Author's Note: I'm trying my best to make this case as real as possible. However, I am not a cop, FBI agent, forensic scientist, or a mathematician, so please excuse any errors. I also realize that "Robin Hood" happened around Halloween in season 4, but, for the purpose of this story, Halloween takes place a few weeks after "Black Swan". Thanks again for reading!
Charlie felt something was off. He looked up from his grading as the TV hockey announcer shouted the new score and quickly realized that his brother had not made a sound.
"Hey, bro, you okay?" he asked, pushing his student's paper to the side. Don grunted, a sound that Charlie took to mean 'not really, but I don't want to talk about it'. But Charlie, feeling that he knew what was up, tried anyway. "Is this about your recent disagreement with Megan?"
"How'd you...?"
"Ah, Larry said she's been pondering it, too."
"Yeah?" Don asked. He sat up a little straighter, keen to hear what was going on.
"For the record, he didn't say much," Charlie panicked, realizing that he might have said too much already. "And I don't want to passing gossip along here."
"Oh, come on, Charlie."
"Okay, okay, I will say this: Larry hinted that Megan might have been fine with your choice to hold Meechum, you know, before her assignment for the DOJ," Charlie said, talking to the floor before taking a glance up at Don. Don sat back against the couch and sighed.
"That assignment really screwed her up, didn't it?" he asked.
"It definitely seems that way," Charlie admitted. Any further conversation was interrupted when Alan and Amita walked through the kitchen door, both carrying large paper bags.
"What's this?" Don asked, smiling to cover the serious conversation that had just taken place.
"Alan witnessed the Cal Sci Halloween tradition today," Amita said.
"What?"
"Students dip pumpkins in liquid nitrogen and then drop them from the roof of the library," Charlie explained.
"Well, it got me thinking," Alan said. " We've never really been a big Halloween family, but with all the kids in the neighborhood, I thought it would be fun to start our own traditions."
"You're going to start to pass out candy again?" Charlie asked.
"In costume," Amita grinned.
"Really?" Don asked.
"I don't see anything wrong with that," Alan said.
"There's not, Dad, it's just surprising," Don said. "What are you going as?"
"I'm not ruining the surprise. Oh, and I'm expecting everyone else to show up in costume."
"Show up to what?" Don asked, before being interrupted by his phone ringing. "Eppes? Okay, I'll be right there," he hung up his phone and looked at the others. "I gotta get, guys, have fun," he smirked.
N3N3N3N3N3
Don parked his SUV alongside the other cop cars surrounding an old building.
"What'd you say, Liz?" he asked the agent as he met her by the front door.
"Hey," Liz said. "Old post office. This place has been shut down for over a year now; the use of email and the internet caused cutbacks so they merged with the neighboring town. Building's been up for sale but no takers."
"So, who found it?"
"High school teacher and five students," Liz said, nodding to the group that was being interviewed by another FBI agent and LAPD. "City council approved a request by the high school's National Honor Society to set up their annual Halloween haunted house here instead of their school gym. They showed up this morning to see the building's layout and start planning for this weekend," she explained.
"Yeah, and weren't expecting to find this."
"Guy's a biology and forensics teacher and most of the kids watch crime shows on TV, needless to say, I don't think there's much emotional scarring on this one."
"Yeah? One less thing to worry about then. Looks like the door handle was smashed," Don said, peering over the top of his sunglasses at the handle that was barely hanging on to the door.
"Techs found a broken paperclip lodged in the lock," Liz said. "Probably thought they could pick it but then got impatient."
"There are instructions all over the internet for picking locks right? So we're probably looking at amateurs."
"Problem is, that's not what the inside says; it's a whole different story."
She led Don in through the lobby and to the old mail-room. The windows were covered in black spray paint and the ground was wet with small puddles gathered in several areas. In the middle of the room sat a small armchair that was covered in blood. There was duct tape on the arms and legs of the chair, making it look like someone had been tied down.
"Is there a leak somewhere?" Don asked, shaking some water off his shoes.
"Not that we can find," Megan said, approaching the pair. "LAPD found this though," she held up a small evidence bag with a cap in it. "It goes to one of those five gallon bottles for water coolers."
"Brought the water to clean up, maybe? Everything but the chair is clean," Liz suggested.
"Maybe," Don said. "No trace of a body? That's definitely enough blood to suppose murder I'd think."
"No, not even a trail of blood out any of the doors. And the water doesn't really seem to have any blood in it either, so they had to have been really careful," Megan said.
"Yeah, okay, that definitely doesn't match the sloppiness of the door handle," Don said.
"We also found a digital camera and some sidewalk chalk," Megan said.
"Chalk? Why don't you get Kailey or Colby on that and see if you can find what's on that camera. Liz, why don't you grab David and interview some of the people in the neighborhood."
"On it."