6/10

Tao rolled his eyes at the ceiling. Once upon a time, what seemed like centuries ago, a small, naughty part of him had enjoyed sifting through someone else's private conversations. Him being his polite and genuine self, he tended to even avoid gossiping and the task of going through someone else's emails or text messages had seemed like a perfectly legitimate way to satisfy the curiosity human beings were born with.

Nowaday he was not so enthusiastic anymore. Having read his share of private conversations, he tended to be crept out by everything from suspects' bad grammar to the violent thoughts they felt the need to relay to others via electronic communication devices. He sighed when he went through the motions of overriding today's iphone's security measures. Everyone seemed to have one nowadays, from street worker to high business official. A blackberry to crack would have been nice from time to time, he thought. While he could hack into practically any type of phone, a little challenge was always welcome.

The screen filled with text messages which, inconveniently, weren't matched to names in the phone's memory and he reminded himself for the umpteeth time to get an upgrade to his program. He clicked through a few boring messages that seemed to have been sent to the suspect's kids. Thinking back to the burly, rather aggressive man, he found it surprising how tender his messages were, reminding them to eat regularly and to call him. They were all signed with an "M" for Martin, which, Tao mused, was also a little weird. He would have never dreamt of having his son call him by his first name, but then that was hardly bad parenting. He stole a glance at the media room whose door stood wide open to enable easier conversation. The Captain was still standing next to Buzz, watching the interview. She looked positively glowing nowadays, he noticed, with a slight smile always tugging at her lips.

He pulled up the next message and frowned.

Then he read it again.

With a start, Tao grabbed his own phone from next to his computer keyboard and scrolled through the contacts, comparing one of the numbers to the one on the screen.

He let out a gasp that was caused by equal parts of shock and intrigue then glanced at the Captain again who was still oblivious to him. Should he or should he not…? Feeling incredibly guilty, like the most despicable human being on the planet, he pulled up another text message having been sent from the number in question and read it, his eyes going wide. A completely uncharacteristic and positively evil chuckle formed in his throat and when it came out, he was cackling like a madman.

Provenza, lurred closer by the sound, appeared over his left shoulder. His eyes narrowed as he seemed to recognize the number right away. He reached out and grabbed the phone, forcefully unplugging it. Tao gave a sad little moan as his screen went black.

"You should be grateful that I am not reporting this," Provenza growled, already walking back towards the media room to get the right phone and return the Captain's to its rightful owner. Tao leaned back in his chair and, despite having been exposed as a shameless person who was spying at his boss when presented with the chance, laughed quietly to himself.

At some point in the future he would definitely allude to what he had just read and Flynn would be completely clueless but - he imagined - feeling rather awkward. In his stead, after all, he wouldn't be too happy if anyone found out that he used his LAPD-issued phone to tell his girlfriend slash boss to meet him in a supply closet. And that he called her "sweetheart" in private.

Or that his boss was his girlfriend at all. Who would have figured, Tao thought. Those two always looked so professional… Well, the Captain, anyway.

Provenza placed the phone back on the table and quickly slid the suspect's one into his pocket. Snapped out of her concentration by the movement, Sharon looked at him. At the sight of his expression she straightened up, adopted a dignified expression that was only slightly exaggerated and calmly asked: "I gave him the wrong phone, didn't I?"

"You sure did, Captain," Provenza replied equally calmly to which she turned around and leaned back over the table, hanging her head.

"Well, damn," she said, still pretending to be unaffected. "Andy is never to send me any texts again."

That very moment her phone vibrated and a text message showed up on the screen.

"Hey honey, I think Tao knows. He just looked at me funny. Bet Provenza told him, the old coot."

Sharon covered the screen too late and Provenza snorted.

"The things I do for you morons," he grumbled and walked out.