Medium Exchange
Chapter 3
Peter always knew when Neal was up to something. He couldn't tell you exactly how, maybe a certain look in Neal's eyes, maybe it was just an instinct, part of his gut detection system that the other agents joked about behind his back. The question was whether it was anything Peter needed to know about or worse something Peter needed not to know about. He had turned up to work on time and when Peter asked he said there was nothing going on which Peter needed to know about. Peter generally had faith that Neal did what he did for the right reasons, it was just that sometimes he got himself into situations he couldn't handle. Still he didn't have anything concrete yet so he would be patient, for now. Neal had already left the office, so he called up his tracking data. He would be patient but he would also be prepared.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxx
Neal and Mozzie turned up promptly to the meeting with Michelle. They had debated about whether Neal should attend or not, Mozzie thought it would weaken them, make her suspicious but Neal wasn't going to let him go to the meeting alone. It wasn't that he didn't trust Mozzie, it was that he wasn't going to risk anything going bad and not being there.
It turned out Michelle Morgan had an apartment close to the hotel she had held her 'shows'. It was a pretty exclusive area, the background check Neal had got from the FBI had brought up a few minor charges of credit card fraud in her past, and details of several bank accounts holding payments from private clients, but not enough to maintain this kind of lifestyle for any period of time. Either she was gambling on payments continuing or she had a bigger scam going on than Neal or the FBI realised.
They were buzzed in by security and took the private elevator up to the penthouse.
"Maybe we should join forces with her" Mozzie joked. Neal frowned and Mozzie quieted down.
The doors opened and they stepped out into a hallway. There were two burly men standing nearby and Neal could see they were armed. They frisked Neal and Mozzie for weapons, raising an eye at Neal's anklet but making no comment. Why would a performer like Morgan need armed guards? Neal regretted not getting Peter involved after all.
"Looks like this won't be a friendly visit" Neal whispered.
"Change of plan?" Mozzie asked. Neal shrugged slightly to indicate they should play it by ear.
Michelle was sat watching the news when they entered. There was also a young woman sat at a nearby desk reading with a small girl, maybe seven or eight years old, they both had Michelle's blond hair and looked enough like Michelle to all be related. The young woman looked at them suspiciously, the little girl with interest, Neal smiled at her and she smiled back charmingly.
Michelle ignored all of them, one of the men gestured to a sofa to one side, Mozzie and Neal took a seat and waited. The whole set up was designed to intimidate them and put them at a disadvantage. What Ms Morgan didn't realise was Neal and Mozzie lived their lives at a disadvantage to the rest of the world. It was home to them.
The news item finished and it went back to headlines and Michelle turned off the sounds on the television and turned to focus on them, removing the glasses she had perched on her nose.
"Good afternoon. Mr Haversham is it?"
Mozzie smiled and nodded. She glanced at Neal.
"I think we've met before, haven't we, it's Neal from the other night?" she asked.
Mozzie and Neal had worked out a response to this already.
"I work for Mr Haversham, he sent me to check out the competition, this is his area and we always keep an eye on any new psychics in the area. Just making sure they are legit, not fakes." Neal said accusingly. The security guard in the corner shifted slightly.
"Not that we are suggesting that you are a fake of course." Mozzie told her slightly panicky. He wasn't always the best under pressure, another reason Neal was normally their front man.
"Nor I you" Ms Morgan replied smiling sweetly. "However, even genuine psychics such as yourself" she said the genuine word with a mixture of sarcasm and scorn, "have to understand that I can't just let you steal my clients." She told them.
"We haven't stolen anything. In fact since we were here first, we could argue you did the stealing." Neal told her staying relaxed, or at least appearing relaxed. The presence of guns meant things could go very bad very quickly. He also knew better than anyone that Michelle's charming persona didn't mean she wasn't capable of very bad things.
"I don't want to get into an argument with you." Michelle answered curtly. She glanced at the two girls at the table.
"Sarah take Mary next door" she ordered. The young woman, Sarah closed the book and led the little girl next door. She gave Neal an enigmatic look as she closed the door, which Neal couldn't interpret, there was definitely a hint of fear but he couldn't tell if it was of him, or for him.
Once the door was closed, Michelle nodded at the man in the corner who moved to the door so that the two men had both exits covered, they both drew their guns, though they didn't point them at Neal and Mozzie, yet. Neal and Mozzie exchanged a concerned look.
"I can tell you are smart men." Michelle told them "I don't know what kind of scam you were planning to pull on me, but it's not going to work. Now Mr Haversham, I'm going to write you a cheque and you and your friend are going to crawl back under whatever rock you crawled out from. You can retire from the psychic business or move to another area I don't care as long as I don't see you or hear from you again." She told them perfectly calmly walking over to the desk and writing out the promised cheque and handing it to Neal, it was for a hundred thousand dollars.
"That's very generous" Neal admitted.
"I prefer to keep things simple." She told them.
"and if we don't do as you ask?" Mozzie asked
"Well I know you are operating out of Mrs Ellingham's house, I believe Mr Caffrey rents a room there. This may sound a bit melodramatic, but best to be clear I think. I know where you live." She told them. Then she turned back to the television, turning the sound back up. Their interview was over.
They stood outside after being ushered out, Neal shivered and it wasn't due to the cool wind.
"Well we got her attention" Neal joked.
"Now what?" Mozzie asked. Neal could tell he was rattled but neither of them were the type to back down from a challenge.
"We do as she says" Neal told him.
Mozzie looked at him in disbelief. Neal smiled at him
"It's time to move on to stage 3 anyway" Neal told him confidently.
There was just one problem, he had no idea what stage 3 was.
