Everything here (except the mistakes) belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA Network. This is written for love of the White Collar world.
White Collar – Medium Exchange –Chapter 1
Neal had just got in from a long work day in the FBI offices with Peter and was just about to haul himself up the stairs to bed when he heard the front door open and the voices of his landlady June and her granddaughter Cindy so he waited to greet them.
"Don't let that horrible woman upset you Grandma" Cindy was saying as they came into the room. June was wiping at her eyes, clearly upset.
"June, what's wrong?" Neal asked concerned coming over, taking June's arm and steering her to the sofa.
"Oh Neal dear, it's nothing. I just let someone get to me, I should know better at my age" she told him, clearly choked up still. Neal looked to Cindy for explanation.
"Grandma's friend has been seeing this psychic and paying her thousands of pounds, so Grandma wanted to go and confront her, but she knew things about us, she said things about Grandpa." Cindy told Neal wide eyed.
Grandma raised a hand to quiet Cindy down
"I know a scam when I see one." She told Neal "It's just that what she said…" June trailed off but Neal knew what she meant.
"It hit a little close to home?" he asked gently. June nodded and took a deep breath.
"Maybe she really is psychic" Cindy said earnestly.
Neal and June smiled at one another. Cindy was a sweet girl but unlike them she was incredibly naïve sometimes, despite having had June and Byron as her grandparents. Neal thought that was probably a compliment to Cindy's upbringing that June and her daughter had managed to keep her so protected from the world.
"Ooh I really want to get this woman. Not only because she is fleecing a friend but because she got to me. She's good" June admitted to Neal.
"Will you let me help?" Neal asked.
June smiled warmly at Neal. She hadn't hesitated in letting him come to stay with her and it had turned out to be one of the best decisions of her life, he had repaid her kindness with his own so many times since then, as well as adding a certain excitement to her life which had been sorely lacking since Byron's death.
"Of course" she told him "but will you have to tell Peter?" she asked "only my friend would be devastated to have her foolishness brought out in the public and it might put her career at risk." June explained.
"I don't think we'll need the FBI for this one. After all who better to expose a con than a conman?" Neal gave June his best cheeky smile the one that always makes her smile back.
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The session was being held in the meeting room of a small boutique hotel, which fortunately was centrally located and within Neal's radius. The room was already pretty full when Neal arrived. He sat himself towards the centre of the room to avoid attention, though given that the audience was predominantly women and the average age seemed to be about fifty he didn't really expect to be able to blend in. He was already drawing quite a bit of attention from the audience himself. He smiled at the lady next to him as he took off his hat and sat down, she was probably old enough to be his grandmother, she blushed at the attention and smiled back. What also strikes him is that the audience is also made up of the extremely wealthy. He recognises a few from the Forbes top wealthiest list and wonders how much June had to pay to get him a ticket.
The lights dim interrupting his chain of thought and Michelle Morgan comes out onto the stage. She is fairly attractive Neal thinks objectively speaking, if a little heavy on the peroxide and eye make for his tastes. Michelle waits until everyone settles down and is focused on her, smiling benevolently around the room. She clearly knows how to work a crowd, welcoming everyone and asking a few people from the audience to introduce themselves and say why they are there. He spots a couple of cameras, supposedly there to film Michelle but in the perfect position to film the audience, exactly where he would put them if he was running this sort of scam. He doesn't doubt that there are microphones all around picking the audience's conversation before the show. He has already spotted two people he thinks are plants in the audience as well.
Michelle works up a couple of the audience, guessing their names, family members backgrounds, using pretty standard cold reading techniques. It's clear to Neal straight away that she knows exactly what she is doing, she is not someone who believes in her own psychic powers.
"You are here to speak to someone you have lost" she tells an elderly woman wearing a wedding ring. It was not anything special, Neal wonders how any friend of June's could have been scammed by this as he watches Michelle as she studies her target, reading their faces as she makes her predictions and adapts her responses. Michelle finishes up, reassuring the woman that her husband has passed over safely, misses her and is happy.
Michelle puts her hands to her head, as if listening, probably listening to an ear piece Neal thinks. There us undoubtedly someone in a back room doing research on the audience while Michelle is doing readings. They had all been asked to fill in a visitor survey when they arrived, give their contact details so they could be sent promotional material for future events. All a good con man needs to get all the information they need for this type of scam.
He sees Michelle single him out in the audience and thinks he sees recognition in her eyes, though whether she knows who he is or just recognises him as a type he isn't sure. He keeps an earnest attentive gaze on her, staying in character.
"There's a strong message coming through, I've got someone here to speak to a Nick or Neal?" everyone looks around, there aren't many men in the audience, Neal sighs to himself, and raises his hand.
"Neal?" she asks he nods slightly.
"I can see you've lost someone recently, someone who meant a lot to you, a woman" Michelle tells him, gazing into the distances over Neal's shoulder. Neal puts on the correct expression of suspicion with just a tinge of hope.
"She was an older woman." Michelle announces to the room.
Neal inclines his head just slightly, not an actual nod, but just enough she can see it. He thinks of Ellen. The audience oohs appreciatively.
"Your mother?" Michelle guesses, Neal doesn't respond. "No, sorry, not your mother, but like a mother." Neal allows the pain he feels when he thinks of Ellen dying, him unable to do anything, that he normally keeps tightly bound to himself, to come out slightly. At least this pain is good for something he thinks bitterly. Method acting, he wishes Peter or Mozzie was here to appreciate his performance and so he could annoy them by comparing himself to Daniel Day Lewis. He idly wonders if Michelle just got this information from June's friend, from idle conversation between the two women about June's tenant or if she is better informed than she should be.
"She wants you to know she doesn't blame you" Michelle tells him kindly. Even though he was expecting something of this sort it's like a punch to the gut. He allows the pain he feels to appear on his face, not trying to hide it for once. Michelle enjoys the appreciation of the audience for a moment and then moves on to her next victim. It takes a few minutes for him to get himself back under control and once he does, he finds himself really angry.
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Neal calls Mozzie over to strategize.
"Should we be meddling with powers best left alone? You know there is evidence that psychic powers do exist" Mozzie told Neal while pouring them both a glass of wine 'to help them think' he told Neal. It was hard to tell sometimes how serious Mozzie was, about such things. Neal knew that Mozzie was as much a con man as he was, he just used his eccentricity to distract people, making them dismiss him as a harmless freak, whereas Neal distracted them with smiles and charm.
"June was upset" Neal told him. Mozzie became serious immediately,
"She must be good to get to June" Mozzie speculated. "Yeah, she's got a professional set up and she's charging a thousand dollars to attend an open performance, private sessions start at ten thousand" Neal told Mozzie who made a noise of appreciation.
"She targets people who are grieving or vulnerable, gets them hooked on talking to their dearest departed or convinces them she can save their lives, then keeps bumping up the prices until she bleeds them dry."
"Not a bad scam." Mozzie offered, Neal gave him a hard look.
"If you are totally lacking in morals" Mozzie admits. He gives Neal a speculative look.
"Are you going to involve Peter?" Mozzie asks curiously.
Neal shakes his head.
"It's not really a FBI case. Plus, June asked me not to, her friend works for the government, if it comes out she's been seeing a psychic or worse a fake psychic…" Neal trails off.
"It wouldn't be good for her career" Mozzie finished understanding.
"Besides, if we can't handle this then we're losing our touch" Neal challenged, knowing Mozzie's ego won't let him refuse.
"So what's the plan?" Mozzie asks. Neal smiles at Mozzie until he shifts uncomfortably under the glare.
"How do you feel about entering the psychic business?" Neal asks.