Meghan Ross: Con Artist in Training

She Knows (Part 2)

She waited for hours for Mike's return, doing the occasional odd job since she was there and didn't want to waste Firm time. Her nerves were still rattled after having to lie to Harvey. She didn't have many encounters with the man and the ones she did have were through Donna.

The best thing about this lie was messing with Donna's head. Every time the assistant thought she had Meghan figured out, the kid managed to throw her for a loop. At first, she thought Meghan was related to Mike because of the interview. That theory kept coming into play, but the reaction Mike had that day could have been surprised for another reason and not because his kid or sibling was somewhere they shouldn't have been.

The last loop was who raised her. Donna still wasn't convinced it hadn't been Mike since the description fit. Almost. Meghan's brother was a con artist. But he didn't do it for money. He did it for the thrill. That didn't fit Mike. But it did fit someone else who made headlines weeks prior. It was the type of headline that would make Meghan a ward of the state. So why wasn't she?

Between Venessa's background check, and her own deep dive, this Meghan Ross didn't exist. Did her so-called brother kidnap her as an infant? Was she hiding from the law? Or worse yet, did she witness something she shouldn't have? They were just theories. Only Donna had no idea how close she was on two of them.

Meghan made her printer rounds for the tenth time since her arrival four hours ago. She passed Donna's desk, knowing to leave the woman alone about her printer needs because she did that herself.

She would have loved to tell Donna the secret and let the woman's mind spin with the possible reasons she grew up in WITSEC. But that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

With each office stop, she asked the corresponding assistant if they had seen Mike. She had tried calling him during the first hour only to find he had left it at his desk. She left a voicemail anyway.

"Hello, Mr. Ross. In the future, please remember to keep your cellphone on your person. I mean, forgetting it at home is what got you in trouble last time."

~***~***~

It wasn't until the fifth hour that someone came looking for her. They had instructed her to wait outside Jessica's office. Once given the traditional signal to come in, Meghan opened the door. Harvey used many of the same signals with her, so she learned to recognize them from everyone.

"Miss Ross, tell me what you know about Mike." There it was. Her failure to reply told Jessica everything she thought she needed to know. "I may have assigned you to him since he took on more pro bono work than any other associate in this firm. Like everyone else in this firm, no matter who brought you in, you still answer to me."

"I actually answer to the school system, Miss Pearson. Community service reports, client meeting notes... I don't record names or details that would expose the client should their case grow to class action or make headlines, but my notes go to the school."

Meghan silenced herself when she read the same look she'd seen on Harvey's face. What she had to say didn't mean a thing to Jessica, even if she was right.

"You got the job because of the client Mike Ross brought to the firm. Aside from failing to turn him in, Mister Ross is the one who broke the law, not you. Which begs the question... What does he have on you?"

"Unfortunately, that's something I'm not at liberty to tell you. But if what I heard from the hive out there is true, you can't get rid of four people without Hardman conducting an internal investigation. You'll look like the corpse flower instead of a rose."

Daniel Hardman was indeed coming back now that Jessica's blackmail leverage was gone. The man's wife had died. And he was coming back with an agenda.

~***~***~

Meghan returned to Mike's desk. There was an envelope waiting for her. This was the way Neal's letters had been received ever since he died.

Not your best move, Big Brother, Meghan thought as she sliced through the paper. It lacked a return address. That was the kind of thing that spread through a firm like wildfire.

She took the letter to an empty conference room so she could read it before Mike. She had seen the letters in his desk. Most were to Mike, but some had her name on them. She didn't get it. Why wasn't he letting her see them? Right. I was going to kill him.

It was an apology for abandoning them yet again. That and telling them about his new life, name, address. He didn't trust the FBI as a whole, so the address was located in Spain instead of France. With a Meghan Caffrey now in his file, it was more than possible she was being watched, and not just by the FBI.

Peter knew what law firm since he had pick her up from there, but he didn't know her school or home addresses yet. But Peter wasn't Neal's concern since he knew about WITSEC. The Marshall's knew about her now because his ankle monitor was under their jurisdiction. Unlike the rest of the world, the Marshall's knew what names to look under.

~***~***~

"Donna said you were in the office," Mike's voice broke the silence. "I assumed that meant my desk, only you weren't there."

Meghan folded the letter before turning around. "She told me you were out doing Harvey's bidding so I decided to wait. Had no idea you'd be gone for six hours."

"What did you do while you waited?"

"Loaded all the printers about ten times. Louis tried to have me work his pro bono cases for him, but I'm not supposed to touch legal stuff without a supervisor unless I'm shredding documents." She laid out her day, opting to leave out her encounters with Harvey and Jessica.

Mike gave her an expectant look. He knew her better than that.

"Harvey pulled me into his office to ask me some questions. Don't worry. He doesn't know anything we haven't already told him. Jessica on the other hand..."

"I know. When were you going to tell me what Trevor did?"

"Last night. Tried to stay awake until you got home but I crashed. It wasn't something to say over the phone. Just like these are only mentioned at home," She shows him the envelop. "For some reason, they never make it there. Found a bunch of them in your desk."

He didn't have a response. He hadn't expected her to find them at all. Choosing not to wait for an answer Meghan asked about the merger.

"Had a slight hiccup, but it's resolved now. The woman claiming to be the real author got a settlement and can't threaten the Firm again." He looked out the window to view the New York skyline. "Jessica's letting me keep my job. It seems two people said the exact same thing. Harvey was one. Were you one the other?"

She didn't even have to answer. They spent some time talking about how Jessica had opened the lines of communication with her.

"I don't like talking about this secret in the office, Dad. Too many people could overhear something they shouldn't."

"You know better than to call me that while we're here, Megs."

"I'll bet money you wish you had told Harvey about me five minutes before Trevor told Jessica about you. He had no reason to tell her about me since I didn't betray him," Meghan dipped her head in a challenge.

The problem with that thought was this: Jessica never really told her told her anything Trevor had said. Based on the night before, Meghan had only assumed what the woman knew.

"Let's just go home. You can do yesterday's homework."

"Then I guess I have the night off. It's already done. I did it when I wasn't doing my printer and coffee rounds," Meghan replied.

The look in Mike's eyes said he didn't believe a word. But he was far too emotionally exhausted to care after the day's events. Hiding from Jessica, learning Harvey almost fired him to appease Jessica, Trevor told Jenny about Rachel and Jessica about him. So, either Jessica didn't know about Meghan, or she did know and was choosing to use it against him.

Mike felt the need to throw up for a second time that day. As scary as the thought it was, he could handle Jessica knowing he wasn't a real lawyer and having him arrested. What he couldn't handle was possibly having what's left of his family getting ripped away from him.