Partners In Crime

The moment of suspicion eventually passed, with the other thief deciding that it was too far a stretch to believe that Reizo was working with the feds. It would contradict too many things and he never saw Reizo as the treacherous type. So, with a small nod, he calmly returned his eyes to the vase, smiling to himself at how easily Reizo could see through his words.

"...I'll have it soon enough, it's not that difficult. The security here is ridiculously average; almost insulting, really. These pieces ought to be protected. Instead, they have buffoons in charge of security who suck at their jobs. I'll have the vase in my possession soon. I'd like to know who stole the other one, though. I had my eye on it and before I had a chance, poof. It was gone-- and I had the blame," he huffed, tapping his fingers calmly against his leg. "...I can't stick around. Cops make me nervous and I hardly need them hounding me for suspicious behaviour, Reizo."
 
“Do you think you know who stole the other one?” He questioned in genuine curiosity. “You’re the only person I know who has a particular intrigue in vases and whatnot, though who knows? Things could have changed while I was in jail,” he admitted with a small pout before taking his own step back.

“Be careful, Thomas. The feds clearly have gotten antsy and want to ruin our fun,” he commented after a pause. “I don’t see the big deal but I suppose they’re working for the government for a reason - because they’re boring.”
 
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"If I knew who had stolen it, don't you think I'd have stolen the vase off them by now? I don't know who it was, but it was someone who replicated my style to have the blame pinned on me. If I wasn't targeted like that, I'd find it impressive," he admitted with another cautious glance back at Theo. Just his presence was unnerving so, with a faint smile and a nod to Reizo, he made his exit - to Theodore's annoyance.

"Why did you let him go like that?" The agent questioned angrily, his hands on his waist with a grimace pulling on his lips. "...Did you at least get any information from him? You seemed to be having a nice long chat-- don't tell me it was all on inconsequential bullshit, Reizo. Is he our guy?"
 
"No, he's not our guy," he replied before running a hand through his hair, sighing wearily. "If there's one thing I know about Thomas, it's that he's not a great liar - at least, not as good as someone of our profession should be. He says he didn't take it and he knows better than to lie to me like that," he grumbled quietly, only really speaking once he was sure the other man was gone.

"If you're going to be with me, you need to be more subtle. You look like a cop and do you know what criminals don't like? Cops. If we're going to be seen in public together, you need to be able to blend in and it doesn't take a genius to tell that you're not some normal museum-goer, Theodore."
 
"What the fuck do you mean he isn't our guy?" He questioned immediately, his voice raising far louder than he would have liked it to. However, to be told with apparent certainty that Thomas wasn't the culprit was hardly the news he expected or wanted to hear. He had spent the last few weeks piecing together information that all pointed towards Thomas. All he needed was the evidence to pin it all on him and yet, now, he was being told that all that hard work was for nothing because he was investigating the wrong person.

To be put right back at square one, with no clue how to continue, was stress he really didn't need.

"...So that's the extent of your help? You effectively rubbish the months of work I've put in? If it isn't him, who would it be? It's got his mark all over it. If it's not him, someone's gone out of their way to pin it on him - and I can't figure out a motive for that. Maybe an ex-friend, or an ex-partner he worked with? What do you know about his personal life?"
 
"It's not like we all sit down at a cafe and get chummy, Theodore. I don't follow them back on Facebook or whatever. For a detective, you're awfully dim," he replied with a grimace at the sudden anger. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he decided to glance away, focusing his eyes on some other expensive artifact. There was a list of people, sure, and while Thomas had a specific type of strategy, it wasn't very hard to mimic or recreate.

"Let me look into it more, yeah? You aren't subtle like I said, so you'd be shit at going and talking with these people. Just... stay out of it for a bit and I'll see what I can do, yeah? Give me a chance to blossom and become a good little boy, hm?" He cooed, offering a smile despite his clear annoyance.
 
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"You're the consultant on my case, Reizo. I won't stay out of it, you have no authority to order me off my own case. What we're going to do is head back to the office, go over the case file again and see if we missed anything," he decided stubbornly. It was boring and dull, he knew that, but not everything could involve heading around the city chasing suspects. Most of his time was dedicated to pouring over files and statements in his office. It was how he managed to eventually catch Reizo, after all - by dedicating hours upon hours a day to studying files for any small bit of information he had overlooked or not thought about.

If Thomas wasn't the thief, it changed everything and he needed to examine the file to find anything that may corroborate Reizo's apparent confidence that Thomas was innocent.

"It's not all fun like the TV shows, Reizo. Sometimes there's undercover work, sometimes we do get to chase people-- but those incidents are few and far between. We need to head back and look over the statements again, check some footage from the night that they managed to retrieve before the cameras were interfered with. It's all about going through it with a fine tooth comb."
 
“You probably would have found me sooner if you were on the streets rather than sitting in a stuffy office all day,” he countered with a grimace, though said it without an angry tone. “Have you ever thought of that? Of going against the rules? You find your crook in the end either way, yeah?” He grumbled before stepping away with a sigh.

“Let’s just go. You can scan files that might not even exist for our culprit rather than letting me talk with others and find out the culprit through clever listening skills, yeah?”
 
"There are rules for a reason. I can't just do whatever I'd like to do in order to catch someone. Can I remind you that we don't even know who's to blame? Who are you going to listen in on if we don't know who we're even suspecting? If it isn't Thomas, we need to go over the files, check footage and question those who lingered about the vase in the days before it was stolen. That's how we'll catch the culprit," he corrected flatly, his eyes subtly rolling at Reizo's criticism. He would take offence to it, but he found it more annoying than anything else. He had worked years to get where he was, so he wasn't going to start accepting the advice of someone who hadn't worked in the FBI for more than half an hour.

"If you do have 'clever listening skills', perhaps you should stop questioning me when I give you an order? Try listening, Reizo. I'm in charge; you're here to advise. I can choose to ignore that advice if I so choose-- and I'm choosing to do that. Unless you come up with an idea too impossible to shut down, we're heading to the office to do some boring office work."
 
“You can only read so much, Theodore. The words on the page won’t change suddenly. You need information, not going back to old stuff and expecting something there,” he protested with a roll of his eyes and a crossing of arms, though at least was willing to follow out the museum.

“If he’s a copy cat, he needs a reason to be one. Who has he copied? Only Thomas, or have there been other crimes like this? I’m out of the loop here, yeah?” He murmured, tapping his fingers against his lips in contemplation. “I may not know every single art enthusiast and collector in New York City but I do know quite a few. Like I said, I can ask around a bit. That means me being on the street.”
 
"I don't trust you to be on the street and doing this work honestly, Reizo. I don't trust you yet, trust is earned and you've done nothing to make me think you're firmly willing to help us," he admitted, though the words had clearly made him hesitate. If there was a copycat -or at least just someone who was trying to pin blame on Thomas- then sitting staring at the single file was hardly going to help.

"...Fine. I'll be at the office going through my boring files. You ask around and... do whatever you think will help. Nothing illegal; nothing rule-breaking. You can't enter properties without warrants either, so... just don't be an idiot, alright?" He groaned, his brows furrowed at the insane amount of trust he was placing in him, but he had no other choice. The idea of a copycat who was blaming others (successfully) was a headache he needed to solve, or innocent people would get imprisoned for crimes they didn't commit, all at the hands of someone else. "Be back at the office by lunchtime."
 
“I promise I will be back before lunch,” he declared with a pursed smile, holding back his excitement. “Is this where we part, or would you like me to accompany you back to the office? It might be a good way to get to know you better, Theodore. I like you, you’re smart - it pains me to admit that. If we’re going to be working together, we should at least become acquaintances,” he suggested.

“I could just let you return on your own. I’ve got my bracelet on, yeah? I know where to start so I could just leave you to it,” he offered, though smoked to both options. He knew what to do no matter what and did fully intend to sniff out the competition.
 
"Stop buttering me up, it won't make me trust you any sooner. Just... go off and explore or do whatever you think will help the case. If I do find out you've done something illegal, or plan to do so, I'll send you back to prison before you realise it. Keep that in mind as well. You may be on the outside, but you're anything but free," he reminded, offering a glance at the tracking anklet for emphasis. Only when he was certain he had successfully got his point across did he make his exit, even if he did so with a great amount of uncertainty.

In less than a minute after his exit did Albert appear from across the street. He had been around the city, doing business of his own, when he caught sight of the two - it only made sense to observe them from a distance, out of his own curiosity more than anything else. He didn't know that the agent knew exactly who he was, so keeping a distance and thinking he was keeping his identity and friendship with Reizo a secret seemed the best option available to him.

"He hasn't bored you to death yet, then?" He remarked with a grin, leaning against a lamppost casually. "God, you're actually on FBI business right now, helping the pigs out... What the fuck has happened to you, Reizo? I don't like this, it's weird."
 
“Oh, shut up,” he scoffed, his eyes rolling behind the sunglasses as he shoved his hands in his pockets. He was going to the close cafe whether Theodore wanted to come or not so that’s exactly where he began rocking walk to.

“I need to at least pretend that I’m a good little boy for them at least for a bit. Once you get this bracelet fixed, we can start doing our own thing for fun,” he reassured as he strolled casually down the street, expecting the other to follow. “Don’t call me a pig, you know I’m better than that. Sometimes things need to go slow, silly.”
 
"About the bracelet - it's not going to be easy to tamper with without an alert being sent to the FBI. I'm sure I can tinker with it, but it ain't gonna be easy. But hey, I'll try. If I fail, you're just gonna have to be the FBI's little pet for a while, that's all," he jokingly grinned, downplaying his confidence just to piss the other off a little. Life hadn't been remotely fun with Reizo, after all, so winding him up like he had always done was one way to entertain himself with his best friend again.

"I saw you go into the museum with that agent guy. What case are you working on?" He asked curiously. The one benefit of Reizo's new job was hearing about the cases he was working on, which hopefully would end with some of their competition behind bars. "Nothing I did, is it?"
 
“Unless you stole an ancient vase and framed Thomas, no,” he replied, huffing at the other’s taunts. “I know Thomas enough that he wouldn’t be afraid of admitting he had the vase in his possession, he’s too arrogant for that. Not to mention I have no intentions of taking it from him - vases are useless unless you’re putting flowers in them. So , that leads me to be a little wary of the leads because you’re the only other person I could see doing that and I know you better than to do that... I hope,” he explained while adjusting his shoulders, sighing in relief once inside the cafe where he could order the first macchiato he had in months.

“Relax, yeah? I’ll... figure this out. It’s fun, if you ask me, and hey? You could always help if you want to be a cute little assistant,” he suggested with a smirk and a waggle if eyebrows.
 
Sliding into the booth opposite his friend, he waited to speak until he had offered a latte and something to eat, offering a playful grin to the cute waitress serving them. Only when she left did he turn back to face Reizo, resting his hands on the table with a shrug, his eyes glancing away to avoid eye contact.

"Thomas is a fucking prick, everyone in our circle knows that. So what if he got framed? He probably deserves to get thrown in prison. If I have to see his smug face around the city one more time, I'll lose my mind," he began slowly, eventually groaning in realisation that lying wasn't his best skill when it came to Reizo.

"...I had a small fling with his ex-girlfriend, like, a week or two ago, I dunno. She mentioned that she wanted that vase before Thomas, and I figured I'd help her out-- I'm a sucker, I get that. But it ain't a huge deal. She got the vase and left the city, Thomas gets blamed, nobody suspects me. Simple. I made sure nobody could track this to me, I planted evidence. Don't fucking tell me your agent is that stupid not to have found it?" He grunted, snorting to himself in realisation. After all, if the evidence he planted had been found, Thomas would be in prison by now.

"I planted a few strands of his hair on the fucking podium the vase was on-- I even left a fingerprint of his there for good measure. What more does your agent need to pin this on him, dude?"
 
“Jesus - I already convinced Thomas didn’t do it!” He hissed Unser his breath, a hand running through his hair to calm himself down, exhaling. “Well, shit. Uh... look, I don’t think I can go back and be like, “hey, uh... I was wrong?” That would just mean they wouldn’t trust me and I could be sent back to jail,” he reminded with a sharp inhale.

“We’ll figure this out,” he murmured, his cheeks growing red in the rare sign of frustration. “I can’t believe you did that. You - you’ll need to blame someone else. I don’t care how you do it but you’ve got to.”
 
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"Why did you convince them it wasn't Thomas? That was a dumb move, idiot. Why are you helping that arrogant prick out?" He spat angrily, the fact he had to ruin the whole plan after delicately placing evidence and risking everything to do so understandably pissing him off. Sipping at his latte once it arrived, he turned to glance out the window, just to calm himself down and think it through.

"...I guess I can blame someone else. Alexandra's annoying, I guess I could pin this on her. I could ask her for a drink, get the fingerprints from her glass... I'm not happy about that, obviously. You shouldn't have helped Thomas out like this. Do you fancy him, is that it? Is that why you're so desperate to help him out?" He taunted with a grunt, knowing it was a cheap shot but it made him feel better, momentarily at least.
 
“Do you fancy Alexandra? Is that why you’re so hesitant to blame her?” He quickly countered in clear aggravation as he gripped the handle of his coffee tightly. “Fuck off. For starters, I’m offended that you’d imply that I had feelings for him. He’s so below me. I helped him because I need to keep some truth to this whole situation. I don’t want to be sent to jail again, yeah?”

Running a hand through his hair, he had to inhale to relax himself. “Let’s not talk about this right now, please. I want to enjoy my drink and this whole conversation is churning my stomach. Literally anything else is better.”