Evening Occupation

Finishing work for the day, Neal went about turning off his computer and closing the files he had been working on. The office was empty of everyone but Peter, and even he was turning off his computer for the night. Feeling it was a safe time to leave without getting into trouble, Neal walked his files up for Peter to review in the morning.

"These are done." He simply stated. Peter could review his notes in his own time.

"I'll have a new stack on your desk in the morning. Do you need a ride?" Peter seemed distant. He wasn't offering the ride for their friendly banter to recount the day, but because Neal was his CI and responsibility.

"No, June has family over so a walk will help me to avoid interrupting their gathering." He made his excuse. Besides, he wanted to check in with his friend about the girl so the walk would give him plenty of opportunities to discuss her needs and how they could be brought about.

"Alright then," Peter said as he followed Neal down the stairs. Pausing at the door, he waited for Neal to grab his jacket before the two of them left the office together.

Riding the elevator down, Neal quietly thought about what his friend had told him. The girl came from a background of abuse and she had run away to escape it. Clenching his hands into fists, he was angry to be reminded of just how cruel people could be. Why did people feel a need to take their anger and lack of control out on others?

"Something bothering you?" Peter questioned as he had noticed Neal's actions. With nothing else to do, he had been observing Neal in their reflection.

"Nothing… of importance anyway. For as much as I can understand and see through people, sometimes they still elude me." He explained enough that Peter knew his problem was due to someone's actions, but not something so important as to describe it.

"But important enough to be bothering you and for you to clench your fists over it," Peter commented to probe further.

"People watching can lead to discovering a lot of things we don't like." Neal pictured the girl standing outside of the coffee shop again.

"Did you see something while getting the coffees this morning?" Peter got more concerned. He seemed to wonder if there was something to this he should know about.

"I only saw a homeless girl begging for food at the door to the coffee shop. Her situation reminded me of things that are a button for me." Neal said before darting out of the elevator.

Picking up his stride to try and catch him, Peter wasn't going to let the situation go. Although he was still angry with Neal, he was willing to overlook their differences for someone else. "Neal…"

"Don't Peter." Neal didn't want Peter to force him to reveal what he had done for the girl.

"What happened?" Peter pulled him back by the arm. "You don't tend to get this upset by simply seeing someone in a crowd."

Pausing, Neal turned to Peter. "No I don't, but then most people don't remind me of another girl crying as hard as her body can stand because she just lost her sister. That was decades ago so there is nothing you can do for her, and the girl today was headed in the direction of a shelter the last I saw of her. So don't worry Peter, there is nothing that needs to concern you." He shook Peter off but held his ground.

Returning to his anger, Peter glared at him. "How did the girl lose her sister?" He asked as there was still the concern as to why the situation was affecting Neal so much.

"She ran away, Peter. No one has seen her since and her sister was distraught to lose her only sibling." He switched to picturing the young redhead crying over the ice cream he had purchased for her.

"So, another young runaway has you remembering some other situation from the past. Why does it bother you so much?" Peter continued to push.

Frustrated, Neal didn't want to go into these details. Even though they were better than discussing the more recent situation, it was still a very personal detail and could reveal more than he wanted to be known. "Because I sat with the younger sister while she cried and we eventually became friends. What if the girl today has someone at home crying for them?" She might for all he knew, so the question made for a good reason while still being truthful.

Unsure of the situation, Peter stood watching him for a moment. Deciding on how to proceed, Peter made his suggestion before bidding Neal good night. "Point her out if you see her again. We'll make sure she gets the help she needs."

Returning the parting words, Neal walked away knowing he was already taking care of it and had no intention of pointing her out.

Once Neal was a little way down the street, he pulled out his phone and passed the time by making arrangements for the girl.

His first task was to get a full update as to what her situation was. Listening, he was given as much information as was legal into who she was and what her circumstances were. Moving on from there, he checked to see what assistance the shelter could provide and was happy to hear that her room and board was going to be taken care of in addition to three meals a day. It was a very good start.

Having completed the initial task, he moved on to one that would take a woman's touch. With a laugh, he was passed over to the man's wife. Discussing as few details as possible, he made the financial arrangements to cover purchasing a basic wardrobe and bare necessities for the girl to cover her needs.

Feeling like a yo-yo, he was then passed back to the husband. It was the last detail to be handled so there wasn't much to converse about. Mostly, he simply promised to get the girl a job interview to give her a prospective income. She was eighteen so she was of age to be out on her own, she just needed help making the jump into independence.

After completing the arrangements at the shelter, Neal called up his lawyer friend who conferred with the business's manager to inform him of the situation. Working together, they came up with a plan as to how they could create an opening for the girl.

Finally, with the situation satisfactorily resolved, Neal ended the call knowing the girl would be taken care of and that he no longer needed to worry about her.

Entering June's mansion, he could hear the laughter from further into the home. She and her family were having a wonderful time together it seemed. Not wanting to disturb them or bring any awkwardness by his presence, he made his way up to the loft as quietly as he could.

Closing the door behind him, he went about changing into more comfortable clothes and preparing his dinner. Considering how complicated his life was once again proving to be, he settled on something simple. It was only him eating it after all.

Taking the time to enjoy a moment of peace, he took his meal out onto the veranda and looked out over the view. Mostly it was the city's skyline and the blackness where stars hung in invisibility, but there was something soothing to it all the same. After a stressful day, he was all for something soothing.

Finishing his meal, it was time to clean up the last of his dishes and move on to his evening activities.

With no fear of interruptions, he pulled out his laptop and settled in on the kitchen table to work. It took a few moments for him to collect the rest of his investigation details from their hidey holes, but with the chance of an FBI raid at any time, he had to be secretive to ensure the extent of his resources wasn't discovered.

Since no one in the office seemed to even think of the possibility of his innocence in the treasure situation, he was looking for the answers on his own.

Looking at his timeline, there were few suspects he could think of, but always the possibility of someone else having been involved.

Peter knew of the situation and had seen the treasure at the same time as Neal. Could he have stolen the treasure, yes, maybe? The man was smart enough and had some knowledge of criminal means, but he didn't have a motive because he was happy with his life the way it was. Work and sweat led to advancement in his mind, to steal was to cheat the way everything was supposed to work. So, although Peter could have committed the crime, Neal knew he wasn't anywhere near the top of the suspect list.

Elizabeth, of course, was even less likely than Peter. Sure, she was very intelligent and capable of doing those things she chose to, but she also tended to be… awkward at anything along the lines of committing a crime where there wasn't something good in the intentions. As stealing blood money for greed didn't have any good intentions and she wasn't the best equipped for it, she wasn't likely to undertake the task.

Sara was more likely, for as unlikely as she was. The woman was a master at recovery. According to her files with Sterling and Bosch, she was their best recovery agent in the field. With her skills, intelligence, and knowledge of criminal thinking, she made for a likely suspect. What saved her from being a serious suspect was motive. Her job was to travel around the world and retrieve stolen artifacts by nearly any means necessary. Since there was no crime spree following her, despite being exposed to vast wealth before, it was generally safe to assume she wasn't doing a side job as a criminal. So, since she only retrieved what she was sent for, and her insurance agency had neither knowledge nor involvement, she didn't have much of a motive.

Growing warmer, Neal moved on to Mozzie. The man had built the signal means for finding the treasure, had been in the vicinity for the rescue, and hadn't been seen for a few days after. He had access to criminal tools, contacts, the skills to make use of them, and the motive desire to buy an island somewhere. Mozzie was the perfect suspect, minus one detail. If Mozzie had stolen the treasure, then why was he so certain Neal had done it? That question was the only thing keeping him from the number one rank.

Moving over to his next person in question, Neal thought about Alex. Her family had been looking for the treasure ever since her grandfather's days so she had a strong personal motive. Being a thief, she obviously had the skills and contacts to pull off the crime. Then there was the suspicious detail that she hadn't been seen or heard from since before the alleged theft. So, with nothing to contradict her guilt, she was running as the prime suspect.

To be fair though, Neal was taking into account that there could be other parties. There were other members of the team, like Jones and Berrigan, to consider. How many other Nazi lines could be out there that knew about it? What about other people who had learned of it? Adler had utilized help after all. That section was mostly just unfounded speculation with no real details. It wasn't really a detailed line of investigation, it was more just keeping his mind open for other possibilities if anything came up.

Then, he decided to add one last suspect… himself. Obviously, he was a suspect to everyone else, so he might as well put his information into his notes as well. Who knew, maybe he stole it in his sleep?

Having encompassed the suspect list as best as he could, Neal turned to determine what Peter might have as evidence. Obviously, something had come out in the debris, but what?

Thinking through the few pieces of the treasure that he had seen, Peter's knowledge of his skills, and how those fit together he assumed it was something he could forge. In cases past, Peter had learned of his metallurgy skills so jewelry and other such items might have survived the blast by being thrown away from the fire which would be potential evidence. Obviously, he would be suspected with paintings, but they were more likely to burn in the fire. Did Peter get a scrap of something he had seen Neal paint before? That was a potential reason for his suspicion falling on Neal. But why think Neal had stolen the treasure instead of assuming some scrap had survived? Visualizing what he had seen, Neal tried to picture what else might be used as potential evidence, but most of it was in boxes.

There wasn't any further avenue he could follow with those lines and his available information, so he turned to try to decipher what crime had been committed and how it could have been committed.

Wracking his brain, he hadn't been allowed to see the inside of the warehouse, just like he hadn't been allowed to see the wreckage or what evidence Peter was holding against him, so he had no idea what could be inside beyond a general visualization of other warehouses along the docks.

Since he didn't have anything better to work off of, he theorized how a person might steal something from a highly guarded warehouse in an old U-Boat while remaining undetected. It was a start, but he didn't have any evidence to verify which means was the most likely.

Reaching a point where he needed to go to sleep, he powered down the computer and got ready for bed.

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