Caffrey Flashback

Chapter 42: Mr. Hyde - Part 2

Federal Building. Monday March 8, 2004.

They gave Hitchum what he expected. Peter and Tricia interrogated him, asking him to fill in the blanks about the case and about Mr. Hyde. He remained calm and told them nothing new.

Neal, Graham and Noelle watched from behind the glass wall, where they could see, but not be seen. Henry had disappeared with Jones for a while, but returned in time to catch the last twenty minutes of the interrogation.

Then Peter opened the door to the interrogation room around 11:30 and said, "We're ready for you now."

A woman entered the room. She wore rumpled navy blue slacks, a white cotton blouse, and an emerald scarf that set off her green eyes. The scarf was expensive, but slightly askew. She wore her blonde hair pulled back at her neck in a twist that looked ready to fall apart at any minute.

"You have fifteen minutes with him," Peter said.

"That's fifteen more than I want," the woman said. She sat down, placing an oversized canvas bag on the table. Peter and Tricia left and shut the door behind them while the woman rooted around for a pad of paper and pen. She pulled them out, placed the bag on the floor, and straightened her dark-framed glasses. "Okay, let's get this over with."

For the first time all morning, Hitchum looked surprised. "Who are you?"

"They didn't tell you? Well, this just gets better and better. I'm Meg Winston, from Winston-Winslow. I'm the only employee who was in the New York area, and they pulled me from my vacation to talk to you. I'm as thrilled about this as you are, I'm sure."

Peter and Tricia joined the group watching from behind the glass wall. "Meg?" Neal said quietly to Henry as they watched Noelle talking to Hitchum.

"Short for Armageddon," Henry replied, referring to a set of Caffrey family code names. "One of her favorite aliases."

"You're not employed by the FBI?" Hitchum asked.

"As if. I thought you knew about Win-Win. Not big fans of the FBI."

"You're not consulting with the Bureau? I heard they had a couple of Winslows on contract: Graham and Henry."

"Above my pay grade. I'm barely a step up from a receptionist. As far as I know, I'm not allowed to contract or consult with anyone else. I've got a list of questions." She flipped through her notebook and finally settled on a page that had writing on it. "I hope to God these make sense to you. Okay. First question. Robert Winslow has disappeared. Any idea where he's gone?"

"He's missing?"

"Okay, that doesn't sound promising. You know where he might go?"

"No idea."

"Well, this will go fast, at least. He left behind some kind of rant about someone named Neal Caffrey. What's the deal with him?"

"You really have no idea what's going on here, do you?"

"You're a real genius, aren't you?" Noelle countered. "So you're ignorant of this Caffrey person, too. You know, I could be at a spa. I'd kill for a decent manicure. I had an appointment with a nail artist right now. She was going to put little bunnies on my nails. You married? You should tell your wife about this manicurist."

"Divorced," Hitchum said stiffly.

"Yeah? You know, Robert was divorced. We were kind of surprised when his son joined Win-Win. Everyone thought the kid was gone for good, you know? You got kids?"

Hitchum looked a little bewildered. "I have a son. He's a senior at George Washington University."

"Expensive. I hope he got a scholarship."