Meet At Joe's

19 Interviews Part 1 Mike

POV: Pixie

Mike was the first to volunteer to be interviewed. I took him to a booth at the back of the bar area leaving the rest of the group to wait their turn as they socialized and enjoyed their dinners as usual in the spare room. He followed me without apprehension and sat opposite me in the booth. You'd think even an innocent person might be a little nervous. He definitely wasn't nervous. His innocence was yet to be determined.

I gave him a quick appraising scan. He was a rather average looking guy, average height and weight, a slightly messy ivy league haircut, and was dressed casually in slacks and a polo shirt. His only outstanding feature was his uninhibited personality. He was in no way nervous, furtive, bitter, or hostile which were the traits I was looking for in a potential suspect. I began to think that a real villain might be this calm and self-confident. They are in all the movies.

I put on my friendliest expression and casually said, "Tell me about yourself Mike."

He looked me directly in the eyes and said, "I'm great in bed. Spend a night with me and I promise you will never forget it.

"I don't doubt that, but I'm not interested in memorable nightmares. What I am interested in is your programming experience and the how and why of how you got to be part of this group."

He was completely unphased by my rebuff and proceeded to answer my questions. "Cheryl told me about it. We worked together and I thought this might be a good way to get to know her better outside of work. If you know what I mean," he finished actually winking at me.

"I'm guessing that has not really worked out for you."

Mike just shrugged and said, "You can't blame a guy for trying."

"You can blame him for trying so crudely," I explained more sympathetically than he deserved.

"Look, I'm just playing the odds. You ask a hundred girls straight up no strings attached and one will say yes.

I just stared at him in disbelief. No spy would be this blatant or that obtuse. At least for now he was off my list. "Just one more question. Do you have any idea who in the group might have told the FBI what you all were up to?"

"Honestly, I can't imagine anyone in our group doing that.".

Mike didn't seem like the type to blindly defend his cohorts. If he was guilty, I felt he was the type to point the blame at someone else. Despite his despicable character, he was definitely not a prime suspect. I thanked him and went to get the next interview.