Chapter One

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"Neal, if ever you do decide to grow up, you should realize this one thing. You can either be a con or a man. You can't be both."

When I said that, Neal and I were conversing about role models like Ford versus Byron. I felt Neal should follow Byron by leaving crime behind to have a family and friends. To my dismay, Neal seemed to be leaning towards Ford's influence with his comment about running cons being "More fun than sitting in a cubicle."

His reaction encouraged my opinion that I was talking to a con who was still having too much fun to grow up. Since then, he has been teaching me how little I knew. In fact, he has shown so many little details that I have come to suspect two things: he is more grown up than I have been led to think, and he is a greater con than I ever dreamed.

Discovering the truth of my partner and friend has been an interesting adventure.

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We had just finished working a case when I noticed Neal staying late. He wasn't doing anything officially assigned to him, but he seemed to be hard at work. There were several papers strewn across his desk and his focus was on the computer screen. In fact, he was so focused I managed to walk up and look over his shoulder.

For several minutes I simply read the information on his screen and the papers. Apparently, he was researching a company and looking into a teen runaway's witness statement. The local police had questioned the kid, done preliminary investigations, and decided the kid's statement wasn't verifiable. Somehow, Neal had ended up with the information and he was giving the case another look over from his perspective.

When he noticed I was standing behind him, Neal jumped. "Peter! How long have you been standing there?" He seemed something between suspicious of my presence and annoyed I had caught him off guard.

"I just noticed you working late. What is this, it isn't an official case."

Suddenly, the information didn't seem as important so he quickly moved to sort it back into the file and close the screens. "Nothing, I was just giving a friend a favor. She's sure she has a case but the cops who investigated don't. Don't worry about it." Then he was off distracting me with chatter about it being late and how Elizabeth would be waiting for me to get home.

He led the way out of the office, we rode the elevator to the lobby, and I followed him out onto the street. When I offered him a lift home he declined saying he needed the stretch. Then Neal said good night and started walking down the street towards his home while I went to my car. As I drove away, I'm pretty sure I saw him head back inside to continue working.

Two days later I went to work early. I had been by to pick Neal up but June informed me he had already headed to the office. Curious, I decided to see if I could catch him off guard again for some more information.

Getting off of the elevator, I heard voices down the hall in one of the side conference rooms. Following the sounds, I snuck up to the corner and eavesdropped on the conversation. Neal was busy giving an officer a case presentation with evidence and quoting laws like an experienced agent. He was so efficient, the officer reopened the case and agreed to send a task force in to take care of the situation. With the conversation drawing to a close, I took a peek at who he was conversing with before sneaking back down the hall. Taking the elevator down, I decided to go get a coffee before reentering the office.

For two months I watched Neal. He continued to push the case and even when he ran into dead ends he worked hard to ensure the case was solved.

Then I saw a newspaper article depicting the officer as a hero. According to it, he had worked diligently on a case for two months before it exploded into an international scale operation that saved thousands of lives. I knew the truth. Neal was the real hero who had saved those lives and he was the force behind the case being solved… and he never said a word.

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I couldn't help the smile which came to my face as I read the article. Two months of work. Two months of frustrating dead ends, of enlightening breakthroughs and dodging Peter and the curious eyes of the FBI.

It wasn't difficult to set someone else up to be the hero, the officer in question was a good guy and he was the one who ultimately presented the case and put everything in motion. All on nothing more than my word. If I had been wrong, although that was highly unlikely, then his career and life would have been destroyed.

He trusted me and that trust paid off. Thousands of lives saved. A hero officer.

I looked up and spotted Peter looking at me from his office. My grin grew wider, just to mess with him. Internally, I worried. Peter had been looking at me a lot lately. Did he suspect me of doing something wrong?

Technically, I had just pulled a con. However, it wasn't anything Peter could use against me. No one would have any reason to suspect that Neal Caffrey, a convicted criminal, would have anything to do with the heroic actions of an officer.

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The day's end came slower than I would have liked. With no case to distract me, I was stuck doing paperwork and waiting for a case or a mission or something. I wanted a puzzle to wrap my mind around.

"What's on your mind?" Peter asked as he drove me back to June's.

I guess it wasn't all bad. Now that the case was over, I could go home at five instead of heading back to the office to work.

"The blind spots of the cameras in the office," I responded. It was true. That's how bored I was without a challenge. Not that Mozzie would mind. He would love the information.

"Oh."

I raised my eyebrows in response.

"Okay. What answer were you looking for?" I asked in a pleasant tone.

Peter shook his head and told me it was nothing. I frowned in a completely unconvinced way.

Finally, Peter responded. He did so in the careful, dull way that suggested that he was thinking carefully about every word.

"I was wondering what you thought of that story, the one about the hero officer."

That had not been what I expected.

"He did a good job."

Peter gave me a curious look and I wondered what that was about. Thankfully, I was saved from whatever that looked meant when Peter pulled up in front of June's. After thanking Peter for the lift, I ducked inside.

June welcomed me with open arms.

"I read the paper. Well done, Neal," she said to me. I gave her a happy smirk.

"Which part? Figuring it all out or arranging for someone else to take the spotlight?"

"Well, you did miss out on the fun part," she said.

"Which part is that? I figured out how they did it."

"I always thought the part where you slap cuffs on the guy was the best part," she said to me with a wink.

I didn't know much about June's time with whichever organisation she had worked for in the past however, I knew she had been a legend. The little she had let slip told me enough and she wasn't going to tell me as, in her words, 'it's good practice'.

I've got her codename narrowed down to a few options. It's just a matter of being patient, gathering more information and eliminating options.

Actually, with the case done, I could do more work on that little puzzle.

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Bounding up the stairs, I entered the apartment which was beginning to feel like 'home'. I went into the closet and pulled on my jogging clothes and shoes. They were the only things of mine and not Byron's which occupied space in this walk-in wardrobe.

After tussling my hair so it stuck out and wasn't the 'every hair in place' style of Neal Caffrey, I snuck out the back way and started to jog around the streets.

I checked for a dead-drop marker, a star sticker slapped onto the side of a crosswalk button. Nothing, although the outline of the last one was still there.

The light changed and I started across, only to be stopped by someone grabbing my arm.

"Bryce?"

I turned. I admit, I really shouldn't have and it was a rookie mistake, however, the voice was familiar.

"Sorry?" I questioned. I got punched for playing dumb.

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After I dropped Neal off at June's, I drove towards home trying to figure Neal out.

He seemed to be genuinely happy with another man getting credit for his actions, but it didn't make sense for a couple of reasons. First, Neal loves attention and likes to take credit for his accomplishments as long as it won't land him in jail. Second, based on how frustrated and determined he was when presenting the case to the officer I wouldn't say he liked the man too well. Finally, the biggest reason this baffled me was that Neal's heroism could be used as leverage to lessen his sentence.

The big mystery was why Neal wasn't even trying to be free again. Ever since Neal originally proposed the deal as a means of looking for Kate, I always thought he would leave the moment he got an opportunity. Was I wrong or is there something I missed?

On impulse, I took a detour.

My new destination was the runaway shelter that was the source of the whole case. Maybe I could discover something there that would help me make sense of this.

Walking into the shelter, I found my attention claimed by a large mural stretched over the entire back wall of the first room. Looking at it in general, I noticed the majority of it focused on a secret garden filled with tranquil spaces while the edge marked the entry from the struggles of life in the world at large. Taking in the details, I looked for the NC characteristic of Neal's signature.

While I was walking along the wall searching, the manager for the shelter approached me. "It's a beautiful work, isn't it? Mr. Neal painted it as a representation for guests that this place is a safe haven where they can escape from their troubles."

Turning around, I answered the man. "It is beautiful. Neal, you say? I figured it was one of his but I can't find his signature."

Taking a closer look at me he added. "I believe you would be his friend, Peter. He said you might eventually figure out he was coming here and have questions." Extending his hand he introduced himself. "My name is John. Would you like a tour?"

That surprised me. I had expected to have to come up with a story or perhaps flash my badge. Instead, John gave me a tour of the place and explained what Neal did when he was able to volunteer.

After the tour, I shook his hand and thanked him for his help.

Driving home, I had another piece to the puzzle. Apparently, Neal paints murals and pictures to decorate the place, draws caricatures to amuse the kids, and provides a listening ear when they have trouble. That explained how he has a friend who is a teen runaway and how he got involved in the case, but it still leaves me with a lot of questions.

When I got home, Elizabeth was waiting for me. We settled in for dinner and talked about our days.

She filled me in on her latest event plans and then past the conversation to me. "What has Neal done now?" When I looked up at her she pointed to the middle of my eyes. "You've had that 'Neal did something' thinking expression all evening so spill."

Smiling at how well my wife could read me, I started at the beginning and filled her in on everything I had learned. "It's not that Neal is getting into trouble, but he has been keeping all of these secrets that don't need to be secret. What is going on with that, and if he is keeping those secrets, what else could he be hiding?"

Laying down her fork, Elizabeth focused on me. "Perhaps it is because it is personal for him. He didn't show up on record until he was eighteen and then he was alone on the streets. Maybe he is trying to help people in a way he wished someone was there for him when he was a teen?"

That was a new perspective. I had been so focused on the adult con that I missed the personal aspect that could be behind his actions.

Since Neal likes to have his secrets, I would have to keep an eye on him if I wanted to know what other things he might be hiding. With that in mind, El helped me to make plans for monitoring him on a different level.

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