Caffrey Flashback

Chapter 14: Executive Decision

Graham Winslow's hotel suite. Tuesday evening. February 24, 2004.

Peter's first thought when he entered the hotel suite Tuesday night with Reese Hughes, Clinton Jones, George Knightley and Tricia Wiese was that Henry Winslow's grandfather had done well in his time as CEO of Winston-Winslow. Graham Winslow's suite had a staircase leading up to the bedrooms. The lower level was larger than the first floor of Peter's townhouse, and contained a dining room spacious enough to seat them all with space left over.

His second thought was that Henry's hair was longer than it had been when they'd met in early January. Indoors it seemed closer to black than dark brown. As a result Neal and his cousin looked even more alike as they stood in animated conversation beside a piano across the room. It brought back the question Peter had asked Noelle: did Henry impersonate Neal, too?

Soon they were all seated in the dining room, the main course in front of them and desserts and beverages on a buffet table. When the hotel staff was assured that the diners didn't need anything else, they made a speedy exit. The moment they closed the door behind them, Graham said, "I'd like to know why I brought the Executive Decision up the east coast through a winter squall. Tell us about this case."

Peter also felt the weight of his boss' eyes. The afternoon had sped by in a rush of contingency planning, and there hadn't been time to fill him in on the details. Hughes knew they had uncovered issues but hadn't heard specifics of what the issues were or how they had been resolved. "Yes, tell us," Hughes said in his usual dry fashion from the head of the table. "Eventually I'll have to stop avoiding calls from the top brass and fill them in."

"Jones," Peter said, and the younger agent pulled three sheets of paper from a portfolio. He handed them to George, Henry and Graham. "Before we discuss the case, I need those of you who don't work for the FBI to sign non-disclosure agreements. What I'm about to share with you is extremely sensitive information."

Graham looked across the table at Neal, who hadn't received a form. "He really works for the FBI?"

Beside Graham, Henry sighed. "Pops, I told you. You have to stop listening to Dad's nonsense about Neal."

"Neal is not an agent," Peter said with a glance at the consultant sitting beside him, "but he is a full-time employee of the Bureau and a valued member of my team. He also plays a key role in our plans. If I have to choose between his help and yours in this case, I'm choosing his. We can end this discussion right now if you have a problem with that."

Showing no sign of being rattled Graham said, "According to my son, one of your team is a criminal."

"I didn't bring my team here to be insulted," Peter said. "I trust everyone in this room, except you."

Graham studied Peter a moment, and nodded. "If you ever get fed up with being a Fed, give me a call. Win-Win needs strong leaders."

While Peter stared at the man in shock, Hughes said, "I didn't bring my team here to be recruited."

"Get used to it," Graham countered. "Everyone is poaching the best and the brightest these days. Damned Sterling-Bosch won't leave us alone. I heard they're already sniffing around that new girl on your team, Henry. Sara something?"

"Sara Ellis? You've got to be kidding. I just finished training her a couple of months ago."

"You got a reputation for recruiting and training. Now everyone wants to steal your team. All right, Agent Burke. I've signed your form. I won't criticize your people. What's this all about?"

"We have a lead on Vincent Adler." Peter paused as Graham and Henry caught their breath. "Yeah, this is big. We recently learned he has an alias we hadn't been aware of, and under that alias he owns an estate called Enscombe on Long Island. We have reason to believe that he left something important in a safe on that estate. So far the organization leasing the estate isn't aware of the safe, but we expect that to change after the first of March. That's when they'll get the keys to the suite Adler had reserved for his private use and can make over that space to use for their business. In addition to looking for information that will lead us to Adler, we also want to look for evidence that the business using Enscombe is blackmailing some of their clients."