Fashion Undertow

Chapter 2: All's Fair

Saks Fifth Avenue. Tuesday, September 5, 2006.

Peter watched Neal as he peered through a jeweler's loupe at the diamond-encrusted handbag. They'd spent the morning visiting stores that carried the Tracy Hicks line. Saks was the last one on their list. So far, they'd found two others who'd been provided with rip-offs. Was Saks Fifth Avenue yet another victim? The store manager waited anxiously for Neal's pronouncement.

It wasn't a good sign that the corners of his mouth were already drooping. Peter doubted Neal needed to use the loupe. He'd confided earlier that the tool was mainly a prop to make the store representative feel less embarrassed about being taken.

"I'm sorry to report these are synthetic diamonds," Neal said, his voice dripping with commiseration. She visibly deflated before their eyes.

"We alerted the handbag department as soon as you contacted us that there might be an issue," she said. "I suppose it's for the best that no one had made a purchase in the past two days."

"How long ago did you receive the shipment?" Peter asked.

"I checked our files when you called. The purses arrived on the seventeenth of August."

Peter added the date to his notepad. "The earliest delivery date we've discovered for a shipment containing knockoffs was June 15."

"That's a small relief," she said. "It will limit the number of customers we need to contact."

Peter asked for a copy of the customers' contact information. Neal's assignment this afternoon would be to call them and arrange for Bureau agents to collect the bags for verification. Diana and Jones were already working undercover at the factory. Ms. Hicks had made the arrangements personally. Jones was focused on the delivery process, while Diana was investigating the fabrication department.

Peter's thoughts wandered as Neal examined the other Hicks handbags on display. Peter planned to take him to lunch. If the promotion came through, this was potentially the last fieldwork they'd been doing together. Damn, he was going to miss working with Neal. How would he react to the news? Likely, he'd be relieved that he'd be able to join Henry and Sara at Win-Win without any concern about deserting Peter. Sure, Neal would miss Jones and Diana, but his interests lay elsewhere.

Win-Win's office wasn't far from the Federal Building. He and Neal could still meet for lunch. And there'd be plenty of other opportunities. Peter had signed up to volunteer at the kids' telescope workshop at the university for another year. He and Neal could meet on campus. Of course, now that Sara was in New York, there'd be other demands on Neal's time. The same could be said for Peter ... eventually. If Baby Burke ever decided the moment was right to make their presence known.

"Three of these handbags are counterfeit," Neal said.

Peter stopped wallowing and returned to the task at hand. "I'll notify the agents to pick up the entire lot for processing."

Neal gave him a quizzical look. After the manager left to retrieve the list of purchasers, he said, "There aren't that many. We could easily take them back with us."

"No, we can't. We're going to lunch. I'll even let you pick the spot. On the Upper East Side, you must have a number of favorites."

"This feels like a celebration," Neal commented. "Did I miss something?"

"You're starting your third year at Columbia," Peter improvised, grasping at low-hanging fruit. "I haven't heard about the courses you're taking."

Neal's eyes narrowed as a smile crossed his face. He leaned to one side, studying something off to the right.