CHAPTER 20

A couple of days passed and still no sign of Keller. In one way it calmed them down, maybe Keller wasn't coming for Neal after all, but they still kept their guard outside the house in case Keller was waiting for them to think that it was over.
Neal had been a regular guest in the Burke's bed, every time he slept in his own bed he had horrible nightmares and they only seemed to get worse.
Peter hadn't been too happy about Neal spending every night in their bed since the boy moved around a lot, and it was not a pleasant experience to wake up at 4 AM because tiny feet were kicking his stomach.
Elizabeth had assured him that it wouldn't be permanent, only until Keller got caught or Neal's nightmares calmed down.
Problem was that could take weeks or even months. Worst case scenario, it would take years.
Hopefully Elizabeth would grow tired of it too and sooner or later the kid would have to return to his own bed.
As if the Keller problem wasn't bad enough, the dreaded day soon arrived. The day that marked one week since Neal arrived to their home.
Peter spent the entire day being scared, tensing every time Neal was even in the same room as him. He just waited for Neal to tell him that he wanted to leave and then Peter would have to admit that he lied and that there was no deal.
Then the night arrived and the kid hadn't as much as mentioned their deal and it seemed like the boy had simply forgot about it.
That should be a good sign right?
That Neal actually liked it here and didn't think about running away anymore.

It was Sunday afternoon, Peter had disappeared to the bureau since the NYPD had received a phone call about someone witnessing Keller and Peter wanted to be there in case the tip was legit.
Elizabeth was reading a book on the couch while Neal was placed on the floor, lying on his stomach, trying to read a book while simultaneously petting Satchmo.
Elizabeth and Neal had been spending a lot of time going through the books and Neal had slowly started to learn some new words.
The phone rang and Elizabeth picked up. Both the boy and the dog stopped what they were doing and looked up at Elizabeth when her happy tone turned into a worried one.
Elizabeth glanced at them before she left the room.
Neal felt worried, the phone call sounded serious. What if something happened to Peter?
He desperately wanted to follow her and eavesdrop but he knew Elizabeth would be angry with him if he did so.
Suddenly there was a knock on the back door and Neal frowned.
When people visited they used the front door, not the back door.
Neal felt conflicted, should he open the door or should he go get Elizabeth?
He was leaning towards the latter until a sudden thought hit him, what if it was Mozzie.
The man would most likely not use the front door like normal people.
Neal flew up and ran towards the door until another thought hit him, what if it was Keller?

"Sacchmo"

The dog got up and walked to the door with him.
With Satchmo by his side, he felt safer and he slowly pushed back the curtain that was placed in front of the window, and saw a friendly face looking back at him.
He relaxed, it wasn't Mozzie but it wasn't Keller either.
Neal opened the door while Satchmo was fast to greet the visitor.

"Hi Kate!"
"Hi Neal"

Her voice was just as wonderful as he remembered. Kate happily greeted the dog before her heavenly blue eyes looked at him.

"Do you want to come out and play?"

Neal nodded eagerly before remembering that he wasn't allowed to go anywhere without permission.

"I just have to ask 'Lizbeth first. Wait here!"

He said before running off to find Elizabeth, leaving Kate alone with Satchmo.

Elizabeth was pacing in the adults' bedroom. She sounded really worried and Neal stopped outside to listen.

"I don't understand. What happened to her?"

It was about a 'her' so it wasn't about Peter, that calmed Neal down.
He knocked on the door before entering and Elizabeth almost seemed a little annoyed at him interrupting.

"Hold on a second"

She said before holding the phone against her chest.

"I'm a little busy, Neal. What do you want?"

She didn't have her normal soft voice, instead she sounded annoyed and stressed.

"Kate is here. Can I go out and play?"

Elizabeth looked behind Neal as if contemplating if she should go down and meet Kate or not.
Apparently her phone call was more important so she decided not to. Instead she sighed and looked at Neal.

"You stay out back, don't go anywhere else. If you even as much as think about going away from the house you're in big trouble, Mister"

She said in a stern voice that left no room for arguments, Neal nodded before leaving the room and returning down to Kate.

Elizabeth had planned on just spending her Sunday afternoon relaxing and reading her book, perhaps grab a glass of wine and maybe have a reading session with Neal.
The hope for a calm, relaxing afternoon was crushed when the phone rang.
On the other end was a doctor telling her that her mother was in the hospital.
She left the room so that she wouldn't worry Neal.
The doctor wasn't helpful at all, he just kept repeating the same things.
His mother had collapsed in her parents' home and she had arrived in with an ambulance just thirty minutes ago.
They didn't know if she was okay, she had hit her head and was still unconscious and they didn't even know why she had collapsed.
Then Neal interrupted her, asking if he could play with Kate. Elizabeth was too worried about her mother to actually meet the girl and allowed the kids to play outside, as long as they stayed right outside the house.
She tried to get the doctor to give the phone to her father but was given the answer that he wasn't nearby.
Satchmo was barking downstairs and Elizabeth wished that the kids would tell the dog to stop, but they never did. They were most likely the ones causing the dog to bark.
Her phone call was going nowhere, the doctor seemed very distant and he didn't seem to know or even care about her mother's condition.
Finally Elizabeth gave up and said goodbye before rushing downstairs.
Elizabeth grabbed both her own and Neal's jacket, she was ready to drive to the hospital, despite it being hours away.
She walked into the living room and sighed when she realized why Satchmo was barking like a maniac.
They had closed the door and left him inside. If it was one thing Satchmo disliked, it was Neal playing without him.
Satchmo barked again, jumping up against the door.

"Calm down, Satch"

She said before opening the door, ready to tell Neal to hurry inside, except when she opened the door their backyard was empty. There was not a child in sight.
Elizabeth swore, of all the times Neal chose to disobey her, it was now.
Now that she needed to leave, and now that Keller was still out there.
The thought of Neal unsupervised out there, when Keller was still on the run, made her stomach turn.
The front door opened and she ran towards it only to see her husband and not the boy.

"Did you catch Keller?!"

She yelled and her husband jumped before reading her face and realizing that something was wrong.

"No, the tip was false. Hun, what happened?"

Keller was still out there, and so was Neal. She started to back away while all the horrible images flashed in her head.
How could she have been so careless?
She knew that Neal was fully aware of what danger Keller imposed but at the same time he was six, he was just a child and children was impulsive.
Elizabeth sat down on the couch while the tears started to fall.

Peter had really hoped that Keller would be arrested and that this whole thing would finally be over.
They could finally relax, Neal could go back to his bed and they could return to a normal life.
There was no Keller in the store, but there was plenty of security cameras.
Peter, Jones and Diana looked through all the footage, every single frame from the time Keller was allegedly spotted until the time they arrived.
They even looked several hours before Keller was supposed to have been there, but there was no Keller anywhere. There wasn't even anyone looking like Keller.
Peter was pissed and so was his team.
They had wasted time and resources and given false hope. Peter could've been at home spending time with his family but no instead he was spending hours staring at a monitor.
By the time he arrived home, he was ready to kick back, grab a beer and watch some sport, but as soon as he saw Elizabeth's face he realized that something was very, very wrong.
Elizabeth sat down on the couch and started to cry and Satchmo was whining.
They were in distress, and Peter could quickly guess why. Neal wasn't there.
He walked over to the couch, sitting down next to his wife and put his arms around her.

"What happened?"
"Neal is gone"

She sobbed while he stroke her hair, trying to comfort her.
"It's all my fault"
"Tell me everything, El"

Elizabeth tried her best to explain everything, in between her sobs.
She told Peter about the phone call and about how Kate showed up and how she had just let them walk outside without any supervision at all.
It would have been so easy for her to just tell them to wait or to play inside or even just meet the girl. Oh god, she didn't even know the girl.
If something happened to the kids, she would have no way of contacting Kate's parents.
Peter waited until she had stopped crying before answering her.

"Don't blame yourself, hun. You were in emotional distress and beside Neal's a smart kid. He should know better than to leave"

Elizabeth wanted to believe him, she wanted to believe him so bad but she couldn't.

"Maybe they went to Kate's house?"

Peter suggested and Elizabeth ran her hand over her face, wiping away the tears.

"I don't even know her last name"

She said and Peter's small smile disappeared again. Then out of nowhere she remembered something.
Elizabeth flew up from the couch and ran to her purse. She dug around in it until she found what she was looking for.
A note where she had scribbled down Mrs. Fisher's phone number.
Surely Neal's teacher would know of the girl or at least have some way of finding out.
Elizabeth grabbed the phone and called.

"Come on, pick up, pick up"

She whispered and finally after the fifth signal, she picked up.

"Hello, Mary Fisher speaking"
"Hi, Mrs. Fisher. This is Elizabeth Burke"
"Oh hello, Mrs. Burke. Everything okay?"

Elizabeth took a deep breath before explaining that Neal was missing and that he had been playing with Kate that he met at school.
Mrs. Fisher didn't know of the girl but they had a register of every student. Elizabeth felt hopeful as she heard Mrs. Fisher writing on a computer in the background.
After what felt like an eternity the sound of the keyboard stopped and she could hear Mrs. Fisher clear her throat.

"Mrs. Burke"

Elizabeth didn't like her tone, it felt like she wouldn't like what she was about to say next. Elizabeth was very right, Mrs. Fisher's words caused her heart to stop.

"I'm sorry but there is no Kate at our school"