Swallowing The Evidence
Summary: I know I have already posted a story about the Burke's adopting Satchmo, but I thought of this idea and had to share it. In this one, Neal plays a big part in them meeting the dog. It is set pre-series, Neal is still on the run.
NOTE: I know Neal did not get the Fedora hat until the series started, but I love him in it. He is so cute wearing it. So I added it to this story.
NOTE: I also know that on the show, Neal and Elizabeth meet for the first time after Neal is released from prison. But I changed that in this story.
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Neal Caffrey smiled as he walked down the sidewalk, life was good. He had just stolen eighty thousand dollars worth of diamonds; they were nestled safely in the inside lining of his expensive jacket.
All he had to do was make it back to the apartment he was staying at without rousing anyone's suspicion, no problem at all. Then his smile quickly faded and he stopped walking.
"Damnit." Neal mumbled, when he saw a very familiar figure racing towards him.
"Freeze Caffrey!" Agent Peter Burke shouted, as he ran towards the younger man. "You're surrounded!"
Neal looked around, and sure enough, he saw several FBI agents closing in on him.
"Time to play." Neal said to himself, his smile returning. He tipped his hat to Peter, then turned and ran in the opposite direction. Several agents followed him.
Neal ran into an alley, between two apartment buildings, then grabbed a hold of the fire escape ladder and started climbing.
""Caffrey, I will shoot!" Peter yelled, as he entered the alley. But Neal kept climbing. He had been running from Peter for awhile now, he knew the agent wouldn't shoot unless he had to. He knew Peter Burke wasn't a killer.
"Damnit." Peter mumbled as he too started climbing the ladder.
Neal made it to the roof top, then ran across it. One of the first lessons about life as a con artist he had learned was to always have an escape plan. He had done his research, he knew all of the buildings and alleys between the jewelry store he ripped off and the apartment he was staying at.
Neal picked up speed, then jumped when he made it to the edge of the roof. He landed on the rooftop of the next building, and kept running until he was halfway across it. Then he turned and watched Peter.
Peter skidded to a stop at the edge of the building and looked in disbelief at the conman. Even from that distance, Peter knew the younger man had that ridicules smile on his face. He hated that smile.
Neal tipped his hat again and Peter saw red, he was not going to let Caffrey get away again. Peter backed up several yards to get a running start, then he too ran and leaped. He landed on the other rooftop with a thud, then stood and ran towards the stunned conman.
Neal hadn't thought he would actually try the jump, he was impressed. Neal turned and ran, time for plan B. This was going to be fun. He ran across the roof, then made another jump to the next roof. The distance was a few feet wider, and Neal had to grab a hold of the fire escape on the other building to keep from falling.
Peter saw the jump, but did not see Neal grab onto the fire escape. He picked up speed, then jumped. Peter knew he was going to miss the rooftop and started reaching for the building, but started falling. He fell right into an opened dumpster, the lid slammed shut after he fell. Peter was in the dark.
With a loud string of curses, Peter opened the lid and stood up. He looked up and saw Neal standing on top of the roof. The younger man took off his Fedora, then bowed. Then he disappeared.
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A short time later, Neal was sitting on a sofa. The diamonds were spilt out on the coffee table in front of the sofa.
"Not bad, Neal." He said to himself, as he picked up one of the diamonds. They were small, but expensive.
He heard a knock on the front door and quickly grabbed his jacket off of the back of the sofa and covered up the diamonds, then he stood and walked over to the door. He looked out the peephole and saw a young boy who lived a few doors down. He had three puppies in a wagon he was pulling.
"Hello Jason." Neal smiled, after opening the door.
"Hi Nick." The boy said.
"What have you got there?" Neal nodded towards the wagon, smiling when one of the puppies jumped from the wagon and ran into Neal's apartment.
"Puppies." The kid replied. "Lady's puppies are weaned and Daddy said I had to give them away, the apartment's not big enough for all of them. I have three left, do you want one?"
"Sorry, Jason." Neal said. "I move around too much, it wouldn't be fair to the puppy."
"Okay." The boy sighed.
"I'll go get him for you." Neal said, walking back into the apartment. He saw the puppy standing on the coffee table and rushed to him. The conman cursed softly under his breath when he noticed that several of the small diamonds were missing. "You didn't." He whispered, picking the puppy up.
Neal scanned the area, but the diamonds were gone. The only thing he could think of was that the puppy ate the diamonds.
"Looks like I have a puppy." Neal mumbled, walking back to the door.
"I changed my mind, Jason." Neal smiled. "This little guy s cute, I think I'll keep him."
"Great." The boy smiled brightly. "Thanks Nick."
"Thank you, Jason."
The young boy left, pulling the wagon and two remaining puppies. Neal shut the door and held the little yellow puppy up to his eye level and glared at him.
"I should just lock you in a small closet until the diamonds work their way trough your system." Neal said. The puppy whined a little, then started licking Neal's face. Neal couldn't stay mad at the little puppy and started laughing.
"Okay, Pup." He said, petting the animal. "You win."
Neal sat on the sofa, still holding the puppy. He picked up the remaining diamonds and placed them back into a satin pouch.
"Well, Pup." He said. "You have swallowed five diamonds, worth about fifty thousand dollars." Then he sighed. "And I am going to have to play in dog poop in order to get them back."
The puppy started wiggling and Neal sat him on the floor. Then he laughed when the little puppy started running around the room.
"I guess you need puppy food and other stuff, huh." Neal stood up, then bent down and picked the puppy back up. "There's a pet store down the block, they should have everything you need." He carried the puppy into the bathroom and sat him down in the bath tub, it was deep and Neal didn't think he could get out. "I don't want a mess to clean up when I get back."
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Peter was ticked. Caffrey had slipped away again, and he had wound up in a dumpster. Sometimes life just wasn't fair. But he was not willing to give up, Peter Burke didn't know the meaning of the word defeat. He was currently driving around in the area he believed Caffrey was staying.
He smiled and pulled over to the curb and stopped when he spotted the man in question. Caffrey was walking down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street.
"Gotcha, Caffrey." Peter said, as he dialed Jones' number on his cell phone. He told the younger agent where he was and gave him instructions to set up a trap for the con artist.
Peter watched as Caffrey walked into a pet store, wondering what the man was up to. Several minutes later, he saw the younger man walk out of the store carrying two large bags.
Peter climbed out of his car and crossed the street, then followed Neal. He followed him to an apartment building and then into the building, and right to the room he was staying in.
"You are going down this time, Caffrey." Peter said softly. "You will not get away."
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Neal walked into his apartment and frowned at the yellow puddle in the middle of the floor. He heard barking, then saw the puppy running towards him. He stopped in front of the man and looked up at him wagging his small tail.
"You peed in the floor." Neal said, sternly.
The puppy continued to wag his tail happily.
"Bad puppy." Neal said, wagging a finger at him.
The puppy sat down and started whining, looking up at Neal with big eyes.
"I'm not mad." Neal sighed, picking him up and cuddling him. "It's okay, Pup."
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Peter and Jones were sitting in a car across the street from Neal's apartment building.
"There he is." Peter said, as he saw the conman walk out the building. He was carrying a small yellow puppy on a leash.
"Where did the dog come from?" Jones asked.
"No idea." Peter replied, as they watched Neal sat the puppy down on the sidewalk.
Neal walked the puppy up and down the sidewalk for over half an hour, then the puppy squatted down and pooped. Neal quickly used rubbed gloves and a small scoop to place the poop into a plastic bag. Then he picked the puppy up and carried him back inside.
"That was weird." Jones said.
"Yeah, even for Caffrey." Peter agreed. "We move in now."
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Neal was standing beside the counter, pouring puppy food into a dog bowl he had bought at the pet store. The puppy was once again in the bath tube, which now had a blanket laid across the top of it to prevent the puppy from escaping.
Neal's phone rung and he answered it, after checking the caller id.
"Hey Mozzie." He said. "You will never guess what I'm doing right now."
"Yes I can." Mozzie's voice said. "You are about to get arrested by Burke."
"What?"
"Burke and five more agents are closing in."
"Thanks Mozz." Neal hung up, then started to run into the bathroom to grab the puppy. But the front door busted open and Burke and Jones ran in.
Neal turned and ran into the bedroom, locking and barricading the door behind him..
"There's no escape, Caffrey!" Burke shouted, as him and Jones gave chase.
Neal opened the bedroom window and climbed out onto the fire escape. He started to climb down, but saw two FBI agents standing on the ground looking up at him. so he climbed up, reaching the roof top and looking around. He saw the door leading back into the building and ran for it, but before he got to it, it opened and another FBI agent walked out onto the roof.
Neal skidded to a halt, then turned and ran in the opposite direction. He found another fire escape and started to climb onto it, but another agent was standing about half way down.
The young conman was running out of options. With a deep sigh, he ran to the other side of the roof and looked down. There was a large dumpster there, with the lid opened.
"Freeze Caffrey." Peter said, as he made it to the roof top. "All of the exits are blocked, there is no way you can get past us."
Neal looked at him, and smiled.
"There's one way." He said.
"No there isn't." Peter replied.
"I guess it's only fair." The younger man said, taking a step backwards. "But my suits are more expensive to replace then yours." He tipped his hat, then stepped back again. Right off of the roof.
Neal landed in the dumpster, then quickly climbed out and ran down the ally. Peter ran to the edge of the roof and saw him running away, he knew he would never catch him even if he jumped. Neal Caffrey was gone.
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A few minutes later, Neal and Mozzie were sitting at a back booth of a little café.
"Where you able to retain possession of the diamonds during your hurried departure?" Mozzie asked.
"I have about thirty thousand dollars worth."
"And the other fifty thousand?"
"Pup swallowed them."
"Huh?" Mozzie asked, giving the younger man a confused look. Mozzie was not usually speechless, but he was then.
"Short version." Neal said. "A kid was giving away puppies, one of the puppies ate the diamonds, I kept the puppy, now Burke has the puppy."
"Does the suit know the puppy swallowed the diamonds?" Mozzie asked.
"He's smart, he'll figure it out."
"Then we have to get the puppy back before the diamonds are…um…produced."
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Peter and Jones went back to Neal's apartment, Peter was really ticked.
"I can't believe he got away again." Peter grumbled.
They started looking around, when they heard whining coming from the bathroom. They went in the room and Jones removed the blanket covering the bathtub.
"What is Caffrey doing with a puppy?' Jones asked.
Peter was about to say he didn't know, then it struck him. "It has to be it." He said with a smile.
"What has to be it?"
"Remember that kid we saw walking down the sidewalk with two puppies in the wagon?"
"Yeah, this one must be their brother."
"My guess is the kid brought the puppies here to offer Caffrey one, and some kind of way the puppy swallowed the diamonds."
"That's why he was so quick to gather the dog crap." Jones said, also smiling.
"We have him walking the puppy on tape." Peter said. "All we have to do is get the diamonds and we can tie Caffrey to the crime. Then we have him on forgery and on stealing the diamonds."
"I so did not join the bureau to watch a dog do his business." Jones said.
"Me neither." Then his smile got wider. "I'll assign a probie to doggie duty."
"It's good to be boss isn't it?"
"Oh yeah."
Peter looked down at the small puppy. "If this works, I might just make you an agent."
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TBC. What do you think? I will post more as soon as I can.