched. She glared at him.

  “We honestly didn’t know! Don’t take it out on me!”

  “Take it easy, both of you.” Mark got between them and turned to Jack. “Deep breaths, Jack. Don’t lay blame with Josie. She had no idea.”

  “At least someone’s on my side.” Josie grunted.

  Jack sighed and looked away. He was too worked up after finding his office turned inside-out. Josie may not have been at fault, but he needed someone to blame.

  “Jack.” Mark touched his face, causing Jack to look up at him. “How do we know what’s been destroyed?”

  “We don’t until the cops have done their job and we can get in there.”

  Which would take forever, the damn cops liked to draw it out. Especially when Jack was involved. Common courtesy didn’t seem to compute with them.

  It looked like they were going to have to spend their weekend sorting everything out. Not exactly what he wanted after his confession to Mark.

  Chapter Seven

  The cops came and went, taking close to three hours. Jack found himself banished from his own offices while it was happening, so he and Mark had convened in Josie’s office. He couldn’t sit still, pacing back and forth to the point he was surprised he didn’t wear out the carpet.

  It wasn’t the first time someone had gotten into his office and destroyed it, and it didn’t make Jack feel any better. He hated his privacy violated. Other times, they discovered it was one of the convicts he was keeping an eye on, trying to find something that they could either use to their advantage or make disappear. Chances were it was the case this time, although Jack was having doubts. He had no idea why, but the doubts were there. Something else was going on, and Jack hated not knowing.

  Thank God Mark was there. Josie had left at Mark’s urging, and then he had stayed, mostly sitting in silence as Jack paced around and occasionally ranted. His presence was surprisingly comforting, even if he barely said a word. Jack was glad Mark was still there, that he had someone to keep watch. Some of the cops who had arrived had been sneering at Jack, and Jack didn’t care for that. He did his job, and they were supposed to do theirs.

  At least Mark’s brother was a decent guy and good cop. Jack could cope with Rusty, just not his egotistical coworkers.

  Finally, the cops left, taking their forensic team with them. Jack took a look inside his office once they left, and was surprised that the powder they used for fingerprints hadn’t coated a thick layer over everything. It was certainly hanging in the air, the dust making Jack sneeze, but not as bad as he expected. He felt like he had dandruff after the last time. White powder on his bald head was not a good look.

  So, he and Mark focused on getting the place tidied. Jack trusted Mark with the papers, and knew he could be discreet. Mark was not a
person who would pass it around to all and sundry. Even convicts deserved their privacy, or what was left of it, and Jack liked to respect that as much as he could.

  It was mid-afternoon by the time they finally got all the files in the right order. Jack slumped into his chair with a heavy sigh.

  “God, I’m glad that’s all finished.” He looked at his watch. “And it only took just over six hours.”

  “Well, they’re all put away and sorted.” Mark closed the top drawer of the filing cabinet. “Have you noticed anything missing in particular?”

  “You didn’t see Lucas Banfield’s files around, did you?”

  “No. Where were they last?”

  “In my top drawer in my desk.” Jack gestured at his computer. “I checked all of the files with my digital files, and while Lucas’ records are on my backup drive, they’re not on the computer or in the paper files.”

  Mark frowned.

  “They managed to delete computer files? I thought your computer was password protected.”

  “It was.”

  Jack couldn’t understand how it was possible to get onto his computer. He had made sure there were passwords for practically everything, and the last time someone tried to get into his files, they couldn’t get anything. Jack had been paranoid about that for years and had asked his sister, who was a computer whiz, to install something that would need only him to bypass if someone tripped anything. The idea was if it sensed that it wasn’t Jack by typing in the wrong password or going into a sensitive file, the entire computer would shut down. But it had been on sleep when Jack had seen it. The cops swore they didn’t touch it when Jack asked about it, but he didn’t think they would have gone onto it. It was covered in powder for fingerprints, which would be an absolute nightmare to clean, but the only fingerprints on it were Jack’s. Some of them were smudged, which said someone had used it, but there were no extra prints. Someone had to be wearing gloves.

  His computer had been the target. Throwing everything else around just seemed to be a smokescreen. It wouldn’t be the first time when someone tried to break into his office for information, either to obtain it to their advantage or delete it completely, but this was the first time it had looked this bad.

  Mark knelt on the couch and looked over the back. Then he started to reach for something. For a moment, Jack was distracted by the flash of smooth skin just above the waistband of his jeans. Mark had simply thrown on a pair of old jeans with a bulky blue sweater. Nothing underneath it, so he had been flashing a lot of his stomach as he used the sweater to wipe his face of sweat. Had it been any other situation, Jack might have jumped him.

  Get your head focused. Preferably the one on your shoulders.

  “Found some more papers.” Mark straightened up, a scattered sheaf of papers on his hand. “These look like miscellaneous information, from what I can tell.”

  “I’ll sort those out at some point.” Jack slumped back in his chair and rubbed his hands over his face. “This is not how I expected to spend my Saturday.”

  “So you’ve said about five times since we got here.” Mark crossed the room and put the papers on the desk. Then he kissed Jack’s head. “The quicker we get this sorted, the quicker we can get back. It’s certainly helping me keep awake. You’ve given me something to do.”

  “This is not what I had in mind to stop you succumbing to a concussion.”

  Mark grinned and sat on the edge of the desk.

  “Well, it’s working.”

  Jack rolled his eyes.

  “You’re impossible, do you know that?”

  “I know.” Mark’s smile faded. “Do you know which one of your parolees could’ve done this? Anyone stand out in particular?”

  “Any of them, but the fact Lucas Banfield’s file is the only one that’s missing points me to a very specific suspect pool.” Jack groaned when something popped up in his head. “Fuck, why did I forget that?”

  “What?”

  “Denise Banfield works in IT. She’s the one below the head of the department.”

  Mark raised his eyebrows.

  “So, a crazy woman in charge of technology to a high level. Great combination, I must say.”

  “Don’t, I’m already feeling bad enough that this has happened.”

  Denise would have been able to get past the security Jack had and get into the computer. That would be easy for her. But would she be able to get through the extras?

  The backup drive. Jack sat forward and his fingers flew across the keys as he brought up the backup drive. Nobody had tried to get into it, and there were no signs of hacking from other computers. He heaved a sigh of relief.

  “Thank God for that.”

  “What?” Mark slid off the desk and came around to lean over the back of his chair. “What is it?”

  “I have a backup drive that automatically saves everything. It’s currently off-site, but I can access it from here.” Jack pointed at the icon on the screen. “I have it disguised as my calendar so it’s not immediately visible. It looks like Denise ignored my diary in lieu of getting her son’s files deleted.”

  “Does it have everything on it?”

  “Yep. Doesn’t matter if something gets deleted off this computer, it doesn’t affect the backup. You have to actively get into it and use a specific password to delete the files for good.”

  Mark made an appreciative noise.

  “Nice. And where’s the actual backup if someone tried to physically destroy it?”

  “At my place.”

  After having a few dangerous convicts attempt to get into his office and delete some files at the start of his career, Jack had taken extra precautions. You could never be too careful when dealing with people who had been in prison. Even the most placid of people would do something desperate. Jack had never understood why they would do that as it became public record, but it was like they thought if they could get rid of something in their file then their problems would be solved.

  Not all criminals were smart, but Jack wasn’t about to get through a headache of redoing the work.

  “Can you prove who deleted the files?” Mark asked.

  “Not on my computer.” Jack pointed at the bookcase against the opposite wall. “But I can from the camera footage in this room. I have a tiny camera pointed at the desk. Unless you’re actively looking for it, you wouldn’t realize that there is a tiny camera tucked into a false book. And that hasn’t been moved.”

  Mark whistled.

  “Damn. Listening to all this makes you sound paranoid. And I’m damn glad about that.”

  “I’d rather be paranoid than lower my guard.” Jack grunted. “You’d be surprised how many convicts want to get a piece of me and then claim they were elsewhere.”

  Mark shuddered.

  “And I thought my job was bad.”

  “You just deal with the criminals in a different capacity, remember?” Jack rose to his feet and crossed the room to pluck the fake book out of the bookcase. “I mostly deal with them long after the fact.”

  Mark grunted. He straightened up and approached him.

  “If it was Denise Banfield who broke in here to delete computer files, she was smart enough to wear gloves or not leave her fingerprints anywhere.” He stopped before Jack. “Was it tampered with?”

  “From the look of it, no.” Jack opened the book and checked the camera. It looked fine. “She wasn’t smart enough to think about all the extra bits, from the look of it.”

  “Have you ever heard of an expression ‘you’re so smart you’re stupid’?”

  “Not really.” Jack shook his head. “But it makes sense. It’s going to take a while to upload everything on this. I need my laptop at home.”

  “Then we can head home once we’ve got everything else sorted here.” Mark ran a hand through his hair with a yawn. “That file is more likely shredded beyond recognition or gone for good. Physically, at least. Are you going to tell the cops about this? I can call Rusty.”

  �
�I want to look at the camera first.”

  Mark frowned.

  “Why didn’t you tell the cops about this camera when they were here?”

  Jack tried to look innocent.

  “I only just remembered when we were talking about security.”

  He didn’t think he succeeded but Mark’s expression said he didn’t believe him. Mark folded his arms.

  “I know you’ve had bad experiences with the cops, but they’re not all bad.”

  “They’re decent enough when you’re dealing with children. Everyone will drop everything for children. But not reformed criminals.” Jack shrugged. “Most cops think these guys need to stay inside for good.”

  “And what do you think?”

  “Some deserve a second chance. Not all of them, and I do worry that they’re going to ignore what they’ve been told to toe the line, but there are instances when you need to give those who are eager to get back into society a chance.”

  Again, Mark’s expression said he didn’t agree on that. Jack knew this was going to be a bone of contention between the two of them, and they wouldn’t always see eye-to-eye. Would they be able to get past that to attempt anything beyond what they had?

  Damn right you can. If Mark disagrees but accepts what you do, then you’re good. If he can’t, he’s gone.

  Jack silently hoped that Mark would understand. He had done so as a friend, but as a lover? That was something else.

  It still felt strange addressing Mark as a lover. Was he a boyfriend? Nothing had been said about it, so Jack felt like he was in limbo. He wished he knew what was really going on. When they got back to Mark’s place, Jack was going to have it out with him. He wanted to know where he stood. Mark was open and honest enough to tell him the truth. Jack did not do one-night stands, and he didn’t think Mark was the type to do that, either.

  Fingers crossed, they were on the same page.

  “Jack?” Mark’s fingers brushed across Jack’s cheek. “You okay? You look like you checked out there.”

  “Oh. Right. I’m okay.” Jack closed his eyes for a brief moment. “I’m just fed up right now. It seems every time I start having a good time, something happens to bring the mood right now. It’s almost like someone is watching me and hoping to piss me off.” He opened his eyes. “Does that sound selfish?”