Night Music

Chapter 1: An Invitation

Columbia University. Wednesday, November 30, 2005.

"Any chance you could come to New York tomorrow?" Neal asked Sara. "I can promise you a gala evening at the Metropolitan Opera."

"It does sound tempting. There is the slight problem of my job, a plane to catch ..." Neal heard a rustling of paper. "Drat, I'm scheduled to meet with a client in Sussex about their stolen Gainsborough. If only you'd asked me yesterday."

Neal smiled at her photo which he kept stashed in his art studio. Sara likely had returned to her flat in London an hour earlier. He was on a break from the grind of seminars. Wednesdays Neal spent the day at Columbia University. Since Sara moved back to London, they'd taken advantage of his day away from the office to call each other during break times.

"Sonya Pashkina called me today," he explained. "The board of directors asked the musicians to attend the event, and she didn't want to go alone."

"Who is Sonya and should I be jealous?"

"She's Russian, a gorgeous brunette, and fabulously wealthy thanks to me, but you have no reason to be concerned. She has a boyfriend who'd normally accompany her, but he's off touring in Europe."

"A likely tale. Her paramour sounds suspiciously like the fictitious Matthew I invented to keep the matchmakers from knowing about you."

"You wound me. Didn't I convince you of my sincerity last weekend?"

He heard a soft sigh on the phone. They'd just spent four blissful days in Lyon, Besançon, and Paris over the Thanksgiving holiday. "That was heaven, but I warn you I have a short memory. We'll need to plan something similar soon."

"I'm already working on Christmas," he promised.

"And don't think I didn't notice what you were doing—deflecting me from the incredible Sonya. How is it that you made her wealthy and not me?"

"I was simply the facilitator. Her true benefactor was an egg. Sonya Pashkina is a violist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra."

"I remember now! She discovered a Fabergé Imperial egg in an old trunk, but it was stolen after she took it in for verification."

Sara was working in Boston during the case but Neal told her about it afterward. "Sonya kept her job with the orchestra and has used a substantial chunk of the proceeds to set up music scholarships. The Met is premiering a new production of Don Giovanni in a little over a week. This is a reception for patrons and donors. She said I was welcome to bring a plus-one."

"You could take Mozzie."

Neal snorted. "What? As a chaperone? Now that he's a member of the Clueless con, did you ask him to keep an eye on me?"

"What an excellent idea! I should have. No, the reason I suggested him is that he loves opera and Mozart in particular. He'd no doubt have a grand time mingling with the rich and famous at the reception, suitably disguised, of course."

"And with an appropriate alias. I'll ask him. He'll no doubt figure out a way to incorporate it into the con."

"When I called Elizabeth to thank her for her matchmaking efforts on our behalf, she had some ideas on how to trick Henry. From the sound of it, she and Peter are enjoying being included in our crew."

"They're as bad as Mozzie now," Neal said. "Peter and Travis buttonholed me yesterday with an idea for Henry." The Clueless con for months had been Neal and Sara's secret. It had entered a new stage—Operation Checkmate. Having their friends participate in it ushered in a new level of excitement.

"How many at White Collar know about us?"

"I told Jones and Diana on Monday. All the members of the Arkham Round Table are now aware we're a couple. Diana asserts that it's because of her expert writing that our first dates weren't the train wreck we'd predicted."