White Collar - as an unofficial novel - part 7

Peter stood with two other agents peering down on a gang of workers with proper tools and equipment remove the tarmac and dig a hole beside the building. When it seemed as they had found something he turned to the other two.

"Okay, let's see what they found. Let's go."

The people were probably hired hands with no involvement in any of Halbridge's business. They would have no need not to cooperate.

He opened the gate and walked down the stairs to the lower ground showing his badge.

"FBI! I need everyone to put their tools down and step two feet away from the hole."

Everyone did as they were told. Peter looked down into the hole and saw they had dug out a large box or chest of some sort. He turned to two the other two.

"Call the team. I want them here in ten." He had made sure they were ready and waiting so it would be no problem. He needed a bunch of agents in windbreakers to handle the practical issues with whatever they found in that box. "Alright, get it up," he told the workers.

Neal arrived just in time for the box to land on the ground in front of the two agents in windbreakers.

"Can't be our bonds," the kid noted.

Peter shook his head.

"No, whatever Halbridge is hiding has been here for years."

"He's bound to have more than one skeleton in his closet."

"Hey, Burke, open it?" the agent asked.

"Yeah, go ahead. Get it open." The two agents took crowbars and two seconds later they opened the lid.

The person inside had been dead for a long, long time. There was little left but a skeleton in clothes. Both the agents by the box and the workers taking a peek were repelled, both by what they saw and the rotten air that slipped out.

"Looks like you were right about those skeletons," Peter said and the kid nodded, no longer looking at the corpse. So Halbridge had a dead guy he needed to hide. He had not seen that coming.

"What do you see?" he asked Neal.

"I can only say he has been dead a long time."

"What about his clothes?" Peter insisted. The kid's interest was sparkled enough for him to take a closer look.

"Mid '80s, I would say. The colors are hard to make out but the suit looks like Dave Crockett's in Miami Vice. It's Giorgio Armani's style. Did you know he had his big breakthrough designing the suits for American Gigolo and Miami Vice?"

Peter shook his head. The kid moved away from the dead guy.

"Then you probably don't know that the suit was not a formal wear at all, to begin with. It was the opposite. And do you know why dark colors are favored?"

Peter stared.

"You sound like the short guy."

"I don't like dead guys."

"I know."

"Can I leave?"

"No, you can't."

Neal sighed.

"The coal," the kid said out of the blue.

"What?"

"Cities were dirty places. You used coal for heating. The air was full of smoke."

"What are you talking about?!"

"Why suits often are made in darker colors. So they didn't look dirty."