A Howard Watson Intrigue - Phil Davenport

Hello again. Glad you can join me.

Ok, the question that's been asked a lot. "What's up with you and Phil Davenport, the FBI Agent from Chicago?"
Hope you like the answer.

If you read THE PACT you will know that I met Phil Davenport in the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia. He had a very solid upbringing in an upscale suburb outside Cleveland, Ohio. I believe the Academy humbled him in many ways. But then again Quantico put all of us through a regimen that tested our fiber. Phil seemed always amazed at the thought that 80% of the new entrants made it through the Academy. What he failed to grasp was that the real test was getting in to the Academy.

Phil and his roommate Michael Gras and my roommate John Mason and I became fast friends. In the beginning Phil preferred John's company because he told me years later that he thought I was aloof, even somewhat standoffish. I was floored. He also told me that at the beginning of our relationship he thought I was prejudiced against white people. Why? Because he heard me say under my breath to John at graduation when we were walking across the carpet of the J. Edgar Hoover Building three years to the date of Hoover's death that "only death got Hoover out of that Chair!"  It was actually a remark my father had made several years earlier. John and I chuckled about this. Phil did not.

Anyway, after Quantico Phil and John accepted positions in the FBI's Chicago office, which allowed them to become closer. Michael accepted an opening in the Denver office and I opted for FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Geographically the four of us split up even though all four of us tried our best to stay in touch. Ironically Phil and I maintained a somewhat relationship. Go figure. A decade after Quantico John Mason would be killed in the line of duty and Michael Gras would be sent to prison on a money laundering scheme. Phil and I realized that we still had each other.

Any time Phil and his family are anywhere on the east coast my family and I always make sure to connect. We usually stay with the Davenports while in Chicago. In THE PACT he helped with a case that originated on the east coast but had tentacles in Chicago. Our relationship was cemented with his assistance in THE SMOKE RING and THE STANDING PEOPLE. 

When most people declare that a friend has their back - that friend in my life is called Phillip Wallace Davenport.
Talk soon.

Howard

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