White Collar: An unofficial novel - part 15

Phone company

"I don't think that's a surrender flag," Mozzie said, staring at the house they were surveilling. Neal awoke from his daydreaming and saw someone waving a white hanky through a window on the second floor.

"All right, stay here, Moz. I need to save Elizabeth."

He left the car, jogged across the street, snuck into the neighbor's garden, over the fence, and climbed the drainpipe. It had been no problem so far, but the windows had bars.

"Neal! He locked the door!"

"Elizabeth, I can't get through these bars. You're gonna have to pick the door lock yourself."

"I can't pick a lock!"

"It looks like a Birmingham, okay? It's perfect for a beginner. Can I see the pick set?"

"Yeah..." She picked it up and came to the window.

"Okay. Use that hook — the second one from the left and the little L-shaped tension wrench," Neal instructed. Elizabeth took them out and walked to the door. "You put the wrench in the lock and keep the pressure on it, okay? Just as if you were turning a key."

"Neal, I don't think I can do this."

"Just focus on the tip of the pick. Think of it as an extension of your hand. Put it in the lock and move it along the top of the cylinder."

"I feel the pins!"

"Good. Good. Now tiny, little upward motions. You'll feel the pins lock into place."

She worked on the lock, and suddenly, she turned her head to him, amazed.

"I got it."

Neal grinned.

"See?"

She rose, put the picks back, and opened the door. There was Peter.

"Hey, El." Then Peter saw him outside the window on the second floor, and his face hardened. "Hey, Neal."

"Hi."

"Elizabeth's been gone quite a while," Peter noted. Also noting that so had Ben.

"She's probably just checking her makeup."

"Mm." That's not what El usually did. Peter moved the quinoa around on the plate, wondering how he would ever manage to get it down.

"So, she's the one who tries to get you to eat healthy," Jessica said, smiling.

"You got me. I.. I'm more of a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy."

"Ben used to be."

"Mm." Poor guy, Peter thought.

"No rats," Ben said, returning to the table.

"Could be a chipmunk," Peter said. "We had one. Kept stealing my dog's kibble. I found tiny footprints right by Satchmo's bowl, so I stayed up one night. Caught the thief

with his cheeks filled." He thought of it as a funny story, but he just got silence and blank stares in return. "Ah, you revel in the small victories. I'm gonna check on my wife."

Peter walked upstairs and continued to the third floor. He found the bathroom door and knocked on it.

"El?"

He saw that the light was on, but there was no sound from inside. Worried, he pulled the door handle and found the door unlocked and the bathroom empty. Baffled, Peter figured that his gut feeling was right after all.

The sound from the second floor was neither rat nor chipmunk. He walked down to the second floor, where a door opened.

"Hey, El." His wife stared at him, and he took a step inside the room. And lo and behold, there was one face he did not wish to see in this constellation. "Hey, Neal."