Page 23

Chapter 3

“ I can’t believe you won’t let me help you on this case,” Hollis grumped for the second time, tossing a copy of the Cincinnati Enquirer on the top of his desk.

Shane fought back a smirk. Hollis had to be the only person he knew who still read a physical paper. The main headline caught Shane’s eye about the Hamilton County medical examiner coming under investigation for money laundering. He was looking forward to digging into the story, but it would have to wait.

Drawing his eyes back up to Hollis, Shane bit his lower lip. He liked Hollis. The ex-cop was a great investigator, snarky as hell when he wanted to be, and just an all-around good person. It had taken a little convincing to get Ethan to agree to offer Hollis a position in their small agency. Yeah, the man had a few marks on his record . He’d been the subject of an investigation by Internal Affairs when Shane made the offer, but it only took two minutes of asking around to find out that every time Hollis had pushed the law, it was to protect a citizen.

Frankly, it pissed Shane off that the man had lost his job after taking down a child trafficking ring. He’d been responsible for the rescue of a bunch of kids. Shane couldn’t ask for an employee with more integrity.

Of course, the former cop saw it as his duty to keep an eye on Shane whether he wanted him to or not. Especially since the shooting. He was still waiting on the cops to release the name of the kid who’d been shot in the ballpark, so he could start looking for his mother. The red file folder sitting on his desk with the single page of notes had mocked him over the past several days, demanding Shane give the kid some kind of justice after his murder, but he had zero leads, practically no information, and the sad fact that to stay in business, paying clients had to come first.

“Look, man. The client is being very particular. Very confidential.” Shane leaned back and put the heel of his right foot up on the corner of Hollis’s desk and then crossed the other over his ankle. “You know I would love to bring you in. You’ve always got my back.”

Hollis snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. “And instead you’ve got this…this other guy at your back. How do you know you can trust him? What’s he got that I don’t?”

“First,” Shane paused and held up one finger as he counted off his arguments. “You’ve got your own case to work.”

“Nearly done. I’ll have it closed up in another day. Two, tops.”

“Second, he comes from a very reputable source, so I feel like I can trust him.” Of course, Hollis had recommended that Shane go to Ward Security. He just didn’t feel like telling the former cop yet. He liked to rankle the overprotective man.

Hollis just rolled his sharp blue eyes.

“And third, he’s got a set of unique skills that you don’t.”

“Doubtful.”

Shane chuckled. “You know, you almost sound jealous. Should we call Ian?”

Just the mention of Hollis’s fiancé melted his whole demeanor. His shoulders relaxed and his scowl rolled away under the force of the grin he simply couldn’t hold back. Hollis was a handsome man with his broad chest, long muscular legs, dirty blond hair, and angular face, but when he smiled, it was always like getting hit in the chest. While Hollis was definitely not Shane’s type, he could definitely appreciate Hollis’s natural sexiness. Ian Pierce was a damn lucky man. He and Hollis had been engaged for less than a month, and right now they were basking in the glow of their new status.

And why not? Ian was a perfect fit for Hollis in every way. The head chef and owner of Rialto might be the sweetest, most generous person Shane had ever met, but he also didn’t take any shit from Hollis. And holy fuck , could that man cook! The best days of the week were when Ian would drop by to deliver lunch to Hollis…and just happen to bring enough for Shane and Ethan “on accident.”

“Ian knows he’s got zero competition in the world.”

“Did you guys set a date yet?” Shane was happy to redirect the conversation away from his case, and the surest way to do that with Hollis was to talk about Ian.

Scratching the stubble on his chin, Hollis let his smile falter a bit. “We’re not going to try to pick a date until after Lucas and Andrei’s wedding. They finally picked a freaking location, so every waking moment that Ian’s not at the restaurant, he’s with Andrei or Lucas planning this damn wedding. When that’s over, we can talk about getting married.”

Hollis sounded utterly exasperated that his own future with Ian was put on hold, but Shane couldn’t really fathom it. He’d never experienced that “bolt of lightning” that Hollis talked about when he first met Ian. There had never been any one person he’d ever wanted to be with for the rest of his life. He had laughs. He had a hell of a lot of fantastic sex. But someone to live with and share the mundane things like cleaning and bills…he’d never met someone like that.

And he didn’t want to. He liked his life. He loved being single. And he certainly didn’t see the appeal of being with someone forever.

“And don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing!” Hollis snapped.

“What? We’re just talking.” Shane threw his hands up in surrender, fighting like hell not to laugh.

“I—” Hollis broke off suddenly, sitting up in his chair. Shane heard it too. Someone had come in the front door.

Shane jumped to his feet at the same time as Hollis, but he stopped in front of the doorway, pointing at Hollis. “Stay!” Hollis glared at him but remained behind his desk.

With a little grin, Shane headed down the short hall to the reception area. They didn’t have a receptionist—they were too small to need one or really afford one. He and Ethan spent the majority of their days working on accounting fraud cases, and that could just as easily be done at their desks. They were the ones who typically greeted anyone who came in looking to hire them.

Just past the front door, Quinn stood with one hand tightly holding the strap of the messenger bag hanging from his shoulder while the other was wrapped around his cell phone as he quickly tapped out some message with his thumb. With his head down, his dark hair threatened to hang in front of his eyes, but those black-rimmed glasses kept it back. Fuck, Shane loved those glasses. He couldn’t even explain why. Just something about how they sat against Quinn’s pale skin and accentuated his full lips. No, definitely no lightning bolts and string quartets singing them into forever. But he did feel a strong tug of lust.

“Hey, you found the office,” Shane announced as he got closer to the reception area.

Quinn seemed to flinch at the sound of his voice and quickly tucked his phone into the back pocket of his dark jeans before looking up at Shane. “Yeah, wasn’t that hard,” he muttered.

Not exactly the enthusiasm that he was looking for. He’d hoped that Rowe might be able to convince him that this would be a great opportunity. Apparently Rowe hadn’t made a strong enough impression.

“Umm…let me show you around, and then we can talk about the case.”

He pointed out the conference room where they held meetings with clients and the tiny break room with the fridge and handful of cabinets stocked with coffee, mugs, takeout menus, and plastic forks. As they reached Hollis’s office, Shane debated shuffling Quinn straight into his own, but Hollis came to the doorway to look into the hall.

“Quinn!”

Shane looked over his shoulder to find that Quinn’s entire demeanor changed in a flash when he lifted his eyes to look at Hollis. The grin that pulled his lips up was wide and easy while his dark blue eyes sparkled with laughter. His posture relaxed and became more open.

“Banner,” Quinn said, a laugh in his voice.

“What the hell you doin’ here?”

“A job.”

“What the fuck!” Hollis’s attention jumped to Shane. “You went to Rowe for help?”

“He wanted the best,” Quinn quickly said.

“What the hell ever! No more food from Ian for you!” Hollis threatened before turning back into his office. Shane rolled his eyes and waved for Quinn to follow him to his at the end of the short hall.

“Hey, that doesn’t include Ward Security, right?” Quinn asked.

Shane couldn’t hear Hollis’s reply, but Quinn didn’t look any grumpier than when he arrived, so Hollis must have let the guy off the hook. Shane shut the door behind Quinn and motioned for him to take a seat in front of his desk. When he’d realized that a computer genius would be needed for this case, he’d rearranged his office and crammed in a small second desk for the other person to work at. It made for cramped conditions, but they were short on space. There was only Ethan’s office, and he lived at his desk. If it became too uncomfortable, then Quinn could work from the conference room.

“Is this where you finally tell me what this case is?” Quinn asked. His sullen tone was back.

For whatever reason, Quinn didn’t fucking like him, and Shane couldn’t even begin to guess why. They’d never met before. As far as he knew, they’d never even set eyes on each other before meeting at Rowe’s.

“In one minute.” Shane stepped behind his desk and dropped into the leather chair. He grimaced as his gaze flicked across the red file folder before skimming over to another stack of files. Flipping open a file he’d prepared before Quinn’s arrival, he slid a single piece of paper across the surface along with a pen. “I just need your signature. It’s a standard confidentiality form. You agree to not share anything regarding this case with anyone who isn’t directly involved. No one besides myself or my business partner, Ethan, who you’ll meet a bit later. The Agency will provide any and all supplies you might need. The Agency pays a salary while you are working for us—plus a bonus should we meet the goal that I’ll tell you about in a bit.”

Quinn paused in the act of putting the pen to the paper and looked at Shane, disbelief filling his face. “Any and all supplies? You’re giving me a computer.”

“Yes, we bought a powerful laptop and…” Shane’s voice died off when Quinn closed his eyes, a pained look crossing his face.

“I’m gutting it. I don’t work on those pre-fabbed, Microsoft, spywared cookie-cutter machines.”

Shane forced a smile that was mostly clenched teeth, but Quinn didn’t notice as he read the confidentiality form. “That’s fine. It’s just a legal thing.”

With a resigned sigh, Quinn signed the form and dropped the pen with a clatter before sliding back in the chair.

Shane took a moment to tuck the form back into the file folder and square himself in front of Quinn before he finally announced, “We’ve been hired by the mayor.”

The only response from Quinn was a small quirk of one eyebrow in skepticism. Not exactly what he’d hoped for. “The mayor?” Quinn prompted when Shane sat silent for several seconds.

“Of Cincinnati,” Shane finished.

“That’s cool, I guess.”

Quinn sounded anything but impressed. This was a big case for Ethan and himself. The Agency was less than three years old and had established a solid reputation among several lawyers looking for reliable private investigators with skills in accounting forensics and fraud. Sure, it wasn’t the sexy “hunting down the bad guy” that was in the movies and on TV, but it was a steady paycheck and kept the company afloat. This was their first big case with a hacker, and Shane was even more excited that it involved someone with substantial standing within the community. If it went well, it could quietly open even more doors for them.

“Gerald Spring is up for reelection this year for his second term as mayor of Cincinnati,” Shane started again, letting go of his disappointment to jump into the case. “Election day is four weeks away, and he thinks that someone is trying to sabotage his chances for reelection.”

“Someone hacked him, trying to get dirt,” Quinn guessed and Shane allowed a small smile. It made sense.

“About two weeks ago, someone did hack into his office at City Hall. The cops have been called in and they are investigating. The preliminary report is that someone got into the networks and reviewed a lot of files, particularly those on the mayor’s computer, but it looks like nothing was modified or downloaded.”

“Must have been nothing good on the computers or…” Quinn’s voice faded and he frowned, staring at the top of Shane’s desk.

“Or what?” Shane prodded. He inched to the edge of his seat, leaning forward. Rowe had spent nearly an hour raving about Quinn’s skills when he first went to him with his request. He also hinted that Quinn had a somewhat less than clean past without going into any details. Shane didn’t care so long as he went by the rules now. Quinn’s skills were going to get them to this hacker.

“If this was me,” Quinn started slowly. His eyes darted up to Shane and he licked his lips before looking back down at the desk between them. “And I was looking to expose someone, I would make it obvious that I broke in and where I went so that investigators followed my trail to the exact files. A little B&E isn’t nearly as bad as stealing if you’re caught. And if everyone sees what I want them to see, I wouldn’t need to steal anything. He’s exposed. I win.”

Shane chuckled. It was a damn good plan. “Not a bad thought, but as far as I know, the mayor wasn’t up to anything shady. At least at his office. There’s no investigation into the mayor or his activities. City Hall has officially hired a cybersecurity company to shore up their defenses and lock down all the computers.”

Quinn slumped in his chair, looking a little disappointed for the first time. “Case closed then. The big guys in white hats have got it under control. What do you need me for?”

“Because we weren’t hired by City Hall. We were hired by the mayor, personally.”

Throwing up his hands, Quinn groaned. “Okay, fine. You’ve got my attention. Why did the mayor hire you?”

“ Us . You’re in this now.”

“Whatever.” The sullen tone had reappeared, but it sounded a little more forced. He’d managed to intrigue Quinn.

Shane grinned. “The hacker has gone after the mayor personally. He says that his home computers haven’t been hacked yet, and he’s taken steps to increase his security there, but he admitted that one of his personal bank accounts was drained of roughly $25,000.”

“He didn’t report that shit to the cops?”

“No.”

“You’re joking.”

Shane shook his head. “There was a note sent the same day the money was transferred to a new account. It was signed by his dead wife.”

A smile passed over Quinn’s lips, and Shane had trouble dragging his eyes from that gorgeous mouth.

“So the hacker is actually the ghost of the mayor’s dead wife, and she’s trying to ruin his campaign? That’s a new one.”

Shane cleared his throat, forcing his thoughts back to the case. “Not quite.”

Reaching over to the edge of his desk, he picked up the dark blue folder he was using for the mayor’s case and pulled out the letter left by the hacker. He slid it across the desk so that Quinn could read it.

I will make you pay. The world will know what you’ve done.

You will lose your precious position in the community.

You will lose all your money.

And you will lose our children.

They will know the truth at last. And they will never forgive you.

This is only the beginning.

Brenda Montgomery Spring

“Whoa,” Quinn said on an exhale as he sat back in his chair. “I can see the need for confidentiality. I’m guessing the mayor says that he has no idea what the letter is referring to.”

“No clue. He says that it could be any one of a number of people out to sink his campaign.”

“And you don’t think he’s guilty of something?”

Shane shrugged. “I don’t know. The letter is incredibly vague. There are zero hints as to what this person knows, which means that they could be fishing. The hacker hits on what are likely his three most vulnerable points: work, finances, and family. And using the wife less than a year after her death was another pain point. Could he have done something? Sure. But that’s not why we’ve been hired.”

Quinn continued to stare at the letter, frowning, until Shane slid it back into his folder. “Look, it could be something,” Shane said, folding his hands on the top of his desk, “but we have to consider that he could also be an innocent man who’s being dragged through the mud using a bit of fake news to ruin his career because they don’t like his politics. He’s got two kids— ages twelve and fourteen—and he doesn’t want them hurt by something that’s not true.”

Shoving out of his chair, Quinn paced away from Shane’s desk, his hands piled on top of his head. Shane watched the nervous pacing, the way his clothes shifted and clung to his lean frame, showing the hint of biceps and a flat stomach under the fabric. Surprised, he looked down at his desk. This was not where his mind needed to be. Not when he was discussing a case. He needed some time off, a few drinks, and a new fuck buddy to blow off some steam. Quinn was not an option.

“At the very least, we look at it as we’re protecting some innocent kids and a dead woman’s memory,” he added.

“Yeah, that’s true.” Quinn turned back and stood by his chair. “And the mayor hired you to identify the hacker?”

“Hired us.”

“No, he hired you . Hackers are rarely caught, because it’s just too damn hard. If they’re caught, then it’s because they’re sloppy and they suck. This person doesn’t strike me as sucking all that bad. Cybersecurity companies don’t try to catch the hackers. They just try to stop them from getting in a second time. That’s it.”

“Are you telling me that Rowe didn’t give me the best person for this job?”

All humor drained from Quinn’s face, and his bright eyes narrowed to thin slits behind his glasses. Shane hardened under that angry gaze, making him grateful that he was still behind the damn desk. What the fuck? Yeah, Quinn was rocking a nerdy sexy that had never done it for him in the past, but that little flash of temper instantly revved his engine, making him wonder if he could nudge him a little bit further.

“Oh, I’m one of the best in the city, but if you don’t believe me, you can go find another computer specialist and that person is going to tell you the same thing. The mayor is off his nut.”

“As one of the best in the city, you wouldn’t know the steps this person might take to get access to the mayor’s home network, would you?”

Quinn rolled his eyes. “The kids.”

“How—”

“Kids are sloppy with things like passwords, websites, and who they friend on social media,” Quinn quickly explained. “You just need to get access to one of the kids’ accounts and you should be able to follow that into the household network. Another vulnerability would be anyone who provides a service to the household—like a cleaning service or landscaper or even a water delivery service. Someone who might have regular access to the house. Any one of them could have access to the household Wi-Fi and that’s an easy access point.”

“Sounds like you’ve already got a starting point.”

Quinn muttered something under his breath that Shane couldn’t quite make out, but he didn’t care. Shane had won. Quinn was in.

“There’s no guarantee that we’ll catch the hacker this way,” Quinn hedged. He dropped his arms down to his sides and rocked back on his heels and then forward again.

“True, but I am a private investigator. There are other, more mundane ways to track this person down. The mayor is a public figure, so we’ve got some options on potential enemies—like his opponent and people he’s pissed off with his decisions.”

A hint of a smile returned to Quinn’s face. “Well, that’s got to be a smaller list than what we had to go through for Geoffrey.”

Shane’s head popped up. “You worked with Geoffrey Ralse?”

Quinn stiffened. “I shouldn’t have said that. I can’t talk about that case.”

Shane waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. I followed some of it in the news. The stalker thing. I heard whispers that Geoffrey had hired Ward. I just didn’t know you’d worked that case. If you handled that one, then this one should be a walk in the park. We’re protecting the mayor’s privacy, protecting his kids, and tracking down a hacker.”

Running a hand roughly through his hair, Quinn walked back over to his chair and picked up his bag. “Fine. We’ll protect the mayor, even if it does sound like a bad comic book story. Where am I working? I’ve got to start taking apart this computer you bought.”

Shane pointed to the small desk shoved into the opposite corner of the room with the laptop sitting on top of it. Yeah, it wasn’t the best setup, and it was going to keep them in very close proximity. He was beginning to think that was a mistake.

“It’s just for now. We’re short on space and we need the conference room. We can move things around later,” Shane offered.

Quinn wordlessly nodded and set his messenger bag on the desk. Settling on the small swivel chair, he spent only a couple of minutes pulling up menus on the laptop before turning around to look at Shane, who was struggling to get his mind on his own work. “I’ll need a day, maybe two to get this computer prepped and locked down so that the hacker can’t trace anything we do back to here. I’ll then need at least a few days to get things set up with the kids’ accounts, and that’s assuming you get me all the emails, login names, and passwords.”

“Oh.”

“What?”

Shane cleared his throat and shifted a bit in his chair. “I didn’t think it would take so long to get everything set up.”

Quinn’s eyes narrowed again. “You’re one of those people who believes that Hollywood bullshit they keep putting in movies about hackers, aren’t you? Where you just”—Quinn spun around and typed on the keyboard for a few seconds in a loud clatter of keys before spinning back—“and boom ! Done! You’re in. The White House has been hacked and you’re king of the world.”

“It doesn’t work like that?” Shane said, fighting to keep a straight face. He’d prodded Quinn simply because he didn’t want him to stop talking. And that nerdy sexy vibe was hot mixed with some snap.

“Fuck no!” Quinn launched to his feet but didn’t take a step closer to Shane. “Hacking anything with even a minimal security system takes time and hundreds—if not millions of failed attempts. It’s sending out millions of phishing emails to get that one jackass to click on the attachment holding the trojan. It’s praying that you can find the one idiot who’s still using ‘password’ or ‘abc123’ as his freaking password so you can get in. Hacking is almost as much luck and time as it is skill.”

“Wow,” Shane breathed and Quinn jerked as if he was suddenly aware that he had been shouting.

“What?”

“I bet you have no idea how sexy you are right now,” Shane said because he couldn’t help himself. And he was. Face flushed. Eyes wide and sparkling. Lips parted and damp from where he’d last licked them before starting on his rant.

Quinn’s cheeks darkened for a new reason and he audibly swallowed. He took one step backward and dropped into his chair. “What?” he croaked. He looked utterly stunned and confused.

“Never mind.” Shane gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “I shouldn’t have said that. But you are gay, right?”

“Yeah.” Quinn’s voice was rough and barely over a whisper. He still had the “deer caught in the headlights” look.

“Like I said, never mind. Should never have asked that either.” He turned toward his computer and tapped the mouse to wake it from its slumber. “I’ll reach out to the mayor and see what I can get from him regarding the kids’ accounts as well as a list of anyone who has access to the Wi-Fi and household network.”

“Okay. That’s great,” Quinn said and turned to his own laptop.

Shane watched him out of the corner of his eye. He might be facing the laptop, but it took him almost two full minutes before he touched the keyboard.

Oh yeah, this was going to be interesting.