Page 20 of Black Heart

Marty looked around the pit and sighed with relief. Sunday was probably the best day to do this since most of the officers were on the road and none of the secretaries were working today. Since it was her father’s day off, it would give her a chance to find out what was expected of her without being interrupted.

Hank stopped in front of the first office and cleared his throat. “This is it,” he said with a forced smile, not quite able to meet her eyes.

Marty’s eyes narrowed, he was definitely up to something, she thought before she turned her head and took in the name on the door. She swore under her breath as she read it again.

Detective Black.

“Ah, Dad?”

“Why don’t we have a closer look,” he said, his smile becoming strained as he opened the door for her.

“This is Tristan’s office,” Marty pointed out, shifting the box in her arms as she glanced back at her father in time to watch him wince.

“And now, it’s yours,” he said, still not quite able to meet her gaze.

After a sight hesitation, Marty walked into the office, which was surprisingly larger than her father’s and a lot neater. To her right was a small sitting area with several comfortable-looking chairs along with a small coffee table, three filing cabinets lined the wall to her left, a large plush couch lined the back wall, and two large desks faced each other in the middle of the room. One of the desks held a few folders, obviously just tossed there while the other desk was clearly Tristan’s since it had a computer, pens, and a neatly stacked pile of folders.

“This office was meant for two detectives, but since our budget only affords us three detectives on payroll, Tristan got his own office,” Hank said as she took in the rest of the office.

“Was this the same office the person you hired for my position last year used?” Marty asked as she set the box down on the empty desk.

“Maybe, I don’t remember,” her father mumbled, once again running his hand over his hair.

“You told me that the guy you hired last year fled the station in tears after one week. Did Tristan have anything to do with that?” Marty demanded, having a really bad feeling about this.

He visibly winced before he managed to bite it back, shifted, cleared his throat, and then shifted again. “Who’s to say what happened? I personally thought the guy was a bit skittish. He wasn’t my first choice, but then again, with our small budget, we can’t be too picky,” he explained, still not looking at her.

“Dad, did you tell Tristan that he was going to have to share his office?” Marty demanded as she folded her arms over her chest.

Once again, he smoothed down his hair. “Well, I told him that as soon as we could find someone to fill the position that he would have to share the office. You know how tough it is to compete with the FBI and CIA,” he said, giving her a sheepish grin. “We’re lucky we were able to steal you away.”

“Dad, you know that I’ve always wanted to work here,” Marty said, even as she couldn’t help but wonder what the hell she’d gotten herself into when she agreed to take this job.

“I’m very proud of you, sweetie. I can’t wait until you’re done with your thesis and it’s official.”

“Until then…” Marty said, knowing there was something else that he wasn’t telling her.

“Until then, I’m going to need you to help with paperwork, phone calls, and research. It’s not exactly a secretary job and not quite what you’re going to be doing when you start your official position, but we need the help and you need the money.”

“But this will be my office permanently?” Marty asked, slowly exhaling as she glanced back at the two desks in the middle of the room.

“Yes.”

“What if Tristan doesn’t want to share the office when he comes back from medical leave?” Marty wondered and had to admit that she was relieved that she would at least have the office for a while before she was forced to work with him.

“He doesn’t have a choice. Neither one of you can work in the pit. There aren’t enough desks and there’s no privacy. The files you both work on are confidential, so he’ll have to deal with it,” her father said, shrugging it off.

“Doesn’t have a choice about what?” a deep voice asked from behind her, sending a surge of awareness down her spine and making her breath catch.

It was just so wrong that she reacted to him this way, so damn wrong.

* * *

It feltgood to be back, Tristan thought as he made his way through the station. After spending the last month on medical leave, he was more than ready to get back to work. For the past week, he’d been waiting for Hank to come over and rip him a new one for allowing his precious daughter to be caught in the rain. When he finally showed up last night, Tristan was prepared to have his ass chewed out. Instead, Hank told him that he could come back to work on light duty.

Normally, the thought of being stuck on light duty would have pissed him off, but after a month of lying in bed, cleaning, reorganizing his house, and dealing with Shayne’s porn marathons, he was desperate to get out of the house even if that meant pushing papers for a while. Not that he was really going to listen to Hank. He never did and probably never would. His personnel file wasn’t three inches thick for nothing, after all.

He entered the pit and immediately frowned when he saw that someone left his office door open. Everyone knew better than to go into his office without permission. It had taken some time, but he had everyone here trained not to enter unless they knocked, and even then, it had better be important.

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