In the Driver's Seat

Chapter 4

Federal Building, Manhattan, NY. December 19, 2003. Friday morning.

Because Neal's desk was near the door to the bullpen, he could see when team members arrived and left. On what was the last day before going on vacation for many of them, they came in late and left for long coffee breaks. Neal soon realized that looking up and making eye contact as they walked by made several of them uneasy — particularly the ones who'd made a point of checking their watches and noting the times he'd come and gone all week.

Not Agent Hitchum, of course. He just got mad. But since the very fact of Neal's existence made him mad, Neal didn't care.

He also noticed that most of the team members took turns walking to Peter's office, carrying wrapped gifts. The fact that Neal hadn't thought to bring anything for Peter was weighing on him. He glanced at the plate of guava thumbprint cookies he'd bought from the Aloha Emporium. If he gave them to Peter as a gift, he'd have nothing to bring to the party.

"Neal?"

He looked up to see Agent Jorge Badillo, who had left fifteen minutes ago. Now the agent held two cups of coffee.

"Agent Wiese said this is your favorite." Jorge handed one of the cups to Neal.

Neal inhaled the steam coming from the lid's opening and nodded. "I have several favorites when it comes to coffee. This is one of them. Thanks."

"Yeah. Umm, some of us..." Jorge looked over his shoulder. "Some of us are sorry about how we treated you this week."

Neal raised a brow. "Did Peter tell you to apologize?"

"No. It was Tricia. She read us the riot act yesterday when she caught us comparing notes about you."

"Okay. I appreciate the honesty." Neal tasted the coffee. "Not bad. Are you around next week, Jorge?"

"I'll be here Monday and Tuesday."

"Would you show me where you bought this? I could return the favor, buy one for you."

"I'd like that." Jorge glanced toward Peter's office.

Neal saw yet another team member hand Peter a small, wrapped package. Jorge was one of the few people who hadn't done that yet. "Did you get Peter a gift?"

"No." Jorge looked stressed. "There are lots of rules about gifts at the FBI, you know? Not just from outsiders, but internally, too." He noticed Neal's look of confusion. "You haven't taken the ethics training yet?"

"Not yet. Peter said I could put off most of the online training until next week, because things will be slower then."

"Well the thing is, a government agency — especially one like the FBI — has to avoid even the appearance of bribes and favoritism. There are rules about how much you can spend, and stuff like that. Last year my team's supervisor told us no gifts, because it was too much of a hassle. I assumed Peter would be the same way. He seems like a no-nonsense kind of guy, you know? This morning I tried to find something that would meet all the rules when I was at the coffee shop, but it had been picked clean. All the low-dollar stuff was gone."

Neal held up the coffee Jorge had given him.

"I considered that, but with my luck Peter would be in a meeting and the coffee would be cold before I could give it to him. And I don't know what he likes."

"I'm facing the same quandary," Neal confided. "I didn't realize people would give Peter gifts. Now if I don't give him something, it's one more sign I don't fit in here, and you can bet if I do give him something, there will be people who assume it's payback for hiring me."