White Collar - as an unofficial novel - part 2

Party

As Peter had expected, Elizabeth was thrilled. First thing next morning Peter brought Elizabeth and Neal to the FBI storage of confiscated items. El was as a child at Christmas.

"Wow, Royal Ossetra Caviar. Ah! This is gonna be perfect!" she mused. "Ooh! Neal, I just found Springbank."

"Whiskey, perfect," Neal agreed. "I got a Garioch Scotch over here."

"Sixty-five?"

"No, fifty-eight."

"Oh, grab the case," she said.

Peter sighed. It was like two kids in a toy store and it would mean paperwork for him.

"All right. Come on, we gotta itemize all this." Nothing left the storage without being signed for.

"Twelve bottles of Scotch," Neal said as he placed the box on the trolley.

"Thirty-six tins of Ossetra," Elizabeth informed the storage-guy.

"Booze and fish eggs, you got that?" Peter asked and the guy nodded. Then he saw Neal holding a watch against his wrist.

"Wow, drop the watch, Convict. We're not on a shopping spree."

"No, it wasn't for me, it was for you."

Nice try, Peter thought but took the watch when Neal handed it over.

"Oh, thank you. There's nothing wrong with my old watch." But he could not resist the temptation to try the gold watch on.

"Honey, actually that looks great on you." El sounded impressed. Peter looked at the two watches beside each other. Like beer and an exclusive white wine, side by side.

"A little out of my price range." He liked beer and was not much for pricey items just for show off.

"There's nothing wrong with enjoying the good things in life," Neal told him.

"Then why do they always seem to end up in here?" Peter took the watch off and replaced it in the box with other watches.

"Okay. So we've got the alcohol and the food covered," Elizabeth concluded. "Now we just need the venue."

Peter grinned.

"Don't worry, I got that covered." He did. But why did Elizabeth and Neal exchanged looks? It had not been that hard to find a place for a party?

"It's a loft. Seized in a DEA bust. 1 500 square feet, service elevator," Peter showed Neal a photo "It's perfect."

Neal stared at the photo of a small, dull room. Was Peter serious? Had he no idea that this was the worst possible choice for a party?

"Is that a chalk outline?" Gee, had someone got killed there too?

"I'm sure they've cleaned up by now," Peter dismissed the issue. "It has everything you need."

"Yeah, if five drunk frat buddies show up."

"Aren't you supposed to be lining up supermodels?"

Neal's phone pinged. He grinned and looked at the display.

"Ah. Sixty-four and counting."

"Oh, Neal Caffrey throws a party and sixty-four supermodels show up," Peter muttered. Neal kind of enjoyed his handler's tone of envy.

"No, sorry. My mistake. My mistake." He saw Peter ready to gloat. Not this time though. "Sixty-five actually. These two are twins." The phone pinged again.