I don't own anything that Dick Wolf owns.
"Deputy Hawkins" Amanda said "what are you doing here?"
He looked at Frannie for a moment, but she was calm "I need to talk to you, if that's ok" he answered.
She knew a lot about interrogating, and one of the rules was that if someone refuses to talk to you – he has something to hide.
"Of course" she answered at him "would you like to come in?"
"Thank you" he smiled.
She unlocked the door "come on in" she invited him "can I offer you anything to drink?"
"That's ok, thank you"
She poured water into Frannie bowl and looked back at Hawkins "how can I help?"
"I'm afraid I have to ask you the same thing I did back at your precinct"
"About my father? Why are you asking about him all of the sudden, it's been more then twenty year . Is there something I should know?"
He smiled at her. He knew she wasn't going to make it easy, she was trying to get information from him.
"Let's be honest" she kept talking "you are a Marshal who's looking for my dad. Is he a fugitive?"
"As I said before, he's a person of interest, we're interested in questioning him. That's all"
She took a deep breath and gave him a crooked smile "you know, my dad left when I was nine, I haven't seen him since then. So if you see him again you can tell him I'm doing fine without him" she tried to sound hurt, but it also felt good to say it, just let it out.
"I'm sorry for what you've been through" he said "but you need to understand that this is important, we have reasons to believe he's in New York, and if he contacts you" he paused for a second "you could be in great danger" he gave her a moment to think about it.
"If I see him I promise to call" she said.
"Ok then" he smiled "thank you detective".
He walked out and she locked the door behind him. This was not good at all.
She figured that since Hawkins came to talk to her they didn't know where her father was. This meant no one was following her. But if they are getting impatient then they will get someone to do that.
She sat on the couch and rested her head in her hands. Something inside her wanted to trust her dad, she was always on his side. Even after he left she blamed her mother. Sure, her mom was no saint, but she didn't leave her.
Amanda didn't like to think about her childhood. Whenever she mentioned something about those days she tried to sound cool about it, but the truth was it wasn't easy for her. She knew her parents had problems, they were fighting constantly. Still, she wasn't unhappy, she had an ability to see the good. And there were good things, spending time with her dad watching TV, playing games.
He taught her how to play Blackjack, which in retrospect wasn't a good idea, but it was fun then.
What if he lied to her? What if he wasn't in WITSEC all this time, or maybe he was, and now wanted to use her somehow. Maybe he's gambling again and this is his way to get money.
She leaned back on the couch, Frannie got on it and laid in her lap.
The truth was, that even after all this time she believed him, or wanted to. She picked up her phone and called Fin. She asked him to meet her at the station the next day.
Fin didn't like spending time at work when he didn't have to, this job had crazy hours as it is, so he was grateful for every weekend he didn't have to show up.
When Amanda called the evening before, he was surprised, she only asked him to meet her at work on Sunday. It sounded important so he said he'll be there.
He loved working with Amanda. She was like the sister he never had. She was cool and interesting. But she also had many problems. The gambling thing, it was out of control at some point.
He was happy she reached out. Amaro was suspicious of something, and Fin didn't want to ignore it, not after he could have lost her last time. Loosing some of his Sunday was a small price to pay.
She waited for him there "thanks for coming" she said.
"You know I'd do anything for you" he smiled at her and she smiled right back.
They found a private spot to talk and Amanda filled him in on what was going on.
"So your dad was in witness protection?"
"That's what he says, and now this Marshal is looking for him, I just don't know what to think"
"But you want to believe your old man, ha?" he asked.
"I don't know" she said.
"Of course you do" he smiled at her "I get that. How can I help?"
"I need to find information about the guy he testified against, Carl Jeffries"
"Lets do it then"
They used Fin's computer to look for information about Jeffries, and none of it was good.
About thirty years ago Carl Jeffries was only a petty thief. He met the head of a big crime family in Georgia and started working for them and expended their business. As he got richer and more powerful he wanted more. So he decided the only way to get that is to get rid of the current head of the family.
That was the first time he killed a man. But not the last. He made sure anyone who opposed his new role paid with his life. Soon, not surprisingly, no one did.
He built an illegal gambling empire, smuggling and prostitution rings. Soon Georgia wasn't enough and he tried to spread his businesses to other states as well.
And he was pretty successful. Whoever caused problems was killed. He usually had someone to do his dirty work, but once in a while he missed it and killed people himself.
The officers and agents had to work hard to find something, but nothing stuck. He was good. They decided the best way to catch him would be an undercover operation. They sent two agents. For a while it was working, they got some good information.
But he found out who they really were and decided he will get the honor of killing them. He invited them to the first club he opened in Georgia, he was somewhat nostalgic. He told them he wants to talk to them in the back. But there was no conversation. He shot both of them and got one of his men to get rid of the gun.
He did not expect what happened next. The agents surrounded the place and arrested him. He wasn't worried. He had good lawyers and he knew how to hide anything that connected him to the club. But there was a witness.
He did his best to find him but it looked like the agents were doing a good job, no one knew who he was.
By the time they reached the trial the number of the people who were loyal to him went down drastically. Even when he finally learned the name of that man who thought it was a good idea to testify, there was no one he could trust to find him. So he decided to wait. He was a patient man.
"Maybe your father is a brave man, not everyone would testify against a guy like that" Fin said after they finished going through what they could find about Jeffries.
"If he's telling the truth" Amanda said.
"Come on Amanda, I know he hurt you, but maybe he thought it was the best thing" Fin looked at her "and it does say he died not long ago, your father said he was still alive?"
Amanda thought about the newspaper her father showed her. She knew the man in the picture was Jeffries, she had no doubt about it. But she didn't remember what newspaper it was.
"What are you thinking about?" Fin asked, he could see she had something on her mind.
"Maybe there is someone I can talk to" she told him.
"Who?"
"I'm going to talk to the man who started it" she answered.
"I hope you don't mean Jeffries" he said, a bit worried.
Amanda wasn't thinking about Jeffries. There was another person who was involved in this from the start.
Marco Diaz, the first Marshal. But how could she find a retired Marshal when another one was suspicious of her?
We are starting to get some answers…