#peterbruke

He walked into his office and sat down by his desk. He watched the empty chair on the other side and let his eyes wander to the empty desk out in the office. He would let it remain there until the trial was over and Neal behind bars again. Yes, he still had hopes to have the kid back. Would it been different if he had found the signature on the diamond? Would he have let Neal slip through the net and looked the other way? No. No, he would not. But he would have been sure it was him through his own investigation, not by somebody else's. He would have confronted Neal and cuffed him in private. It did not feel for real when someone else marched in and shoved proof under his nose.

And why had Neal said it was synthetic if he stole the real one? The question nagged him. Was it not more likely to say it was authentic? But then, there was no theft and nothing to brag with? Neal was vain and probably thought of it as more fun this way.

He pushed the thoughts away and called for Jones and Lauren.

"Check everything on Tulane again, double-check his alibi. Again."

The two agents nodded.

"And Neal's got a lawyer. Keep an eye on him, as much as you legally can. I'm pretty sure he's planning something."

"The lawyer?" Lauren asked.

"Yeah, with Neal."

"What would they be planning besides Caffrey's defense?" Jones asked.

"I don't know," Peter admitted but he was sure those two was up to something. Especially since they asked for all Neal's files.

"You know the lawyer's name?" Jones pulled out a pen and a pad from his pocket.

"No." It sure wasn't 'Mozzie'.

The next day Peter brought a sandwich and a coffee as lunch and ate at his desk. As little as possible that reminded him of Neal's vacant spot in his life as possible. When he was done he took the rest of his coffee with him and walked down to Jones and Lauren.

"So all Tulane's information checks out," Lauren said. "He's eerily clean."

"Of course he is," Peter sighed. Too clean, but that did not give them anything to go on. "What's Neal's lawyer been up to?"

"Not much," Jones replied. "Legally, we can't follow him. Attorney-client privileges."

"Yeah, yeah." Peter sank down in a chair. "So we have no idea what he's doing?"

"Well, we do know he made a large real estate purchase in Neal's name," Lauren smiled and handed him a file.

"What?" A real estate? Now? Peter stared at the lease. "He bought a bakery?"

"That's what it looks like," Jones smiled.

"Why buy a bakery?" Peter read the paper in his hand again. Nothing Neal had ever done before had made him as baffled as he felt now.

"We don't even know where the thing is located. We have a lease with a redacted address."

"Attorney-client privileges," Peter sighed.

"Covers a lot of sins, that one," Lauren said.

"A bakery?" Peter repeated, utterly puzzled.