White Collar - as an unofficial novel - part 2

Neal is caught

Peter took Neal for an early lunch. Neal had been up to something last night. He had been gone in that bathroom a long time and Peter was sure he had moved into the master bedroom. Then all the kid had said was that he was sure Dorsett stayed there and they had left and kept it under surveillance.

Neal acted normal. How could the kid be so cool? Sure, Neal had not lied to him and Peter had not asked, but...

They walked back to the office.

"About what happened in the hotel room,"

"Yeah?"

"Let me talk to Elizabeth. It's the least I can do."

So much for the hope of honesty, Peter thought.

"No, the least you can do is nothing, which is exactly what you will do." In prison, in an orange jumpsuit, if you had anything to do with that painting. Damn it, Neal! Peter thought.

"It's my fault," Neal insisted.

"No. I don't need you to lie to my wife." My wife is the least of your problems, pal.

"You gonna do it yourself?"

"No."

"The truth, Peter? Bold choice." Neal sounded impressed. Was the truth so strange to him that he was impressed if someone told the truth?

"Hypothetically," Neal continued "I wouldn't stop complaining, so you let me go into the nightclub and you witnessed the suspect enter after me and had no choice but to follow," Neal fabled.

"It's almost the truth," Peter admitted.

"It's better than alimony."

"Yeah?" Peter remembered what Neal had told him about how he could lie so easily: another angle on truth, so what you say is true enough for you not to be spotted with a lie. Peters phone rang.

"We lost Dorsett," Jones told him at the other end.

"What about the painting and the cash?"

"All gone."

Peter sighed and ended the call. He glanced at Neal.

"Dorsett escaped."

"This is bad," Neal concluded.

"Yeah, this is bad." And he also had a hunch Neal was involved in it somehow.

When they returned to the office Neal left for his desk and Peter to his office. Less then a minute later Jones entered with a file.

"We found something in Dorsett's hotel room."

"Yeah? What?"

"We found the frame," Jones told him. "With this behind the glass."

He opened the file and an origami butterfly was paperclipped to the report.

"This was there instead of the painting?" Peter wanted confirmed.

Jones nodded.

"Yeah, that's right."

"Dorsett, he talked about butterflies," Peter remembered.

"Yeah," Jones agreed. "With Caffrey."

Peter took a deep breath.

"Do you think Caffrey took it?" Jones asked and Peter considered. Why would Dorsett leave the frame behind with a butterfly? It was a message. But not to the FBI. Dorsett did not know they had heard their conversation and the butterfly message would only mean anything to Dorsett and Neal. But Dorsett had no reason to believe Neal would come here and find the empty frame. It had been a message to Dorsett.