By the Book

Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Paperwork

White Collar Division, New York. January 2, 2004 – Friday morning.

Jones hadn't been kidding about the paperwork. After a morning briefing that included a lot of teasing from Jones and Tricia about his rescue of Charlotte the cat, Neal spent the first half of the day writing his report of what had happened at the Sinclair home, and completing the dreaded forms for his trip to the hospital.

Mid-afternoon he received the double finger-point, summoning him up to Peter's office.

"Collins didn't waste any time trying to sell the book. He reached out to the best-known buyers before we could even warn them. As you guessed, they sent him away until he could provide provenance. He's already called us, ostensibly to make sure you're recovered, and requested your phone number. If he contacts you, send him to these people." Peter handed Neal a business card.

"Hurst Collectibles."

"They do us some favors occasionally. Set up a meet, let us know, and we'll pick him up at Hurst."

Neal pocketed the card. "You didn't give me another case this morning. I'm done with the paperwork from the last one."

"Not quite. I have a couple more forms for you. Here's the first one." Peter handed a sheet of paper to Neal.

"Request for Psychological Therapy? Peter, I'm not doing this."

"You need it, and it's free. What's the problem?"

"Are you kidding? You don't see a problem with baring my soul to some stranger, who's going to put everything he finds into an FBI file? So much for keeping my time in WITSEC a secret."

"You're refusing?"

"I'm not ready for this. And when I am, I want to talk to someone who's on my side."

"There aren't sides in psychology."

Neal crossed his arms. "You're being naïve. There are people in the Bureau who don't want me here, and they would latch onto this as an excuse to get rid of me. They'd say that needing a psychologist after my first undercover case is evidence that I can't handle this work."

Peter sighed. "I understand where you're coming from, but I'm not letting go of this. I will find a way to get you the help you need, and to make you accept it."

"Bring it on."

Peter's lips twitched into a reluctant smile. "That's really not the attitude you're supposed to take with your boss. Or with your health."

Neal took a less defensive posture. "I might be a little stubborn about these things."

"Oh, ya think?" Peter's voice dripped with sarcasm.

Grateful that Peter wasn't pushing the matter, Neal was willing to be generous in return, and said, "Once when I was sick, I refused to go to the hospital and Henry took me to the morgue, instead. He said that's where I was going to end up, and he threatened to leave me there unless I agreed to see a doctor."

"Did it work?" Peter asked.

"Yeah."

"I'll remember that. And I'm glad you mentioned your friend. After my chat with Henry Winslow, I have more questions about him."

Neal leaned forward. "Before you say anything else, I want to thank you, Peter. I know you have a lot of resources available to you, and if you wanted, you could have pulled all kinds of information about Henry already. The fact that you still don't know much about him, tells me that you haven't resorted to that. It tells me you trust me enough to believe me when I say he's not dangerous. In fact, I think of the topic of Henry as being a barometer of your trust. And... Well, it means a lot to me."