FUBAR
Who: Fox & Jacob Where: Benton Investigations When: Monday, after five-ish
There were times when Fox really hated his job. Times when he thought about turning a new leaf… maybe even trying to join the force again. Or do something else. It was always nice when he managed to discover something that was pleasant. Like the location of a lost loved one. Or when he could tell someone who was worried about the fidelity of their significant other that there was nothing to worry about. Such examples were still rare overall. Fox’s job often involved giving news that wasn’t really wanted. People could say that they wanted it, but at the end of the day, when they had to face that news, they weren’t happy with the end results. It was one of the reasons why Fox had a carefree persona… it was a defense mechanism. If he let the weight of what he was doing get to him, he’d probably end up a much different person.
Jacob Sheppard had proven an enigma when Fox met him the week prior. A guy that was incredibly hard to read. A man who knew what he wanted and didn’t even want anything beyond that. No snooping where he wasn’t meant to snoop. He made that perfectly clear. The enigma of Jacob Sheppard, however, only became much, much bigger when he did the digging that he needed to do. The digging that he had been hired to do. Fox had an obligation to give Jacob the news, in spite of what it could do to the man. Even so, he was hesitant. News like that… it wasn’t exactly happy news. It was basically world altering.
Ultimately, Fox made the call. He used the contact information that Jacob had given him in the file that Fox had been presented with when he agreed to take on the task. Another meeting, again at his office, was quickly agreed upon. This meant that Fox needed to wait around until Jacob arrived. A little bit later than normal. He had other cases that he had on his caseload. It would have been far too easy for Fox to just leave… to not give Jacob any information. The idea wasn’t entirely unappealing. But that was his reputation that he was putting on the line if he did that. There were things that Fox wasn’t willing to sacrifice. His business was one of them.
Another background check was on the list. A lady who wanted to make sure that the guy of her dreams was indeed the guy of her dreams. There was a time when people would take everything at face value. That was before people like Philip Markoff… and that was just one case. One case of too many. Not that they would all get to that extreme level. Some people just weren’t going to take that chance. Fox, for one, couldn’t say that he blamed them.