Chapter Thirty
"Hughes, I'm sorry, but it has to be done. It's been a month."
"Three weeks." Hughes corrected even though it was closer to three and a half. "I haven't given up on my Agent, Sir."
Assistant Director Andrews gave Hughes a sympathetic look as he planned his next words carefully. Hughes had always admired Andrews for his dedication to policy and procedure, but right now the last thing Reese wanted to hear from his boss was that it was time to return to 'business as usual'. Reese knew that his team was in trouble, but that didn't make this meeting any easier. With the chaos surrounding Peter and Neal's mysterious violent disappearance the White Collar division's case solve rate had nose dived and moral was in tatters. Standing in Reese's office Andrews glanced over his shoulder, the door was closed but the glass wall gave the bull pen a full view of the meeting. Every one in the White Collar office had been watching the pair, but hurriedly pretending to mind their own business when the Assistant Director had looked their way. Turning back to Hughes Andrews sighed slightly before continuing.
"I'm not asking you to give up on Burke, he's one of us and his case will remain a priority until we have answers. However I still need you and this office to do your jobs, and you can't do that with your staff in the state it's in."
"Director…"
"If you can't rebuild your team I will do it for you." Andrews said in a tone that left no room for argument. "I would rather you do it, but I will understand if you'd rather leave it to me."
"No, Sir."
"Good." Andrews nodded. "I'm sorry to put you in this position, I really am. It's always difficult to lose an Agent, but even harder when things are left as open and uncertain as they are now."
"We're going to find Peter and Caffrey," Reese said with more conviction than he felt. "we are going to catch the people who did this."
"I certainly hope so." Andrews replied sounding less hopeful. "Speaking of which, the surveillance you have on this Anthony Ladderack…"
"I have a warrant." Hughes interrupted guiltily.
"Yeah, I read it, wet tissue paper isn't as thin." Andrews said unimpressed. "What's made you suspect this guy has anything to do with this, from what I can tell he's just a low level thief. He's never even been investigated by the FBI and his police record makes for fairly dull reading."
"I…uh…have an informant that tipped me off to him." Hughes answered evasively.
"I'm sure you do." Andrews said drily clearly knowing who it was. "Is this informant on the books?"
"Not exactly."
"Make that happen or you might just end up costing Judge Halloway and yourself your jobs. Understood?"
"Yes, Sir."
Andrews heard the defeated tone in Hughes' voice and his expression softened once more. Andrews leaned forward as he put his palms on Hughes' desk and lowered his voice.
"Reese, you know none of this is your fault." Andrews said gently.
"I should have found something by now. People don't just disappear."
"There is an entire room in the basement full of files that say otherwise."
"I should have noticed he was missing sooner." Reese countered.
"You trusted your Agent to take care of himself, there is nothing wrong with that, it means you were a good team. But that's neither here nor there, a few hours lead time wouldn't have helped." Andrews assured. "Whoever did this were professionals."
"All the more reason to catch them."
"I agree, but this isn't a White Collar crime. ...which leads me to the other reason why I came down here."
"David, no…please don't take this case from me."
"You'll be kept 100% in the loop, but I'm making Agent Walsh of Violent Crimes lead. He's been part of the investigation since the start and he's one of the best."
"I…"
"Don't do something stupid like resign over this, Reese." Andrews interrupted. "You and I both know that's not what Burke would have wanted."
Hughes sighed in frustration, not trusting himself not to cuss out his Assistant Director if he tried to speak right now he just kept quiet. He knew Andrews was only doing his job, but it wasn't making things any easier. Hughes hoped that Andrews would just leave and for a moment it felt like he was going to, but he hesitated.
"Sir?"
"One last thing, I noticed that Burke's wife hasn't applied to claim any of his benefits. She knows that he doesn't have to be legally declared dead for her to be eligible for assistance, right?"
"She knows."
"I understand her hesitation, I'm sure it makes his absence all the more real, but she still has bills to pay. Go talk to her again, let her know the FBI is going to take care of her but we can only do that if she lets us."
"Elizabeth doesn't want us to take care of her she wants us to find her husband."
"We can't always get what we want."
"You think he's dead don't you?" Reese accused.
"…I do."
Reese's blood chilled hearing the confidence in Andrews' voice. Andrews took a breath to apologize but instead he just showed himself out of Reese's office to go back upstairs. With the Assistant Director gone Reese stared at his desk for a moment before he got to his feet and found himself staring out over the city instead.
"Where the hell are you, Peter?"
Rubbing the back of his head in frustration Reese turned away from the window. Stepping out of his office with a purposeful stride he went to the rail that separated the two-tiered office space. He looked over at Peter's office that remained untouched since the initial run through for evidence. Andrews was right, the team wasn't in any kind of state to be efficient. With his ASAC gone and Reese occupied with finding him there was a noticeable lack of leadership. It wasn't that he feared that anyone was slacking off, but it was impossible for them to be a good Agents and walk around on egg shells at the same time. They needed to know that things were going to normalize.
"Jones." Reese barked.
Sitting at his desk supposedly reading a file Jones jolted slightly and looked up with a guilty expression. Reese motioned for him to come upstairs before retreating back into his office. Jones looked to Diana who just gave him an helpless encouraging smile. Getting to his feet Jones smoothed out his tie and headed into Reese's office being sure to close the door behind himself.
"Jo..."
"Sir, if this is about the bar fight…"
"Bar fight?" Reese repeated in surprise.
"Never mind." Jones said trying to look innocent. "It's nothing. What do you need?"
"Don't attempt to pull a Caffrey on me, what bar fight?"
"I've…uh…I've been spending my after hours in some less than reputable establishments." Jones admitted.
"Hoping to over hear something about Peter?"
"Bad guys love to brag." Jones explained.
"And the fight?"
"I didn't start it."
"But you ended it." Reese guessed.
"I did."
"Of course you did." Reese couldn't help a slight smile. "Did you get caught by any law enforcement?"
"No, but you know how word gets around. Although apparently it hasn't."
"Okay, then we are going to ignore it."
"Really?" Jones asked surprised.
"Just this once." Reese said firmly "I understand why you did what you did, but you have to stop."
"Yes, Sir." Jones sighed.
"You need to set a better example for the others."
"I know."
"Particularly since I want to make you ASAC."
"What? No."
"I know you don't want a promotion this way, but Peter has been grooming you for the position in preparation for the day that I retire and he takes my place."
"But..."
"Please, Jones, accept this offer. If you don't I have to find someone from outside the department and I think that will be harder on everyone. I need you to step up, we need to get back on track. Your first assignment will be to add another team member to work the field with Diana."
"Sir, please, it's too soon to replace Peter." Jones said shaking his head. "I don't want..."
"This is a direct order from the Assistant Director."
"He doesn't know Peter the way we do, not to mention Caffrey, that cat got ten lives." Jones insisted. "They'll keep each other alive until we find them. We just need more time."
"Jones…"
"We can hold the team together as it is until they're back."
"This goes beyond just finding Peter. I need someone at the helm for the months ahead and the foreseeable future in general."
"Sir…"
"Jones," Reese interrupted "I want you to know that I haven't given up on the idea of getting Peter and Caffrey back. However, without any ransom or demands there's only one reason they'd still be alive at this point."
Jones fell deadly silent, having had the same dark thought that Reese was having right now.
"Even if we found Peter today he's not going to be ready to be an Agent any time soon…or maybe even ever again."
