White Collar: The Eye of Sita
Chapter Twenty-Four
"I don't have to take my clothes off too, do I?"
"That depends." Neal smiled.
"On what?"
"On how much you like that outfit."
Neal chuckled as Sara looked down at her clothing fondly. She brought her eyes up and glared at him murderously. Neal put his hands up in a sign of peaceful surrender.
"If you want Glass to think you've been working on a sculpture you can't expect to stay clean." Neal explained.
"I hate you." Sara muttered as she took off her gold jacket.
"You're the one who agreed to go undercover, sometime that means getting down and dirty."
"Yeah but no one mentioned anything about getting naked."
"You've never been this modest around me before." Neal said.
"Peter's never been listening in before."
Neal looked over at his jacket where he had put the ear piece down. Sara's necklace was still transmitting their conversation, but Neal didn't want to wear the ear piece all night while working on the statue. Sara sighed in surrender and added her jacket and blouse to the pile of Neal's clothes. Neal raised an eye brow in surprise and a lupine grin spread across his face when Sara wiggled out of her skirt.
"Garters?" Neal asked. "To an undercover assignment?"
"Shut up."
"Hey I like it."
"Just keep your mind on your work." Sara said firmly.
"I'll be a perfect gentleman, I swear."
Sara made a noise of frustrated disbelief as she leaned down to undo the strap on her high heels. Neal couldn't help but take one last look at the black thigh high nylons being held up by the silk garter strap along with the matching bra and panty set. Sara caught him admiring the view and chucked one of her shoes at him. Neal turned to the side and the shoe bounced harmlessly off his shoulder.
"Get to work." Sara ordered.
"Yes, Ma'am."
Still wearing his bright grin Neal wandered over to the large supply of natural clay and pulled off the plastic that was protecting it from drying. He'd never worked with clay from India before, but just one touch of the rich gray smooth clay told him that it was going to be a joy to work with. Neal dug his fingers deep into the block of clay and tore a piece off. Playing with the small clump he rolled it into a ball before pressing it flat and then folding it over itself.
"What are you doing?" Sara asked as she came over.
"Learning the qualities of this particular clay. It's important to know how it react to being handled before you start. This stuff is as smooth a butter and doesn't crack, flake, crumble or slip."
"And that's...good?"
"Excellent." Neal nodded and put the clay in Sara's hand. "Here, test it."
"Feels like mud."
"Clay is like wine, each batch has it's own unique flavor."
"I'm not tasting this." Sara said firmly.
"I didn't mean flavor like that." Neal smiled. "Even the best artist can only do so much with poor quality materials. I'll start moving this over to the metal frame, if you could get us some bowls of water we can get started."
While Sara hunted down some bowls and filled them in the large utility sink Neal started to get to work on transporting the fine Indian clay over to the staging area. He started with a very rough base, just placing a thick layer of clay over the metal bones with approximations of the major muscle groups. Sara came over and placed two bowls of water on the small wooden dais that the slowly evolving sculpture sat on. Sara looked at the vaguely human clump of clay with a doubtful expression.
"It doesn't look anything like the drawing." Sara teased.
"Ha Ha." Neal replied.
"So what's next?"
"I'll show you. Get your hands wet."
Sara hesitated for a moment but eventually she dipped her hands into one of the bowls of water. Neal did the same and then stepped behind Sara and put his arms around her and put his hands over hers. Neal guided Sara to reach out and touch the cold clay. Together they began to smooth out the rough clay. It was long before they both had clay marring their skin from their fingertips to behind their ears.
"Eventually one of us is going to have to make a 'Ghost' reference." Sara broke the silence.
"Yeah, I can practically hear the 'Unchained Melodies' in the background." Neal agreed. "It is a lot of fun though, isn't it?"
"Maybe if I wasn't half naked in a kidnapper's house. I'm feeling a little vulnerable at the moment."
"Don't worry, Peter won't let anything happen to us." Neal said confidently. "Besides, I'm starting to doubt that Glass is a kidnapper."
"You think Daniel was lying?"
"No. I just don't think Glass is our guy."
"What makes you think that?"
"Instinct." Neal shrugged as he continued to work the clay with Sara. "I met Glass's granddaughter, it's obvious that her brother and cousin's all spend a lot of time here."
"So?"
"He's very involved in his kid's and grandkid's lives. That isn't the profile of a kidnapper, particularly one who doesn't return the child once they have what they want."
"Glass is still a criminal."
"So am I, doesn't mean either one of us are willing to stoop to kidnapping to get what we want."
"Glass did have a certain charm that reminded me a lot of you." Sara teased. "So what do we do if Glass doesn't have the Hope?"
"We'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. For right now I think it would be best to get the statue done."
"I think I have enough mud on me to convince Glass I've been hard at work. I'll let you concentrate on getting this done."
Neal nodded and freed Sara from his arms. Sara sat down on the floor and watched as Neal began to work some detail into the sculpture. Pausing every so often to stand back and look at how his work was progressing Neal made sure that the sculpture matched the concept drawings. Hours past and the sun began to set as Neal continued to bring life to the once shapeless clay.
Sita was in a traditional dancing pose with one leg held up, bent at the knee. He hips and shoulders were tilted in opposite extreme angles to give her a sense of motion and grace. She was looking demurely over her lowered shoulder. The fancy headdress that she wore along with the intricate two part dress were going to require a lot of detail work. Neal was working on the bust line when there was a knock at the door. Sara jumped to her feet in alarm.
"I forgot, I'm supposed to have dinner with Glass!"
"It's okay, I'll hide, you go answer the door."
"Undressed like this?" Sara demanded.
Neal went over to where there were some drop clothes folded up. He tossed one to Sara so that she could wrap it around herself.
"Bringing me something back, I'm starving." Neal said.
Sara rolled her eyes and went to the door as Glass knocked again. Neal hurried over to the large velvet couch and hid behind it. Sitting down on the floor Neal pressed his back against couch and listened to Sara answering the door.
"Good eve..." Glass stopped suddenly. "I'm sorry, I did not realize you were undressed..."
"I didn't wear my 'work clothes' to this meeting." Sara replied as she held the drop cloth closer to her chest.
"Of course, my apologies. May I come in and see the progress?"
Glass had phrased his last words as a question, but he stepped inside before allowing her to answer. Keeping out of sight Neal got to his feet in case he needed to intervene. He heard Glass step inside and walk over to the statue and circle it.
"Breath taking." Glass said with genuine approval.
"Thank you." Sara replied modestly.
Neal kept in hiding while Glass continued to study the statue. A heavy silence fell over the room as he contemplated the work. Still crouched down Neal risked glancing around the side the couch. Glass had his back to Neal with his hands held behind his back. Sara was standing to the side holding the drop cloth close to her chest. Neal tensed when Glass took his attention away from the statue and stepped up to Sara.
"I would very much like to meet the artist." Glass said calmly.
"Wha...what?"
"Perhaps he would like to join us for dinner?"
Neal swore under his breath.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sara lied unconvincingly as she took a step back.
"Don't insult my intelligence. Not only did my granddaughter just spend two hours looking for him, but I can see his clothing on the couch." Glass pointed out before turning towards the couch. "I just want to talk, I can give you a minute to get dressed if you need it. If you insist on remaining hidden I suppose I could discuss matters with your female partner here."
"Stay away from her, Glass." Neal ordered as he stood up. "Back away."
"I'm not a threat." Glass said as he held his hands up. "I'm not angry. I understand the value of having a beautiful woman as the 'face' of your business. I just want to talk."
"So talk."
"I don't tend to discuss business with naked men. I will give you two a moment to take a shower and get dressed, then we can talk over dinner."
"What do we have to talk about? You want a statue and I'm making one for you."
"We can talk more over dinner, Mr..." Glass trailed off so that Neal would fill in his name.
"You don't recognize me?" Neal asked.
"Should I?"
"My name's Daniel Caffrey."
"Ah, 'Caffrey', yes, now that you mentioned it I do believe I've heard of you before. Didn't you steal the Star of the East diamond from Harry back in 2001?"
"Allegedly."
"It's nice to know I've hired a true professional. Dinner is in twenty minutes. You are both invited."
Neal held his breath as Glass left. Sara hurried over to Neal. He reached out and pulled her into a comforting embrace. It had been a close call, but at no point did Glass really seem to present himself as threatening. Worried about how Peter was reacting Neal picked up the ear piece and put it back on.
"You heard all of that right, Peter?"
"I did. Big risk introducing yourself as Daniel." Peter replied. "Do you think your cover is blown?"
"I don't. I watched Glass carefully when I used Daniel's name and he didn't even blink."
"You'd think that if he'd kidnapped Daniel's son he'd have at least some reaction to hearing the name."
"My thoughts exactly. I'm going to go to dinner and see what he wants, he may still have the Hope."
"Just be careful."
"I will."
"Neal?"
"Yes?"
"Did you steal the Star of the East?"
"Me?" Neal asked innocently. "No, must have been Daniel."
"Yeah...right."