Neal Caffrey's Daughter

Book of Hours [3]

"Was this just an exercise in schadenfreude?" Mozzie questioned as he followed Liz through the crowded streets of New York. "Because you win. It's just a bottle,"

Liz rolled her eyes "The lab needs to reexamine its work,"

"The lab went over every inch of that thing. Fingerprints, chemicals, black light, nothing. I even tested the remnants of the wine left in the bottle which, by the way, was a very lovely boxed Franzia from early October,"

Liz stopped and turned towards her uncle "Keep looking, Moz. Something's there, okay?" she sighed when she felt her phone buzz.

"That FBI is keeping your dad on a tight leash," Mozzie noted.

"No kidding," Liz turned to Moz "What are you in the mood for?"

***

Neal sat in front of Pet in his living room as the duo ate.

"She's lying about Paul," Peter noted, causing Neal to look up from his phone where he had sent an apology text to Liz for ditching dinner. "And she's two degrees away from our homeless guy. But I also have trouble buying the fact that an attractive history professor offed a mobster,"

"No. You don't want me to see the missing inventory," Elizabeth argued on the phone as she entered her house. "Because if I come down there, there'll be a lot more missing than centerpieces. You got that?"

"Okay, maybe it's not a complete stretch," Peter shrugged.

Elizabeth hung up her phone and approached the duo "Hey, guys,"

"Hi," Neal greeted.

"Sorry, um, it's just my vendor,"

"No, it's fine," Peter claimed. "We were just trying to decide if a woman is capable of murder,"

"Oh, I think so," Elizabeth nodded. "What's the issue?"

Peter nodded towards Neal.

"All rig t, I-I think we're dealing with a shell game,"

"Visual aids," Peter said sarcastically as Neal moved the food "Nice,"

"Big Gulp is Paul, dead mob guy. The coffee cup is Steve, our homeless vet. The mug is Maria. Napkin's the Bible,"

"Make Maria the saltshaker,"

"Maria's the mug. Watch. We'll start with Paul, who for some reason reads Maria's book and realizes that the Healing Bible is worth a hell of a lot of cash. But it's also Barelli's pride and joy. He doesn't want to risk Barelli's wrath. So he gets Steve...to steal the Bible,"

"Plausible deniability," Peter nodded.

"But if it doesn't work, then he lets the homeless guy take the fall," Elizabeth noted. "Well, that's evil,"

Neal hummed in agreement as he continued to move the cups. "He takes the Bible from Steve and calls Maria to make the deal. Something happens,"

"Yeah. The deal goes down wrong. Or Paul decides he wants both the cash and the book,"

"Well, whatever it is, Paul ends up dead. The Bible goes missing. Steve never even met Maria,"

"And our girl walks away clean with a very expensive book," Peter picked up the mug only to see that instead of a wadded-up napkin it was cash. "Okay, how'd you do that?"

Neal smirked as he remembered watching Liz pull the same trick "Not my secret to reveal. So. how do we get Maria to reveal hers?"

"If I stretch it, I might be able to get a warrant to get into her place,"

"You know if she's smart," Elizabeth spoke up "she's not gonna have the Bible anywhere close to her,"

"El, I've never seen this devious side," Peter flirted.

"Don't cross me,"

"Elizabeth's right about the Bible," Neal agreed. "She won't keep it close,"

"I've got it. She knew who you were. Neal Caffrey, master forger," Peter said.

"Alleged,"

"Alleged, whatever. If she's got the book, it links her to the murder. She's gonna want to get rid of it. We've got the usual channels locked down. But if she thinks you might be interested..."

"Convince her I'm liable,"

"We find some street contacts. Float it out that old Neal Caffrey is back in business,"

"That could take time to reach her and there's no guarantee,"

"Why don't you just ask her out?" Elizabeth suggested.

"That could work. Think she'll say yes?" Peter questioned.

"Yes,"