Sorry this chapter took me longer to upload, but in turn, it's a longer chapter :) Disclaimer and stuff: I don't own White Collar, Sly Cooper, nor Crime and Punishment. Although I wish I could write as well as Dostoevsky :/ I doubt many of you have read that book but it's really good; I would recommend it except for the fact that it's like 530 pages.
Neal had finally drifted off to sleep after Elizabeth was through fussing over him. Do you have enough blankets? Are you too warm, too cold? Do you need anything to drink? Do you need anything at all? Poor El, the kid knew she was only worried and trying to help but all he really needed was some peace and quiet. He still loved her though; he could never stop loving her. She was the only woman left in his life to care about him and it felt good when she tried to mother him although Neal was still embarrassed about it.
Bringing him out of his peaceful slumber, Neal awoke to a buzzing in his side. The young man groaned and fished around for his cellphone before holding it up to his ear. He grunted as a hello.
"Hello to you to Neal, I take it I woke you up." Peter's voice said on the other end.
"Yah, Momma bear finally stepped down to let her cub get some rest. Although I could use some more pain pills; my chest hurts," Neal answered trying to evoke sympathy. As much as he wished Peter had taken time out of his busy work schedule to call and check up on his favorite consultant, he knew there were only two possible reasons for this call. First option was that Peter needed his expertise on a tough case. Second option was that he was in trouble. However, the intelligent boy didn't guess that it would be a little of both.
"So Neal, you will never believe how surprised I was when Sly Cooper popped up in one of my cases," Peter began but then realized that Neal was delirious when he had first given him the information. The kid may not have remembered that he had told Peter anything. So to clarify he added, "Yesterday while you were under medication, I decided to play around and ask if there were any more of your crimes I didn't know about. You said something about Sly Cooper and now low and behold Sly Cooper has pulled three heists in New York."
Neal's face fell into a hollowed expression. No. It couldn't be. He gulped before responding with such fake composure that his voice almost cracked, "That's impossible Peter."
"And why is that Neal? Here I am praying to God that you will stay out of trouble and be a good boy, and I'm proud of you too because you have been recently. But I swear Neal, if I find out you've gone and stolen something behind my back, I won't hesitate to put you back in prison." Peter's threat was empty. His mind liked to believe he could throw Neal back in prison anytime he wanted, but his heart knew there was no way he could. The Burke family loved that boy too much. But Neal didn't have to know that, and the poor teenager didn't. To Neal, that threat was very, very real.
"No, Peter I promise it wasn't me. Or Mozzie," he added. "The Sly Cooper I know is in retirement. He's far away on his own little island and he would never leave that island for any reason," Neal said unwavering. He bit his lip; Peter wouldn't send him to prison for this right? He didn't even commit those robberies… but what if Peter found out about the others? Neal needed immunity.
"Well then who is the thief carving Sly Cooper into museum walls? What are you hiding from me Neal?" Peter questioned trying to keep his voice level.
The wise young man tried to dance around his answers carefully to not leave any incriminating evidence. "He's an imposter, but I'm not sure who," the boy said slowly.
Peter took a deep breath, "Neal, listen to me, you need to tell me everything."
The young man tried to calm his racing heart down as he worked through this. "Okay, what were the paintings he stole? Maybe that could tell us something about him."
Agent Burke relayed the information, "He stole The Ballet Class by Degas, Washington Crossing the Delaware, and a Kinkade piece."
Neal's mouth dropped so far it almost hit his chest. He tried to respond to his friend but all that came out was a muffled squeak. "Neal? Neal, what's wrong?" Peter asked worriedly from the other end of the line.
The boy mumbled barely audible, "Peter, I think I'm in trouble… I know who this Sly Cooper is."
Peter released that deep breath he had taken previously, "I will protect you Neal, you can count on that. Just explain what you know."
"I need immunity. Either that or I have to use hypothetically and allegedly," the boy stated offering the senior agent a choice.
Peter's mouth twisted, of course there was more. He had already figured that Neal and Sly Cooper had gotten into some trouble together but now there seemed to be a whole new level. "Let's use hypotheticals; this is a work related call," he decided.
"Okay soooo, hypothetically I am Sly Cooper, or I was four years ago," the mischievous boy declared at last. From his end of the phone call he could hear Peter's teeth clench, but the agent stayed silent indicating for Neal to continue. The boy thought for a moment as he recalled painful memories and wasn't sure where to start. "And allegedly, I had a partner named Jorgen Kamychzk (pronounced kam-check) who was Russian," Neal paused and continued in a forced lighter tone despite his inner discomfort, "you know this is a perfectly good alias I'm burning, you should be thankful." Peter gave a grunt unwilling to joke about such a serious subject and Neal decided to suck it up and press forward. "And he met a Russian boy named Mikhail Raskolnikov."
This time Peter interrupted, "Wait a minute, Raskolnikov? Isn't that from Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky?" Of course his eccentric criminal informant would have an alias stemming from classic literature.
"Why yes it is, I'm very proud of you for recognizing it! I love that book, I've read it in English and then even reread it in Russian to see if anything was lost in translation," Neal rambled in an attempt to stall from the crushing memories he was being forced to relieve.
"I'm sorry I interrupted Neal, now please continue," Peter sighed. Why was this interrogation like pulling teeth for Neal? He needed to get to the bottom of this.
"Okay, okay, no time to appreciate good literature, I understand. So back to my story, Jorgen and I allegedly pulled a lot of great heists and he really took a liking to me and my talent. I was so young and it was hard to operate some of the jobs on my own so I used him as my front man and brawns. We were good friends Peter," Neal's voice had become weak and depressed and Peter worried about where this was going. "But one day, something snapped in Jorgen, we were almost caught but… Jorgen killed the security guard," the last sentence was hardly any more than a whisper.
Peter could hear the pain in the boy's voice and longed to be there by his side to comfort him. He could imagine a tear escaping the kid's wide blue eyes as he knew witnessing that murder had to have been gruesome. In the case file it said the security guard had been brutally beaten to death. "Neal, I promise nothing will happen to you, I promise I will protect you. But why do you think you're in trouble? How do you know this is Jorgen?"
Silence hung on Neal's end for a while before he spit everything out in a whirlwind of words, "I kinda allegedly forged all of the paintings that were stolen and they were authenticated and never reported as missing and I think Jorgen is stealing those paintings to send some kind of signal to me in order to draw me out." Neal took a quick breath, not long enough for Peter to jump in, "I witnessed his murder and then I left without saying anything I was so scared and we used to be so close but I just left him and I think he's mad and—"
"Neal calm down," Peter said gently. Neal blinked in surprise, he was sure Agent Burke would be at least a little disturbed about the paintings he forged. "Everything will be alright and we will find Jorgen. He's not gonna hurt you kid," Peter spoke in a soothing voice and Neal relaxed and smiled on the outside. He knew his friend was only trying to help, but Jorgen was smart; Neal couldn't help but feel he would find a way to get him. And now every time the scared teen closed his eyes, all he could see was Jorgen murdering the security guard. Over and over again, oh there was so much blood, so much blood.
Thank you everyone so much for the reviews I've received and keep them coming! I really appreciate them and they make for a nice Christmas present ;) Spoiler for the next chapter will include nightmares and agent Burke to the rescue!