Author's Note: I'm really happy to finally be able to get an update out.
Long story short, I ended up going through a major burnout because of too much schoolwork to do and I have not had the motivation, energy or time to write anything for fun.
I have recovered from it now and I finally managed to start writing again and I hope that I won't take too long to get another update together.

Thanks for all the favourite/follow and positive comments I've gotten during my little unvoluntary hiatus, it's really what motivated me to start writing as soon as I could.
I really appreciate every single notification I get.

CHAPTER 22

With the drawing in hand, Peter rushed to the bureau, and even though it technically being their day off Diana and Jones, and a few other agents, had no problem showing up to help.
Together they started to go through the few people that they knew was connected to Keller but none of them was a definite match to the drawing, two or three were placed in a maybe-pile but the rest of them were thrown to the side.
Once they had gone through the ones connected to Keller, it was really like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Sure, they had a pretty advanced system where they could sort out anyone that didn't fit, but despite that they were still left with an insane amount of criminals to go through.
It felt like they went through hundreds, if not thousands, of potential kidnappers and way too many could potentially be the right one.
There were also the possibility that the kidnapper wasn't even in their system, but Peter tried to push that thought away and remain hopeful.
It was shortly after 10PM when Peter decided to call it a day and it was decided that he would bring Neal in to look through the potential kidnappers, since that would be a much easier solution than to try to get the kid to describe the man in more details.

Peter opened the front door and jumped slightly at the sight of both Neal and Satchmo standing by the door.
The dog greeted him while Neal looked behind Peter, as if he was expecting to see his brother, but his face fell when no Mozzie was to be seen.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?"

He gently asked the boy before closing the door, but he received no answer instead the child just walked back to the sofa.

"He wanted to wait for you, to get any updates. He's been forcing himself to stay awake"

Elizabeth answered as she showed up and greeted her husband with a soft kiss.

"We're working on it, buddy."

He promised Neal but the boy just gave him a sceptic look before he curled up into a ball on the couch and within minutes fell asleep, no longer having a reason to stay awake.
The adults yet again carried the boy upstairs to their bed, hoping that tonight would be easier for the boy, a hope that quickly died.
The night was even worse than the first, despite the fact that Neal had Mozzie's shirt to snuggle with, the nightmares appeared to be even worse and it was even harder to lull the boy back to sleep. It was heartbreaking to hear Neal calling out for his brother, desperate after a horrible nightmare, and knowing that there would be no reply. Neal seemed to forget his brother's absence when he first awoke before the realization seemed to hit, which would make it even worse.

When morning came Elizabeth decided to work from home, just so that she could take a long nap and catch up on some sleep, while Peter relied on coffee to help him function.
They eventually said goodbye to Elizabeth before they went to the car, Neal being impossibly energetic most likely caused by him understanding that he could help them find the kidnapper.
Once at the bureau they sat in one of the interrogation rooms, Neal placed on Peter's lap while Diana showed pictures of the potential kidnappers.
They spent hours going through the pictures, making sure to take regular breaks in order to not overwhelm the child and give him time to take naps who luckily seemed to be free from nightmares.
Neal confidently said no to every single picture he was shown, even if he was visibly upset when he was shown pictures of Keller's confirmed associates which made Peter even more angry at Keller.
Eventually the had gone through all they had, and Peter started to feel more and more hopeless, something he did his best to hide from Neal while he left the boy with some drawing materials in his office.
He went to the conference room where the rest of the agents were going through even more criminals.

"He might not even be in the system"

Diana said, voicing the fear they all probably had by now.

"We have to keep looking"

Jones answered, trying to give them some hope.

The rest of the agents continued to go through files of criminals while Peter and Jones sat to the side, Jones updating Peter on exactly every single little detail they knew about Matthew Keller.

"Peter?"

Neal suddenly said from behind him and Peter held up his hand, not even looking at the boy.
Jones had just started to brief him on the details of Keller's latest arrest and Peter didn't want to miss anything.

"Hold on a second"

Peter answered while Jones continued to talk.

"Peter!"

Neal repeated, with a little more force in his voice.

"Neal, hold on just a-"
"Peter, can you please just listen to me?!"

The room went quiet and both Peter and Jones turned around in disbelief.
None of them had heard so many words coming from Neal's mouth before.
Neal was standing next to them, clutching a folder to his chest and Peter immediately reached out to take it from him, cursing himself for leaving a bunch of folders in his office where the kid could go through it.
Even if the folders linked to the White Collar department rarely contained any horrible pictures or anything like that, he still preferred if the kid didn't go through them.

"Neal you shouldn't go through my- "

Peter didn't get the chance to finish his sentence before Neal snatched the folder back from him with a surprising strength.
Neal opened the folder before he slammed it on the table, pointing at the picture of a man.

"It's him. He took Mozzie."

Peter frowned and looked down at the man, it was a guy who had been the partner in crime to Keller in at least one robbery, but the folder had been thrown to the side immediately since it had been reported that he was dead.

"Neal are you sure?"
"Trust me, it's him."

Peter was still shocked over that the quiet boy was suddenly speaking so well and it took him a full minute before he nodded.
Normally one was a little more hesitant to witness statements made by children, but Neal sounded so confident that Peter had no choice than to believe him.
He picked the folder up to find out what they had on the guy.

"You did good, kiddo."

Jones praised him.

"Please find my brother now."

Neal begged before he turned around and returned to Peter's office.