Diana stepped into the Morgue with an anxious step. It had taken 2 weeks to get the exhumation order. The situation was highly irregular, and the order had only processed at all because Caffrey had no family. She held her breath as the coffin was slowly opened. She really didn't want to see what it contained but she had volunteered to spare Peter. The last 8 months had been hard on him, but the last 2 weeks had been pure torture. The thought that there was even the tiniest possibility Caffrey might be alive haunted him like nothing she had ever seen before. Seeing what lay in that coffin just might destroy the strongest man she knew.

The lid creaked and fell back. The Coroner leaned in and suddenly frowned, reaching in to the figure within.

"Agent Berrigan you're going to want to see this." She really didn't, but she stepped forward. The body looked exactly the same as it had at the funeral... which made no sense.

"It's wax" the doctor beside her said "or something very like it."

"Wax?" she frowned deeper " Then the funeral was a sham... so where is Caffrey?"

"Not here."

"He really might still be a live." she found herself grinning "he might be out there."

The message in the painting rose to her mind stealing much of the excitement...

"Where are you Caffery?" she shuttered "and what have you gotten yourself into?"

Alive! Peter had almost wept with joy when Diana called. The kid was alive. He could introduce him to his namesake.. He could tell him all the things he should have... he could...all the things he'd regretted not doing were possible... He just had to find the younger man.. Which brought him here, to the evidence room studying the paintings... the Jewish Bride came in almost 8 months ago... others had trickled in 2 or 3 per month... careful study of them had revealed the increasingly desperate messages in each one... each one of the paintings contained a plea for help... for understanding.

Then there was the on that came in last week. The strokes were as sure as ever. The colors mixed just as accurately but the the painting bled hopelessness... there was no message. Peter relentlessly searched for it, certain it was there, well hidden but there was nothing. the nothing cut like a knife...

Maybe he hadn't had the chance to hide a message... maybe his captor was watching to closely this time. Maybe he frustrated and needed time to think of what to put in the next one... surely there would be a next message, right? The kid was to stubborn to surrender to despair, wasn't he? Peter tried not to think about how long it had been... how Utterly alone and forgotten Neal must be feeling... surely there was still time... but there was one thought he couldn't avoid. he kept circling back to it.

He had given up. Caffery, the eternal optimist had given up.

Diana's news had shaken the whole office... Neal Caffrey very well might be alive, but he was also missing and probably in a lot of trouble. Jones sat at his desk sorting through every scrap of evidence from his "murder." He desperately hoped to find a clue... any lead would help. The whole office was tiptoeing around on eggshells since the news broke. Peter alternated between uncharacteristic anger and long bouts of deep silent brooding.

Jones was certain his boss was nursing a tremndous amount of guilt. H*** he was too. Those paintings had been coming in for 7 months, he recongized them as being similar to Caffrey's work. They's studdied every inch of them to confirm they were forgeries and yet no one noticed the hidden pleas for help. Now that they were looking for them they found messages in all but the most recently found work.

The last forgery without a message hurt. He knew in his heart that where ever Caffrey was he had likely given up on anyone finding him, and that... that was just unacceptable. They would find him and they would bring him home... Jones just needed one little lead.

He lifted the death certificate, studying each minute detail... his eye fell on the coroner's signature... the man who signed off on the death certificate would have been a unique position to cover a faked death. A faked death that had convinced half a dozen doctors in the emergency room... Jones wasn't sure how that could have possibly worked but Diana was working on the method at the moment. He pushed out from his deskto go talk to the Coroner...

Diana charged through the glass doors holding up an evidence bag triumphantly.

"I found it!"

"you found the method?'

"It was the bullet. It shattered because it was hollow... I had the lab run a tox screen on it. It was filled with pufferfish toxin."

"That's... that's horrifying." Jones frowned. "That alone could have very well killed him ."

" I know" she shuttered "it's also a paralytic... which means he could have still been conscious... through... well I don't know how much of it."

"It also means he would have needed to be administered an antidote within just a couple of hours as well as treatment for the injury."

"That's true." Diana considered "Someone with medical training would have had to be in on it.

"My money is on this guy." Jones held up the death ceritficate and tapped the signature.

"He would be in a good position for it"

"And he has a medical degree"

Diana grabbed her coat "Why don't we go have a chat with him?"

"Sounds like a plan."

"Should we tell Peter?' they both glanced up toward their boss

"We should..."

"It is a lead" She nodded "He'll want to know"

The coroner flinched back from the angry agent. Peter barely noticed as he glared.

"You remember this man right!" he waved Neal's picture at the man. " I know you helped fake his death! Where is he?!"

"I don't know what-"

"Yes, you do!" Peter snarled "He was shot, and the bullet was filled with puffer fish toxin... you pulled the fragments out of him. You gave him the antidote and you signed the death certificate. Where did he go from here?"

"I don't know"

"You don't know where he went? Did he say anything?"

"Not to me."

"So you didn't have any idea of the plan after he left here?"

"His friend picked him up"

"His friend?" Peter exchanged a look with the two younger agents "Did he say anything to this "friend" you might have overheard."

"Listen to be honest he was still unconscious when his friend picked him up." the doctor looked down "I patched him up the best I could but... the wound was deeper than it should have been, the fragments went in several directions. The doctors broke several ribs. He lost a lot of blood and with the toxin..." Peter sucked in a harsh breath... rationally he'd known the ordeal had to have been harsh but hearing it laid out so bluntly felt like being hit with a brick. "Honestly I don't know if he survived." The doctor trailed off. Peter glowered at that, causing the man to flinch back again. "I don't. "

"But he was alive when he left here?" Jones asked.

"Yes." Of course he was, Peter reminded himself... the paintings were proof he survived the wound. Knowing how badly he'd been hurt still caused Peter's breath to catch. How much pain had the kid still been in from the incident when he secreted that first message.

"And where did the wax figure come from?" Peter asked through clentched teeth.

"His friend provided it." The doctor looked away "I have a friend at the funeral home who sometimes handles special cases like this."

"Doctor" Diana cut in " can you give us a discription of this friend?"

"I can try." He frowned "it has been..."

"I know how long it's been but it is important."