Author's Note: I'm finally back and despite everything I've been going through I managed to get this chapter together. I hope you'll like it :)

CHAPTER 22

Peter was staring blindly at the whiteboard, feeling more lost than ever.
They had put together every single information they knew about Keller and tried to find any motivation for the kidnappings.
A picture of Neal had been placed on the board with a big question mark next to it.
No one could understand how he had ended up on Keller's radar or why Keller even cared about the kid.
Peter would've understood it if Neal was a kid with rich parents that could pay a large ransom, but Neal had been a street kid without anyone to give Keller anything.
There had to be something that Keller wanted, but how could he get something out of a six year old?
The more Peter thought of it, the more lost he became. Nothing made sense and it frustrated him.
Every second spent trying to understand it all, was another second Neal spent with Keller.
He didn't even want to think about it. The kid, his kid, with that man.
They could be anywhere by now, there was nothing stopping Keller from leaving New York and he probably had the contacts to find a way out of the country, despite all the warrants.

He looked at his wife who was crying in his office, Diana trying her very best to comfort her.
Elizabeth had refused to be left alone at home, even with the agent outside.
Peter hadn't been able to protest, not when he looked into those blue eyes filled with fear and sadness.
She had even brought Satchmo who was placed by her feet. Even the dog had sensed that something was wrong and that it had to do with the absence of his young friend.
He desperately wanted to be in there and comfort his wife and dog but he didn't know how. There were no words that could make her feel better.
The only way to make her feel better was to find the boy, and in order to do that he had to continue working, even if locating Keller felt like an impossible task.
He forced himself to turn his back to them and instead walk down the stairs and over to Jones' desk, where the man was just hanging up the phone.

"Any luck?"

Peter had told Jones to contact Neal's teacher again to see if she knew what teachers had been outside with the children at the time of Neal's visit.
They had been looking for Keller for weeks and without any leads on the man their only hope right now was to identify "Kate" and hopefully find Keller through her.

"I got a hold of a teacher named Mr. Summers, he was one of the teachers watching the children and he remembers Neal"

Peter released a breath he didn't know he was holding. He had fully expected them to hit another roadblock but for once things were going their way.

"He lives nearby, he will be here in just a couple of minutes to talk to you"

Peter nodded and hoped that the teacher could help them get one step closer to finding Neal.

Mr Summers was a middle aged man with a rapidly receding hairline and big, thick glasses perched upon his nose.

"Mr Summers"

Peter greeted and shook the man's sweaty hand.
The teacher followed him to the conference room where they sat down.
Peter opened his notepad, ready to write down every single detail the man could provide.

"So you remember Neal?"
"Yes, I have an excellent memory"

Normally Peter would've been annoyed at the man's obvious bragging but now he couldn't be anything but happy about the so called excellent memory.

"Do you remember Neal receiving a flower from a girl?"

The man nodded

"Yes Mary Baker gave him a flower. It was pretty sweet."

Peter wrote down the name in his notepad and looked at it for a second. Was Mary Baker the girl's real name or was it another fake name?
Who was this little girl and how did she even get involved with Keller?
Did she have parents somewhere that missed her?
Or God forbid she was Keller's daughter. Peter couldn't even imagine what it was like being Keller's child.

"What grade is she in?"

Peter asked and the man looked puzzled for a second before he seemed to understand.

"Oh you think that Mary is-?"

He interrupted himself and shook his head.

"Agent. Mary is not a student, she's a substitute teacher"

At first Peter thought the man must've been mistaken, but then he heard Neal's voice in his head.
'Kate is tall. Really super tall'
Suddenly it dawned on him Kate wasn't a child at all, she was an adult.

"Agent Burke?"

Peter didn't realize that he had spaced out until the teacher called his name while looking at him with a worried face.

"Are you okay?"

Peter cleared his throat and nodded.

"You seem close to Neal"

The man deducted and tilted his head.

"He's my son"
Peter answered without missing a single beat.
The young boy had managed to weasel his way into Peter's heart and it really did start to feel like Neal was his son.

Peter looked through the glass walls with a fond smile.
Elizabeth had managed to fall asleep in his office chair, with Satchmo curled up by her feet.
He didn't want to wake her up, she really needed the rest but he knew from experience that sleeping in a chair wasn't all too comfortable and besides the other agents had practically forced him to give up for the day and return home.
Mr Summers had, with the help of his great memory, managed to help create an excellent, very detailed sketch of Kate or Mary or whatever her name was.
Unfortunately she wasn't in the system so it looked like their luck had ran out for the day.
Satchmo immediately started to wag his tail when Peter opened the door and he quietly greeted the dog before he carefully shook his wife's shoulder.
She looked confused for a second before she seemed to realize where she was and why.

"How did it go with the teacher?"

She asked, getting straight to the point.

"I'll update you at home"

He said, receiving a nod from her.

Elizabeth's face showed a mixture of shock and uneasiness as he told her the new information about Kate.
Peter understood her expression, there was just something about a child being lured away by an adult that was extremely uncomfortable.
When they thought Kate was a child, they thought she was just an innocent girl that had been manipulated into helping Keller but now when they knew she was an adult, they didn't look at her as innocent anymore.
What kind of people were they dealing with here?
What kind of sick people who kidnapped children and-
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. A knock on the back door.
Elizabeth and Peter shared a look before he got up from the couch and carefully walked over to the door.
Kate had used the backdoor to avoid the agent watching the house, so who's to say she wouldn't do it again or any of Keller's minions?
He was glad that he still had his gun on him and he placed his hand on the holster as he discreetly pulled back the curtain and revealed a strange man standing outside.
The man didn't look dangerous but you could never be too sure, therefore Peter opened the door slightly, but just enough to be able to talk to the man.

"Who are you and what do you want?"

He asked, using his best 'FBI voice'.

"Well good day to you too, suit"
The last word was spit out in disgust and Peter frowned at the man.

"We need to have a private conversation"

The man said before looking around in a paranoid fashion.

"No"

Peter simply said, there were no way he'd let a stranger into his house not with everything going on.
He was not going to risk losing another family member.
He was just about to slam the door shut when the man said something that managed to stop him.

"It's about Neal"

Author's Note 2: I would just like to thank you for all the kind words and support regarding my father.
Unfortunately just 12 hours after I posted the last chapter my dad passed away due to complications in the hospital. He was only 41 and everything has been very sudden.
It's been a very hard time for me and my two older brothers but we have had an amazing support from family, friends and even amazing strangers on the internet.
Thank you, it really warmed my heart that you took the time out of your day to think of me and write kind words :)