Inside the warehouse, Neil and Alex were still holding each other when Peter walked over with a stern face. He directly informed Neil that both he and Alex would be taken back to the FBI's New York branch for questioning. This was something Neil had expected, so neither of them were surprised as they followed Peter out of the warehouse. However, as they reached the door, Neil saw the mutilated corpse of his mentor, Vincent Adler, lying not far from the entrance.
Peter had deliberately arranged this after receiving instructions from Hughes, wanting to see how Neil would react upon suddenly seeing Vincent's body. This was a tactic to gauge whether Neil had prior knowledge of the situation.
Neil Caffrey's face changed immediately upon seeing Vincent's body. Although he knew Castle would deal with Vincent after everything was over, he hadn't anticipated such a brutal method. The high-caliber sniper bullet had nearly blown Vincent apart. Despite being a world-renowned art thief, Neil had always relied on his brains rather than violence and had never killed anyone. So, faced with such a gruesome scene, Neil's face turned pale. Alex, standing beside him, reacted even worse, vomiting on the spot after seeing Vincent's body, which resembled a smashed tomato.
Peter, who had been observing them coldly, took note of all their reactions. Neil's undisguised surprise led Peter to mistakenly believe that Neil had no prior knowledge of the event. In reality, Neil was simply shocked by Castle's ruthless actions. But Neil's intelligence was formidable; realizing Peter was secretly watching him, he immediately put on the most appropriate reaction, misleading Peter's judgment.
Seeing Neil's shock and the fleeting panic in his eyes, Peter assumed it was a genuine response from someone unaware of the situation, reducing his suspicion of Neil. After seeing that Alex had almost finished vomiting, Peter quickly signaled his subordinates, Jones and Diana, to escort Neil and Alex into the car to take them back to headquarters for questioning.
Peter stayed behind, planning to search the warehouse thoroughly for clues Vincent might have left behind, and to interrogate Vincent's subordinates on the spot, hoping to extract information about Vincent and his associates.
Just as Peter was about to begin the interrogations, he was summoned again by his superior, Hughes. It turned out that other FBI agents at the New York branch had received an anonymous tip-off from a "chubby guy" under Castle's instructions. The content of this tip-off excited Hughes, who had been feeling down after the day's largely fruitless operations. According to the anonymous source, Vincent Adler was not acting alone; he had been staying at the Long Island estate of a sitting congressman during his time in New York. This news thrilled Hughes, who finally saw a way to account for the day's events.
Hughes' main purpose in calling Peter over was to instruct him to take his team to the Long Island estate immediately to gather evidence of Vincent's stay there, which would allow them to target the congressman.
After all, Vincent Adler was a federally wanted criminal, and for a congressman to knowingly shelter such a person in his estate was highly suspicious. Moreover, Vincent had been assassinated by two snipers shortly after being captured by the FBI, raising even more questions. Where had the treasure, supposedly stored in the submarine, gone? Could it be that the congressman had been working with Vincent, only to send killers to silence him once Vincent was captured, fearing he might reveal their collusion? And what about the missing treasure—could the congressman have taken it for himself?
At this point, Hughes wasn't concerned with finding out who made the anonymous report to the FBI; he just wanted to seize this opportunity. He had put a lot on the line to capture Vincent Adler, even personally securing a pardon for Neil Caffrey from the Justice Department. But today's operation, while successful in capturing Vincent, ended with Vincent being silenced and the treasure vanishing. Without this anonymous tip, Hughes wouldn't know how to explain the situation to his superiors.
So, upon receiving the tip, Hughes knew it was his best chance to turn the investigation towards the congressman who had lent his estate to Vincent. Conveniently, a representative from the Justice Department was with them, and the evidence seemed to implicate the congressman in aiding Vincent's activities. Hughes suspected that many of his unanswered questions might find resolution through this investigation. After all, Vincent had managed to evade capture for a decade—could the congressman have played a role in this? Could he have been leaking sensitive information about federal efforts to capture Vincent? Furthermore, how had Vincent managed to bring a WWII-era submarine to the surface off the coast of New York without the Coast Guard noticing? Could the congressman have exerted influence to facilitate this?
Hughes' previous anxieties were replaced by excitement. After sending Peter on his mission, he hurried over to the Justice Department representative to share the latest developments. Of course, Hughes didn't mention that the information came from an anonymous tip, instead crediting his own team's intelligence work. He also invited the representative to join him on the trip to the Long Island estate to gather evidence, ensuring that the congressman couldn't deny involvement when the time came.
The Justice Department representative was intrigued by the news that Vincent had been staying at a congressman's estate. His primary mission in New York was to deliver Neil's pardon, signed by the Attorney General, and to assist the FBI in capturing Vincent Adler, a federal fugitive. However, a significant part of his task was to secure a share of the treasure once the FBI retrieved it from the submarine.
But for some unknown reason, the treasure that should have been in the submarine was nowhere to be found. While the FBI had captured Vincent, he was shot dead shortly after being taken into custody by snipers lying in wait. As these events unfolded, the Justice Department representative had his suspicions, which were now confirmed by Hughes. The congressman was indeed a significant suspect.
Finding evidence against a sitting congressman isn't easy, and since the original mission had already gone awry, exposing a congressman's crimes could be a satisfying consolation.
As Hughes was briefing the Justice Department representative, a technical expert whom Peter had deployed earlier reported the locations where the signals from the micro surveillance cameras had been transmitted—directly from the congressman's estate.
This new information further incriminated the congressman, who had allowed Vincent to hide in his estate. The treasure's disappearance and Vincent's assassination shortly after his capture pointed increasingly to the congressman as a key player in this conspiracy.
This was precisely the chaos that Castle had engineered, aiming to mislead the FBI's investigation...
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