Hidden Lives ~ Winn Schott [1]

Chapter 2 - Unusual Meetings

She slipped into one of Alex's smarter outfits, promising to return it, washed, the next day, and plopped her thermos into her purse.

"Good luck with Kara." She called as she slipped out the door.

———

The walk to the hacker's address wasn't too long. Nothing was very far away, especially in downtown National City. All the apartment buildings were clustered into a ten-block square. She ducked into an alley near the apartment, doing a quick recon of exit points. She patted the concealed holster that all agents were required to wear. Calmed by the security of being armed. Odds were Kara's ally would not be violent, but it didn't hurt to come prepared.

She fished one of her many badges out of her bag. It was standard protocol to have badges for other government organizations, as the DEO technically did not exist. Feeling comfortable in her cover, she tucked an NCPD badge into the breast pocket of the jacket she wore.

The apartment complex was nice, but not overly expensive. The kind of place that generally held nice law-abiding citizens. She checked her notes once more, confirming the apartment number before taking the stairs two at a time. On the third floor, she finally stopped near apartment 316.

She knocked without hesitation, mentally going over her cover story. There was a disturbance in the area—

The door opened.

He's cute.

The man who stood before her had short brown hair and a kind smile. He wore an unbuttoned cardigan over a button-up colored shirt.

"Hi, I'm Officer Clementine and we've had reports of a disturbance in the area. Can I ask you a few questions?" She pulled the badge out of her pocket and held it up for a moment.

"Of course, Officer." He opened the door wider, allowing her into the small neat apartment.

She stepped inside gratefully. "Uh, first things first. Name? For the record."

"Winn. Winn Schott." The name rang a faint bell in her head and she made a mental note to research it later. She shook his proferred hand.

"Were you here around 5 last night?" That was the most recent time she'd registered the hack in the NCPD database.

"Yes, I was catching up on some stuff for work. My boss just loves to give me more than I can handle."

Lily nodded, jotting that down on the notepad. "And do you remember anything unusual around that time?" Like a blonde cheerleader in a red cape flying around the city.

"No, Officer. It was pretty boring. Just finished work, watched Return of the Jedi, didn't hear anything weird."

"Ah, that's a good one," Lily nodded absently as she spoke taking more notes on her surroundings. Nothing in the apartment screamed 'evil serial killer' but you could never be too careful.

Winn made his voice old and raspy, "do or do not, there is no try." Chuckled awkwardly as silence stretched following his words.

Lily joined in on a whim, unsure if he was coming onto her, "use the force, young Skywalker." It seemed to be the right call and they both laughed.

The mood lightened and something warm seemed to form between them.

Lily asked a few more routine questions to disguise the real purpose of her visit.

He worked at Catco. He'd lived in the city for the last few years, etc...

Lily stood up, "well, thank you for your time, Mr. Schott."