White Collar: An unofficial novel - part 11

A little bit of milk

When Neal got home, he met Cindy, June's granddaughter, with a tray of coffee and cookies.

"Hi, Neal. I was just on my way up to you with this."

He knew Mozzie waited upstairs, dying to tell him about their escape plans.

"You shouldn't have!" he said, smiling, a little too loud to warn Moz.

"Grandma insisted."

"Oh, you're both so thoughtful!" he beamed and opened his door. "Mozzie, you, of course, know June's beautiful granddaughter."

He saw his friend with an oddly placed kitchen towel on the table.

"Oh. Hi, Cindy." Moz said, leaving the table.

"Grandma said the two of you have been, uh, up to something in here." She looked at Neal. And Neal, in turn, looked at Mozzie.

"Oh, you know, idle hands and all," his friend chuckled. Cindy took a step forward to place the trace on the table. Neal got in front of her and took the tray from her hands with a friendly smile.

"And they brought us coffee!"

"Oh, and cookies!"

Cindy watched them, not quite sure how to handle the situation. Neal did not blame her. It was awkward. Now June would know for sure they were up to something.

"I'll be back for the tray."

"No. No, no." Neal placed the tray on the table. "Don't trouble yourself."

"Yeah. We'll bring it down."

"Everything looks beautiful," he beamed, showing her to the door without being obviously rude.

"Yeah. Hey, um..." Mozzie tried. "Thanks again for everything. Thanks. Yeah."

"Thank you."

Mozzie shut the door behind her.

"Lovely girl."

"I'm gonna miss this place," Neal sighed as they listened to Cindy's steps going down the stairs. There would never be a place where he would feel so loved. June was a pearl. How would she handle it when he left?

"Yeah, and the views."

For a moment, they were lost in their own thoughts. Neal pushed them aside. Peter was no longer his friend, so he had no reason to stay.

"Yeah. All right. Peter's team is setting up a harbor sting."

"Oh, well, perfect. So while the FBI is busy collaring Lawrence by sea, we'll be making our escape par avion... By air. I have procured our getaway vehicle." He pulled the towel away and revealed a model of a small airplane. "Voilà. Behold. The 400 series twin otter."

"Is it big enough?"

"Think of it as a Kardashian. What it lacks in refinement, it makes up for in cargo space." If Mozzie said so, Neal trusted him. But... "You're not sold."

"No, the plane's great. I'm worried about Peter." He had, after all, caught him twice, and now Peter knew even more about him. "He's holding something, Moz. If he's got a card he hasn't played yet, we're not gonna get far."

Moz took this in.

"Okay. So, what's the best way to find out what Peter knows?" Neal considered the question. And sighed. "What?"

"Elizabeth. He tells her everything."

"He does? Why have I never thought of that? What an advantage that would have been!"

"Moz!"

"What?"

Neal was about to blame him for using his friends like that. But that was as pointless as Moz asking him to stop being a con man.