White Shadows

A/N: All I can say is 'wow' I hoped maybe two or three people would review the first chapter, but this is sooo much more then I hoped for! Thank you all for your reviews, tips and comments! I really, really appreciate it!

Disclaimer: Nope, White Collar is still not mine!

A big thank you to Stealth Dragon who beta'd this chapter for me!


Chapter 2: Con or man?

"I told you this would happen" Mozzie said, watching his friend pacing back and forth through the apartment. "Suits are not to be trusted." Mozzie had to admit he had really started to like Mr. and Mrs. Suit, but he had known from the beginning that one day they would betray his best friend. Cons and agents weren't supposed to be partners or friends.

Neal sighed. "Even after everything I did for Peter he still doesn't trust me" When Neal was accused of stealing the pink diamond a little over a year ago, he understood why Peter hadn't trusted him right away when he claimed to be innocent. But this was different, Neal had sacrificed so much to stay on the straight and narrow but for Peter it never seemed to be enough.

"I almost died today, Mozz" Neal moved his hands through his dark brown hair "Twice."

Mozzie nodded. He knew how it felt to be so close to death, after all. "If you need money, I'm sure I could liquidate some assets for you" He offered. Neal looked hesitant before slowly shaking his head.

"I'm not going to run Mozz" Neal replied. "There's something I need to show you." He wasn't sure if showing Mozzie what was inside the storage unit was the best idea, but he could really use his best friends opinion right now.

Mozzie didn't seem at all surprised that Neal hadn't just invited him over to play shrink, and silently followed his friend out of the apartment.


10 minutes later they were standing in front of the storage unit that contained the u-boat's treasures. "If this is some kind of joke in reference to the time I lived in a storage unit, it isn't funny," Mozzie said as Neal pulled out a key and showed it to him.

"When I came home today I found this key, with a note telling me to come here," Neal explained, choosing to ignore his friend's earlier comment, even though he knew Mozzie meant well. Neal slowly opened the door and flipped the light switch next to it. As the singular light bulb in the room came to life, Mozzie could only stare in awe at what was revealed to him.

"Holy J. Edgar Hoover," was all Neal's best friend whispered as he moved around the room, looking at the various crates and paintings.

Neal was about to ask Mozzie for some advice about whether or not to tell Peter, when he was loudly interrupted by his cellphone. He grabbed it out of his pocket, intending to ignore the call when he noticed it was his landlady, June, who was trying to reach him. June never called. He shot Mozzie an apologetic look before answering.

"June?" Worry was evident in Neal's voice "Are you alright?" he quickly asked as he heard a loud crashing noise in the background.

"I'm fine but I think you should come over right away." His landlady's voice sounded urgent.

"What's the matter?" The tone of Neal's voice made Mozzie drop the jewelry he was inspecting. Something wasn't right.

"Peter is here looking for you. I'm not sure what is going on but he demanded to see the storage room in your apartment," June explained.

That's odd, Neal thought. Why would Peter want to see the storage room? The only things in there were his paintings.

Neal sighed. "I'll be right there." He quickly ended the call and grabbed his fedora.

"I have to go, Moz," he said by way of apology. His friend just nodded, probably already guessing it had something to do with Peter, or The Suit as, Mozzie liked to call him.

"Wait, what are we going to do about this?" Mozzie gestured at the boxes surrounding them. "If you need a fence—"

"I'll deal with that later," Neal interrupted. "I've got other problems to deal with first." Before Mozzie could ask any more questions, his friend had already left.

Mozzie thought about following his friend to make sure he wasn't being arrested but he still had some looking around to do in the storage unit. Neal would probably be just fine on his own.


When Neal rushed through the door of his apartment he had not expected Peter to be waiting for him. Before Neal could say or do anything, his partner grabbed him roughly by the shoulders and slammed him hard into the wall.

"You are going to tell me everything right now, Caffrey!" His voice was beyond furious as he shook Neal to stress his point.

Neal was stunned. He had never been treated this way by Peter before. The prison guards at Rikers used to push him around and rough him up, the cops that hated him called him Caffrey, but surely his partner, his friend, wouldn't do such things.

"I already told you the truth, Peter" Neal whispered, looking into his partner's eyes without struggling to remove himself from Peter's iron grip.

"I don't know what game you're playing but you are going to tell me exactly what happened today," Peter spoke in a dangerous voice as he finally stepped back and released Neal.

Neal straightened himself and shot Peter an annoyed glare. "You were with me the whole time." He had enough of being accused of something he didn't do. Right now, he really needed Peter to trust him.

"Besides, you can check my anklet," he softly added. Hating the fact that his partner would trust the tracking data over him anytime.

"I already did," Peter immediately snapped back, hurting Neal's feeling even more. Thank god he was a major con artist and had learned over the years to hide his true emotions.

"Then you know I didn't do anything," Neal stated as he headed towards the door and held it open for Peter. "I think you should leave," he added, not looking anywhere else but at his partner.

Peter, however, refused to move. He was still rooted to his spot near the wall staring blankly out the window. "I know you would never…" he started as a way of apology.

This got Neal's attention. It seemed as if all the anger in Peter had just disappeared in to thin air. "Know I would never what, Peter?" He asked as he softly closed the door and walked up to his partner.

Peter suddenly turned around to face Neal, his face was a mixture of anger, fear and sadness. Something Neal had never seen before. "They took El," Peter whispered.

"Who took her?" Neal urged Peter to explain but his partner seemed hesitant, not sure if he could still trust him. Neal shook his head. He didn't have time for his emotions right now, they needed to find Elisabeth.

"I don't know," Peter replied with a sad note in his voice. "All I found was this." He fumbled around in his pocket before pulling out a crumbled yellow paper, which he handed to Neal.

Neal quickly unfolded the note and didn't even need to read it to realize who had kidnapped his partner's wife. His eyes went wide with fear and a cold chill started to spread through his body.

"This is Adler's handwriting," he finally uttered.

TBC

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