White Collar: An unofficial novel - part 9

Clinton Jones

"What did Mozzie say?" Peter asked.

"When I didn't do the transfer as planned he presumed I didn't get the password."

"And you didn't correct him."

Neal noted that Peter had put it as fact not a question. Peter was fair in his assumption though.

"I told him later, but not then." Neal felt bad about it. "I learned though, that Mozzie was a true friend. When I told him I had fallen in love with Kate he was understanding. 'Every con man gets his heart broken once', he said. I told him she would not break my heart. You know Mozzie, he didn't believe that."

"He was right," Peter pointed out.

"Yeah," Neal sighed and watched the color of his wine. "He was right. But then he just sighed and said 'We'll get them next time'." He sipped from his glass to prevent Peter to see that he was moved by the memory. Mozzie had chosen to stick with him, even though he had failed him. "The next day Kate turned on the TV and we saw the news that Vincent Adler has disappeared and with him hundreds of millions of dollars of his client's money, including ours."

Peter nodded. He remembered it well, seeing the news at the office.

"His investment firm was a giant house of cards. He never traded any shares. He just put his client's money in a big pile, packed it, and left. One of the greatest financial frauds of our time. Caused lots of talk, that newscast," Peter remembered. "I still can't understand that no one saw it coming, myself included. It was the first time I met Jones, by the way," he said without thinking.

"I can understand you wanted him in your team," the kid said. "You like smart."

"I do. But Jones sought me out. He had heard that I was putting together a special white-collar task force."

"To catch me," Neal mused.

"You and other criminals. Jones had only been an agent for a few months but it turned out that he was the one that put the Dutchman on our radar."

"Already? This was over a year before you caught me."

"The FBI has limited resources as everybody else. The Dutchman was not a priority at the time. He became a high-profile criminal when you were a prison. Well, anyway, I was putting up my office, just moving from a desk down on the floor, and Jones saw the sucker you gave me. I was talking about the long list I had with agents more experienced, but he knew that green lollipop, asked if that's the one I got from James Bonds last year. He shrugged and said 'people talk'. But he understood why I held on to it. 'Unfinished business. I get it.' I liked him instantly."

"So do I," the kid smiled. "He has a keen eye for details. Would make a good forger."

"I'm glad he isn't. It was hard enough to catch you. But, you had the password from Adler." Peter steered the conversation back to their main topic. " So, Adler disappeared, but what about his account?"

"There was only a dollar left in it. 'Ancientlyre' The password was an anagram for 'nice try Neal.' He knew all along who I was."

Peter felt it hard to grasp that the greatest con man ever lived, sitting right in front of him, had been so conned himself. But the kid had been many years younger and with less experience.

"Then what happened with Kate?"

"She was upset, worried. Neither of us had any money or any job. I told her we were gonna be okay, that all that mattered were that we were together. I told her we were going to get it all back. She asked me how. I said

'If we're gonna do this, I need to tell you something about me. I'm not Nick Halden. My name's Neal Caffrey.'"

"How did she take that?"

"Well. She had bigger trouble on her mind, I guess."

"You and Kate lost everything."

"Yeah. Adler paid well. We put it right back into the company. And why not? Everything he touched turned to gold. He conned us."

"He conned everybody... And then disappeared. What happened after you told Kate the truth?"

"I thought this was about Adler."

"Well, I just got a few beers left, and I'm curious.

"I taught her to survive."

"You taught her how to con people?"

"I told you Adler made me into the man I am today." There were things about Adler that he admired that he had embraced and worked on to learn, and things he despised and decided never to do. There was a reason he had Peter's friendship. He never intentionally hurt people. "Mozzie, Kate, and me, we made a good team. Kate was a natural. And one evening we sat there with some pizza and red wine and the Falconer manuscript from the 16th century on the table, we talked about our mutual dream of a villa on the Côte d'Azur, I suggested we'd go to France. She thought I was joking. I told her about you getting too close for comfort, asking around about the British pounds, that we should take some time away, outside the FBI's range. 'We can start in Cap d'Antibes while it's still warm, work our way up to Paris, over to Amsterdam, then Copenhagen.'"

"Ooooh," Peter said sipping his beer. "I bet that was a bad move. Copenhagen. Did she know about Alex?"

Neal nodded.

"Alex had sent me a flower. I didn't know Kate had seen it. Even less that she knew it was Alex's signature. She said she would not go to Copenhagen. I was sorry and said I should've mentioned Alex, but she pointed out that I had tried to con her. That I hadn't said 'Hey, Kate, let's go to Copenhagen for this opportunity Alex told me about.'"

"Not a good move to con your girlfriend."

"No. I... just had little training of being honest, but a long experience of how to get what I wanted. The music box was worth a fortune and it would have given us the life we wanted."

"Did you seriously plan to retire as a criminal?"

"It was the only life I knew, so, no, sorry. All I wanted was to be with Kate and give her the life she was used to back."

Neal saw Peter watching him in silence.

"What?" he asked.

"Considering what happened later, has it never occurred to you that Kate was working for Adler all along?"

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it, he was good at manipulating people, right?"

"Right..."

"And he had money and connections. When he figured out who you were, he could've persuaded Kate to stay with you and leave her boyfriend. Making sure you lost focus on your con."

"But he took her money, too."

"He did, but she hid from you later, remember? Never asked yourself why? Maybe because she wanted to protect you from Adler. Remember that Adler is the one we believe pulled the strings on Fowler and then Kate as well."

Neal stared at Peter. Some of it had surfaced in his mind, but not the big picture Peter pained up before him. He had not wanted to think about it so he had never tried to put the pieces together. He wanted Kate to be the woman he had loved.

Had Kate loved him? He remembered what Peter told him about the meeting he had had with her. Kate had seen Peter but had not come to see him. He had thought she was captured and manipulated, and she probably was, but how much?

"I'm sorry, Neal."

"It's okay. I'm an adult," he said, shaking it off. "Kate is no longer around, so I'll probably never know the truth about it. And the thought only makes me want to catch Adler even more."