Chapter 7

During the ride to work the next morning Neal was still uncomfortable and squirmed in his seat. "You might want to play that up a bit more whenever Hughes is watching; maybe we can fool him into believing that you have been punished enough," suggested Peter with a smile.

"So I take it that nothing occurred to you during the night to save me," asked Neal.

"Nope…and you?" Peter asked in return.

"No…so what do I do. I don't like being punished for something I do this is going to be so much worse since I didn't do it and only you believe me," sulked Neal. "Maybe I can call in sick?" he asked hopefully.

"Won't work…if Hughes is set on punishing you he will only wait until you return to carry it out. Sorry buddy, but it looks like you are going to have to cowboy up and take it…I'm sure with all of the crimes you have done and were never caught at this is poetic justice," replied Peter.

"That's not helping, Peter."

They were still discussing it as they walked into the White Collar Crimes department where Neal gingerly sat at his desk and Peter settled in his office. Hughes hadn't made an appearance yet. Neal didn't know whether to be happy or sad. If he was going to get punished he guessed he rather get it over with then to have to wait for it as he did as a child.

It was mid morning before Hughes arrived and stopped at Neal's desk to say, "If you would please accompany me, we can get this over with," and left with Neal following dejectedly behind. He looked up to find Pete looking sympathetically down at him knowing that there was no way he would talk his way out of punishment this time.

Peter restlessly got up and stalked over to the snack dispenser and fished around in his pocket for loose change when it hit him about something Jack had said the day before. He had to hunt down the loose change in is car to pay for his meal since Neal had supposedly stolen his wallet and he had been unable to pay. "I wonder if that is what actually happened and hurried to Jones' desk to ask."

"Jones, do you know where Jack had lunch yesterday?" Peter asked hurriedly.

"Nope, but ask Lauren, he asked her out for lunch…she could tell you where they went," Jones replied.

Peter nodded as he hurried to Lauren's desk to ask, "I need to ask you something about your lunch date yesterday?"

"What is it boss?" replied Lauren.

"You know that Jack accused Caffrey of picking his pocket yesterday?" he began and Lauren nodded.

"I believe Neal when he said he didn't do it…only all of the evidence seems to say otherwise. When Jack was trying to explain the reasoning behind accusing Neal he said that he didn't discover his wallet missing until it came to paying for his meal. He aid that he was forced to look for any loose change so he could pay for his sandwich. Is that the truth or was he lying?"

"He's lying, boss. When the check came he took out his wallet and paid with cash. He made me mad that I almost walked out of the restaurant…he bad mouthed Neal nearly the whole time. I know Neal can be a handful but he is trying to change. You know it is one thing when we tease him but what Jack was doing wasn't teasing it was character assassination."

"Would you be willing to tell Hughes that?

"Sure," replied Lauren.

"Would you mind waiting for me in my office…I've got to stop Hughes from making a terrible mistake," he added as he ran to the supply room and bust in. What he saw caused him to grab Hughes by the arm and forcefully stop the action. Neal was once again bent over the supply table in obvious distress. "Sorry I couldn't get here sooner Neal," he said as he turned to his boss and added,

"I got evidence that might be enough to keep you from continuing."

"What is it Burke?"

"Can you come with me sir," asked Peter as he motioned for his boss to accompany him outside of Neal's hearing. Once they were outside of the room Peter explained,

"Yesterday Jack approached me to tell me why he reported Neal for stealing his wallet. He told me that when he had discovered the theft it had been after he had eaten and hadn't had his wallet to pay for his meal. He said that he had to search through his car for any loose change so he could pay for it. I found out that he and Agent Cruz had lunch that day and she said that he paid for their lunch with cash that he took from his wallet. I think he planted a wallet with some of his identification in it in Neal's overcoat and waited to accuse him of stealing it afterwards. I also think he's the one that added the copied pages to Neal's punishment lines to try to get Neal in trouble," Peter added as he continued to explain.

"I'm interested; we will look further in to the incident. Check with Caffrey and see if he can explain any absence from his desk that would allow Thompson a window of opportunity with regards in planting his wallet or with the copying of his lines. I'm going to interview Lauren about her lunch date," ordered Hughes.

"She's waiting for you in my office, sir," added Peter as he headed back into the room to confront his partner.

As soon as Hughes left Peter turned to Neal who was now facing him and asked, "Are you okay? Did I get here in time?"

"Yeah, for the most part…fortunately he spent the first few minutes discussing why he felt he had to punish me; that he did review the evidence and saw no other action. He had only given me a few licks when you burst through the door…for which I want to thank you for," replied Neal. "I take it that you remembered something?"

"Yep…Jack told me that because of your theft he was forced to scrounge for change…loose change to pay for his meal yesterday and I wondered if that was true or something to make the theft seem even worse. I discovered that he had lied about that and that made me think that if that was a lie the accusation might be a lie as well," explained Peter.

"How did you find out that it was a lie?" asked Neal.

"I asked Jones if he knew where Jack went for lunch…and he didn't but he told me that he had asked Lauren out for a luncheon date and she had accepted. So I asked her and she told me that he had plenty of cash on hand and even his wallet; then I knew that the other had to be a set up," Peter hastened to explain. "All I needed to do was put the reason of doubt in Hughes mind and I knew he wouldn't continue with your punishment if he had any doubt of you being guilty."

"So what are we going to do now?"

"Find out why Jack did this to you for starters," replied Peter as he walked out of the supply room with Neal following closely behind. "You know I can't prove it but this feels like something Fowler would have approved…I wonder if he is working for Fowler."

"Maybe they thought that if I got into enough trouble with the FBI he could use it somehow to get me to give him the music box," Neal thought out loud.

"Could be…come on I see that Hughes has finished questioning Lauren about her lunch date; let's see what he has decided about you," Peter said as he started up the stairs to Hughes' office with Neal lagging behind.

"I'll wait downstairs at my desk…just in case he isn't convinced," cried Neal as he hurried to his desk and gingerly sat. The licks Hughes had given him had awakened the soreness of the spanking of the previous night.

Peter nodded suppressing the smile as he walked into his boss' office. "So have you changed your mind about Neal's guilt?"

Hughes nodded, "Yep, there would be no need to lie about not having money unless it was to make Caffrey look even worse. He told me the same thing when he came up to complain about the theft and I must admit he made me even madder at Caffrey. I want you to look into Jack and see what has made him do this to our art consultant. I take it that he was scared to accompany you just now?" he added dryly.

"Yep…scared that you are going to continue with your "discussion" so he decided to wait for me," replied Peter with a grin.

"Tell him that his butt is safe for the moment unless he does something stupid again…"

Peter looked down at Neal and realized that they had at their means the perfect way to check whether Jack had been tampering with him. "Sir, the surveillance camera…is it still trained on Neal's desk?"

Hughes looked at him in shock. They had both forgotten to check the surveillance tape. In the beginning it was their way supervising him and Peter had checked it often like he had his anklet although now with the trust factor being stronger Peter had forgotten all about the camera being there and apparently did Hughes.

"I'll have it checked immediately; if Jack appears then we will have the one responsible for some of Caffrey's pain," promised Hughes as he picked up his phone to request the tape.

After his discussion with Hughes; Peter returned to his office intending to catch Neal up on his conversation with Hughes when something caught his eye. It was in a stack of folders near his phone and he knew what it was at once…a bug. Someone had planted a bug in his office and he bet he knew who. He saw an opportunity to snare the person responsible for all of Neal's present troubles and decide to act at once.

As soon as Neal had noticed that Peter had returned to his office he hurried up to see what Hughes had to say about him and was shocked when Peter said, "I'm sorry Neal but Hughes has decided that you are too much trouble and is in the process of having you returned to prison,"

"Peter…NO! Please!" cried Neal in desperation as he saw his future go down the drain.

Once Peter was sure that Neal had made the right impression on the one listening he held up a hastily written note that said, "Bug...play along."

"Neal, with the pick pocketing you have been doing with no intention of stopping I just don't see how this consulting is going to be enough to keep you from returning to prison," Peter continued to play along for their uninvited guest.

"Peter, you can't be serious…I was framed…you've got to believe me," pleaded Neal.

"I don't know," replied Peter, "if there was some way I could be assured then maybe I could convince Hughes on giving you another chance…something you could give me to guarantee that I would be convincing enough to change Hughes' mind."

"I could give you a music box…an amber music box," Neal offered with a smile.

"Amber? I assumed that it is valuable?"

"Oh, yeah," replied Neal. "Where do you want to meet?"

"Some place public…what about the park near my house?"

"That will be fine…what about at noon today?"

"I'll be there and with that in my possession I can assure you that this whole incident will be forgotten," ended Peter as he quickly retrieved the bug and placed it in an evidence bag and took it from his office and to that of his boss, Hughes where he quickly filled him in on the little skit he and Caffrey had just performed so they could catch the rat who had planted it.

When he returned Neal said accusingly, "Why did you do that to me. You nearly gave me heart failure. You could have told me before you sprung that on me?"

"I wanted it to sound convincing," replied Peter as he teased his partner.

"Peter, I'm an accomplished con man I know how to fool people into believing anything I like," explained Neal indignantly.

"But your expression was priceless," teased Peter.

"What did Hughes say before you decided it would be fun to scare your art consultant nearly to death," asked Neal expectantly.

"Hughes wanted me to ask you if you were away from your coat at any time before you went to lunch. We are looking for a window of opportunity where Thompson could have slipped a wallet carrying his identification into your coat?"

"Yeah, just before lunch I went to the rest room and was gone about five minutes; I guess that would have been long enough to plant it and get away before I returned," replied Neal grimly. "And I was away from my desk several times while writing those lines where the same thing could have happened…do you think he's guilty of setting me up both times?" Neal asked Peter.

"Oh, yeah; but what I don't understand is why he was so hell-bent on condemning you to such a degree that he was willing to bet his career on it because if we can prove it he will be removed from this office; Hughes won't have an agent that is more interested in framing a partner than he is of solving crimes," Peter replied smugly. "Maybe Hughes can have him transferred to some hick location where he will be miserable."

"What did Hughes say about the bug you found?"

"That he will tend to the bug and find out where it came from…but at least now whoever it was that was bugging us will be in the dark on what happens next," replied Peter who paused before blurting out, "Neal, Hughes is also checking the surveillance camera to see if it shows Jack tampering with your desk or coat. Sorry we didn't check the camera earlier…it would have saved you some pain," apologize Peter.

"Surveillance camera? Peter what are you talking about?" asked Neal curiously.

"When you first joined us we thought it would be a bad thing to have a surveillance camera focused on your desk area just in case," explained Peter as Neal expression changed from confusion to hurt. "That was before we started to trust each other more; like when I was constantly checking your anklet. I only check your anklet occasionally now like when you are late and we want to be sure that you are safe," Peter hastened to explain.

"But now thanks to the surveillance camera we might have positive proof that Jack is the one responsible for planting his wallet in your coat and getting you in trouble with us and if not him then whomever is…so in the long run it is good that we had the foreknowledge to have it in the first place," replied Peter.

"You do care about me; I see that now…thanks Peter," replied Neal humbly. "So if it is Jack that is responsible what is going to happen next?"

"Hughes will have him transferred at the very least or fired at the most and maybe just maybe he can lead us to whomever is truly in charge because I can't believe that he is behind it all."

"We can only hope," replied Neal. "And I'm safe from further punishment?" Neal asked softly.

"Yep…but if you ever do another dumb stunt like this again Hughes will continue where he left off with prejudice," replied Peter with a smirk.

"Stupid? Are you talking about pranks or pick pocket?" asked Neal uncertain of what one Hughes was referring to.

"In your case? Both I would imagine," replied Peter seriously.