Not long after Mozzie left, there was another knock on the Burkes' door. Neal, who Elizabeth had thought was asleep in the guest room, nearly walked into her as he made to answer the door.
"Neal, why aren't you upstairs?" Elizabeth asked with a hint of concern. "Why don't you go lay down on the couch?"
"Where's Peter?" Neal asked looking at Elizabeth with a dazed expression and without waiting for an answer walked into the living room. As he walked away, Elizabeth gave him a worried look before opening the door.
"Hi, Jill. How are you? I hope you didn't have any trouble with that big tree that fell down," Elizabeth said as she ushered her friend inside.
"Oh, it was fine; nothing like an added obstacle to parking in New York," Jill said with a grin.
"I really appreciate this," Elizabeth said. "I know it's a little out of the way for you."
"I told you not to worry about it; I was planning on coming into the city sometime this week anyway. You'll just have to help me look for a wedding dress later on," Jill said.
"What kind of a friend slash wedding planner would I be if I didn't?"
"A smart one; I'm going to go through a million dresses. But don't worry, my fiance's assistant is coming to help me look too," Jill said.
"I still can't believe I haven't met him," Elizabeth said.
"That's what happens when two doctors date; they very rarely have free time at the same time. And on that note, where's my patient?"
Elizabeth led Jill into the living room where Neal was sitting on the couch, looking thoroughly miserably.
"Jill, I'd like you to meet my husband's partner," Elizabeth said.
"The infamous Neal Caffrey?" Jill asked with a knowing smile.
"You've told your friends I'm infamous?" Neal asked, perking up slightly. "I'm not sure if I should be honored or offended."
"Probably a little of both," Elizabeth said as she leaned down to brush a few stray hairs away from Neal's eyes. "Well, Neal, would you like to dispel Mozzie's curse theories once and for all?"
"I really don't think that's possible," Neal replied. "But for your friend here, I suppose we could try. Just tell me she won't drug or handcuff me."
"Neal, since you didn't break into Jill's office, I don't think you have anything to worry about," Elizabeth said. As Jill gave Elizabeth a quizzical look, she commented, "It's a long story. Just remember you're dealing with a semi-reformed con-man."
"Semi-reformed? Elizabeth, that's hardly fair," Neal remarked.
"Neal, the things you do to help the bureau often fall in a grey area," Elizabeth said. Then she turned to Jill, "Before he even considers giving you an inadequate description of his symptoms, I'll tell them to you. He's been lethargic, and Peter and I have been giving him fever reducers and cough suppressants. Last time I took his temperature it was 102 degrees. That was a couple hours ago though. I'll leave you to examine him on your own though," Elizabeth said as she made her way back into the kitchen, "I have a few phone calls to make about an event I'm catering next week."
Neal's eyes followed Elizabeth out of the room as Jill began asking him probing questions. Although he was loathed to admit it, he would have preferred she stayed. When Jill seemed to be done examining him, Neal asked, "Well, Jill, have I been cursed?"
"I can't say you haven't been cursed, but I can give you a probable diagnosis. How does that sound?" Jill replied.
"Like it's something I don't want to hear," Neal said.
"It looks like you have pneumonia," Jill said, ignoring Neal's comment.
"That wasn't something I wanted to hear," Neal said.
"Just keep resting, drink lots of fluids, and take these antibiotics I'm prescribing for you, and you should start to feel better in a few days. And if you don't, call me back."
"Neal, you can stay here for a few days," Elizabeth said peeked into the living room and gestured for Jill to follow her into the kitchen. Neal nodded; the charisma he'd used when Jill first came in seemed to have drained him. He listened half-heartedly as Jill and Elizabeth chatted on their way out of the room their voices becoming more and more faint.
"Did you catch all of that?" Jill asked Elizabeth.
"Yeah. I'll take that prescription to get it filled when I meet Peter for lunch," Elizabeth said.
"Sounds like a good idea," Jill said then asked, "Is there really someone who thinks that Neal's cursed?"
"Our friend Mozzie is big on conspiracy theories and right now Peter and Neal are investigating a crime involving Egyptian art," Elizabeth replied.
"He'd love to hear about my car accident a few years ago then," Jill mused.
"Yeah, he would," Elizabeth said.
A few hours later, Neal woke up to the sound of a frazzled looking Peter coming back from the museum. Peter stood in the entryway taking off his shoes, which if Neal had been looking, would have revealed an amusing Christmas gift from Elizabeth, and dusting snow off his coat.
"Hey, hon," Elizabeth said as she walked downstairs and kissed Peter. "How did it go at the museum?"
"It could have gone better," He replied. "Sara and I were just looking out for anyone who looked suspiciously interested in our gem display. We didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Then something set off the alarm in the private collection so I stayed with the gems while Sara went to talk to the curator. Who would break into a museum in broad daylight?"
"Anyone that doesn't want to get caught," Neal shouted hoarsely.
"It was a rhetorical question," Peter said as he walked into the living room set his briefcase on the coffee table and sat down on the arm of the couch. Elizabeth followed him and sat down in the chair.
"But it shouldn't have been. If you steal something in broad daylight and set off the alarm in a different part of the museum, you can disappear into the crowd with no one the wiser," Neal rationalized.
"I'm just going to hope this isn't a speech from experience," Peter said as he gave Neal a wary glance. "In any case, when Sara talked to the curator in the private collections department, he said that it was nothing to worry about, just a new employee who had forgotten his employee ID number."
"That sounds suspicious," Neal said.
"Sara and I thought so too," Peter said. "So we were going to look into the backgrounds of the newest museum employees when we found a short, bald janitor in glasses, who I feel confident has no record of employment there, with a photo of the man trying to enter the private collection."
"Mozzie?" Peter nodded as he opened his briefcase and handed Neal a picture, "This looks like the guy in Mr. Campbell's picture."
"I think it is; unfortunately, we don't have enough evidence to do more than interrogate him, and we couldn't find him in the museum after we pulled up the employee records."
"What are you going to do then?" Elizabeth asked.
"Well, I think that I'm going to back to the museum in a few hours after all the employees should have left because I think if our thief wants to try to steal the gems, he's going to do it tonight."
"What makes you so sure of that?"
"Well, I don't think that he really forgot his employee code; I think he was trying to distract Sara and I from the gems because there was only meant to be one person watching the display. The employee codes change at midnight, and we announced when the museum was closing that the pieces would be moving to another city next week. Therefore, it's his last chance to do it."