Fanfiction: A Pack of Lies (4/8)
Title: A Pack of Lies
Author: runenklinge
Artist: petr_slavik
Genre: Crime
Characters: James Jesse, Neil Caffrey, Peter Burke, Hartley Rathaway, Mozzie, Diana Berrigan, Clinton Jones, Elizabeth Burke, Peter Hernandez, Sandra Kilgour; mentions of past Rogues
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 27k +
Warnings: mentions of past canon character death, character death
A/N: as you may or may not have guessed, this is a White Collar AU, just with more James Jesse. I want to thank petr_slavik for her terrific art, and kidezt for her wonderful management and handling of all things. I could not have done this without her.
Summary:
A new crime spree calls New York's White Collar unit to the task. But since the crimes bear the mark of the famous master criminal, the Trickster, the FBI decides to send in their expert on all things Trickster: Special Agent James Jesse. What follows are questions, doubts, more crime and a lot of lies.
This is my RoguesBang entry, check out more awesome entries there
Part 1 I Part 2 I Part 3 I Part 4 I Part 5 I Part 6 I Part 7 I Part 8 I
Alternate at AO3: here
You have to check out the beautiful art hoples made for me
Art Link: LJ
Chapter 3:
The Manhattan Museum of Art held an opening of a new exhibition, showing off baroque pieces from all over the world. The rich and famous were gathered there, champagne flutes in hand, wearing diamond earrings or cufflinks, laughing and talking. Everyone was there, from old money to new money, sports stars, actors, business tycoons and that kind of celebrities that are famous for being famous. The people who had graciously lent their pieces to the museum were posing for a photograph; Emilio Saltarino, an Italian aristocrat or at least as aristocratic as you can be nowadays, shook hands with the curator, Jin Xue-Mc Millian. They all smiled as the camera flashed for the 25th time when suddenly the lights cut out. Some let out a surprised yell while others were telling everyone to just stay calm. The curator was worried sick and the guards on high alert, but after a few seconds, with a great whirr, the electricity and with it, the light came back. All the private donors looked at their pieces and sighed in relief when they found their contribution still at their rightful place. Jin hissed to the guards to have the whole museum checked and don't they dare to come back if one piece was missing. The party had ground to a halt, but a few people were trying to get it back on track. Mr Saltarino told a joke to a film star he had been talking to previously when he paused. “Scusi, but didn't you wear a collana, a...what's the name, a necklace when we last spoke? I'm sure I saw one, it was very pacchiana, no?”
The film star rose her hands in terror to her neck, and let out a piercing scream when she discovered that the necklace was gone. Another woman yelled “My pearls!” and then man declared that his emerald tie pin was missing. Soon, there was panic amongst the guests. Jin tried to calm down them down, but people were clutching at their belongings, accusing others of having stolen their belongings and then the donors were demanding to have their items back this instant.
“Signora, I don't like doing this, but I must insist to have my precious wardrobe back.”
“Oh, give me a break, as if anyone could make off with that monstrosity unnoticed.”
Mr Saltarino gasped. “Signora, I-”
“Give me a break! Take your closet if you want. Maria!” she yelled at her assistant, “Mr Saltino is leaving with his ugly closet, note that down.” She turned back to her wealthy guests, and her voice and expression turned soft again. “Oh no, don't leave, I'm sure it just fell off, surely it's nothing, oh, is that an earring I see on the ground? See, it's nothing.”
But then two women lunged at it, claiming that it was hers and how dare she, get your hands off you harpy. Then all hell broke loose when a pearl necklace was spotted on the floor, chain having become undone and all the pearls were coming loose and rolling over the floor. No fewer than 20 people found themselves on the floor, either trying to grasp at a pearl or having stumbled over one.
Jin sighed and threw herself into the fray, calling all the guards to help her in her endeavor
Only about half an hour later did it occur to someone to call the cops.
-> next part