Las Vegas. Monday afternoon. June 28, 2004.

After a few hours of gambling at the Bellagio casino followed by another check in with Tricia at noon, Neal called his cousin Angela. She should be back at her apartment by now, having dropped the family at SeaTac airport an hour ago. Neal explained his plan to perform as Shawn Legend tonight, and how he envisioned Grace Legend contributing to the act if she could make it to Las Vegas. She agreed to join him if she could arrange a flight.

"Speaking of which, are you traveling to performances under your own name?" Neal asked. He assumed Henry had arranged a Grace Legend ID so that Angela's travels couldn't be tied to her alter ego.

"Not usually. Years ago my parents bought a small plane that we keep here. We'd all go flying when they visited, and I have my pilot's license. I've been using the Cessna, listing Mom's name in the flight plans. The trickiest part about today is that I haven't flown to Nevada before. I'll need to find a small airfield in your vicinity and file a flight plan. It should be easy enough, but I'll let you know if I run into any problems."

"Thanks. I really appreciate this." Things were looking up. If Neal got Angela on his crew, Henry would have to adapt to their plans for the Masterson job. The biggest challenge facing Neal right now was the FBI. He needed this last day in Vegas for gambling and for one more performance to support the Urban Legend conspiracy theories Mozzie was spinning. He couldn't tell the FBI about that, and Tricia was going to start questioning what he was up to if he didn't have any news about his search for Henry when he called. That was going to be a touchy subject now that it was Monday, and he'd pressed for the FBI to treat today as a work day instead of a vacation day.

He had nearly three hours until the next check in, and hoped something would come to him. Meanwhile, he prepared for his performance as Shawn.

Interchanging Shawn and Neal Legend at performances had become a common practice in 1999, when Henry enrolled in graduate school at DePaul. Usually they could perform together and tag team the heavy class load, but sometimes one would have to travel alone for performances while the other attended classes, especially during exams.

It had been easier then. Urban Legend was small-time and happy that way. They wanted to have fun and make enough money to get by, and preferred to stay out of the limelight so that they wouldn't get the attention of Winston-Winslow when Robert was looking for Henry. Now they were trying to get press, and that meant reporters bringing high quality cameras to performances. Getting away with claiming to be both Neal and Shawn would be harder as photos were taken of both of them and then compared. To get away with this con, he needed help.

Neal wandered to the Caesar's Palace wedding services office, and spoke to a helpful assistant about makeup artists. He gathered contact info for the recommended artists and made an appointment with one who specialized in makeovers that transformed a person into a celebrity likeness. Bess arrived at his room before 2pm with a cart of supplies and a seen-it-all demeanor. She studied the photos Neal had of Henry and then got to work.

"He's a nice-looking man," Bess said as Neal put in the hazel contacts. "Can't say I recognize him, though I can't keep up with all the new celebrities these days. It won't be too hard to make you look like him. You've both got the same shape face. I won't have to touch the ears. A little shadowing on the nose and cheekbones." She pulled out makeup and brushes and got to work.

Neal remembered the first time he'd been mistaken for Henry. Neal had picked up Henry's guitar and was playing it in Miranda's studio while a singer was meeting with Miranda about one of her songs. Henry had played the guitar in a recording session with them, but had gone to the kitchen in search of a snack. The singer hadn't paid much attention to the two young men singing backup vocals, and assumed Neal was Henry. Amused, Neal had imitated his cousin's voice and demeanor. Henry caught on as soon as he returned and imitated Neal. It had been easy enough to fool someone who'd met them only once, and they enjoyed the joke enough to keep practicing.

There was a family resemblance to work with as a basis, and the fact was that in music performances they were far enough away from the audience to pull off a switch based on clothing, voice, and attitude. Even up close, most people didn't remember their casual acquaintances in great detail. Repeating the catch phrases, gestures and facial expressions someone was known for could convince most people to see what they expected to see. If someone wasn't fooled, Neal or Henry could simply laugh and claim it was all a joke.

When Peter had first met Henry and learned he was related to Neal, he'd studied the cousins carefully to see the similarities between them. That was the level of observation and scrutiny they could expect now that they were starting a rumor that Neal had died and Shawn Legend was playing two roles. People were going to get close, take high quality photographs, and pore over the images. There wouldn't be a lot of press at this event, but Neal thought it would be best to look more like Henry. He needed to fool not only the audience, but also the club manager and backup musicians.

Neal paid close attention to how Bess transformed him. Then he washed off the makeup, and under her watchful eye reapplied it himself to make sure he could achieve the same results. He got what he needed, but it wasn't cheap. By the time he paid Bess for her time and for the makeup he'd need to pull off this impersonation again, he'd spent a large chunk of his gambling winnings.

"Are you sure you won't let me lighten your hair?" Bess asked as she packed up her supplies. "You have it styled right, but the color is the one obvious difference left between you."

"I'm sure," Neal insisted. He'd heard enough horror stories about dye jobs gone wrong that he didn't want to risk what he considered his best feature. "Those are daylight photos. Indoors his hair looks much darker."

###

A few minutes after 6pm in New York, Peter's cell phone rang. He expected it to be Tricia with an update on Neal's progress but according to the display on the phone, it was Neal calling.

"Neal, is everything all right?"

"Yeah." The background noise sounded like he was outdoors. There were cars going by. "Sorry if I'm late calling. I got wrapped up in a lead."

Peter frowned. "Your check in was supposed to be with Tricia this time."

There was a pause. "Oh. Right. Too much going on, I guess. Sorry to bother you. I'll call Tricia."

"Not a problem. I've got time. What's the latest update?" Peter did his best to sound casual, but couldn't tamp down a pang of concern. It wasn't like Neal to forget who to call. Jones had been in his office and stood when Peter answered the phone to give him privacy, but Peter waved him back. He scribbled a note to let Tricia know he'd take this check in.

Jones read the note, nodded, and went down to his desk to contact Tricia.

Neal cleared his throat. "The fact is, I wasn't comfortable talking to Tricia about this one. You could say I forgot the schedule on purpose. The thing is, you know... There are certain things that are legal in this part of the country that aren't legal everywhere else."

Peter stood and closed the door to his office. "You mean prostitution?" He fought to keep his voice down as he took his seat behind his desk. "Neal, do not tell me you were visiting prostitutes. You're supposed to be on a case for the Federal government. Do you have any idea how it looks when Federal employees are –"

"It's legit," Neal interrupted. "The thing is, Henry has some, umm, let's call it unique tastes. Some things are easier to cater to here, and, well... The industry is regulated. It's safer, and also very discreet. My best bet to find out if Henry had recently visited one of his favorite, well, brothels, was to visit them myself disguised as him and see if anyone approached me to offer what he would have been looking for."

Peter rested his head on the hand not holding his cell phone. "On one hand, I want to say you'd better have a lead to justify this. On the other hand, I cannot imagine explaining to Hughes how you got it. You don't go to brothels for leads without clearing it first. The public backlash for this kind of thing..." He shook his head. "This is why you wouldn't give Tricia an itinerary."

"Yeah. You know, it's funny you should mention backlash, because that's sort of related."

Peter closed his eyes and flashed back to a conversation between Neal and Henry when Neal was trying to distract Henry from the pain of a broken arm. He'd mentioned a story Henry had once told him about a dominatrix. Henry had claimed the story was a lie, and Peter desperately wanted to believe that. "How about we skip the specifics and give me the bottom line. Did you get a lead or not?" There wasn't an answer. "Neal?"

"S-sorry." The response was muffled. The background noise had disappeared, as if he had muted the phone.

"Are you laughing?"

The background noise returned, along with laughter. "I thought I could..." More laughter. "I thought I'd get through it without laughing, but then you threw in bottom line, and it added a whole new dimension to the story I'd been spinning from your backlash comment. There's a hidden kinky side to you, isn't there?"

Peter set aside his outrage to think things through. "What are you doing, Henry?"

"What gave me away?" asked Neal's cousin.

"I think you know. I think you wanted me to guess it was you."

"Yeah, I knew you'd remember. I can fake Neal's voice but not his laugh."

"Right." Peter paused. "You picked a topic that would distract me from guessing at first, knowing eventually you'd start laughing and give yourself away. How'd you know about the check ins?"

"I've still got resources, and I try to make sure Neal is okay when I get the chance. You shouldn't have sent him to Vegas, Peter. I wasn't ready for him to find those leads, yet. Those were a contingency, in case things went wrong."

"In case you died?" Peter asked. "Have you been leaving clues to help bring him peace if Robert kills you?" Jones ran upstairs with a note saying Neal had already called for his check in with Tricia. Peter nodded and handed a note asking him to trace the call. Then he held up a hand for Jones to stay and deliberately said, "Why don't you let us help you, Henry?"

Jones' eyes widened. Peter nodded and the agent left to start the trace.

"Don't worry about me. Just keep Neal out of the line of fire."

"That's an ominous turn of phrase. Do you really think Robert wants to hurt you, and not just scare you off his trail?"

Henry sighed. "For a long time, Neal was jealous of my relationship with my parents. I won the jackpot when it came to my mom, and at least I had the normal two-parent thing going on until high school. My dad seemed annoying, even scary sometimes, but I could always explain everything away as tough love. He wanted the best for me, which meant he cared. I told myself we just disagreed on what I needed, or what I should become. I wasn't the only one fooled by him, you know. Mom fell for it, too."

"I know it's been tough," Peter said. "Don't make it tougher on the people who care about you."

"Easier said than done, I think. The tables have turned now. These days I'm jealous of Neal."

Peter thought about Neal's childhood, and was surprised at Henry's comment. "You're saying you wish your dad was nowhere to be found? Isn't that what you've got now?"

"I'm not talking about James. Listen, I've got to go, and this time I really am ditching the phone. Remember your promise, Peter."

The call ended as Jones returned. Seeing Peter was off the phone Jones said, "He was calling from the phone Neal swapped with him. It had been turned off, which is why we couldn't track it before. Turns out he's north of Seattle. The call was placed from Everett, near some of Boeing's facilities."

"The airplane manufacturer? I thought he was sticking to boats."

"It isn't far from the water, and I assume he has to be flying sometimes, especially if he wants to cross the country. Maybe he finds it easier to bypass security in a smaller airport. We know Winston-Winslow has at least one corporate jet. Maybe some of the family have planes, or he has a pilot as an accomplice."

"Look into that. Let me know what you find, and tell Tricia, too." When he was alone in his office, Peter thought over the call from Henry. Why had he impersonated Neal instead of simply being upfront about his point? The trick with Henry was that he had a masters in psychology and liked to relay information by planting suggestions in your head instead of being straightforward. His method ensured you didn't forget his message, once you caught on to the ideas he'd planted.

Starting from the beginning, then, Peter outlined what Henry had said and done on the call. First, he'd impersonated Neal knowing Peter would find that disconcerting. Second, he'd given the impression that Neal was doing things Peter and the FBI wouldn't approve of. Third, he'd revealed that he knew Neal was in Las Vegas, that he was checking in with Peter or Tricia regularly, and that Neal was impersonating Henry to get leads. Last, he'd talked about fathers and a promise.

Sorting through those leads, Peter decided that Henry wanted him to make Neal stop the impersonations. He wanted Peter to be aware of what he'd been able to learn about Neal's activities, so Peter would worry that Robert could uncover the same information. That might lead Peter to keep Neal in New York. Maybe Henry was concerned that Neal was too close to finding him?

Toward the end Henry was implying he was jealous that Neal had Peter as a father figure, but Peter had to shake his head at that. He wasn't at all sure Neal would agree Henry had anything to be jealous of.

The promise was one Henry had requested in March, after Robert's role in the attempts on Neal's life had been uncovered and they'd seen the first signs that Henry was overwhelmed to learn what his father was capable of. He'd asked Peter to watch out for Neal, bestowing on him a role Henry had long considered his own. Reminding Peter of this promise could indicate that he expected the situation with Robert to escalate soon.

Peter eyed his phone, tempted to call Neal and order him back to New York, as Henry wanted. He resisted, knowing Neal would consider it a breach of trust. Anyway, Neal would be on a return flight within nine hours. Instead Peter called Tricia for reassurance that Neal's last check in hadn't given her any reason for concern.