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White Collar Fanfic | Threads of Trust | Pilot – Part 4

Soon after the paramedics declared the detainee was deceased; Peter, Diana, Neal and Ava went back to the books in order to figure out the clue to why this man might have been killed. They hadn't been able to get anything out of him before the man claiming to be his lawyer showed up, it was a real inconvenience. Over to the side, Ava was eyeing the books closely with a thin metal ruler in her hand. The devious criminal part of her mind tapped into her senses to try and figure out what made these books worth so much to the Dutchman. The other three were sifting through the books themselves but not one of them had the type of expertise that Avery Daniels had.

"So, we've got a dead book dealer, a killer lawyer, and a bunch of worthless books," Peter muttered with irritation after another five minutes of staring at a damn book that felt as useless as it looked. He was really beginning to hate the existence of these objects at this point. Why were these books so damn important?

"All right," Peter continued with a small huff, throwing the book he had in his hand back into its original travel case. He looked over to his sister, hoping she's made at least some progress. "As a reformed professional counterfeiter - what is the Dutchman's interest in these?" Putting emphasis on the word 'reformed' because she better be.

At this point, Ava was peering down at a specific part of the book which was just inside the front cover and close to the lining. Her eyes narrowed, reading the date, "Published 1944 in Madrid." She murmured to herself but it was loud enough for the others to hear. She was bending over the table, getting her eyes up and close to this single part of the book.

There was a little nick in her brain telling her something – that this was meaningful in some way, shape or form. It felt important. Her eyes flicked to the rim lining of the inside cover and a small flaking on the edge caught her eye. Some of the glue that usually held the page down was peeling off just a touch. But that was all she needed to confirm what her mind had originally been telling her.

"This." She stated out loud without a second thought. She tapped the ruler against the inside of the book, gesturing to what she was talking about. "This is what he's after."

The three looked over and zeroed in on the sheet of paper she was referring to. Only Peter was the one to ask for some clarification on her findings, "The top sheet?" He wondered but was confused at the same time. He was mostly interested as to why she might think that this specific finding might be worth the while for them to follow up on.

Ava just lets out a small grin as she turned her head up towards him for a second. Looking back down, she carefully used the ruler to skin the book of the top sheet she needed. "It's more than that." She told him with a shake of her head. "This is a piece of 1944 Spanish press parchment." A small noise of paper detaching from old glue was the only thing that told Ava the page was now taken from the book. Standing up and straightening her back, she turned towards the others and held the piece of paper up for them to clearly see. The sheet looked darker than any other piece of paper, and a little bigger than the usual batches, but there was a special use for something like this. They now just needed to find out what that purpose was.

"That's what he wanted." Peter smiled, seeing his sister being of great use after all. He definitely knew the right choice had been made after all in bringing her in on the case. He just really hoped she wouldn't go off and screw up the opportunity. It was an amazing deal she had received, after all. "This is very good." Coming up to stop in front of her on the other side of the table.

Diana was quickly catching along with what the others were probably thinking, "He's gonna counterfeit something originally printed on paper like that." Coming up beside her boss, looking at the sheet closer like he was.

Ava nodded, confirming what the Agent was thinking, "That's what I would do." She honestly said with a shrug to her shoulders. That's something she would have loved to do. She had allegedly done so many times in the past but it wasn't ever on this particular paper, of course. She'd know what the plan would have been then.

Peter took the specialized sheet from his sister's hand. Looking at it closer for himself and even feeling what it felt like to the touch. Something else did come to mind, though, there were a lot of these sheets within 300 books and more. That a lot of them. What could someone possibly do with all these sheets for a vast amount of money?

Neal was the one to speak out his thoughts, "So far he's gotten through customs with three shipments of these books. If all the books have those exact same sheets inside, that's going to be a lot of paper for them to use."

Ava leaned herself against the table, crossing her arms as she started her thinking pattern once again, going into the mind of a forger. "Two blank pages per book is 600 sheets and that's just this shipment alone."

Peter shook his head as he tried to think too, "That's too many for paintings." He stated. If someone was to be replicating paintings, then they would obviously be found out to be fake in no time. No expensive painting comes out in thousands of renditions. Paintings being replicated are almost always a one of a kind. "Not enough for currency either." There had to be a lot more sheets for it to be money and this didn't feel like the right paper to get the job done correctly. Again, the fakes would be found in no time.

"What about the dead book dealer – he probably knew what was going on." Neal suddenly wondered out loud with an open thought. It would explain why the man had been acting a little on edge when airport security brought him over to the side. Apparently, he had been acting even more anxious when he was being questioned, more than usual, about the details of these books and more.

Peter's eyes lit up with an idea. He glanced over to hiss Probie with an ecstatic point to his finger. "I bet he did too." He grinned, seeing the logic Neal was thinking towards. "Where's that wallet he had on him?" He looked around the table to see if it was there, but it wasn't in plain sight.

"Right here," Diana said, grabbing one of the see-through baggies that were being used to contain evidence. Inside was a brown leather wallet that looked worn out but was still highly useable. She quickly took it out and handed it over to her boss.

The others began observing Peter as he sieved through the pockets of the dead man's wallet. He was rummaging through each and every pocket thoroughly for something in particular. He was being watched with curiousness but there was also hope in their eyes. They wanted to see if anything could be found, hoping that the theory he was thinking was correct.

They basically needed a new clue at this point, there was nothing else left to follow up as of right this moment.

Peter halted in his actions when he noticed something, in particular, inside the second to last pocket he picked through. It was a recognizable piece of paper that he's seen more than a few times before. It was a visitor ticket to 'The National Archives'. It had the name Tony Field on it – their victim/accomplice. He took the card out of the wallet and threw it down flat on the table, right in front of the other three, showing them what he had found. The card itself looked more than a couple days old and considering everything else he had seen in that wallet, this seemed like the most solid lead they had.

"This is where he went before he left for Spain."

…

About an hour later; Peter Burke and Avery Daniels showed up at The National Achieves museum intent of getting some answers. At first, they were met by one of the tour guides to the museum but after a couple of extra minutes, someone else came to replace the lady that had been entertaining them.

The man was fairly tall with scruffy gray hair on his head. He looked above his fifties but still looked young enough to work for another thirty. He wore a brownish gray tweed jacket with a nearly identical colored matching bowtie. He wore a pair of white dustless silk gloves as he carried one of the museum's most prized artifacts.

"Oh yes, I think I do remember him after all." Marty Manning, the caretaker, corrected his original statement, placing the item on the table in front of them. He glanced over the spectacles on his face while his mouth was forming a curious frown. "He came by several months ago, and then again last week." He took a step back from the item and stood next to the Agent. The woman stood to the side, Avery, he believed she was called.

They were currently standing in one of the great study halls of the museum.

Marty had been holding something very delicate in his hands, "This is what he came to see." He gestured to the object he had just carefully place on the table in front of them. He could remember this Tony Field very clearly now because he had been extremely interested in this piece of art and the history it held. He had to wear white gloves so he wasn't actually touching the item directly. It was also lying on a board – preventing anyone from touching it. No one could touch it directly unless permission was given and gloves were on.

Avery was the one to recognize it and her eyes lit up when she realized what it was, "The Spanish Victory Bond." She leaned in a little closer, admiring all the amazing detail it contained. She's seen it a couple of times in books over the years but looking at it in person was amazing.

Marty looked to her with a few blinks to his eyes. He was surprised she even knew what it was because most people didn't unless they were told by him, "Yes." He confirmed, happy that she had known what it was.

Peter looked at his sister and gave her a look that she understood. It was now time to do another part to her job and that's doing what she did best. Authenticating this piece of art. Because if something was wrong with it, she'd be the one to find out. Avery took a few steps forwards towards the Spanish Bond and bent over the table, much like she had done back when she was trying to figure out why someone would be so interested in those story books. She began looking at the Bond closely, looking for any signs that it may be a forgery, rather than the real piece.

She was also wearing those silk white gloves so she could hold and inspect it further.

"He took several photographs of it." Marty continued, his head turning towards the Agent while cautiously looking over to the woman. It was his nerves obviously playing up because he never liked it when someone, other than himself, was touching the Spanish Bond. It was special to him, but also to the museum. "Said he was going to write a book too, so, it's a shame he's dead really." That would have been a book he'd buy upon the release. "This Bond does have a fascinating history." Looking over at the object of admiration.

Avery's lips were pulled into a frown, her head tilted curiously as a familiar smell hit her nostrils. "It's a Goya." She noted, finding things start to fall into place. This was a beautiful piece of art and one she'd love to try recreating. She also knew right then, that this was someone's attempt at a recreation. And obviously, Marty didn't even know it had been switched right behind his back.

"Yes," Marty nodded, a cheerful smile on his face, "And it's beautiful, isn't it?" Avery certainly couldn't deny that because art was her life, and this recreation truly was outstanding.

Peter suddenly thought of something. The Spanish parchment from the books they had seized looked awfully like this Spanish bond, both in base color and size. Reaching into his inner jacket pocket, he retrieved the sheet that he decided to bring with them. After realizing what he was doing, his sister placed the Bond down and let him test his theory. Peter hovered the clear sheet over the Bond and with exact measures - the parchments were completely identical.

"Well, look at that," Peter muttered to himself before glancing over to Avery, "It's a perfect fit."

Avery knew all about the Bond, but for her brother's benefit, she decided to ask Marty something he had already brought up. "So, you said this Bond had a fascinating history." She prompted him to start telling them about it.

Peter reached back with the parchment and folded it up again, placing it back into his jacket. He turned back just as the man began explaining.

"Oh, quite." Marty nodded, "It was issued during the war."

"1944."

"Yes," The man loved that she had all this knowledge. It wasn't common that people studied the art or found it as fascinated as he did, "The U.S. issued it to support the Spanish Underground in their battle against the Axis. Very few of these have ever been redeemed." He watched as the woman looked down at the bond again. Her eyes were narrowing as the details popped out. "There's speculation that entire boxes were captured and that many of them are still hidden away in the caves of Altamira."

Peter looked at him, his eyebrows raising, "Whole boxes of these?" He questioned, seeing a motive forming for this Spanish Bond.

Marty obviously didn't seem to be concerned by it, "Yep," He said, "And boy, that would be something, wouldn't it?" He thought about what might happen if the National Achieves could acquire those boxes of Bonds. Not only would they be worth a fortune, but the amount of history and sentiment they hold would be truly exquisite. He simply chuckled with excitement at the prospect.

"This is the only surviving copy."

Avery nodded as he announced that statement, understanding that he believed that, but unfortunately, she was about to ruin both his and her brother's day. She looked up with a small sigh, looking apologetic towards the man, "Except it's a forgery." She revealed without a doubt in her words.

Marty took a double take while his heart made a shutter. His head snapped towards her and any trace of a smile left his face. It also went a little white and he looked as though he wanted to faint. "No," He denied, shaking his head, "No, that's not possible."

Peter looked between the two but mostly towards his sister. He wanted a strong explanation to exactly why she was concluding that this Bond was indeed a fake. "How do you know?"

Avery held the Bond up for both the men to see, and she pointed towards the main picture on the front. "The copying of the design is pretty much spot on but it's the ink that's the issue." She began explaining, "This is iron-gall dye mixed to match period colors … but it hasn't even dried yet." That's where the smell had been coming from. She held the Bond towards them, "You can clearly still smell the gum arabic."

Marty and Peter took a sniff at the same time and could both smell the same thing she had when first observing it. While Peter smirked with accomplishment, the other guy just didn't want to believe it. The Bond couldn't have been stolen under his watch – not only would he be in deep trouble for it, but also the fact that someone had stolen a valuable piece of history under his nose was almost inconceivable.

"No, no." Marty shook his head with contradiction, "This Spanish Bond has been here since 1952." He said adamantly.

"It's been here less than a week, give or take a day or two."

Marty just stared at Avery a moment before having to swallow hard. A little squeaky noise popped from his mouth and he could barely take another breath.

He was so screwed.

…

Back in the FBI building that night, everyone was sitting around the conference room table as they went over everything that had been concluded during this investigation. Avery was sitting back in one of the chairs, fiddling with elastic bands – she had stuck up a piece of paper with a hand-drawn bullseye on the wall. Now she was flinging the elastics at it, trying to hit the red dot in the middle as she listened and made an input when she wanted to say something.

Neil was also sitting in a chair right next to her while Diana was half on the table with Jones standing beside her.

"Okay." Peter began, pacing by the desk as the details flooded through his mind like a river, "Tony makes two trips. The first time he takes a picture of the Bond and the second time, he steals the original and replaces it with the copy we have here." The National Achieves gave them permission to take it in as evidence. All they wanted was their original back – so they were willing to do anything to help retrieve it.

"Can we confirm that?"

Jones nodded, "The timed ink identification test puts the age of the Bond at approximately six days." The results had come back about thirty minutes ago, and obviously, Avery had been right about both the forgery and the time the Bond was made.

"The timeline matches with Tony's visit then," Neil mentioned.

"We're pulling surveillance video to back it up too." Diana continued for him.

"Good," Peter nodded, liking his team right now more than ever. "So, the question is … why go to all that trouble of making a nice forgery, on the right kind of paper, just to stick it back in the achieves?"

After Avery flicked another rubber band across the room, successfully hitting the red bullseye, a frown lifted on her lips as a thought came to her. Her fingers paused before another band could be released, "Are the bonds still negotiable?" She wondered out loud, glancing over to her brother and his team.

"It's a zero option so it never expires." Her brother replied, his train of thought linking with her own for a moment. He looked over to Jones who knew more about this subject than he did, "What's it worth?"

Jones put his thinking cap on. "Well, it's a thousand dollars face value." He replied, walking over to a calculator sitting on the desk. He was about to do some math that required way too many of his brain cells if he used just his brain. Using a machine can do the calculations for him. "Drawing a 9 percent interest-"

"-compound for 64 years." Diana mused, looking over Jones' shoulder as he plugged the numbers into the calculator. However, just before the calculations were fully imputed into the machine, two voices echoed each other as they said the exact same number.

"$248,000." The voices came from Neil and Avery, who calculated the equations in their heads within a record time. Both blinked in surprise and turned to each other, realizing that they had just answered the large mathematical question at the same time. The other three in the room were looking at them with shock, but mostly because of the fact they had said the answer in union.

There was a moment of silence before Jones cleared his throat uncomfortably, "Uh, what they said." Looking down at the same answer flashing on his calculator.

"A quarter of a million, not chump change." Peter mused, thinking back to the books again, "And he has 600 sheets of this stuff." Blinking, he glanced over to the two brain boxes in the room and so did the other two Agents situated next to him.

Avery glanced over to Neil, wondering if he wanted to take the spotlight but he just sent her a gesture for her to continue for them. He was going to let her answer this one by herself. Shrugging, she started to thinking, plugging the equation through her head in a fast but correct manner. "A hundred and fifty million." She answered after a few seconds of thought, blowing everyone's mind in the room. "Well, give or take a few." A small smirk lifted on her lips when she noticed the impressed looks, but she knew they figured it was a show-off. It worked, though.

Peter hummed – that was a lot of money. "He'd be a rich man if he could pass them off. It still doesn't tell us why he would take out the real bond and replace it with a forgery, though."

"Yeah, it does actually," Avery stated, see a clear picture of a plan form in her head. It was a good one too. It's something she'd do anyway. Everyone in the room turned to her, wondering what she was talking about – because clearly, they didn't know, even Neil. She looked between each of them, "What if he claimed he found boxes of the original bonds? The ones that were lost like Marty said?"

"Dragged them out of those caves in Spain." Peter started to slowly follow along, indeed remembering back to what the caretaker had said about the history of the Bonds.

"And how would they be authenticated…?" She left her words hanging in the air, letting someone else in the room take a stab at the answer.

"They'd be taken to the achieves and compared to the original that's already been found." Neil's head perked up, figuring out where this conversation was heading. It all made sense, and it was a pretty genius plan from what he could see. Except, of course, they figured it out.

Ava grinned, glancing over at him as he answered the question right. She knew they were going to be fast friends at least. "Exactly." She nodded, shifting in her seat so her body was more aimed towards him more than anyone else in the room. "And he's already switched out the original with his own."

"So they're definitely going to match and it pushes away any suspicion of a forgery."

"The Dutchman would have gotten away with gaining millions of dollars for those forgeries and no one would have ever known."

"Until we came along."

Ava quirked a grin, "Until we came along." She repeated, having forgotten that there were other people in the room. Neal looked as though he felt the same way as they spit-balled comments on the case. She heard a throat clearing from the other side of the room, from her brother. He wasn't looking very happy, a little unpleased but there was some teasing in his tone when he said.

"Don't you corrupt my agent, Ava." He told her, raising a stern eyebrow towards her but there was a seriousness behind it. He didn't want Neal to drive down the path to becoming a criminal, he was one of the best he had in White Collar, along with Diana and Jones.

Overriding past their finishing sentence phase, he continued in a way that addressed to everyone. "But this is good, this is really good." He praised the two anyway. They figured everything out together within a very short amount of time.

Peter was about to continue but the sound of a cell phone ringing stopped him in his tracks.

Diana reached over to the phone lying in the middle of the conference desk and looked to see who it was that was calling. "It's Elizabeth." She said, looking toward Peter and held the phone out towards him.

"Ah, crap." Peter cursed under his breath, realizing what this call was probably going to be about, especially after having just glanced at the time on his watch. Dinner. Elizabeth and he were supposed to be having a family dinner tonight and he promised he wouldn't be late this time. He gestured for everyone to get out of the conference so he could take the call in a silent room. He didn't like anyone being in the vicinity as he takes a phone call. It was just an irritation he had gained over the years.

He took a deep breath before answering the phone call that would disappoint his wife, again.

…

"So," Ava started, shifting in the passenger seat of her brother's car as he drove her home for the night. She looked over at him with a grin, knowing what special event was happening for him and his wife this weekend. It was their wedding anniversary. Yes, she kept up with her brother's life. "What have you got planned for this weekend?" She looked eager to know what he had planned.

Peter glanced over at her, thinking about what he could give as an answer, it would probably be the same as usual. "Oh, you know, I've gotta fix the sink at some point and maybe catch the game later too." That was all he said and the following silence made his sister frown.

"With … Elizabeth?" She said with confusion. Was that it? Did he really have nothing special planned for the weekend with his wife on their yearly anniversary?

"Yeah," Peter didn't seem to hear the difference of tone behind her words but instead just smiled, "She's into it. How cool is that?" Referring to the game. Usually, it would be considered a man's thing but it was amazing that his wife loved the same thing too. At this point, Ava was beginning to think the special event had somehow slipped her brother's mind. "She likes to watch the Giants."

"Mm-hm." Avery gave a small nod to her head, glancing out the window for a moment before turning back to her brother. "Even on your anniversary?" Putting emphasis on the last word specifically.

The car suddenly skidded to a near stop, making Ava jolt a little by the sudden movement. Her hands had to clench around the armrests either side of her. But by just that action alone with the car, it was clear Peter had forgotten all about it. He was cursing at himself, yet again, "I see this stuff coming from six months out, and then I take it right in the teeth, every time." Anger for forgetting was directing to himself.

"Wow, okay, relax." His sister put up a hand to stop his self-loathing, "You still have a couple of days."

"No," Peter shook his head, remembering what had happened during the previous years. "This is what happened last year, and the year before that. Each time I said I'd make up for it with something special." A honk sounded from behind him, further pissing him off, "And not just a corner booth at Donatella's and a romp in the sheets."

Ava made a small grimace with her mouth, not really wanting to hear about her brother's sex life. He could keep that to himself for all she cared. "Well, that's romantic." She commented sarcastically, hoping that if she ever decided to have either a boyfriend or husband, they'd want to do something special for the yearly anniversary.

"Well, we've been married a decade." Peter continued, passing by the sarcasm, "But that doesn't cut it anymore. She means more to me than that."

"Okay, Monsieur Romeo." Avery began, about to try and help her brother succeed in making the best weekend within a few days. "Let's problem solve – what's Elizabeth into?"

Because they were stopped at an intersection, Peter looked over at her dumbly, "Sexually?" Surprised she wanted to be talking about something like that … with him.

Ava scrunched up her nose in disgust as a reply, "Ew." She immediately stated, "No." She rephrased what she wanted to know, "Existentially – what is it that makes her feel alive?"

Peter fell silent but his mouth did make a few out-of-water fish motions as he thought about the question. At least, he tried to think of something to answer to that question. He … he couldn't think of anything. Nothing came to mind.

"Oh, my god." Ava looked at him with a gobsmacked expression, "Are you kidding me?" Seeing the face he usually makes whenever he couldn't think of anything to answer a question with. "You SERIOUSLY don't know what your own wife loves to do or what makes her love her life?" She blinked, surprised he even still has a wife, as bad as that sounds, "Wow, just … wow."

Peter looked over at her helplessly, "What the hell am I going to do?"

Avery just lets out a small laugh, shaking her head. "Oh, no." She told him, not going to help him after all. There was nothing she could really do until she knew what Elizabeth really liked. It would be best to let Peter figure it all out for himself after all. That's what a husband is supposed to do. "You're on your own, bud." She said finally before turning to look outside her window, letting the rain be the only thing she could hear.

The car fell silent apart from the occasional honks from the cars behind, the rain dripping against the car with continuous pats.

…

With a sigh; Avery placed the fedora on the base of the banister as soon as she got back to June's place. The place she now called home. Today had been a long and exhausting day and all she wanted to do was sleep. But it had been a great day, nonetheless. This was so much better than being in prison, forced to do the exact same things over and over again.

It wasn't until she had taken a few steps up the stairs that something moved in the corner of her eye. It came from the living room further down from where she was. Creasing her eyebrows, she cautiously made her way back down to the main level, wondering if she'll have to fight off an intruder. She would do that in order to protect the woman who was giving her a place to stay.

As she started walking towards the living room, keeping her eyes on the person she could clearly see sitting down at the dining room table, she grabbed one of the umbrellas in the holder. That would make a good weapon of choice. The room was near enough pitch black and she couldn't see any of the facial features on this person. She could tell it was male, but other than that, nothing.

It wasn't until she was less than a few meters away that the man finally started to speak.

"I saw the best mind of my generation get run down by the drunken taxicab of absolute reality." He said, and upon saying this, Avery knew exactly who it was. She let down the umbrella she had been holding up and sighed, glad it wasn't an intruder but didn't think at the same time she'd see this particular man tonight.

Ava shook her head as she made her way over to the light switch and flicked it on. "What the hell, Mozzie?" She said quietly, but just loud enough for the man to hear. She turned to the new face in the room. He shouldn't be around while her brother could have been here – it wouldn't have ended well. Mozzie wasn't exactly the cleanest guy when it came to finding out information or even just doing things in general. Although, he was cleaner than she was, but that wasn't the point.

Mozzie was a short fellow with little to no hair on his head. He only had hair that was an inch-long that covered the sides of his head while the top remained bald. He wore thick black glasses and overall, he had a homey and friendly feel to his aura. He wore comfortable clothing that someone would wear during a day where they'd stay indoors. He didn't care about style, all he liked was comfort.

Avery couldn't help but grin anyway by the sight of the smile plastered on her longest friend's face, "Sitting in the dark, misquoting Ginsberg?" It was so nice to see him, it's been such a long time since they've had a face-to-face. Over four years to be exact. She walked over as he stood, giving him a hug in which he very much returned as tightly as she did.

"The light's how they find you, man." He shook his head, pulling away from her after a minute.

The glass of wine was the first thing that caught Ava's notice as she pulled away. She sent a stern warning towards her best friend. "Hey, you know, you can't just help yourself, not here." Her brow creased suddenly, looking back at the front door, "How did you get in anyway?"

Mozzie held up a fist and pretended to be fearless, "I used this."

Ava just raised an eyebrow.

"I knocked." He finally answered truthfully, "I introduced myself to June, she's a great lady." He sent her a grin as she took a seat in one of the other chairs around the dining room table, the one that was two seats away from him. "Is the granddaughter taken?" She was a very nice young lady, just like June, but was even more beautiful.

"I have no idea, Moz." Ava smiled, answering his question. After a moment of silence, she spoke again with gratefulness in her tone. "But, thank you for coming." She told him. Soon after she was released from prison she had sent him a message telling him she was out. There was going to come a time when Mozzie's expertise was also needed to help solve this Dutchman's case.

"What was I going to do?" Mozzie retorted, still looking happy to see her, "Not come?" His eyes flickered down towards her ankle. "Can I see it?"

Ava already knew what he wanted to see so she lifted up her leg, resting her ankle on one of the chair's resting arms. The anklet was snugly resting above her ankle line and around the edge of the zipper of her boots.

"Is it something you can pick?" She asked him, curious to know the answer. She assumed not because from what she had said to Peter before was true, no one has successfully been able to breach the anklet since this new version came out.

Mozzie only had to take one distant look to give a straight answer. "No way." He shook his head, adamant. "Not that thing." His answer made another sigh come from her lips, one of a little disappointment. Ava pulled her leg back down as he continued, "You flew too close to the sun, my friend. They burned your wings."

"Where's Megan, Moz?" Ava finally asked him. This was one of the reasons why she wanted to see him. "Where'd she go?"

Mozzie sent her an apologetic look, "She's a ghost, man." He replied sadly, "She did an outstanding job in covering her every track."

Avery leaned back into her chair, looking conflicted, "I guess we just have to keep looking," She murmured to herself, "Maybe we'll get lucky." She glanced back over to him, "Don't forget to check France."

Mozzie was confused by the singular country pick, "France?"

Avery just sent him a shrug, "It's just somewhere she might go." It was a place they had discussed together on multiple occasions – a country so rich with art would be amazing to be around. So far, she hasn't been given the chance to go there yet.

The Spanish Bond suddenly came to her thoughts, "Oh, I need you to help me out with something else while you're here." She retrieved the copy that had been found at the museum, pulling it from her back pocket. She knew she'll be in deep trouble after this when her brother finds out she's stolen a piece of evidence to take home with her. "I need to find out who created this." She placed the forged Bond in front of him, letting him take a closer look at the masterpiece.

Mozzie's eyes were widened in amazement, "It's superb." Was the first thing to come out of his mouth the moment he first placed it in front of him. He pushed up his glasses so he could see better. They worked for long distances, but not necessarily for short ones.

Ava grinned, having felt the exact same way when she first saw it, "I know, right?"

"You wanna know the worst thing about art forgery?" He questioned rhetorically as he started looking deeper into the Spanish Bond, trying to determine whose it's maker was. His eyes dotted around it to see any indifferences that may stand out to him. "You can't take credit for your work..."

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The next chapter will have the rest of the Pilot episode contained within!