44Set right after Under the Radar. Peter, Diana, and Jones contemplate the evidence and their own feelings about the guilt or innocence of Neal. Some errors fixed.
Peter was steaming as he walked back to the car. How dare Neal do this, this far into the deal? Right when it seemed they were really working together.
Diana and Jones were already standing by the car. They had seen Neal storm away and seen the signs of anger spring to Peter's face. They had also seen the painted shard of the Chrysler building floating to the ground, but they didn't understand it. One minute, Peter had been saving Neal from yet another gun, and the next, the floodgates of mistrust were wide open.
"What happened out there, Boss?" Diana head indicating not the blazing inferno but the spot just vacated by Burke and Caffrey.
"Neal happened," Peter replied savagely, holding out the piece of the painting.
Jones raised his eyebrow in query.
"This is one of Neal's paintings; I saw it last time I was at his apartment," Peter growled.
"So, you think Neal had something to do with this." Jones filled in.
"Neal wouldn't destroy that art, not to get revenge on Adler, not for anything." Diana stepped in.
"No, but he would switch it out. It would probably be the biggest score of the century. That stuff was worth over a billion," replied Peter.
"And it fits Caffrey's M.O*." Diana thought out loud. "A huge cash-out, priceless art, no guns, no innocent victims. I mean no one is losing their life-savings or having their children taken from them. In fact, it will be practically impossible to trace as we don't know what most of the pieces even are. "
"And it serves to payback Adler in the process," Jones added. "But still, do you really think he did it? I mean, you saw how he was with Ford and the printing plate. He could have pulled the con off with him, and we might never have known. Instead he came to us and stopped the whole operation."
"Eh, but those men were rough, willing to kill to get the paper they wanted. Caffrey wouldn't have wanted in on something like that."
"Well, hold up." Diana interrupted. "This shouldn't be difficult. If Caffrey was anywhere near the docks last night, his tracking anklet will show it."
Peter let out a sigh. "No, I didn't put the anklet back on until this morning. It wasn't like I expected him to run when we were right on Adler's trail, and I really didn't want to have to deal with the Marshall's last night."
Diana's shoulders dropped, and Jones let his gaze fall to the asphalt.
After a second, Diana took a breath and started again. "OK, let's go about this in order. Technically, the lack of tracker data doesn't prove anything one way or the other. So what do we have regarding means, motive, and opportunity."
"Well, our suspect list isn't exactly long," Jones picked up. "The only cons who knew about the u-boat were Neal, Alex, Mozzie, and Adler. This event hasn't exactly been public, and I don't imagine that Adler was out sharing his find at the local dive bar. The man knows how to keep a secret."
"We can't exactly rule out an outsider, but yeah, I think that's our list for now," said Peter, starting to look more analytical.
"And I can't really picture Mozzie trying to pull this off without Neal, or at least Alex. So that brings our list down to three," added Diana holding up three fingers on her right hand. "We know they are all skilled enough, and without knowing more about how it was done, there probably isn't much we can do beyond pure speculation in the means department. So what about motives?"
"Well, I think we've established pretty well that Adler wants that treasure. He's been willing to kill Kate and Mozzie and kidnap an FBI agent." Jones started.
"Alex has been pretty dead set on the treasure too," Diana replied. "Think about it. She's spent her whole life contemplating her grandfather's story, and she certainly wouldn't have any qualms about stealing from under the nose of the FBI."
"It's not like Neal has exactly exonerated himself in that area," Peter countered. "He stuck around prison more than 3.5 years to get us off his back, but as soon as something more important came up, he was out. So he stuck around with us, but as soon as he sees the big heist, the chance of a lifetime, he's out. It isn't like he hasn't conned us before. That trick with the fake case file was only a few months ago."
"I don't know that that's fair. Neal hasn't just been opportunistic while working for us. He handed over that ring for your freedom without a backwards glance.
Peter exhaled slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes. He certainly couldn't deny that.
Diana was the next to chime in. "You've got a point, but I don't know that it completely vindicates Neal. If he thought he could pull this off without anyone getting hurt, without us even knowing, I still think he might have done it."
"No one hurt, yeah, I'm sure that explains exactly how we all feel right now," Peter growled.
Again Jones and Diana had no real answer for that. Jones decided to move on, "So, what about the explosion?" All three of them turned to look at the flames still streaming from the warehouse. The fire crew had just started getting the blaze under control.
"Neal's way of destroying the evidence and destroying Adler at the same time?" shrugged Diana. "I mean, if it hadn't been for the wind carrying away a few pieces," she held up what was visible of the painted Chrysler Clock, "I bet the only remains we would have found would have been so charred that they were unrecognizable. Even a well trained arson team would probably only be able to tell us that they could identify some metal lumps and what used to be canvas."
"That would explain why Caffrey's painting was swapped in. They needed something to burn that would be identified as artist canvas."
"That point had been bothering me. I mean, why would Neal have left his paintings at the scene. I doubt this is a situation where he would have wanted to leave behind telling evidence," Jones considered.
"Maybe he needed something to trick Adler's moving goons, or maybe he was just trying to shove it in Adler's face," Peter replied.
Diana reflected on this, "No, he knew we were going after Adler; he wouldn't have taken that chance."
"But that doesn't rule out the ashes idea," Peter said, running his fingers through his hair tiredly.
"Just because they need the ashes, doesn't mean it has to be Neal. Alex probably could have gotten ahold of Neal's paintings. Or it could all be an attempt to frame Neal," countered Jones.
"Don't Jones. We can't pardon Neal just because we don't want it to be him," Peter muttered.
"No. I'm not just saying this because I'd like Neal not to be the culprit, but we've seen him framed before. It is a fair consideration." Jones said evenly.
Diana brought them back, "So, we never answered the questions about the explosion. Was it meant to kill Adler? Was it meant to kill the FBI? Was it meant to destroy the art? The replacements? Or was it purely an accident?"
"If Neal was hoping that Adler would get himself blown-up, I doubt that he would have walked over to the warehouse when he did," spoke Jones.
"True. Though I wonder that Neal just happened to walk over to the correct warehouse when the rest of the FBI was spread out at different sites," Peter questioned.
"Adler wouldn't have been hanging around if he meant for us to get blown up," Diana continued. "I say that it has to either be an accident or a rig to destroy evidence of the theft."
"Alright, so we've covered motive, and means. What about opportunity?" Jones said changing the subject. The flames on the building were no longer visible, though a dark trail of smoke stained the morning sky. "Wasn't Caffrey over at your place for dinner last night?" He looked at Peter as he spoke.
"Yes, yes he was." He thought back to that night and remembered El's words, Neal is a lot of things, but when it counts, you can trust him. She had been referring to the budding romance between Sarah and Neal, but did they apply here? "But he left around 9:00. It certainly cuts back on the time, but it doesn't completely erase the window of opportunity.
The three were left at a standstill. Peter wasn't as sure that the infamous Neal Caffrey was back in the game as he had been when he accused Neal, but he certainly wasn't assured of his innocence either. Jones desperately wanted Neal to be innocent, but he knew what the con in conman meant. It meant that Neal knew how to gain your confidence and then use it to his advantage. And Diana, she wasn't exactly sure what to think. She hadn't accepted Neal as quickly as Jones, but she knew that he would never purposely hurt anyone.
They stood watching the sky, wondering how their trust in Neal had turned to smoke as quickly as the paintings in the warehouse.
This is my first fanfiction! I'm not afraid of criticism, so please review. Did I miss any major points? Did it get kind of dry? Focus too much on dialogue? I wasn't aiming to have a plot, but still, did it keep your interest? Also, do you think Neal had his anklet on that night or not?
M.O. = Modus operandi. A person's traditional pattern or way of working.
P.S. And how do you make lines?