How to be 'Invited' to a Party
Step one: Get close to party-goers.
This step can be achieved in any number of ways. You can-
"Yeah, yeah," Jason said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'm certain we all know how to crash a party."
Damian reached over and slapped Jason across the back of his head. Damian was almost as tall as Jason and found it an easy task. Jason shot him a glare in return.
"Let him finish," Damian scolded.
"Jason does have a point though," Tim mused. "We looked into any potential gate-crashers and none of them are likely to have forged the invitations. Even if they did, we weren't be able to gather proof."
Neal sighed. At least the White Collar team let him finish speaking before they said anything. He let his brothers discuss for a few more moments before getting their attention again.
As I was saying, you can get close to party-goers in a number of ways. The most successful are started long before the party. You can work for someone who is running the party. You can romantically woo someone invited to the party.
There's always the alternative step one which is to get your hands on an invitation by forging and stealing.
"However," Dick added, "since the forged invitation was the start of this investigation, we're looking for someone who got close enough to see an invitation."
"Okay, so we start looking at new employees or people bringing plus ones?" Tim questioned.
Jason seemed to think about this information. "Who would woo someone just to get into a party?" he questioned.
"You're moving onto the motive," Dick informed him. He bit his tongue a moment later, realising he was swinging closer to Dick Grayson's mannerisms than Neal Caffrey's. "Has there been an unusual number of people at previous events? Because it might be an idea to check. Inflated numbers would mean that they've been up to this for a while and money is a probable motivator." This was something the White Collar team didn't have enough information to check.
"Checked that first when the forgery popped up," Tim commented. "It looks like this is the first time they've tried this."
"What's so special about this one?" Neal asked. He pulled over some files and started flicking through as Tim searched the new employees angle.
"This sucks," Jason groaned. "We're never going to pinpoint whomever this is until the night of the party. That is, if they even turn up."
Neal had to agree. There were just too many angles and not enough time or information available for them to check them all. They needed to focus on what they did know.
Papers and List
Had access to the Wayne logo and text from templates;
But didn't know the kind of paper they used;
Signature was digital. On this kind of invitation, Wayne would stamp. On a rare occasion, he would handwrite. Never uses digital.
Neal wondered where someone would get access to the templates and a digital signature but not the right kind of paper. Any employee would know about the paper.
Did they not care about the paper? Or did they not notice?
Neal hadn't told his brothers that the FBI had already tried all the leads they had thought of that evening.
"Okay," he muttered to himself. "I want to forge an invitation for a party. It just has to look right. How do I do it?" He blinked. "It just has to look right." Mozzie would scold him for ages if he actually pulled the plot he was thinking about. However, Neal knew that most criminals didn't have someone like Moz giving them advice.
He reached for his phone.
Late Night Planning
Peter opened the door, looking like he'd rather be in bed. It was late but Neal didn't think this could wait. He had sounded grumpy on the phone but he just looked sleepy in person.
"I think I might have a lead."
Those words seemed to wake Peter up. The sleep vanished from his face as his brain kicked into gear.
"Before I let you in, I need to know. Are you here officially?"
Neal's mouth twitched. He could draw a number of meaning from that sentence. But, he hoped Peter wasn't making reference to the device that allowed Neal to go 'off anklet'. Peter wasn't supposed to know about that.
"If you mean the Marshals will know that I visited your house in the dead of night, then yes."
Peter let him in and they made their way to the kitchen, where Peter pulled out a couple of mugs for coffee.
"We've been thinking about this wrong," Neal said.
"Explain," Peter responded.
"We're so focused on the party and how this person might get in and the methods of infiltrating-"
"'Infiltrating'?" Peter repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"I may have allegedly spent the evening listening to my brothers talk," Neal responded with a sheepish grin and a shrug. "But, the forged invitation was bought on the street. It doesn't have to be perfect. The template could have been copied from any Wayne office-"
"We already check the employees," Peter said.
"That's exactly my point! We're thinking professional long con. But, you don't have to be an employee to get to information like that. You could download the template from the office or from the printers. Actually, I'm surprised Mozzie didn't think of this."
"Let me guess, it's an area he allegedly has some experience in."
"Allegedly and hypothetically? Someone like Moz has a lot of experience."
Peter sighed and ran a hand over his head.
"So, the scope of people we're looking for just got larger."
"Not necessarily," Neal said. "We know they might have accessed a Wayne computer or a computer at the printers. We just have to find out which. That means… a lot of looking through security cameras."
Peter sighed and pulled out his phone. "I'm going to send Diana and Jones a heads up. They're good at that kind of work."
Caught on Film
Neal's morning was spent looking over video after video. Just like everyone else on Peter's team. Peter and Diana were looking over the Wayne building footage; Bruce had expanded a small section of his company into a New York office seven years ago and a year after Neal Caffrey's case appeared on Peter's desk. Neal and Jones had the footage from the place which had printed the Wayne invitations.
They had started from the day Jason had brought them the forged invitation and worked their way back.
"Ugh," Neal groaned.
"If you're not going to open your mouth to say that you've found someone suspicious, then don't open it," Diana snapped at him. They were all bored by the tedious work but it was necessary.
"Don't we have interns for this?" Neal questioned.
"They're checking the external footage," Peter informed him. "We've got the internal footage."
Neal groaned again. He was certain he would fall asleep soon. He needed to move and stretch.
Nine minutes later and Neal considered making another comment when Jones spoke;
"Wait."
Everyone froze as he paused the screen he was looking at.
"What is it?" Peter asked. They crowded around the screen. In the printers, a man in a cleaner's uniform was frozen on the screen, head down as he ran a mop along the floor.
Jones rewound the video and the man on the screen moved back. Neal's eyes widened as the man knocked the computer. In a quick rewind, it looked like he steadied the computer and then knocked it.
Jones pressed play.
The cleaner knocked the computer with his elbow and they could all see it was on.
"One of the workers is still there," Jones explained, "they left to do something."
The cleaner's hand reached out to steady the computer and he checked it over. His other hand was covered. But, it certainly looked like he moved it around.
"He's copying a file," Neal said as he scrutinised every movement. "And he probably returned for or already had Bruce Wayne's signature."
"We can't ID him under that hat," Peter said in frustration. The cleaner was wearing a paper-boy styled hat which covered his face. "Come on, turn to the camera."
"Let me rewind to when he entered," Jones said. This was their strongest lead so far. Once again, he wound the video back and pressed play. They watched the cleaner enter, head down. He cleaned, head down. He stole a file, head down.
He stepped outside of the room and, for a moment, his face was reflected in the glass window of the room he was leaving.
There was a small gasp from Neal's right. Neal didn't care who it was because his stomach had plummeted to his feet and probably even a few floors below that.
The face reflected in the window was familiar. Very familiar.
It belonged to an escaped criminal.
"I need to call my wife," Peter said, moving away. Neal nodded absent-mindedly. El would probably be very protective of Peter. After all, Keller had kidnapped Peter once.
Neal looked at Keller's face in the reflected in the dark window on the screen and decided to follow Peter's lead. His family needed to know who they were possibly dealing with.
