Participants:
| Scene Title | Tattle Tale |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Len seems to have issues with Elisabeth penchant for snitching. So, what better to do than address it — right to the horse's mouth. Not that he would call her a horse — at least not to her face. |
| Date | May 12, 2009 |
The case files on Elisabeth's desk are not piling up as fast as they used to… and in truth, she's grateful for it. The blonde is dressed in a pair of dark brown slacks today topped by a sea-green button-up top. Her badge is on her waistband and she's actually wearing a shoulder rig today. Sitting at her desk, she shoves her hair behind her ear while she types up a report on a murder case that started a couple of days ago and updates two other Evo-related crimes she's been working on as well. A search program on her desktop has managed to bring up a list of every Taylor Reed in the greater New York City (and all its boroughs) school district, but that one she's keeping out of the system except for the search. The strange case of the messages in the ATM about Tyler Case that she's sharing with Felix and Rebecca? That one also doesn't go into the system.
Good natured Len Denton remains that way — good natured. However, he does have a bit of a bone to pick with a certain NYPD Detective who caused him a decent sized headache yesterday. The headache was long gone, thanks to some over the counter magic, but the linger effects of what he might consider slight betrayal remains. He pulls his Jeep into the parking lot and hops out, adjusting the cowboy hat on his head as he pulls off his sunglasses, squinting into the sunshine before stepping into the building.
He tucks his sunglasses into the front pocket of his shirt and his boot soles clops onto the hard surface of the floor as he walks up to the sergeant's desk and asks for Detective Harrison by name. A phone call is made to her cubicle as she's notified she has a visitor. The cowboy turns around and leans back against the desk as he waits.
A visitor? Lord. Elisabeth closes up the files she's working on, tucking the list of Taylor Reeds into her pocket before erasing it completely. Then she heads down toward the main lobby area, and when she sees who her visitor is, she raises an eyebrow. Oh just freakin' great. "Agent Denton," she greets him coolly. "Let's walk, shall we?" Because outside may be a better place to have this conversation — gives her far more avenues of escape.
It's not quite the Lord, but not quite the Devil either. The clopping of his boots continues as he nods to Harrison. "That might actually be for the best. I am certain you will ensure our privacy." The big guy makes quite a few assumptions, most of which usually pay off. As they exit the building, his sunglasses come out and are put back on his face to keep the sun from his eyes, as he heads for the sidewalk. "Have I offended you in some manner, Detective Harrison?" The cowboy hat turns towards her as he looks her direction.
As they walk, she does indeed ensure their privacy. Elisabeth is careful about that these days, after being spied upon by Alec. She gives him a vaguely surprised look, though, and says mildly, "No. Not really. Why?"
"I had an unexpected, unannounced visitor to my offices yesterday. Someone who was quite upset at the fact that we had Mallory Allistair in our custody. Apparently, given the fact that she was not given /all/ of the facts, you can understand how it became quite the mess that I had to deal with." As he talks, there's not a hint of malice or anger or even annoyance. All is stated casually as if he were talking about the weather or the rodeo that was on TV last night. Len looks away from her, looking ahead as they walk.
Raising her chin now, Elisabeth's reply is guarded. "I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about, Agent Denton. There are a number of people I can think of who were more than a little upset to find Mallory Allistair in your custody, not the least of them being myself." She looks at him. "When I agreed to work with Agent Dahl to locate the body our technopath was inhabiting, I did not agree to allow her to be taken into Company custody. And quite honestly? Given the fact that people tend to disappear in Company custody without due process and without a lawyer or a trial or anything else guaranteed by the Constitution…. I'm not entirely sure I'll ever willingly to turn someone over to their custody. Technically, the Company isn't even a law enforcement entity, so I'm not really obligated to."
He stops walking. His hands go onto his hips. "So, it's going to be like this, is it?" He can't help but grin. There must be something amusing about all of this to the cowboy as he flashes his pearly whites in his direction. "I've been reading about you Elisabeth Harrison. Katherine Marks had quite a few nice things to say about you, believe it or not. Her jacket is filled with very complimentary things in regards to your work. Now you and I may never agree on how things are run within my organization. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure that I agree with everything they do. But I do know one thing — whether or not you think we have any standing in the law enforcement community — we are authorized by our government to do what we need to do to keep this country safe." This may all sound VERY familiar to the detective.
"That notwithstanding, whether or not you trust our organization as a whole, that's not my concern. But at some point you're going to have to put your trust in someone. Those you work for, aren't entirely noble in their cause either." To which 'those' he's referring to, he doesn't specify. "We all have our crosses to bear, but I don't intend to do it alone. Now, I can include you, or I can wash my hands of you. But if you're just going to poison the water my horses drink from, then I will have to find someone else to go to — someone who is willing to at least give me the benefit of the doubt." Again, all of this is said with that typical grin he wears on his face. Amused? Most definitely. Len looks down at the detective, dark sunglasses concealing his brown eyes.
"I'm not blind — I do realize those in my own chain have their agendas too, Agent Denton." Elisabeth stops walking to look at him, her blue eyes turbulent with the argument. She's actually somewhat shocked that Kat Marks would have anything at all nice to say about her, and her brows furrow slightly. "My only agenda in all of this is exactly the oath that I took — to protect and serve. *All* citizens, Agent Denton. That stance is the reason that people who went to the Evo Black Hole of Calcutta trusted me with the information they gave me to pass along to any law enforcement office who would listen — of which there were NONE — about Vanguard's attempt to kill 95 percent of the world's population by launching a viral attack on New York. They know that I don't run them in for not being registered, nor do I allow them, if I can help it, to be run in to Homeland or Company custody merely for being able to make plants grow." She sighs. "If that's enough for you to wash your hands of me…. so be it. But I still don't know what you're talking about with regard to poisoning your horse's water."
Len takes a deep breath.
"Listen. Whether you want to work with me or not, fine. I would like to at least have a small amount of respect from you, if I'm going to include you with regards to this bit of information sharing that we've been having. I think that, from what I've read, you are an outstanding detective and my position can only be strengthened by having you on my side, as opposed to being my opposition. What I'm proposing is a team up.
He tucks his hands into his front pockets and begins to move, not looking to become a stationary target for anyone who might be nearby. "What I don't need is for you to rush out half cocked and give someone partial information. That is what I meaning by poisoning the horse troff. You can deny bringing in Wireless if you want, but you are the only one besides myself and Agent Dahl who knew that Mallory Allistair had been brought in. You also were told that we were only going to hold her long enough to determine if Robin Hood — or Taylor Reed, if you will, was still inside the body and we were going to bring her back to /you/. Instead, my network was compromised as well as my facility, Agent Dahl got her ass handed to her and the end result was the same. Mallory Allistair was still released as promised. I am not looking to bring in every evolved, but I do want to make sure those who are dangerous are not going to be a danger to the community at large. That is what I do. Now, I'll ask you — whether you entirely trust me or not — are you willing to at least give me the benefit of the doubt until I prove otherwise, and help me out here? Or do I need to look around for someone else?" His question trails off as his sounds of his boots on the sidewalk is all that's left.
Elisabeth resumes walking with the man as he starts moving again and she says mildly, "The Robin Hood investigation was one she was already involved in, to my knowledge. You're making a pretty big assumption that I have any influence or power over Wireless's actions — and in point of fact, I don't. I did alert her to the possibility that Robin Hood may have escaped Mallory's body so she could be watching for him, but the truth of the matter is, as soon as the call went out that Mallory was picked up, Wireless already knew. I didn't have to tell her anything. It's one of the reasons she's an incredibly resource." She glances at him. "Too bad the Company fucked her over one too many times."
There's a pause and she says, "Trust is a two-way street, Agent Denton. And I don't trust too many Company people — the whole trampling on people's rights thing." She looks at him. "I think you assume that I know far more than I actually do about Phoenix — I'm going to be up front with you. I choose to cultivate certain people within the organization as confidential informants because they have, in the past, proven to be extremely well-informed assets. I don't push for identities on anyone, I don't even know identities of the people who contact me. Except one of them, and he died in the ConEd collapse. I am willing to assume that in spite of who you work for, you do have the best interests of this country at heart… but I want to know exactly what you want from me."
Len glances over as they walk. "If I didn't trust you explicitly, Detective Harrison, I wouldn't be here talking to you right now. What I want is an even exchange of information — I want to be confident that things I tell you, will not given out to others and is for your use only. I want some matter of confidentiality from you, because I am going to tell you some things that should not be given out but that you should be aware of — either for an investigation you might be working on or that we are working on, but could use your assistance."
He wets his lips as the sun is drying them out some. "What I don't want is for you to run to whoever you feel, letting others in on things who may hinder our efforts to do the right thing. We are already battling against the clock here, Detective. I have a limited amount of time in which to change the future and if I'm battling against you and those who you side with, then it's only going to hurt my efforts. I'll walk away right now and look around for someone else who can help me. I'm not saying you're either on my team or not, I'm saying that you and I can help each other. But I need to know your actions are not going to get in my way. And before you say it, if you disagree with something I do, I am fully willing to listen to what you have to say — then if you still disgree, we walk away from each other. No more strings."
Elisabeth considers. "That's a mighty attractive offer," she acknowledges. Especially since what she's already said to him could get her chucked into freakin' Moab anyway. "I'm an experienced enough cop to know that there are a number of times telling other people information is a bad plan, Agent Denton." She can't promise him to keep all his little Company secrets secret, though. "Let's take it on a case-by-case basis," she finally says. "And I'll offer you the first bit of information as a gesture of good faith. The Company is the cause of the problems we're currently facing. A number of the people — I'm not sure how many of them there are exactly nor am I sure that all of them fit this description, but I know of at least three of them who have specific agendas against the Company because of mistreatment or incarceration for nothing more than existing. It's been my understanding that Homeland Security wants to offer more than that — that they want Evolved citizens to come forward, to be productive members of society. That only happens if they're not treated like criminals merely because of genetics. The cases in point? Tyler Case, Niles Wight, and now Taylor Reed — who's barely, so far as we can gather, in elementary school so hasn't even had TIME to do anything wrong. So… what do you want to do about this problem? Because your actions in the here and now might actually head off part of this."
Now it's Len's turn to offer up some information.
"I'm going to offer you some information, and this information I'm going to have to insist that you hold very closely to your chest — as I do not care to deal with your Technopath friend again." She may already know of some of this, however, he's going to reiterate due to the connection between all of what's going on. "You're correct when you say that Taylor Reed is in Elementary School. However, we believe that we have at least five individuals who have come from the future in our city at this point. This information was partly confirmed last night when we took one of the time travelers into custody. We have been gathering intel that in the near future — months perhaps —, "The Company" will be no more. And that agents, whether doing good or bad, will be inprisoned for merely being employed by them. I am currently interviewing each of my agents to try and determine where that line is drawn — so that I can try and protect this from happening. Those who cross the line deserve to be jailed, but I won't have my good agents inprisoned for doing their duty for this country."
He pauses. "Now, as far as the time travelers go, I believe that Taylor Reed is one of them and he's assisting them from inside the net. We have the identities of four — one which is Niles Wight, who we believe has already attempted to kill at least one person. So, tell me that we are not right to keep him imprisoned." He stops walking for a moment, to consider letting this last bit out. "You should also know that we have had two dangerous evolved escape from our facility this week, aided by the time travelers, one which was Taylor Reed."
There's a pause as Elisabeth considers this information. "I don't want to see agents who've not actually done anything wrong being jailed either," Elisabeth agrees. She looks at him, though, and says quietly, "Niles Wight has certainly done some things wrong. But I urge you strongly to consider the fact that he might not be a complete psychopath if he hadn't been locked up for a decade with no trial and no chance to defend his actions. That's my argument with the organization that you work with — NOT that you incarcerate people who need to be, but that there is no due process. The Constitution guarantees the right to a trial by peers… that is what I want to see happen. If that means somehow neutralizing an Evo's powers or only allowing him to attend the trial via video conferencing, so long as it doesn't strip their rights away, I'm okay with that." The news of the escape, though, makes her shake her head. "Fuck," is all she says to that.
Len turns back the way they came, figuring they are probably very close to the conclusion to this conversation and his Jeep is back that-a-way. He shrugs. "Who's to know if Niles got a fair trial or not. If the Company /is/ disbanded, then I can only imagine that he did get due process and was found guilty of something. I can't say what. But no more Company, means no reason to hold these individuals. I've already been looking over some of the files of those we already have in custody to determine if they are there with appropriate cause or not. Wight, obviously, I hadn't gotten to since someone likes to sort their files alphabetically, plus I'm trying week out dirty agents from clean agents."
"Speaking of which, you already have some sort of working relationship with Agent Dahl. I've already brought in one agent besides her into this who was responsible for the capture of our time traveler last night, but I'd like you to remain in touch with Dahl. Unless you have an objection?" he glances down at her.
"I have no problem working with Agent Dahl, Agent Denton." Elisabeth could remark that it's easier than working with Kat Marks — what with Minea already knowing FAR more than she's shared with her boss, to Liz's knowledge — but she keeps it to herself. "Have a good day," she tells the Texan.
Len watches Liz disappear back into the building and he cracks another grin, patting his Jeep on the hood. "We are definitely having fun now, ain't we?" he hops in. Before he takes off, he whips out his Blackberry as it lights up. He blinks at the timestamp from last night, unsure why he's just now getting it. He dials. "Meet me at Dahl's. On my way." He puts the Jeep into gear and backs up, before jamming the gear shift and tearing out of the parking lot.