Threads of Trust || Neal Caffrey

Pilot - Part 4

It's been a while, but let me know what you think?!

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.