New York café. Tuesday evening. February 17, 2004.
When Neal returned to the café at 7pm, Kate was already waiting for him, and Jones had taken position on a centrally located stool along the counter. The agent was pretending to be absorbed in reading a newspaper.
Kate looked up at Neal, and it seemed to him that her smile lit the room. "I wasn't sure if you'd come back," she said as Neal slid into the seat opposite her.
"I had to."
A waitress stopped at their table, preventing Neal from continuing. He ordered the same sandwich he'd had for lunch. Kate ordered a chef's salad. The waitress brought a pot of coffee and filled two mugs.
When the waitress was gone, Neal said, "Kate, you have to stop this. Working for..." Neal looked around, bringing Kate's attention to the other people in the café. "Working for him is dangerous. Every law enforcement agency in the country wants to find him. Why would you risk bringing that kind of attention to yourself?"
"He pays well. And you don't get the rush without a little risk." Kate raised her coffee mug as if to toast Neal.
Neal ran his hands through his hair. "God, Kate, I never should have brought you into my cons. I created another addict."
Kate took one of his hands in hers. "If you really think it's that dangerous, I'll stop."
"You promise?"
"I can make this my last job for him." Kate shook her head. "I know what you're going to say, but it isn't that easy to stop. Adler's requests come with an advance, and I've already spent this one. The plain truth is, I need the rest of the money for this job. Once I have that, I can let him know I need to take a break."
"A break isn't the same thing as stopping," Neal pointed out.
"He'll be more accepting if I tell him it's just a break, and a temporary break can easily turn into a permanent one. But Neal, taking a break from working for Adler doesn't mean I agree to stop doing this kind of work for everyone else. I'm not going to follow your route. That's not for me. You have to understand that."
"I'll try. It's just that I don't see how we can be together unless we're both on the same side."
"Neither do I, but let's take this one step at a time. The first step is completing this job, and for that I need your help. After that, if we're meant to be together, we'll find a way."
A barrage of emotions ran through Neal and he didn't try to hide them. "Kate..." He took a deep breath. "You know I'd do anything..." He paused as the waitress arrived with their food.
"Then you're in?" Kate asked.
"I'm in. Tell me what you need me to do."
"I need you to steal something." Kate placed her elbows on the table, resting her chin on her hands. Her blue eyes sparkled. "Adler had an estate on the North Shore of Long Island, the area also known as the Gold Coast, beloved by the wealthy and F. Scott Fitzgerald."
"The Great Gatsby was set there," Neal remembered.
"Exactly. Adler loved that book. The wealth, the excess, the man who made himself into that mysterious and legendary figure. He liked to think of himself as modern-day Jay Gatsby. A few years ago an estate in Kings Point went on the market and he snatched it up. It was called Enscombe."
For the first time that evening, Neal noticed a reaction from Jones. The name Enscombe meant something to him. "I don't recall Adler spending time there when I worked for him."
Kate shrugged, and paused to eat some of her salad before saying, "At first he went there a lot, almost every weekend. But as Adler Financial Management expanded, he didn't have that much time to get away. Before you arrived on the scene, he decided to lease it to an upscale club that uses the space for a retreat." She went back to eating her salad.
"I'm supposed to steal something he kept at Enscombe?" Neal asked.
Kate nodded, still paying more attention to the salad than to Neal.
"Why would he leave something important to him in a house that's open to the public?"
"He reserved the largest suite for his private use. It has its own separate entrance, and part of the deal with the club was that no one goes in there. It's kept locked, and what he wants is in a safe inside the suite. I don't know what it is, Neal. Just that he will pay a lot of money for it."
"Didn't the FBI go through that suite and his safe already? They would have gotten warrants to search all of his properties."
"This one was owned under another name. He did that sometimes, keeping a handful of assets off the books, probably for this very reason. I don't think anyone has connected Adler to Enscombe. Even the club knew him by an alias."
"No one recognized him?"
"They didn't see him very often. The lease was handled by a lawyer, and you know what his hours were like. He'd arrive in the middle of the night."
"But an estate like that... It would have outdoor amenities, right? A pool, a dock for fishing or sailing, tennis courts... Are you telling me he didn't use any of those?"
"Nick! Do I have to spell it out for you? He had a girlfriend, or I guess you'd call her a mistress, and he didn't want anyone to know about her. So, yes, he took her to Enscombe sometimes and hid away with her in his suite until it was time to return to the city."
Neal raised a brow. "Nick?"
"I... I'm sorry, Neal. Adler had the whole Jay Gatsby thing going, and then when you arrived on the scene as Nick Halden, well, he loved the idea of having a Nick in his own personal version of the story. When I think about his Gatsby moments, the name Nick keeps popping into my head."
"Any idea who his Daisy was?"
Kate's eyes widened. "His what?"
"The woman Adler wanted to hide from the world. If he was playing Jay Gatsby, he would have thought of her as his Daisy."
"He never told anyone. And it doesn't matter. We just need to get inside that safe."
"And then what?" Neal asked. "How do we get the contents to him?"
"One step at a time, Neal. This starts with you conning your way into the club. They won't be interested in an FBI employee, but Nick Halden is exactly the type of person they want." Kate flagged down the waitress. "I'll take the rest of this to go."
"Aren't you going to tell me about the club?"
Kate shook her head as she placed the remaining salad into a carryout container. "All I know is the name, and learning that is the easy part. You'll need to find contacts and a way in." She started to slide out of the booth, and paused. "And there's a deadline. We need to have the contents of the safe by the end of the month."
"Why?"
"According to the lease, the club only has to reserve the suite for Adler until the first of March, 2004. At that point they can change the locks and start using the space for their retreat. There's no telling what they'll do when they find the safe. They might toss it, or get someone to open it and find whatever Adler wanted to keep hidden. If you need my help for whatever con you decide to run, let Mozzie know. He has my number." With that last bit of information, Kate stood up and left the café.
###
When Kate Moreau was well out of sight, Jones left the counter to sit opposite Caffrey in the booth. "She stuck you with the check. You really didn't know about Enscombe?" he asked the somber consultant.
"It sounds like there's a lot I didn't know. I saw your reaction. What's the significance?"
"The club using Enscombe is Highbury Professional Connections."
Caffrey shook his head and laughed without humor. "Peter's going to hate this. Did the FBI really not know about Adler's connection to Enscombe or the club?"
"I've been through the files for the Adler case and for Highbury, and neither one has a hint of a connection. And that's a problem." Jones saw Caffrey's surprised look and elaborated. "All we have is the word of a suspected con woman. Getting a warrant to search Enscombe for Adler's safe will be nearly impossible with such flimsy evidence. And even if we get into Enscombe with a warrant, it'll make the management of Highbury nervous. They'll start destroying evidence of their blackmail scheme, maybe clean up their act for a while or change their name and move to another city. We could lose any chance of proving what they've been up to." Jones shrugged. "The only way I see this working is to connect all the dots by sending you in as Halden to break into that safe and to get evidence of the blackmail at the same time."
The waitress delivered the check, and Caffrey pulled out his wallet. He laid a few bills on the table and checked his watch. "Listen, I need to get out of here. I'll catch up with you in the morning."
"I'm gonna call Peter in a few minutes with an update. You sure you don't want to hang around for that?"
"Not really in the mood."
"Hey, man, I get it. I mean, conning your ex-girlfriend can't be easy, but you were good. I'll tell Peter."
"It was easier knowing she was conning me."
"What do you mean?" When Caffrey didn't answer, but simply looked morose, Jones added, "You can talk to me, you know. If you need a friendly ear, to blow off some steam, I'm here. All off the record."
"The minute she put reconciliation on the table, I knew she was lying. She's always said she was avoiding me because that wasn't possible. Even at lunch today she said there was no way we could be together. That means I have to question everything she said tonight, especially..." Caffrey sighed. "Does your file on Adler mention a mistress?"
"Nah, I never saw anything about that. Everyone we interviewed said he was married to his business, too busy for romance."
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Caffrey moved out of the booth abruptly, with an expression that made Jones uneasy.
The thing about Caffrey was that he had a collection of smiles he used to charm and get his way. Caffrey and smiling went hand-in-hand. Right now he looked angry and a little reckless. "I'll head out, too," Jones said, wanting to prevent Caffrey from doing something he might regret. He followed Caffrey outside. "You want me to give you a ride home?"
"Thanks, but I'm not going home. I have someplace I need to be." Caffrey looked at Jones, and seemed to read some of his concerns. "It's fine, Jones. My next stop is the perfect place to blow off some steam."
Caffrey caught a cab, and Jones considered his options. He pulled out his cell phone and placed a call. "George, it's me. You know how you said you noticed some patterns on that map? What exactly did you find?"
"During the business day it's generally in or around the building where you work. Most nights are spent at Riverside Drive, and weekends are usually in the museum and arts district. But Tuesday and Thursday nights venture into an area in the Lower East Side. I've been there a few times; it's mostly bars."
Jones thought about asking for an address, but knew Caffrey would immediately spot a member of the team following him. The Tuesday Tails had ingrained that lesson. "You think you could head over there, see if you can track this guy for me? He's not dangerous. I'm more worried about him than anything else."
"Sure. What's he look like?"
"You're at my apartment now?"
"Yeah."
"On the bookshelf there's a photo of the White Collar team."
There was the sound of footsteps. "Got it. You're in the front row, next to a strawberry blond."
"Tricia Wiese. The person in the middle of the photo is our boss, Peter Burke. He has an arm around the guy to his left. That's Neal Caffrey. He's the one I'm worried about."
"You were tracking the movements of an FBI agent?"
"He's not an agent, and... I'll explain later. Just keep an eye out for him, and give me a call if you think he's getting into trouble. Think of it as when we were naval officers looking out for the new guys the first time they went on shore leave. I'll see you back at my place, okay?"
"You got it."
Jones grinned. Even as he worried about Caffrey, he had to be pleased to hear the old enthusiasm return to his friend's voice. "I'm counting on you."
With that task successfully delegated, Jones returned to his car for privacy as he called Agent Burke. He filled the boss in on what they'd learned from Caffrey's old girlfriend.
"Do you think it's a coincidence," Peter asked, "the invitation from Highbury and this whole thing with Kate happening in the same week?"
"It could be. The invitation was a repeat. Caffrey said he first heard from them in late November." Jones paused. The conversation at the café had bothered him. He didn't have any evidence, merely his instinct shouting warnings, but the boss was known for relying on his gut. "Something about the Gatsby part bothered me. And I think from his reaction that it bothered Caffrey, too."
"Tell me what seemed off."
"Most of the conversation, Kate was a consummate saleswoman. She was looking him in the eye, nodding and smiling at him. I think she regretted mentioning Gatsby. Almost as soon as she did that, she turned her attention to her food and didn't want to talk or look at him anymore. She got flustered, used the name Nick instead of Neal. And when he asked who was Daisy in this scenario, she looked like a deer in headlights. She denied it, but I think she knows who Adler was taking to that estate on the sly."
"And she doesn't want Neal to know who it was." Peter sighed. "You think Kate was Adler's mistress, his Daisy. If so, they were using Neal all along. He was their Nick Carraway, the one who kept people from noticing their relationship. In this case, by letting everyone see a relationship between Kate and Neal."
"It's just a theory."
"It's a good theory, even if it scares the hell out of me. I don't want to think about what Neal will do if he comes to the same conclusion you did. And on top of that, The Great Gatsby didn't exactly have a happy ending."
Jones refrained from saying he thought Neal shared his suspicions. He ended the call and headed home, trusting George to keep Neal from doing anything drastic tonight.