CHAPTER 19

"Peter, what are you doing?"

He jumped as he heard Elizabeth's voice behind him and he turned around to see that she was looking at him with a disapproving look.
She was obviously not happy over the fact that he had been looking inside Mozzie's bag but at the moment Peter didn't care what she thought.

"Look at this, Elizabeth."

He told her and showed her the painting and she gave him a confused look, not recognizing the painting.

"It's one of the paintings stolen by Scarface."

Peter told her and he could see how she wasn't sure how to react to his words.

"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Well, I'm sure Mozzie has an explanation."

Elizabeth was quick to defend Mozzie and he could see in her face that there wasn't any suspicion at all.
She didn't believe that Mozzie was related to Scarface in any way.
Peter however suspected the worst and several different theories popped up in his head, everything from Mozzie working with the man to Mozzie somehow being Scarface.
Then before Peter had the chance to hide the painting, footsteps were heard and Mozzie suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs, his eyes fixated on the painting in Peter's hands.

The paranoia was evident on the man's face and Peter placed the painting back in the bag before slowly raised his hands, showing that he meant him no harm.
"I just want to talk to you, Mozzie."

Mozzie shook his head, obviously not trusting the agent, before he backed away from the stairs and out of their sight.

"Please Mozzie."

Elizabeth called out and her friend did return shortly after that, but he didn't return alone.
Mozzie had his arm around a very confused looking Neal's throat and even if the grip wasn't hurting the kid at the moment, Mozzie just needed to apply a little more pressure to choke the boy.
Peter glanced over at Elizabeth who looked both shocked and scared, not at all expecting this reaction from her friend.

"Please Mozzie, Peter's not a bad guy here."

She tried to reason but the man just wouldn't believe her.

"He's a fed, Elizabeth!"

It was sad to see how the paranoia had poisoned Mozzie and how he just couldn't trust the agent, no matter what they said.

"I just want to talk."

Peter repeated but his words fell on deaf ears.

"I'm going to leave this house and if you try to stop me, Neal is going to suffer."

The threat was carried out in a shaky voice and it was clear that it was not a threat that Mozzie wanted to make.
Mozzie did care for Neal, Peter remembered how Mozzie had threatened him on the schoolyard the first time they had met and he didn't think that the man was actually capable of harming the kid that he had been so protective of.
At the same time, he knew what desperation could do to a man so when Mozzie made it down the stairs, he made sure that both him and Elizabeth backed away to give him some space.
Peter had to take this seriously, in case there was even the slightest chance that Mozzie would make good on his threat.
Mozzie grabbed his bag containing the stolen painting and opened the door, then once he was outside he released his grip on the boy.

"I'm sorry, kid."

He said and ruffed the boy's hair before he took off into the night, leaving the three remaining people frozen in place, trying to understand what had just happened.
Neal was the first one to move, the child turned around and looked at his mother with big, sad eyes before he looked over at Peter and the sadness was suddenly transformed into anger.
The six-year-old lounged towards him and the agent didn't even get a chance to protect himself from the sharp kick on his shin.

"I hate you!"

The boy cried out while trying to kick him again but this time Peter was prepared for it and could easily protect himself.

"You scared Mozzie away! I hate you!"

Neal yelled as Elizabeth grabbed him before he could try to kick the agent once more.
Once in his mother's arms, the kid broke down and started to sob while hugging her tightly.
Elizabeth looked up at Peter, her blue eyes filled with unshed tears and mouthed "it's not your fault."

It took a little over two hours for Elizabeth to get the kid to calm down and then get him into bed again and when she returned downstairs she was clearly exhausted, both physically and mentally.
She sat down next to Peter on the couch and he carefully put an arm around her, not sure if she was mad at him or not.
When the arm wasn't rejected, he pulled her slightly closer and kissed her on the top of her head.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have looked through the bag. I didn't know that it would be that bad and I didn't know it would put Neal in danger."
"It's not your fault."

Elizabeth answered and looked up at him.

"I don't know why Mozzie has that painting but I know that he just got spooked and he would never actually hurt Neal."

She really believed that Mozzie was innocent and Peter really hoped that she was right and that the man wasn't connected to Scarface.

"Neal doesn't actually hate you, he's just upset and confused about Mozzie's actions."

Elizabeth explained and Peter nodded, he had started to understand the kid more and this was far from the first time that the boy had been angry at him.
After all, it had only been a couple of hours since the child had been mad the last time and told Peter that he hated him and wished that he was dead.
He sighed and just wished for this whole Scarface ordeal to be over soon so that they could catch a break and actually work on building their relationships and try to be a family.
They spent the rest of their evening watching TV together even I none of them could really focus on the movie since they were both lost in their thoughts.

"PETER WAKE UP!"
Peter woke up with a start, immediately sitting up and looking around the room, confused about what had woken him up.

"PETER!"

The sound came from downstairs and it only took him a second to identify the sound as Neal yelling and it sounded urgent.
He jumped out of bed and hurried downstairs, almost falling several times, and didn't stop until he spotted the six-year-old, still dressed in his Batman pajamas, standing by the dining table with the dog by his side.

"What's going on, buddy?"

Peter asked as he looked around, trying to locate any threat.
He could swear that his heart completely stopped when instead of answering, the boy picked up a note from the table.
Peter realized that Elizabeth wasn't here and now that he thought about it, she hadn't been in the bed with him either.
He suddenly feared that she had been kidnapped again and this time they had been in the house while they were asleep and no one had noticed, not even Satchmo or the FBI agent outside.
With shaking hands, he took the note from Neal and once he started to read he realized that Elizabeth hadn't been kidnapped but that didn't mean that the note was something positive.
She had left.
Elizabeth had left the house and went to find Mozzie and she didn't know when she would be back.
Even if this meant that she wasn't tied up in a basement somewhere again, it meant that she was out there alone without him being able to protect her and without any FBI agent watching her which meant that she could be in danger.
Peter looked down at Neal and he saw that the kid was thinking the same thing as him.
Elizabeth might not return at all.