White Collar fic: White Noise
Title: White Noise
Fandom: White Collar
Author: tigerlily0
Rating: G
Genre and/or Pairing: gen
Spoilers: All In, Free Fall, Hard Sell
Warnings: none
Word Count: 575
Disclaimer: White Collar and its characters are property of its copyright owners. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is taken from this story.
Summary: Neal and Peter argue over a suspect. Dialogue only.
“Peter, you can’t arrest this kid. He wouldn’t last five minutes in jail. Trust me, I should know.”
“Neal, that’s no reason not to bring him to justice. He should have thought of that before he did it. If you’re prepared to do the crime, you should be prepared to do the time. You should know that.”
“But I don’t think he did it.”
“What are you talking about? All the evidence points to him.”
“It’s all circumstantial.”
“It is enough to arrest him. It may even be enough to convict. We have means, motive, opportunity -”
“That doesn’t mean he actually did it. Peter, listen to me. I know people. I can read people. You know that. That’s how I do what I do. There’s no way he could have done this. He simply doesn’t have it in him. In my career - not to mention in prison - I’ve spent a lot of time around criminals, all different kinds of criminals. I know how they think, how they work. This kid is nothing like them. There’s no way he did this.”
“So you don’t actually have any proof, just a feeling? I can’t stop the arrest warrant based on that.”
“You don’t have any real proof he did it, either, Peter. Hell, based on what you have, you could arrest me for it.”
“What are you talking about, Neal?”
“I could have done it. Seriously.”
“Seriously? No, you couldn’t. The anklet, remember?”
“Yes, I could. Check the dates.”
“Oh... kay... The first one -”
“Was when you cut the anklet off during the Chinatown operation. That’s the night I spent in the hotel with Meilin, remember? Between the time she smashed your tracking watch and the time I showed back up at base camp was, what? six hours? You know what I could have gotten done in six hours?”
“No way. I had teams stationed outside the hotel all night.”
“Are you kidding me? You don’t think I could have snuck past them? When I went up to one of your cars to get a ride back in the morning, they didn’t even know I was there until I knocked on the window. There’s a big difference between doing surveillance on a suspect you want to arrest and watching out for a colleague.”
“All right, I’ll grant you that one.”
“And the second one was during the time I was on the run after I escaped from the judge’s chambers, and the third one was while I was undercover for the boiler-room scam and you had the anklet off for that one, too.”
“Fine, fine, Neal, I get your point. You had the opportunity.”
“Right, and I had the means. You know I have the skills to pull this off.”
“Yes, I do know that. What about motive?”
“I don’t know. To keep up my skills? To show you I could? To make you look foolish? Just for fun?”
“Neal, are you confessing? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“No. Look, Peter, if floating me out there as a serious suspect would keep this kid from being arrested, do it. Hell, I’d even be willing to let you arrest me.”
“You’re that sure this kid didn’t do it?”
“Yes, Peter, yes. I’m that sure.”
“Okay, fine, I’ll kill the arrest warrant on the kid. I’ll tell Hughes that you’re a suspect. You better be right about this.”
“Thank you. I am. You’ll see.”
The End