Unintended Consequences

DISCLAIMER: White Collar belongs to Jeff Eastin and USA Network.

A/N: Another installment! I might even have another chapter up tomorrow, since I've been stuck in the house because of bad weather all day yesterday, all day today and probably all day tomorrow although I'm working on an escape plan ; )

Chapter 6

Wednesday evening 6 p.m.

Peter arrived home to find the street he and Elle lived on crawling with cops. He shouldn't have been surprised, the Vermeer was a very high profile painting. Rumors of its presence were bound to cause quite a commotion. Peter climbed the few steps to his home and was stopped by a uniformed police officer on the top step. Peter was about to flash his badge when he thought twice; trying to show authority in this situation would probably make him look like he was trying to interfere in the investigation and he did not need those charges brought up.

"I'm Peter Burke. This is my home. May I ask what is going in here?"

"We have a warrant to search these premises."

"May I see the warrant, please?"

The officer handed him the warrant. It was there for all to see, both his and Elle's names and their address. It specified their home as the place to be searched for Vermeer's painting, "The Concert."

Peter had seen more than his share of search warrants, but he had never seen one with his name in it. He felt shivers going up and down his spine as he had an unsettling feeling this was somehow related to the kidnapping.

Peter handed the warrant back to the officer.

"May I enter?"

"You may stand just inside the entry way, sir, but don't touch anything. There will be another officer inside, check in with him. They're just wrapping up. You'll be free to go about your business after we have completed the search."

Peter nervously stepped inside. He wasn't sure why he was nervous, it wasn't like he had anything to hide, but he had the definite feeling someone was trying hard to frame him and it was making his stomach queasy. He walked over to the young man standing near the couch. He looked very young, probably a rookie. Peter was still in his suit and tie hoping he looked authoritative. He flashed his FBI badge hoping to impress him.

"I'm Peter Burke. This is my home, do you know if they found anything?"

"I'm not aware they've found anything, sir. They're downstairs right now."

"I'm sure they wanted to spend their day surrounded by cobwebs."

"I'm sure they didn't sir, but to find this Vermeer, I don't think they'd mind."

"Would you mind if I looked at the flowers? My wife must have just gotten them; they weren't here this morning. I don't think they're hiding a painting."

Peter turned and looked at the rookie for an answer.

"Officer...?"

"Officer Keeney, sir. I don't think it would hurt if you looked at the flowers. As you said sir, they're not hiding the painting."

Peter walked the couple steps to the table and removed the card attached to the flowers. He flipped it open. 'You don't know what you have until it's gone.' Peter felt his blood starting to boil. He had a sneaky suspicion that Frank was involved in this as well. It wasn't clear who the note was written to, so he wasn't sure if Elle was the one in danger or if it was meant for him. It was no wonder Elle had called him wondering what was up; the card was very disturbing. He turned to face the rookie, trying to calm himself down.

"How long have you been with the force?"

"Two months, sir."

"Welcome to law enforcement. I hope you enjoy the ride."

"I hope to, sir. May I ask a personal question?"

If this could buy him any more information regarding the situation, Peter was more than happy to comply.

"Certainly."

"How can you be so calm? I mean this is your house and there are cops everywhere looking through your stuff. You seem like a nice guy and you work for the FBI. What happened?"

Peter took it as a compliment that the rookie thought he looked calm, at least he was fooling someone.

"Work for the force for a few years and I guarantee you'll develop enemies. This is what happens when they come after you and your family."

Officer Keeney turned a bit pale as if the thought had never occurred to him that someone might come after him or his family.

"Well I'd say someone is watching out for you then, because as far as I know they haven't found anything."

Peter felt a sigh of relief escaping, but then realized if Elle had signed for the package she had to have been home. He said a quick prayer of thanks that the painting had not been found and also for Elle's protection wherever she might be.

"Excuse me for just a moment."

Peter stepped away intending to call Hughes when he noticed he had a missed call from Elle and a new voicemail; hopefully she was still ok. He held the voicemail button down. 'You have one new message.' He pressed the button to play the message and heard Elle's familiar voice.

"Hey, Honey, some flowers and a big package were just delivered. It has a strange message; it says 'You don't know what you have until it's gone.' I'm not sure what that means but it doesn't sound good. Is there something I should know? Give me a call when you have a chance. I won't open it until you get home. I love you. Bye!"

Peter clicked the button to save the message forgetting about Hughes for a moment. He was fairly certain the package Elle referred to in her voicemail must be the Vermeer painting. The question was why was it delivered and where had it disappeared to? Peter highly doubted Elle would have just left with it. It didn't sound like she knew what it was when she left the message. She said she was going to wait until he got home to open it, so he was sure something else had happened; he wasn't coming up with any good scenarios. Peter tried calling her cell but it was going straight to voicemail; not a good sign. He turned to the young rookie again.

"Was my wife here? Have you seen her?"

"No, sir. There was no one here but the dog when we arrived."

"The dog was ok? Not drugged or tied up or anything?"

"Nope, he just came out to greet us, sniffed and barked a couple times. Didn't seem to be happy we were here, but he eventually went upstairs."

Knowing that Satch was ok made Peter feel better; if someone had tried to take Elizabeth by force, Satch would have tried to protect her, would not have stopped barking and more than likely been hurt in the process. The only other explanation was that Elle left with someone Satch knew and was familiar with. Neal. Peter had a sharp intake of breath as the obvious answer fell into place. Had Neal taken her? Was he playing Peter as Hughes suspected? He knew that Elle trusted Neal, even more so than he did. She would have left with him without any questions. Peter had been certain that Frank had been out to get him because of his sister, but now he was beginning to consider that Neal may also be involved. Would Neal have known Frank? It did make sense that they would have. Neal had so much going for him, so why would he partner with Frank? Were they two separate cases or somehow horribly intertwined? The list of questions Peter had seemed to be growing and he wasn't finding the answers he was looking for. He would have questioned the rookie further, but his cell phone rang. Peter looked at the caller ID and noticed it was Hughes. Good he thought, hopefully he found the case file from the Gardner museum.

"This is Agent Burke."

"Peter, it's Hughes. I found the file you asked about, but first I wanted to know what you found at home."

"Nothing as far as I know, but Elle is missing. She left me a voicemail and said she would be at home, but she isn't anywhere to be found. One of the cops I talked to said she wasn't here when they arrived. Something is wrong; I can just feel it."

"Peter, we'll find her and we'll find Grace."

"Yeah, but will it be in time? Never mind. You said you have the file on the Gardner museum robbery. Did you find anything?"

"You were right, Frank Corleone was one of the people investigated, but there was never any hard evidence linking him to the crime."

"Was Neal ever suspected in that heist?"

"I think that's probably one of the few he wasn't."

"Hmm. Ok. Thanks. I really appreciate this, sir."

Peter flipped the phone closed and turned to the rookie.

"I need to be going. It was nice to meet you, Officer Keeney."

"Pleasure is mine, sir."

Peter turned around and headed back out the door. The cop was still standing at the entrance.

"I am sorry about this, sir."

"It's not your fault, officer. You're only doing your job."

Peter walked down the stairs to his car frustrated with the growing possibility that Neal was involved and Elle's whereabouts were still unknown. A thought hit him and he speed dialed Jones.

"Jones, I need you to pull tracking data on Caffrey. I need to know where he is right now."

Peter could hear the keys clicking in the background.

"He's still in his apartment, Peter. It doesn't look like he's left all day. You know there is a possibility he's sick."

"He's not. He's involved somehow and I need to find out how. I'm going over there right now to check on him and then I'm coming back to the office. Did you find the blueprints?"

"Yes, sir. Diana and I are looking them over right now. We can brief you when you get here."

"Good. I'll expect that."

Peter snapped his phone shut, got in his car and drove to Neal's apartment already convinced that Neal had betrayed him and kidnapped Elle.