Rentboy

to Nik who never paid it back. He wanted a prostitute to be his boyfriend.
    And now he would have to tell his boss that the work his department had secured a huge grant to
    pursue was out on the street somewhere in the hands of God knew who.
    Tears of frustration rolled down his cheeks, and for a full minute he indulged them. Slowly he
    pulled himself together. This would not do. He was a grown man, and men didn’t cry. Thank heaven
    no one had been there to witness his meltdown. In the bathroom he rinsed his face and, briefcase in
    hand, headed out into the warm, bright morning.
    Half an hour later, his head hanging like an errant schoolboy, Edward stood in front of Dr.
    Crispin Howard’s desk explaining the loss of his data without actually saying that a rentboy had
    stolen it. “But it’s all backed up on memory sticks. I haven’t lost anything we can’t retrieve. It’s all in
    my small safe in the lab.”
    Dr. Howard was a short, stocky, swarthy-skinned man in his early fifties who, despite his
    physical shortcomings, seemed to think he was God’s own gift to the fairer sex. “Saving your own
    copies is all well and good, but who the hell has their hands on proprietary information?”
    “I don’t know,” Edward lied. He was not a good liar, and wringing his hands was probably a
    dead giveaway. He clasped them behind his back. “The laptop must have been stolen to sell.” What
    else would Fox want his laptop for if not to sell it? “He’ll probably wipe the hard drive. I never save
    anything important to the hard drive anyway.”
    “What about the external hard drive?”
    Without thinking, Edward began to wring his hands again. “It’s all on memory sticks, and they’re
    gone too. Anyway, it’s all encrypted. Only an expert could access the data.”
    “Who? You said he .”
    Panicked, Edward blurted, “I’m assuming it’s a bloke, probably some stupid kid. My place gets
    broken into all the time. Teenage boys with nothing better to do.” That wasn’t true; it was a very safe
    neighborhood.
    “Comtrex is a powerful pharmaceutical company. They gave us the grant for that pesticide
    you’ve been working on and they are fussy about where their money goes. If you do idiotic things like
    losing privileged information, they’ll cut us off. Now try to get it back.”
    “But I don’t know who took it,” Edward lied again.
    “Are you sure, Dr. Atherton?” The man looked skeptical, as if he knew Edward had been having
    sex with a prostitute.
    “Yes, Dr. Howard. But as I said, I still have the information. I just thought I should tell you I lost
    my laptop and memory sticks, that’s all. I’d better report it to the police.”
    “No, don’t do that!” The vehemence in the man’s tone surprised him at the same time that he was
    relieved. The last thing he wanted was to sic the bobbies on Fox.
    “We could lose the grant from Comtrex if they know we have nincompoops like you working for
    us.”
    “Sorry,” Edward mumbled.
    “I should think so.” Dr. Howard rose. “I have a meeting. You had better get to work.”
    At the door to Dr. Howard’s office Edward stiffened when the man asked, “Was it some man
    you picked up in a gay nightclub?”
    Edward turned to find a decided smirk on Dr. Howard’s face.
    “Oh, come on, Dr. Atherton. Everybody knows you’re a homosexual.”
    Horror settling over him, Edward asked, “Do they? How?”
    “You rarely pay attention to women, and when you do, you are far too polite to them.”
    Drawing himself up still taller, Edward looked the man in the eyes, even though his cheeks felt
    so hot they had to be scarlet. He’d never liked Dr. Howard, and at that moment he hated him. “I was
    brought up properly. You could take a leaf out of my book.”
    “Really?” Dr. Howard raised both eyebrows, his smirk firmly in place. It was time to wipe it
    off.
    “Yes, really. The young ladies in my classes complain about you at length. They call you
    creepy.”
    That worked in spades. The man’s dark complexion grew paler and his cheeks pink. His thin
    lips twisted into a sneer, but he said nothing. Edward strode back to his lab feeling much better.
    After a morning of accomplishing nothing, wandering about the lab thinking about the fantastic
    sex he’d had with Fox and the fact that he had stolen from him, Edward headed for Tisbury Court to
    find the little thief. He really should eat something, but he could not stomach the thought of food. Fox
    had