White Collar - as an unofficial novel - part 3

In search for Meilin

"Oh, damn," Peter blinked, realizing he had fallen asleep. It was morning. "Oh, I told you to wake me if I drifted off."

"Oh, come on, boss," Lauren replied. "You needed a break."

"Anything happened?"

"Nope."

Peter saw there was still no dot from Neal's GPS blinking on the screen.

"How long have I been out?"

"About a half an hour."

"Okay. Get some rest. I'll take over." Peter was tired, but Lauren must be worse. And Jones ought to be back soon.

"Okay," Lauren rose and put on her jacket.

Something felt strange with his feet. Peter looked down and saw a sock missing.

"What happened to my sock?"

"I don't know. I was watching the monitor, remember?"

Lauren left and Peter rose from the comfortable armchair. He scanned the floor. His eyes rose and he saw the little girl peeking inside. He glared at her.

"Did you steal my sock?" Peter asked. There was no reaction from her. She probably did not speak English. And his Chinese was no-existing. Wonderful.

"You're a little klepto, aren't you?"

Peter took a seat by one of the laptops and the girl sat down on the other chair.

"Yeah. You have no idea what I'm saying, do you? No? Keep that up, you'll end up like Neal. You don't want that. Trust me. He's unreliable. He never listens to you. And he always gets himself into trouble." Gee, he sounded like he was Neal's dad or something.

"I mean, it's not like I'm worried about him. I just feel responsible. Anything happens to him, I'll have a lot of paperwork to fill out. Paperwork's a hassle. Neal's a hassle." Yeah, he was. But he liked the kid. "But then again, that was a neat card trick, huh?"

The girl suddenly grinned and waved to someone who had turned up behind his back.

"Nice to know I'm appreciated," Neal said before he had time to turn.

"I knew you were there," Peter lied.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Was that not ironic? His pet criminal did not tell him lies, but he, the fed, told lies in return.

"You also know she speaks perfect English?"

Peter's head swung around to the girl who had listened to every word he said with such a blank face.

"You're weird," the child giggled and ran away.

"I want my sock back," Peter called after her. He glanced at the older version of a kid in the doorway.

"You're a bad influence," he told him. Neal shrugged at sat down where the girl had sat.

Peter frowned.

"How'd you get here?"

"I caught a lift with one G-men in front of the hotel."

"I told those guys to call me if they saw you."

"I told them not to bother you. You get a little cranky if you don't get your beauty sleep."

Peter smiled. Yeah, probably. And Neal had walked up to the men guarding the hotel since he knew there were there. Because...

"What happened to the watch?" Peter asked.

"Oh, I must have banged it up during the chase."

Oh, sure, you hit it somewhere when you rushed out, Peter thought. Too close to a lie for Peter's comfort. But then, on the other hand, he knew that Neal knew perfectly well what had happened to the watch. Neal took it off and handed it back to Peter.