White Collar: An unofficial novel - part 9

Kate

"She had those stunning, deep blue eyes," Neal continued. "She was dashing in the dress wore with that necklace..."

"Yeah, I know what she looked like and I know you were in love," Peter stressed. "How was she involved with Adler?"

"She asked me if I liked the painting, but I could hardly take my eyes away from her," Neal continued, enjoying fond memories, and teasing Peter at the same time. "I impressed her with my knowledge about Raphael's painting technique—"

"Which of course you had studied thoroughly."

"— And she asked if I was an artist, and I said I dabbled a little." Peter snorted. "Then she told me she tried, 'but the romance of being a starving artist wore off very fast.' It felt like I had found my soulmate. When she asked what I did I said 'I'm looking for new opportunities.' She got a special look in her eyes and said: 'You're here to cozy up to my boss.' She was right and I said I wanted to work for Adler and asked for advice. She told me she had seen the seating chart, and I sat nowhere near him. 'That's your first challenge.' Then she saw someone else mingle with, wished me luck, and left."

"I'm sure you found a way around that," Peter said, wanting to steer away from the syrup-sticky story with Kate.

"I walked into the dining hall. The staff was just done with the preparations, so I had most of the grand room to myself. Every plate had a name tag, and I found Adler's on the first, main table. And, as Kate had said, I was nowhere near him, sitting by a table in a corner. I swept up my tag, passed the plate to Adler's left, and made a swap. And placed Genevieve Carlson on my original spot."

"But Adler must have noticed at once," Peter said.

"Of course. When they called out the dinner was ready I followed the others, found my seat, and sat down. Adler joined shortly after and said

'It seems my date has been relegated to the Buenos Aires table. You have until the salad course arrives to tell me what you want. Go.'"

Peter figured Vincent Adler must be a clever man, realizing the possible potential in a man finding creative ways to reach him.

"'I want to work for you,' I said straight to the point," the kid continued.

"'In what capacity, other than your enthusiasm for grains and paint?' Adler said. And I said 'Acquisitions.' He, of course, replied that his team was full.

'Cameron Singer,' I said, nodding towards the man at another table. 'You're about to buy his firm.'

'Speculation's been front page of the Journal all week. Pass the bread.'

'Well, he's been avoiding that woman.' I nodded towards a magnificent elderly lady at another table.

'Hannah Fields?'

'Next week, Hannah Fields will announce her new investment branch. She's buying out Singer. He's gonna back out of your deal, and the media will eat it up. Your company will appear unstable. That could spook investors.'

I saw that I had him. He listened to me. He did not know if he could believe me or not, but he had listened.

'I'm gonna continue my meal now with someone who looks better in a cocktail dress than you,' he said.

'Well, look into Singer. If it turns out I'm right, call me.' I placed my card on the table and left."

"The Singer deal, was it true?"

"Absolutely," the kid grinned with pride. "Mozzie and I had been spying on them for weeks. Adler ditched Singer and brought me in a month later."

Wow, Peter thought. They were thorough. They walked out on the patio again.

"He hired you to find things for him to buy."

"Well, part of my job was knowing everything about everyone Adler dealt with. He had a lot of holdings and a lot of enemies. Turns out I had a knack for rooting them out."

"And Kate was there the whole time."

"Mm-hmm."

"Is that when you guys got together?" Peter found himself too curious to ask.

"No, no. She had a boyfriend. It didn't stop me from trying to win her, though. She liked my magic tricks. And making necklaces and earrings disappear had the advantage to the need to be close to her to put them back on when they had appeared again." They chuckled at this. "When I finally asked her out, she told me that Michael, her boyfriend, had asked her to move with him to Chicago in a month. I did my best to sound positive and happy for her, but inside I just—"

"Yeah, I know," Peter cut him off. "You said you saw that fractal at Adler's place."

"He had that pattern engraved in a metal plate on his desk. I asked and he told me." Neal remembered it well. The art made by maths.

"That was the first time you'd seen one?" Peter asked.

"Yeah. You know, he was obsessed with them. His were similar to that one, but none was an exact match."

"Okay, so, Kate was going to Chicago with another guy, and you were trying to root out whoever was looking into Adler's stuff. Keep talking."

"Someone had been bold enough to get inside one of his buildings to see some rare items he had. I found out who and told Adler," Neal said. "I said to him that 'She talked her way in. She seems mostly interested in your South American acquisitions.'

'And you got her to come here in person?' Adler was just as impressed as I hoped he would be."

"So am I," Peter muttered.

"I told him I had had the foundation feed her a story that they were impressed with her research. She thought she was there for a job interview."

"Poor her."

"Yeah... I let Alex Hunter inside—"

"Alex Hunter?" Peter interrupted with a sigh and a grin. "Of course."

"I let her inside the office, and she smiled and introduced herself to Adler who just told her to have a seat.

'Miss Hunter... Your passion for antiquities is unusual for such a young woman.'

'Well, every object has a story to tell. I find those stories fascinating.' She was all big smiles, selling her as the right for the job.

'That was almost convincing. Who are you working for?' he asked, straight to the point as always. Alex hardly blinked.

'I don't work for anyone...yet. That's why I'm here.'

'You can drop the act,' Adler said and he got to his feet and leaned over Alex. 'Someone is paying you to get into my records. Now, who is that? Why don't you tell me?'

He showed a threatening side I had not seen before. I knew he was good in business but this, I was unprepared."

"What did you think he would do? Call the cops?"

"Something like that," Neal admitted. "Alex said there were rumors he had made some big discoveries and she got curious. She thought he wanted to share his art with the world. Adler said it was not up to her to decide but allowed her a second chance, a chance to fix the only big mistake she was allowed to make."

"Did he threaten her?"

"In a way. In such a way that it was all in your interpretation, not the actual words."

"I know what you mean."

"When she left, Adler thanked me. And when I said: 'Grateful to be here, Mr. Adler' he corrected me and said 'Vincent' and gave me a check for my efforts. I convinced him I should be allowed to invest them in his fund. After some persuasion, he agreed."

"You invested your money with him."

"All of it. We all did. He was making us 14%."

"You didn't know it was a scam?"

"No. My goal at the time was to prove my loyalty to Adler. The job became my life." And he had liked Vincent Adler. Sure they would pull a scam on him, but getting there, he had enjoyed being in Adler's presence. He had felt seen and appreciated.

"Then what happened to Alex? I know there's more to that story."