Disclaimer: White Collar belongs to USA Network and Jeff Eastin.
Thank you lstuds (Comma Queen) for the beta graft work.
Chapter 18
Peter was relieved to find a full pot of coffee when he stepped into the break room. Every time he attempted to make coffee it was a royal disaster. His last endeavor had resulted in Diana literally begging him to never do it again. Not only was it revolting, but he had overfilled the water container so the coffee overflowed, dripped down the electric cord and fused the whole circuit. In addition to ruining the coffee maker, the fridge-freezer defrosted, melting a birthday ice-cream cake for Jones.
Peter found a brochure for the American Barista and Coffee School on his desk the following morning, no doubt put there by Neal, who referred to him as Java Joe until Peter had threatened to reduce his radius to one-mile. Peter poured himself a mug and was headed back upstairs when Jones passed him, on a similar mission.
"Once you've got your coffee, join Diana and me in my office," he said to his agent.
"Sure thing, boss. Should I bring Neal?" Jones asked.
"No, not this time," Peter replied
"He's not in trouble, is he?" Jones asked, concerned.
"No, nothing like that. I'm just not ready to bring him in on this yet," Peter answered truthfully. Will I ever be ready? He wondered.
Peter could hear his printer spitting out various pages, as he entered his office. Diana was already there, fanning out a series of 8x10 photos on his desk. The top-most one was clearly a school portrait photo of a young girl. Pleasant View Elementary – Kindergarten 1987 was printed along the bottom of the picture. Peter sat behind his desk and picked it up to study it.
Jones joined them, closing the door behind him and sitting beside Diana.
"Tell me you found our woman," Peter said, looking at Diana.
"I found her." Diana smiled back at him.
She passed them both a black and white copy of a missing persons listing which had a smaller version of the same picture beside a computer generated facsimile of what she might currently look like. It was impressively close to the woman from the bank.
"Jennika Swenson, aged 6. Disappeared en route from Pleasant View Elementary School, Pleasant View, TX, April 4, 1987. Height 47in, weight 52lb, brown hair, blue eyes," Diana read aloud.
"Whoa," Jones interjected, "according to this the listing was posted this past November, that's a long time since she went missing to send out a search query."
"Yeah, I thought so too. The listing was placed by a Veronica B. Geyer. She doesn't appear to be a relative. It says she was Jennika's Kindergarten teacher from the year she disappeared. There's a contact number for her, but I didn't call it yet. I thought you might want to speak to her yourself, boss."
"Hmm," Peter murmured. His attention was focused on the byline below: Last seen with fellow student David Gibson, aged 5 (see separate listing).
"Oh, these are a riot!" Diana exclaimed. "You have to see these extra pictures. They were down as attachments, but I hadn't looked through them yet. I only just printed them out before I came up here. My printer ran out of ink, so I sent them and the other student's report up here. There's Jennika on the far left, front row."
Diana passed her set of prints over to Peter as Jones collected the others from Peter's printer, keeping one set and passing the other to Diana. They were date-stamped April 4, 1987 and showed about twenty-five kindergartners and their teacher sitting on bleachers in what appeared to be several failed attempts at getting a class photo.
In the first one, Jennika was sitting on the far most seat on the left, with the teacher standing to the outside of her. On her other side was a male student, but all that could be seen of him was the back of his short pants and his legs, as his torso was disappearing under the seat behind him. The kids near him were watching and laughing as Jennika appeared to be dragging him back by the seat of his pants.
In the next picture, he was turned around but was sliding off the seat onto the ground. Only his upper half was still on the chair, and his shirt had slid up exposing his belly. His arms were raised over his head, and he was holding onto the ankles of the child behind him. This time, Jennika was attempting to haul him back up by his belt, and the teacher was now also reaching over to the boy. At least half of the other students were laughing and looking over at the boy's antics.
The third photo had him mid-run as he was heading out of the picture. Jennika was bent over hanging onto his shirttail and the beleaguered teacher had both arms out as if she had attempted to get him and missed. All of the kids were now watching him and some had stood up for a better view.
The final picture had the same legend as Jennika's individual shot; Pleasant View Elementary – Kindergarten 1987 and was presumably the one used that year. The recalcitrant boy was now seated at the end of the row, firmly wedged between Jennika and the teacher, who were both holding his hands. The whole class was smiling and laughing. It looked like a perfect class photo.
Jones and Diana were laughing out loud and the noise had caught Neal's attention. Miffed that he might be missing out on something, he started to make his way up to Peter's office. The printer had just finished spitting out some more pages, and Diana went to get them.
"This is the listing for the other student who went missing with Jennika." She started to pass them around at the same moment recognition hit both her and Jones. Peter, of course, had already recognized Neal from the class photo.
"Oh my god!" Diana exclaimed, just as Neal walked into the office.
"Neal, is this you?" Jones asked, turning the picture around so Neal could see it. It was his individual portrait and looked exactly like a mini-Neal. In contrast to his disheveled state in the class photo, his hair was neat, and he wore a button down shirt and tie. The same shirt and tie that had become progressively undone in the class photos.
"I might have known you were the naughty boy in the class photos. You're adorable!" Diana gushed.
Neal looked at the picture with a horrified expression. Then glared at Peter as he grabbed the photos from his desk. Peter stood up with a panicked look on his face and started talking.
"Neal, this isn't what it looks like…"
But Neal was furious, he yelled at Peter, "You promised me Peter. You promised me you wouldn't say anything!"
"Neal, I haven't told them anything," Peter said, attempting to placate him.
Neal had now turned to Diana and was trying to snatch the photo from her hands, but she had lifted it up high and was laughing. Both she and Jones had been so taken aback at seeing the young Neal Caffrey that they hadn't realized that this meant he was also David Gibson, kidnap victim.
"What the hell's going on in there?" Hughes called from his office, and he started to come through to see what the cause of the commotion was.
Unable to get the picture from Diana, Neal had turned to Jones and taken the bundle from his hands and was tearing them up. Breathlessly he continued to yell at Peter, who was hastily shoving his copies into his desk drawer.
As Hughes entered the room, everyone halted what they were doing and turned to look at him. It was then that Peter saw the look in Neal's eyes and recognized in an instant that he was about to run.
"Jones, stop him!" he called out as Neal started for the door.
Jones caught Neal by the arm, but Neal pulled away from him and stumbled slightly. Jones managed to get him by the waist, but Neal struggled. Before Peter could reach him, he was off and running, knocking over the chair Diana had been sitting in. His legs got tangled in the chair and he half-ran, half-dived for the door. Unfortunately, Hughes was now partly blocking it and, in an attempt to get passed him, Neal overcompensated and clipped his right shoulder hard on the doorframe. Hughes caught him in his arms as Neal let out an agonized yelp and slumped toward the floor.
It was immediately clear that Neal had dislocated his shoulder. His arm hung limply, and he was yelling in pain. As Peter approached him, he scooted backward against the wall trying to support the dangling arm. His face had turned a ghostly white, and he seemed unaware of the tears streaming down his cheeks. Peter was now crouching down beside him with Hughes on the other side. Diana and Jones were standing, wide-eyed in shock. Diana unconsciously let the picture slip from her grasp, and it drifted down to the floor with a swish, coming to rest at Neal's feet. Everyone, including Neal stopped for a moment and stared at it, entranced.
Then Neal growled at Peter. "You had no right to have those! My past is none of your business. It's got nothing to do with what's going on now!"
Hughes put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a linen handkerchief. Calmly wiping Neal's tears away, he said sadly, "No Neal. You're wrong. It has everything to do with what's happening now. It always does."
He tucked the handkerchief back into his jacket pocket as they all stared at him. Even Neal was rendered mute. None of them had ever heard Hughes talk in such a grandfartherly manner before. He put his hand on top of Neal's head and sighed, then stood up, addressing the room in his normal terse manner.
"Diana, Jones clean this place up immediately! Peter, take Caffrey to the hospital and get that arm seen to. I expect a full account of what this was all about by the end of the day."
With that, he turned and went back to his office, leaving them all in stunned silence.
TBC
Wow, over 100 alerts! Now I am starting to feel under pressure! Thank you to everyone who continues to join me on this ride, especially those of you who have taken the time to post reviews. I really appreciate the encouragement, even more so when I am having hard time getting the story down.
