The house, or rather mansion, was certainly one of the better places she had seen in a while, she thought, studying the numerous entrances and exits she could see from the front.
There was no need to dawdle out there. Mozzie clearly said it was urgent. She skipped up the front steps and rang the doorbell, waited only a moment, and then impatiently rang it three more times. The door opened quickly after that, and Lilly flashed a bright smile at the honest-to-god maid, who stood before her wearing a uniform and everything.
"Neat outfit!" she said by way of greeting. The woman didn't return her smile, and Lilly's wilted, immediately replaced by a scowl.
"I'm here to see Mozzie, where's he at?" she asked rather rudely and poked her head in the door, trying to spy her friend.
The lady led her to a staircase and indicated that she was to go to the apartment at the top of the stairs. Bounding up the stairs two at a time, she became even more curious about what he could possibly want from her here...a con maybe?
A man dressed like an insurance salesman was, to her surprise, knocking on the door she was headed towards.
"Neal!" the grouchy looking man called out after he knocked, only noticing a second later he was being scrutinized by a new arrival.
Agent Peter Burke turned, slightly startled to be under such an intense gaze. He found himself facing a girl, a teenager with a mass of red hair, sticking up oddly. His gaze took in her jeans, artfully torn in several places, her orange hoodie, and, finally, her bright orange boots. Not knowing exactly what to say, he simply nodded at her.
"Where's Mozzie?" Lilly blurted out. Then, when she didn't receive an answer, she stepped around the scowling man and opened the door. She strolled casually inside. Peter followed her inside, at a loss for words. He watched her stomp around the apartment in search of Mozzie.
Finally recovering his voice, he closed the door behind him and spoke to the animated girl. "Who are you, and how do you know Mozzie?"
"I'm Jane. Mozzie is my pimp," she lied with a straight face, managing to give the nosy man a scowling look. His expression changed from shock to anger in the space of two seconds. He took a step forward, but Lilly didn't budge. She had learned long ago that to retreat even a step was a sign of fear.
The sound of footsteps and a muted conversation drew their attention to the door as the it swung open and another stranger entered, followed by Mozzie.
"Sorry, Peter. June needed help moving something," the man Lilly surmised to be the infamous Neal said before noticing the tense mood in the room and his other guest.
"Mozzie!" Lilly rushed towards him, worried by the unrecognizable expression on his face.
Peter caught her by her left arm and whirled around to stare daggers at Mozzie. He didn't for a second believe he was the kind of man to be involved with the things he had just heard. Granted, Mozzie was by all means strange, no argument there. Peter still had ahold of the girls arm, and, oddly enough, she seemed to have stilled in to a dangerous calm.
"Mozzie, Jane here says you are her pimp. Is that true?" One look at the sheer panic on Mozzie's pale face, was answer enough of an answer to confirm Peter's gut feeling. He saw the confusion at the name he had just used for her.
A peal of giggles erupted from Lilly. She couldn't help it. Mozzie looked faint. A glare from all three men shut her up.
Noticing she was still restrained, Lilly looked down at her pinned arm and then up at Peter.
"Take your hands off me right now!" she said, making eye contact with him. He was not ready when she jerked her arm from him. He fell for one of the oldest cons. There was a reason why she had left her arm limp, making him think she wasn't going to resist.
Neal had been watching his partner in amusement as the kid moved out of the reach of the agent, making it very clear with her eyes that she wanted to do him some bodily harm.
"Peter, Mozzie asked us all to meet here to discuss something about a friend of his who needs our help." He flashed Peter one of his Caffrey, disarming smiles. "He was very vague about it." Tilting his head towards his friend.
"Looks like we have just met the friend. I'm Neal." He used his charming smile once again for Lilly's benefit. She certainly couldn't say Neal wasn't handsome, but, to put it mildly, his smile annoyed her. It was a fake one that she had used herself. He was a conman.
Totally ignoring Neal, she shot her stink eye glare at Mozzie. Now she knew what the look from earlier meant: guilt. Rage consumed her.
"What the hell is he talking about, Mozzie?"
Mozzie, her one true friend, couldn't have betrayed her, could he?
"Answer me..." her voice cracked, but she'd be damned if she would let hurt overcome her, so she opted with anger. When he remained silent, she lost her famous temper, picked up a glass of wine from the table, and hurled it at him. She spun on her heels towards the door only to have it blocked by the blue-eyed Neal. In the back of her mind, she wondered, in horror, how much Judas had told these two men.
"Move!" she spat at Neal. When he did not comply, she stomped his foot, shoving him to the side. She was rewarded with a yelp of pain from the man, and she reached for the doorknob. Apparently, not fast enough. She soon found herself scooped up off the ground and restrained by the man she was now certain was a cop of some kind.
"Stop it right now!" He addressed his captive in a loud growl. "Can you tell me what the hell is going on, Mozzie?"
Once again, she went still, but, of course, Peter was not so easily deceived this time. He lowered her to her feet, but kept a firm grip on her.
"Look, Suit," the visibly upset Mozzie said, not even bothering to wipe the wine off himself. He seemed to regret what he had done but not enough to not go through with it. "She is in danger a lot of danger. Because of me it's Keller" Seemingly relieved to have actually gotten the words out, he turned away and grabbed some paper towels, making a show of cleaning himself up.
The very word Keller sent chills through Peter Burke. His wife had been kidnapped by that ruthless killer, and now that the man had escaped from prison, Elizabeth had a full protective detail at their home. The entire FBI was looking for him. He only hoped they would catch him sooner than later.
The girl finally broke the silence. "Listen if you don't mind, you're hurting my arm and I bruise easily. You wanna let go of me?" Sarcasm dripped from her words.
Peter led her to the couch and let her go with a bark. "Sit!"
Meanwhile, Neal, still feeling the pain in his foot, glared at "Mozzie's friend." She, in turn, flashed a bright, toothy grin his way. It was unsettling to him how much it looked like one of his.
Peter sat on the coffee table directly in front of her, leaning forward and invading her personal space. He hid his surprise when, instead of becoming uneasy, she leaned forward, invading his as well. This wasn't going to be as easy as he had thought it would be.
"Tell me what you know about Keller," he growled in his typical, stern, Agent Burke way.
"Keller who?" she replied, eyes wide and innocent with a slight amused twinkle in them.
"Red," Mozzie said, suddenly recovered enough to face his young friend. "He can help you."
Her tension was now visible. She was usually so controlled, but the very sound of Mozzie's voice set her on edge. Lilly kept her seat, just barely, and eyed the man she had always thought of as her best friend as he approached. Mozzie had used her nickname a big no-no and was coming to join her on the couch. Neal watched, concerned for his friend's safety and intrigued at "Red." She was young, but he was impressed at her lack of response to Peter's interrogation tactics.
A slightly annoyed sigh escaped the kid before she finally spoke, addressing Mozzie first with a warning. "Don't even think about getting any closer to me Maxwell Thorn." She dropped one of his aliases. Turn about was fair play.
Two audible gasps from both conmen let her know that her threat to Mozzie had hit home.
"Now, Agent Peter Burke." Lilly smirked at the suprise on his face as she opened his wallet and studied his picture and credentials. She tossed it back to him before he was overcome in shock. "Wanna tell me, in legal terms, why you assaulted me and tried to hold me here against my will?"
Once again, she had shocked him into silence for a moment."If you know the whereabouts of an escaped felon, it's called aiding and abetting. That is a serious crime. You will go to jail." He felt his temper rising and reined it in the best he could.
"I do not know that person, so how could I tell you where he is? This conversation is over, Suit." She raised an eyebrow and made motions to rise, forcing Peter to back up or risk being bumped into. Without a look back, she walked to the door and paused, hesitant to leave with tension between her and Mozzie, even if he had turned snitch on her.
"These are not our kind of people, Mozs. You taught me that yourself. Anyone sees you consorting with Suits and snitches " She shook her head. "It wouldn't be good." She closed the door softly behind her and headed back to her bike.