embarkation | open to all;

I don't know who he is. [ That part was the truth, whether Kate wanted to believe it or not. Perhaps he was hired, or knew someone she knew. Those were guesses, and something for Kate herself to look into ] Perhaps he didn't trust me. [ Which is said in a way that makes it seem as if it's a frequent occurrence. Which it also was, sadly

But this was the difficult part: coming clean. There were people that knew her, the real her, and then there was Emily Lake. She'd never come clean before, not even really telling Nate anything after the incident with the artifact. Coming clean was always difficult though, whether it involved a fake name or not ]

My name is Helena.

Okay, good, Helena.

[Kate's tone softened, encouraging and almost gentle. She folded her hands over the file folder and kept her eyes locked on the other woman.]

Why are you hiding?

Sometimes a lady needs to get away.

[ There's a lot of reasons, although Helena's doesn't fit into any that Kate would easily guess ]

I needed a fresh start. It's been a nice chance.

Sometimes it is.

[Kate could certainly empathize with that, but for different reasons.]

The problem is, your methods have been... questionable. And seemed to have gotten you into some trouble. You seriously don't know why someone would be after you?

Nothing that I could think of lately.

[ Unless it was linked to Helena, and to the Warehouse. And then... then she would need to speak with someone else, and have a hand in finding out why specifically she was being looked into, more than just due to that connection ]

My life has been considerably more simple since I became Emily. [ The second time, anyway, although she would assume that prior to Walter Sykes and the Warehouse catching back up to her that the other Emily Lake's life had been simple. Hers and that cats ] I have a job that I enjoy, and something of a family. [ The mention of them, even the mere thought of Nate and Adelaide makes Helena smile. She cares truly for them - loves them ]

I have no criminal record. [ Erm ] No one that I can think of that would want to find me or hurt me. [ Double erm ] I didn't even know that I was being followed. [ Which meant that she was slacking a little, or he was really good. Or the third option ]

[Kate kept her eyes on the subtleties, catching that smile when she mentioned her family and taking note of the pauses in between. Silence told her as much about a situation as words did, and she was getting plenty from this.

For the most part, Beckett believed her. Not so much about the criminal record - that was unlikely - but she did believe that the woman had wanted a new start and that she likely didn't have any idea why someone was after her. At least, she didn't know directly. Chances were that there was something in that vague history of her time before Emily Lake that led to this.]

Has anything like this happened to you before? Before you changed you identity?

No.

[ Except that one was an out right lie. She had been followed, and looked into both as H.G. Wells and as Emily Lake. The reasons had both been Warehouse related, although nothing like this. Nothing where anyone had been paid

But Helena did have a question of her own, one that she voices after a brief, thoughtful pause ]

You said that someone had paid this man to follow me. I would assume that you could find out who?

[ That was how they'd caught up to her in Paris, Helena knew. Although using their own money had made it simpler to find her ]

[Kate nods stiffly, a little annoyed at the short answer. If the woman was being truthful, that would make this all a little harder for Beckett. If Beckett found out she was lying, well, she'd make this all a little harder for Helena.]

We're working on it. Unfortunately the money came from an account outside of the country, and the name attached to it isn't real. I assure you though, I have the best team in the NYPD. They'll trace it.

[That was both a promise and a threat.]

I'm not certain that assurances can do all that much for me. It doesn't tell me what is going on.

[ Or why, more importantly ]

It does seem that you know more about this than I do.

[ And that itself sounded a little accusatory. Which it was. If there was something that Helena didn't like it was not knowing something, and given that this was about herself made it doubly frustrating. But Kate did know something. Helena didn't know if it was anything more than what she'd already been told but she was going to take the chance on attempting to find out. Information could possibly make her a little more useful. Or just informed ]

[Kate huffed a defeated sigh and leaned back in her chair.]

Someone payed this man 500 grand, wired it directly to his account three weeks ago. Now we know that this point that he had a criminal history, but mostly burglary and petty crimes and nothing violent so we're still tracing how he even got wrapped up in this.

We found files in his room - a lot of information about Emily Lake. He'd started digging things up on you around the same time the money transfer went through, so we know they're related. For whatever reason, he was killed and I suspect it was probably because he did what he was supposed to do. [She frowned.] You could be in a lot of danger which is why it's important for you to tell me everything you know.

That's a lot of money to simply look into me.

[ A lot more money than Helena might consider herself worth, or for the effort. But it was also far more money than Helena used to ever know, which could also make her curious

But it was the part about danger that did make Helena listen, or at least pay a little more attention. She was more that capable of taking care of herself, and right now she had no fears for her life, but that also wasn't the reason why she was listening. It was about Nate, and Adelaide. If she could be in danger then they could be - again. They were connected to her, and she knew how quickly or easily someone might find it to use them against her.

They had before. So she listened. Not for herself, but to make certain that they were safe. She would tell what she could, maybe even if she didn't wish to ]

What do you need, Detective? [ If Helena had the choice she'd rather start with what was the most pertinent, although when everyone knew very little it made that difficult. She also knew that she didn't have much of a choice ]

[Kate nodded. Of course she'd found enough background on 'Emily Lake' to know she had a live-in boyfriend with a daughter, and the Boone Police Department had already been alerted of a potential threat to them. Helena's suspicious background aside, she was still brotherhood. Kate didn't want to see anyone get hurt.]

Names. Events. Anything out of the ordinary - a wrong number dialed to your workplace, someone strange hanging around the house. If you want to call your boyfriend and ask him if he's seen anything strange you're more than welcome to. I just need your full cooperation until we get this cleared up.

[A pause.]

And your real last name wouldn't hurt, either.

Wells. Helena Wells. [ She was starting with the simplest thing, allowing her to use the time after her answer for her to think. Prior to handing the Astrolabe over to the Brotherhood Helena was always cautious, always away. Afterwards? She'd taken time then to live. She was no longer a part of the Warehouse, she was a free woman, and other than her call to Myka she'd beenuninvolved, and perhaps a little lax in being as cautious as she could be.

But being free, and having that normal life was a beautiful thing that she loved. And she'd enjoyed it enough to want to have her guard down - it certainly rose less questions in her private life.

But then there was that incident. The artifact that had put Nate and Adelaide in danger. And there had been police reports, if ones that lacked some semblance of truth. But they'd had the initial reports already from the arrests. When it came down to the end? They'd followed suit on the lies ]

There was one moment. It wasn't a stranger, rather a threatening visit from one of the detectives in Boone. [ And if she gave this more thought, which she would now, she might see the pieces fall together as one theory ] There was a report about the matter.

Edited 2013-09-24 20:35 (UTC)

I read the report.

[It hadn't made a lot of sense, but Kate had a feeling there was something missing from the report. She didn't like not having all the information but in this case, it didn't look like Helena's fault.

It did, however, imply she was into something more than she was likely to admit.]

Your boyfriend was involved. And his daughter, right? [Kate assessed her notes again.] We don't have any reason to believe the two events are directly related, though. [Of course they weren't, that would make it too easy.]

They weren't involved. [ At least not in the way that Helena herself had been involved, and those were two things that she was keeping separate ] They were used to threaten me, put in danger. [ Nate first, his life directly under threat until they'd bagged the artifact. And then they'd taken Adelaide ]

Are they still in danger? Was there anything in what you found that was about them?

[ If there wasn't then Helena might breathe a little easier - they were only looking into her, not them, and maybe that meant her old life, rather than her current one ]

No, nothing we can find says that whoever's behind this has any interest in them.

[Kate doubted that meant they were out of danger - after all, whoever was behind this might go through them to find Helena. But that wasn't a thought she was going to voice.]

Regardless, I did talk to the police chief in Boone. They'll have units watching the house until this gets cleared up, just in case. They won't be in any danger.

Then I'm thankful for that, at least.

[ But there was no sigh of relief - there wouldn't be until Helena was out of New York, until she'd called Nate to check on him and Adelaide and then, finally, until she was home. And when she was convinced that they would all be fine - and safe ]

Would it be too much to see what information there is that this man had on me? At least I could say that it would be nothing that I don't already know.

[ Whether or not that Kate would let her view it was a different matter. She was a suspect in a murder, and a possible victim of this threat. Seeing the evidence? It wasn't usual, but Helena did know her own life, and it was her thought at least that she might be able to see something, or even a small connection that the New York Detective had missed. It was a hope, anyway - she wanted to know what was going on just as much as Kate did ]

[Kate thought on that for a moment. Really, there was nothing in the files that she hadn't already told Helena - or wouldn't be willing to. And if over ten years in law enforcement had taught her anything, it was that there were two kinds of people in the world. The kind that ran towards the battle, and the kind that ran way.

Helena was obviously running. While she might have found out what was going on and killed the man herself, Kate seriously doubted it. The woman was hiding something, certainly, but Beckett wasn't convinced it was related to this case. Not directly, anyway.]

Most of it is your background information. Your address, work history, some... information on Nate and Adelaide. [Helena would likely be deeply disturbed by that bit of information, but there wasn't much Kate could do about that.

She pulled the file from her stack and passed it to Helena. It mostly consisted of the crime scene photos and copies of the research the victim had done of her.]

There's also a mention of something about a warehouse. Take your time looking through it and if there's anything that stands out, let me know.

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