Smile Victim Number One Million and Two
Kathy was the type of woman who played by the rules; how can you expect to raise kids who behave if you don’t yourself? So when Nick Halden from Level One Concierge Service barged in, sweaty and in a rush, and asked her to bend the rules because he was incompetent and had put himself in a bind, of course she’d said no. She’d never considered it, not for a second, until she found out he had a kid.
Kathy, more than she was a woman who played by the rules, was a woman who knew what her priorities were, and if she was the difference between uprooting a little boy from his friends and classroom and the playground that he knew, then she knew which decision was harder to live with. And then she found out that Joey and Nick were from Cedar Rapids, a Midwestern family just like hers, from Iowa no less, and that sealed the deal. So she bent the rules, expecting, at the very worst, to get fired- if she got caught, and that was unlikely.
What she got instead was a bunch of FBI agents charging in, asking, please, there’s been a kidnapping, we don’t have a warrant, be we need to see the security tapes, who do we ask for those? We can get a warrant, if we need one, but a girl’s life is at stake. She’d taken them back to Miss Linnet’s office, and gone back to sit at her desk, feeling apprehensive. After hearing about a kidnapped girl, she wanted very much to call her kids’ schools and make sure they were okay, but that was irrational and would get her only eye rolls both from the school faculty and her own kids, later, at the dinner table. Her hands itched for the phone, but before she could embarrass herself and her kids, the FBI came back out.
“Kathy Mitchell, a minute of your time, please,” the curt agent stated rather than asked.
“Yes?”
“Did a man come in here and introduce himself as a Nicholas Halden?”
They’d seen the security video; they knew the answer, so Kathy nodded, “Yes.” There was no audio on the footage, and if they knew his name...
“What did he say?”
“He wanted me to divulge privileged client information.”
“Whose?”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not allowed to even confirm whether or not someone is a client here-”
“You gave it to him.”
“Excuse me? No, he-”
The agent planted her hands on Kathy’s desk and bent forward. It was a gesture of anger, not intimidation, so it didn’t put her face right in Kathy’s, but it did shake her desk. “Listen to me. That man is a hostage.” Kathy reeled back, her heart pounding, knowing nothing good can follow a statement like that. “If you had not given him what he asked for, he would be dead. Or you. Or both of you. That man is working for the FBI, and if you do not give me everything that you gave him, you might still be responsible for his death.” Agent Rice held out a hand like Kathy could just spit out the paperwork into her hand right this second.
Kathy should’ve looked to Miss Linnet for permission, but she simply printed it and handed it Agent Rice. That young man had been a hostage. How terrible. And she’d almost gotten him killed. Kathy excused herself to the bathroom as soon as the agents were gone so she could throw up.
She’d always been a good secretary, never bending the rules. Clutching the sides of the toilet, she thanked God the one time it mattered, she did.
She had no way of knowing that Neal Caffrey was born under a lucky star and that his smile opened doors that most people thought rusted shut and made doors out of walls where he needed them.
He showed up the next day, just as Kathy was typing up her resignation letter, determined to find a job where she didn’t have to work with people. “Kathy, hi.”
“You could’ve said you were FBI.” The accusing note in Kathy’s voice she deliberately put there, but the frightened one hadn’t left since Agent Rice blew into her life and breezed out without so much as a backward glance.
“I’m just a consultant. Besides, if you’d wanted to check on me being FBI-” he shrugged- “I had a time limit and instructions not to have you call anyone.”
Kathy, for the first time since the whole ordeal, breathed a sigh of relief. His candid nature and frankness were calming, even if what he was telling her should frighten her witless. The tip toeing around her was getting old and putting her on edge. Now, though, she would be okay. Well, not okay, but she could work.
Neal Caffrey smiled a brilliantly white smile and bid her farewell.
Kathy, wits regained, frowned vaguely after him. She got the impression she’d hear from him again, when he needed something. And she’d happily hand over whatever he might ask of her.
Kathy, more than she was a woman who played by the rules, was a woman who knew what her priorities were, and if she was the difference between uprooting a little boy from his friends and classroom and the playground that he knew, then she knew which decision was harder to live with. And then she found out that Joey and Nick were from Cedar Rapids, a Midwestern family just like hers, from Iowa no less, and that sealed the deal. So she bent the rules, expecting, at the very worst, to get fired- if she got caught, and that was unlikely.
What she got instead was a bunch of FBI agents charging in, asking, please, there’s been a kidnapping, we don’t have a warrant, be we need to see the security tapes, who do we ask for those? We can get a warrant, if we need one, but a girl’s life is at stake. She’d taken them back to Miss Linnet’s office, and gone back to sit at her desk, feeling apprehensive. After hearing about a kidnapped girl, she wanted very much to call her kids’ schools and make sure they were okay, but that was irrational and would get her only eye rolls both from the school faculty and her own kids, later, at the dinner table. Her hands itched for the phone, but before she could embarrass herself and her kids, the FBI came back out.
“Kathy Mitchell, a minute of your time, please,” the curt agent stated rather than asked.
“Yes?”
“Did a man come in here and introduce himself as a Nicholas Halden?”
They’d seen the security video; they knew the answer, so Kathy nodded, “Yes.” There was no audio on the footage, and if they knew his name...
“What did he say?”
“He wanted me to divulge privileged client information.”
“Whose?”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not allowed to even confirm whether or not someone is a client here-”
“You gave it to him.”
“Excuse me? No, he-”
The agent planted her hands on Kathy’s desk and bent forward. It was a gesture of anger, not intimidation, so it didn’t put her face right in Kathy’s, but it did shake her desk. “Listen to me. That man is a hostage.” Kathy reeled back, her heart pounding, knowing nothing good can follow a statement like that. “If you had not given him what he asked for, he would be dead. Or you. Or both of you. That man is working for the FBI, and if you do not give me everything that you gave him, you might still be responsible for his death.” Agent Rice held out a hand like Kathy could just spit out the paperwork into her hand right this second.
Kathy should’ve looked to Miss Linnet for permission, but she simply printed it and handed it Agent Rice. That young man had been a hostage. How terrible. And she’d almost gotten him killed. Kathy excused herself to the bathroom as soon as the agents were gone so she could throw up.
She’d always been a good secretary, never bending the rules. Clutching the sides of the toilet, she thanked God the one time it mattered, she did.
She had no way of knowing that Neal Caffrey was born under a lucky star and that his smile opened doors that most people thought rusted shut and made doors out of walls where he needed them.
He showed up the next day, just as Kathy was typing up her resignation letter, determined to find a job where she didn’t have to work with people. “Kathy, hi.”
“You could’ve said you were FBI.” The accusing note in Kathy’s voice she deliberately put there, but the frightened one hadn’t left since Agent Rice blew into her life and breezed out without so much as a backward glance.
“I’m just a consultant. Besides, if you’d wanted to check on me being FBI-” he shrugged- “I had a time limit and instructions not to have you call anyone.”
Kathy, for the first time since the whole ordeal, breathed a sigh of relief. His candid nature and frankness were calming, even if what he was telling her should frighten her witless. The tip toeing around her was getting old and putting her on edge. Now, though, she would be okay. Well, not okay, but she could work.
Neal Caffrey smiled a brilliantly white smile and bid her farewell.
Kathy, wits regained, frowned vaguely after him. She got the impression she’d hear from him again, when he needed something. And she’d happily hand over whatever he might ask of her.