Chapter 2
It didn't take too long to find the widowed Mrs. Susan DeKay, and when they did, Peter didn't waste any time in driving to her house, and knocking on her door, Diana in tow. The door opened and facing them was a slight woman with brown hair, and green eyes, glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose. Inside, a dog barked.
"Can I help you?" She inquired, a puzzled look gracing her chiseled features, very striking and yet elegant. Peter was certain he knew where Neal's natural good looks came from.
"Susan DeKay?" He questioned in an official tone, while pulling out his badge. "I'm Special Agent Peter Burke, and this is Agent Barrigain. We have some questions for you regarding a recent disappearance that we are looking into. We think that you might be able to help us,"
"I don't know why you are asking me, but if I can help, I most certainly will. Please come in," Susan held open the door, and let both agents in, and offered each a seat before taking one herself. "Now what is this about?" the curiosity in her features was evident.
"We're currently involved in a man hunt for an internationally known con-man forger and art thief, who goes by the name Neal Caffrey. He has several other aliases, but this one is his most prominent. He is suspected in at least 12 felonies but was only convicted of bond forgery. Until recently he was my partner through a work release programme, with a monitoring anklet. We were in the beginning of the third of four years he would be required to work as my CI in White Collar Crimes,"
"Until recently?" Peter opened his mouth to retort, but Susan kept talking. "We live in small town, and I almost never go into the city. What do you think I know?"
"Mrs. DeKay," Diana took up the conversation, "Caffrey is the best at what he does. Various aliases help someone like him to disappear. We think that the name we know him by, Neal Caffrey, is just another, albeit very, very good, alias. We have no information on him prior to 1995. We think, based on things he let slip that he may have lived here, in Jefferson Valley. You might even have known him as a child. We just need you to confirm a few things for us. Can you do that?"
Susan DeKay blinked. "Um, yes of course,"
"Susan," Peter began, "Do you know anyone in this town whose husband was a cop? He would have died in eighty-four…?" She merely nodded. "Caffrey let slip that his father was a cop, who died when he was two. Did this woman have a son, who would have been the appropriate age when her husband was killed?"
Susan DeKay was shaking her head, mouth open, and eyes wide. Her breathing had risen, and she was visibly shaking. "Mrs. DeKay, we realize that these might be highly personal questions, but we really need you to stay with us and answer all of our questions as best as you can, do you think you can do that?" Diana asked, putting her hand over Susan's. She only nodded.
Diana pulled the yearbook out from under her arm, and flipped to the page that held all the young and smiling faces from '84, and pointed to Matthew DeKay's picture. "Can you identify this boy?"
Susan nodded. "We linked our con man to this year book through the name Brittany-Nicole. He said that she didn't like him because he had a gap in his teeth," Peter stated. Immediately Susan shook her head and leaned back in her chair, looking anywhere but the yearbook before her.
"It isn't possible. No. He can't be. It… it… isn't possible…. Can't be…" she stuttered. Diana locked eyes with her concernedly.
"What isn't possible, Mrs. DeKay?"
"N-n-nothing," she replied quietly.
"Susan, if you could, would it possible for you to show us the most recent photograph you have of your son?" Peter asked kindly, and as nicely as possible. Susan stood and walked to the wall behind them. It was a wall of books, self upon shelf. And at the farthest corner, she lifted a photo album clearly labeled "MATT", and sat back down, and opened to the middle.
"This was the summer of his 17th. We were grilling out," she stated in a faraway voice. Diana took the album from her and examined the photo, Peter looking on as well. There was no mistaking the sparkling blue eyes, and the wide smile or the wavy dark brown hair.
"Susan, this is the most recent photo you have of your son?"
"Yes,"
"Why?" his question sounded very strained, even to Peter's own ears.
"Because my son died a week later," A single tear leaked from the corner of Susan's eye, and Peter immediately felt horrible. Susan had taken the album back and turned to the next page, before handing it over again.
It was Matt DeKay's Obituary. "He would have turned eighteen that November. They found the car in Lake Mohegan. It wasn't too far from his school, Lakeland High. A lot of his friends went to the lake to relax. He drove it off the dock. I…"
"Mrs. DeKay, we don't want to pressure you, but it is essential that you tell us the circumstances surrounding your son's death. Take your time,"
Susan bit her lower lip, as the tears threatened to well over. "Mattie, he was so smart. So intelligent. They told me that I had a genius. His IQ was 156. I thought I knew what I was dealing with. When his dad died, he was only two. I wasn't thinking. Oh, I told him that his daddy was a real hero. A real man. The night that Mattie… we had an argument. He wanted to drop out and go into training as a cop. He had already been in the junior trainee programme, but wanted to take it on completely. I wanted him to go to college, get a degree, he was in line for a scholarship. Art! He was already rivaling some masters… So, So I…So I told him what I couldn't when he was two. I-I..I told him how his father was dirty, had been involved in mob dealings, was being bribed, and received payoffs. He… Mattie, he blew up in my face. He was… devastated… the things that I told him about his father…Everything was true. I even gave him proof, written proof. Matt was…overwhelmed, I didn't know what he was going to do… I ….I thought he just needed to cool off…I… The next thing I heard was that they found his car in the lake… there was… a hole…. In the windshield… and blood…they said he… flew through the windshield… before it hit the water…concussion was probable… he… they even found a body…I… it can't be….it was closed casket…I-I…"
The sobs wracked her body and she shook her head in her hands. Diana glanced over at Peter, who looked appropriately grim. And they waited. Several minutes later, Susan had calmed, and looked back up at the agents.
"We only have one other question for you, Mrs. DeKay. If your son were alive today, and you hadn't seen him in over a decade, would you be able to identify him?"
Susan nodded hesitantly as Diana laid the picture out on the table. It contained seven men, one of them known as Neal Caffrey. A police lineup that had found the FBI scrambling to keep up with the NYPD. Susan scanned it, looking at each face intently, pausing at the fifth man. "I…I-I… it can't be…"
"But it is. Mrs. DeKay," Peter stated as he pulled out another photo of Neal, "this is the same man as number five. His name is Neal Caffrey. Or so we thought. We had nothing on his life prior to his 18th birthday. Sometime between the time your son ran your car off a dock and into a lake, and the time that excellently forged bonds - that were supposed to be un-forgeable - began showing up, your son, Matthew DeKay became Neal Caffrey, eventually to be convicted felon. If it helps any, he's good at what he does," Peter stood.
"We will keep you updated, Mrs. DeKay. But before we leave, we need a picture of your son, preferably at age seventeen, so that we can verify facial recognition. We'll bring it back, don't worry," Diana said, with a reassuring smile, as she watched Susan DeKay's world fall to pieces.
...NC
"Facial recognition came back positive, El! How could he do that? He faked his own damn death! And there was a body, El. They found a body in the lake the day after he ran his car off that dock! Pure coincidence? El, what if he-"
" Come on Honey," Elizabeth comforted her husband, holding him in her embrace. "He was seventeen when he did what he did. He was confused and scared. And, while we both know that Neal is good with guns, he hates them. He has always been anti-violence. Neal's no killer honey. If he was, he wouldn't have been able to live with himself for so long. It takes a certain type of person to murder a man for no real reason. Neal isn't that kind of person,"
She sighed quietly. Everything they had known about Neal was being challenged by this case. Her husband's life had been ripped apart once more by Neal Caffrey. It almost seemed as though their lives revolved around him, and Elizabeth wasn't sure if she could handle it much longer. Before, Neal had been a trusted friend in her home. While he and Peter were working together, everything had been wonderful. She had looked on Neal with a motherly affection, and, even still, continued to. She just hoped that where ever he had run off to, he was safe, and being careful.
She would never forgive him for being an idiot. Not after everything he had put Peter through. "Maybe, it's time to give up the ghost, honey. Neal was always your sticking point. He always evaded you, till you found the one thing he cared about most. He won't fall for it again. Neal may be loyal to a fault, but he's smart. Let him go, honey. Let him go,"
...NC
"Peter," Diana called to her boss. "They found something at his apartment, they want you to check it out, it's down in evidence," he immediately turned on heel in the busy office and headed back to the elevator, wondering.
When he got to evidence, they were waiting for him. "Well?"
"There was a wall safe, and we checked it out. There were three things in there, all of them here for you to look over, as well as his CI badge,"
Peter looked down to the article on the table. The first thing was a scrap of paper, labeled PETER. Picking it up, he opened the bag and unfolded the sheet. Written on it were two random set of letters and numbers. Meaningless. The second item was a laptop. The report next to it read that The hard drive wiped save for a customized internet homepage, with nothing but the generic device programmes. No word documents, nothing the homepage on the internet browser; no other internet history.. It required a username and password.
Quickly, Peter entered both sets of numbers and letters into the spaces. The page came up as if it were a webcam. The view was an empty storage room. "Damn," he swore under his breath. He could only imagine what had been there before. So close and yet so far. And Neal just had to rub it in. The last item was the black fedora that Neal had worn on the first day they worked together as partners, just over two years previously.
The stoic FBI agent took a deep breath, turned and made his way back up to the White Collar Unit, Federal Bureau of Investigation.
...NC
Remember, we all work with pure hypotheticals…..So all locations and such are only from what I've researched….I also operate under the assumption that Neal couldn't just leave without leaving anything behind. It just isn't Neal. He gets too attached too quickly.
Oh, and yes, I admit to shamelessly merging Matt Bomer and Tim Dekay's names. So sue me. I don't own a damn thing! Enjoyment, Mr. Eastin, not profit! (And I hardly ever disclaim, but this show is worth it. Way worth it.)
