I do not own Leverage or White Collar.

Diana's POV

I was digging through the records of one Jimmy Black. He was certainly an interesting read. He was suspected of some gang activity in his youth but there were no charges ever brought against him. He seemed to clean himself up and go straight except for one thing. There were several cases of suspected assault against him but no one was willing to ever press charges against him. They seemed to be afraid of him but nothing in this file was telling me why. Why was this seemingly normal middle-aged man someone people were afraid of actually accusing of committing a crime, at least in a court of law?

It was frustrating but I decided to call some of the people who were involved in the cases. One such person was Officer Carl Jefferson from Los Angeles. His reports claimed that Black was involved in a money-laundering scheme.

"Los Angeles Police Department. How can I help you?" a voice on the other end of the phone said. I was confused as I thought I had called his personal line but maybe I got the number wrong and it defaulted to the front desk.

"Hello, this is Special Agent Diana Berrigan from the FBI White Collar Division. I was trying to reach Officer Carl Jefferson," I told the voice on the other end of the phone.

"Ah, he got promoted to detective, would you like me to connect you to his new number?" the voice asked

"That would be great, thank you," as soon as I finished speaking, I heard a beeping that signaled the line being connected to another line.

I was waiting for a few moments, "Detective Carl Jefferson speaking," he said.

"This is Diana Berrigan from the FBI White Collar Division. I was wondering if you could shed some light on a suspect of a crime that I have?" I asked knowing that detectives could be busy and it may be better if I call back later.

"Sure, I have a few minutes. What is your suspect's name? I can call up the files I have on them," he told me.

"The suspect's name is Jimmy Black. He is suspected of being involved in a case but we are unsure of the connection, so I am gathering information on him to see how he may be involved," I replied, adding some context.

The detective was silent for a few minutes but I could hear typing, "I remember the case but I am a little scarce on the details. I tried to look up the case but there do not seem to be any records. I can tell you what I remember and then try to go find the paper files and fax them to you," He told me.

"Okay, tell me what you know. Quick question, is it normal for online records to disappear?" I asked curiously but without judgment.

"It is not normal for online records to disappear. Normally, the records are very good and dependable," He told me, sounding upset.

"Thanks for answering my question. Tell me what you remember about Jimmy Black," I said, making a note on a sheet of paper that Jimmy Black was connected to a hacker whether through friendship or strictly a business relationship was unknown at the time.

As if waiting for the words to be said, this time he started to talk right away, "Well, at the time we were looking into the Marcus brothers. They had been small-time petty crooks all their lives but suddenly they were flashing around a lot of money so I was helping Detective Mory look into a few things. I was walking through the neighborhood, getting a lay of who had what territory now so I could see if they had gotten involved with a gang or something when I saw him," He paused for a second and seemed to be taking a drink of something. I decided to ask a question real quick.

"Can I have a little background on the Marcus Brothers and Detective Mory?" I asked, feeling like I was missing something in the story that had been told so far as I did not know all the players.

I heard some rustling on his end before he started to speak, "The Marcus brothers are Anthony and Britton Marcus. Most of what they were caught for was small stuff like breaking into cars, robbing houses, vandalizing monuments, etc. Nothing hardcore. They never seemed to have a lot of money and were recognized for the ratty sweatshirts each of them wore. Anthony wore dark green and Britton wore dark red. When suddenly, they were seen with a plethora of new things and even bragged about it, it was strange. It seemed like they wanted to be caught or something...," He said, trailing off as if the case was making sense for the first time.

"That makes sense. Now tell me about Detective Mory," I told him, hoping he would start talking again with a little prompting.

He spoke again with no further prompting on my part, "Detective Mory was the best and worst cop this city ever had. He was the best as he just had a way with the people that he helped that would get them talking. He was the worst as he would use any means necessary to catch them, even if the case would end up being thrown out of court later. It always frustrated me to see an obviously guilty guy get off as a cop did something stupid. He was the best man I ever knew and had very strong morals of right and wrong, which is part of the problem I think," he continued to talk in a similar manner for at least 5 minutes, not really giving any new information but it was certainly entertaining to listen to as he had done some crazy stuff.

"So, how was Jimmy Black involved?" I asked, almost dreading the answer I would get as it was a mess already.

"He was one of the people that is suspected of taking down the Marcus brothers. I always had something of an inkling that Mory was the reason that they were there but I could never find a solid connection, especially relating to the money. God bless his soul, been gone for nearly two years now and I don't want anything tainting his reputation. He was a good cop in the end (as he passed saving as many kids as possible)."

We finished talking and I was left with many questions and answers about the situation. I had both everything and nothing to give Peter. I hoped the others had dug up some better information but I had a feeling that the pickings would be slim as this guy seemed to have a good hacker covering his trail. I guess we would have to take that guy out before we could get to Black so I welcomed the challenge of finding him.

AN: So it's been over a year again. I really don't have a good excuse but I will give a little info anyway. I have been busy with school, staying with Grandma, COVID messing with stuff, and developing an interest in other writings (fandom and original). Let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions as I will probably write something soon (once I figure out where the story should go as I rarely outline before I write as I tend to ignore it anyway). Thanks for your patience ~jenn008

AN2: Minor edits were completed. A new chapter should be up later.