Caffrey Flashback

Chapter 4: Connecting the Dots

New York café. Tuesday evening. February 17, 2004.

When Neal returned to the café at 7pm, Kate was already waiting for him, and Jones had taken position on a centrally located stool along the counter. The agent was pretending to be absorbed in reading a newspaper.

Kate looked up at Neal, and it seemed to him that her smile lit the room. "I wasn't sure if you'd come back," she said as Neal slid into the seat opposite her.

"I had to."

A waitress stopped at their table, preventing Neal from continuing. He ordered the same sandwich he'd had for lunch. Kate ordered a chef's salad. The waitress brought a pot of coffee and filled two mugs.

When the waitress was gone, Neal said, "Kate, you have to stop this. Working for..." Neal looked around, bringing Kate's attention to the other people in the café. "Working for him is dangerous. Every law enforcement agency in the country wants to find him. Why would you risk bringing that kind of attention to yourself?"

"He pays well. And you don't get the rush without a little risk." Kate raised her coffee mug as if to toast Neal.

Neal ran his hands through his hair. "God, Kate, I never should have brought you into my cons. I created another addict."

Kate took one of his hands in hers. "If you really think it's that dangerous, I'll stop."

"You promise?"

"I can make this my last job for him." Kate shook her head. "I know what you're going to say, but it isn't that easy to stop. Adler's requests come with an advance, and I've already spent this one. The plain truth is, I need the rest of the money for this job. Once I have that, I can let him know I need to take a break."

"A break isn't the same thing as stopping," Neal pointed out.

"He'll be more accepting if I tell him it's just a break, and a temporary break can easily turn into a permanent one. But Neal, taking a break from working for Adler doesn't mean I agree to stop doing this kind of work for everyone else. I'm not going to follow your route. That's not for me. You have to understand that."

"I'll try. It's just that I don't see how we can be together unless we're both on the same side."

"Neither do I, but let's take this one step at a time. The first step is completing this job, and for that I need your help. After that, if we're meant to be together, we'll find a way."

A barrage of emotions ran through Neal and he didn't try to hide them. "Kate..." He took a deep breath. "You know I'd do anything..." He paused as the waitress arrived with their food.

"Then you're in?" Kate asked.

"I'm in. Tell me what you need me to do."

"I need you to steal something." Kate placed her elbows on the table, resting her chin on her hands. Her blue eyes sparkled. "Adler had an estate on the North Shore of Long Island, the area also known as the Gold Coast, beloved by the wealthy and F. Scott Fitzgerald."

"The Great Gatsby was set there," Neal remembered.

"Exactly. Adler loved that book. The wealth, the excess, the man who made himself into that mysterious and legendary figure. He liked to think of himself as modern-day Jay Gatsby. A few years ago an estate in Kings Point went on the market and he snatched it up. It was called Enscombe."

For the first time that evening, Neal noticed a reaction from Jones. The name Enscombe meant something to him. "I don't recall Adler spending time there when I worked for him."

Kate shrugged, and paused to eat some of her salad before saying, "At first he went there a lot, almost every weekend. But as Adler Financial Management expanded, he didn't have that much time to get away. Before you arrived on the scene, he decided to lease it to an upscale club that uses the space for a retreat." She went back to eating her salad.