NOTE: Hi guy! Sorry for the wait...I had a wisdom tooth removal that didn't go all that well. I'm almost healed though! Hugs!


Chapter Eighty-eight

Taking a deep breath Neal looked up at the slate gray sky. Even with the overcast storm Neal still found himself squinting in the natural light. Smiling at the chance to be adjusting back to real sunlight Neal let the rain strike his face for another moment before looking back at Peter. Peter smiled brightly at him and continued to say nothing. Neal greatly appreciated the chance to settle out his thoughts in his own head while still having Peter there for support.

"Thank you, Peter." Neal broke the comfortable silence.

"You're welcome."

"We should probably go back inside. I'm sorry we are going to track water across your floor."

"It's fine, we're used to it with Satchmo anyway."

Hearing his name Satchmo paused his rolling around in the wet grass to see what was going on. Getting to his muddy paws he trotted over to the pair happily as they step back onto the covered patio. Peter looked down at wet dog and put his hands on his hips.

"Shake it off, Satch."

Apparently understanding the order Satchmo shook his fur starting from his head and progressing quickly down to his tail. The motion sent a spray of water arching away from the soggy dog. Despite already being soaked to the skin both Peter and Neal tried hopelessly to shield themselves from the aquatic ballistics. They laughed at one another for caring about getting any more wet than they already were. Unsure what was happening but enjoying the lighthearted mood Satchmo wagged happily before putting his nose to the door. Suddenly even more lively Satchmo danced and wiggled at the closed door.

"That's odd," Peter noted "he's usually only ever excited to go out, not back inside. Even if it's meal time."

Even though nothing particularly sinister appeared to be happening Neal's stomach twisted slightly at the crease that had developed between Peter's brow at his dog's behavior. It took Peter a moment to shake his head in a 'stop over thinking everything' manner before he reached out and opened the door for the dog. Wedging his way through the door the moment it was open Satchmo raced inside. Looking concerned again Peter quickly followed to investigate.

'Boy,' Jake chuckled in Neal's ear 'Peter's sure on edge, isn't he?'

"Shut up." Neal growled under his breath.

Ignoring Jake and angry that he was back again Neal followed Peter inside. Distracted by the hallucination Neal was taken by surprise when Peter suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and ended up bumping into him. Peter recovered from his momentary surprise quickly and hurried towards the living room, dripping water across the tile and onto the carpet. Taking a second to catch up Neal finally figured out what had caused both Satchmo and Peter's odd behavior: they had a guest.

Standing in the middle of the living room Elizabeth was holding a slender African American woman who much like themselves was soaked to the skin. Satchmo had pressed himself against her and was wagging helpfully. Shivering violently water dripped off her long tightly curled hair as she cried against Elizabeth's shoulder. Elizabeth looked up at Peter and Neal was surprised to see an almost apologetic look in her eyes. Peter smiled understandingly back at her. Sensing that they were no longer alone the woman forced herself to calm down and turned around to greet the men with as brave an face as she could manage right now. Neal gasped sharply and Peter automatically took a step closer when they noticed the blood and bruising. Asha self consciously brought her hand up over her bleeding temple.

"Asha?" Peter asked gently.

"I'm sorry, Agent Burke, I..I know I shouldn't ha…"

"It's okay," Peter assured "please call me Peter."

"What happened?" Neal asked concerned. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, really, I'm just...I'm okay." Asha said sounding more like she was trying to convince herself. "You must be Neal."

Neal nodded and Asha smiled shyly looking more shaken by the second.

"One of Walker's men attack her." Elizabeth explained.

"What?" Neal and Peter asked in unison.

"No, I don't know that, I don't know that for sure." Asha said as she shook her head in denial. "I mean I was attacked, but it's not a great neighborhood. It could have been random."

"You helped Agent Walsh get into Walker's computer and the next day you just happen to be attacked by someone who followed you from your work?" Elizabeth asked doubtfully. "That doesn't sound random."

"Let's start with what we know for now." Peter suggested. "Asha, did you get a good look at your attacker."

"Yes." Asha nodded. "He…he talked to me before hand. He walked past as I was going down the steps, and then at the intersection he turned around muttering to himself like he was lost. He apologized to me and then he turned right. I watched and he just kept going so I went straight and I didn't think anything of it. Later I turned right and somehow he knew exactly where I'd cross and was waiting in an alley to jump out at me."

"'Follow from the front'." Neal nodded.

"What?"

"He timed the approach to the intersection and confronted you when the light would prevent you from going straight." Neal explained. "When you didn't go left to avoid him but you also waited to go straight he knew you'd eventually go right. He ran up the ally and kept checking until you turned his way. That's a skilled move."

"Professional to some degree at least." Peter agreed.

"So not random?" Elizabeth asked.

"It could still be random." Peter admitted. "It could have been a predator out looking for a target."

'Sounds like something I'd do.' Jake snickered to Neal. 'Didn't I catch you in the tunnels that way once? You just walked right by, I could have killed you if I'd wanted to.'

"Asha, how did you get away?" Neal asked, ignoring Jake.

"I...I don't really remember, everything happened so fast. Honestly it almost seemed like he let me go. At one point I think he even said he was sorry. But that doesn't make any sense."

"Actually, it does." Neal said carefully.

"I agree." Peter said grimly.

"I don't understand." Asha said confused.

Neal flashed Peter an uneasy look and Peter in turn looked to Elizabeth for help. It took Elizabeth a second to understand but then a sudden look of horror that fell over her delicate features.

"Elizabeth?" Asha asked anxiously.

"Asha," Elizabeth said softly "they are saying the attack was likely sexual in nature."

"Oh." Asha flushed as she cast her eyes down. "I didn't…I don't know why I didn't think of that. I just thought he wanted to kill me, but I guess if he had wanted to do that he would have. He didn't have a weapon and it sorta seemed like he didn't want to hurt me…I don't know I was so panicked. I still don't understand why he let me go."

"It may have been his first public attack, maybe lost his nerve when you fought back and let you go or maybe someone you didn't see interrupted him." Peter explained gently. "In any case we are going to file a report and find this guy, get him off the street. If you feel comfortable describing him to Neal he's an artist. It would be best to get a sketch while it's all still fresh."

Asha nodded but the vacant look in her eyes suggested that she was starting to go into shock as her adrenaline faded and the nature of her close call started to invade her thoughts.

"Peter," Elizabeth said "let me take her upstairs and get her some dry warm clothes before anything else."

"Good idea." Peter agreed. "Keep her clothes, the police will want them as evidence."

"Thank you, everyone, for helping me." Asha said on the edge of tears again.

"Of course." Peter smiled warmly. "I'm glad you came to us and once things settle down a little I want to thank you for everything you did to help Elizabeth over the past few months."

"My pleasure." Asha smiled. "Elizabeth has been there for me too. I'm so glad you and your partner were found."

Elizabeth gave Asha another hug before guiding her upstairs. Neal watched them leave with conflicting thoughts about everything that had just happened. The entire encounter seemed a little unreal. Glancing over at Peter Neal was surprised to see that he didn't seem to be having any doubts. Before he could ask Peter what he thought he caught some movement in his peripheral vision. Neal jerked his head slightly to keep track of the specter, but there wasn't anything there.

"Neal?" Peter asked concerned.

"Peter, if I was going to send someone to check in on us you know who I'd send, right?"

"A damsel in distress." Peter sighed.

"I don't want to say I don't believe Asha, because I have to admit that I do. She seems very genuine, but don't you think the timing of this is a little suspect?"

"It's New York, Neal, it's a dangerous city."

"Maybe in the 70's but crime rates have dropped drastically and attacking someone in broad daylight like that is a bold move."

"She's not working for York, Walker," Peter corrected "at least not in the sense you're thinking."

"Peter," Neal said carefully remembering back to how fully Peter had fallen for Sawyer's girlfriend's con "…are you sure you can trust your judgment with her?"

"I'm not trusting my judgment, I'm trusting Elizabeth's."

Clearly considering the matter closed Peter headed off into the downstairs bathroom and brought Neal back a towel. It wasn't until he was presented with the towel that he even really noticed that he was still dripping on the carpet. Neal accepted the towel and did his best to dry off even though with the high humidity it would be hours before his clothing was truly dry. Much how Peter hadn't thought to change into new clothes this morning it didn't occur to Neal now that he had some dry clothes in a suit case near by.

After drying himself off Peter knelt down and worked to get the mud off Satchmo's paws. Between the two of them, the dog, and Asha the living room carpet had taken a beating. Giving up on trying to clean up the mess Peter went over to the cabinet and rummaged around until he found a pad of paper and a pencil. Accepting the paper and pencil Neal spread his towel out on the floor and sat down on it to avoid soaking any of the furniture.

Coming back downstairs Asha looked a little better mentally now that she was cleaned up physically. There had been a moment there when she had looked like she might completely break down again. Thinking back on that Neal decided that Elizabeth's instincts on Asha were likely correct, if this was a broken wing act it was a very good one. Elizabeth brought Asha over to the couch and sat down next to her. Asha smiled nervously at Neal and admitted that she had never tried to describe someone to an artist. Neal smiled back and guided her through it asking simple questions about general face shape and slowly getting into more specifics. It didn't take long for Asha to get the hang of it and start to add details on her own and as a result the face he was drawing had started to come to life.

"Neal, stop." Peter sighed suddenly.

"What?" Neal looked up surprised. "Why?"

"Look at who you're drawing." Peter said sadly.

Neal had been concentrating so hard on Asha's description and accommodating it that he hadn't really looked at the whole face. Taking a figurative step back from the drawing he could see why Peter had stopped him. The likeness wasn't perfect but it was obvious that he was just drawing Jake again.

'I'm really in your head, aren't I?' Jake mocked.

"I'm sorry." Neal sighed. "I guess I can't do this."

"No, you are doing a good job." Asha said in a shaky voice. "That looks a lot like him."

Neal and Peter shared a shocked look.

"No, it couldn't be him." Neal said. "Could it?"

"Draw him." Peter suggested.

Asha looked worried and confused but she didn't say anything. Turning to a new page Neal used his own crystal clear memory of Jake to redraw the sketch. Once again battling to keep the expression neutral. As Neal finished the drawing he and Peter both startled as the house phone rang. Peter didn't make any move to answer the phone he just urged Neal to show Asha the new drawing.

"That him." Asha confirmed as tears streaked her face. "He was wearing a suit and tie, but that's him."

'Suit and tie?' Jake sounded offended in Neal's head.

"Jake must have gone back to York." Peter said not sounding convinced.

"I don't think he'd do that." Neal said.

"Then why…"

Peter stopped as he noticed that the phone was still ringing. Whoever was trying to call had hung up and instantly dialed again. Without a cell phone if anyone at the FBI was trying to contact him they'd have to call the land line. Putting the new twist in Asha's story on momentarily hold Peter answered the phone.

"Burke."

'Peter?' Walsh asked in obvious relief. 'Peter are you okay? Is Neal with you? Please, please tell me Neal is with you.'

"He is, we're fine. What's going on?"

'Jones and Diane went to his apartment and found some blood and he wasn't there and we all instantly thought the worst and then you didn't answer the phone...'

"I'm sorry, I didn't even think of that."

'Yeah, technically he's breaking his parole right now, but I won't tell anyone if you don't.' Walsh chuckled. 'Anyway, I panicked for a number of reasons and now I'm about ten minutes away from your front door.'

"A number of reasons?"

'I have a bit of a situation.' Walsh admitted.

"I think your situation is sitting in my living room…"