S is for Siblings
By Jelsemium
Who does not own these characters.
Who does have a sibling
Who wrote this for the 2006 Summer Alphabet Fiction Challenge at Numb3rs dot org.
Rating: K
Megan gently set the handset of her telephone into its cradle. She refused to allow herself to cry or even to allow her hand to tremble.
"Reeves?"
Colby's voice made her jump. The handset rattled out of its cradle and fell to the desk.
"Sorry," Colby said. "Didn't mean to startle you."
Megan looked at him sharply, but there was no mockery in his face. There was a trace of what might have been sympathy, though. She hoped he hadn't overheard too much of that conversation, but suspected that he had. Frankly, any amount was too much.
It was her own fault, though, for taking a personal call at her desk.
She picked up the handset and firmly set it in place. "That's okay, Granger," she said, pleased that her voice didn't shake. "Any more info on the vic?"
"Yeah," Colby said. "Mulligan was a real winner. He brought in one shipment of high powered rifles and promised them to three different buyers." He flipped through his notebook. "The entire shipment to each buyer, not one third to each," he elaborated.
"Wonderful," David said. "Fits with what I just learned from our colleagues over at ATF. In order to keep his disappointed customers from coming back to him for a refund, Mulligan was selling them out to the ATF."
"Wonderful," Colby said, shaking his head. "He steals weapons, kills his partners in crime, cheats his customers and sells them down the river." He perched on the edge of Megan's desk. "See, there are creepier people in the world than your old man."
David frowned at him. "Hey, man," he protested.
Megan held her hand up. "It's okay, David," she said. "My father is a creep."
"Oh," the expression on David's face told Megan that he'd worked out who her hostile phone conversation had been with.
"Yeah, that was my dad I was arguing with just now," Megan said, just to get it out of the way. "Listen, can we change the subject?"
"Sorry," Colby said. "I guess I just didn't want to think about the number of suspects we have to work with."
"Not to mention the fact that we're putting so much time and effort into finding the killer of a man who was so sleazy he literally sold his own mother."
"You're kidding," Megan said. "He pimped out his mother?"
David nodded. "Started when he was fifteen." He shook his head. "Man, talk about bad families."
"Kind of makes you wonder," Colby said. "I mean, I had some shouting matches with my old man, but he was only trying to steer me on the straight and narrow."
At another time, that might have drawn a sardonic comment from one or both of his teammates. Tonight they were all feeling a little grim.
"I get along with my parents," David said. "But I don't talk to my sister much." He looked at Colby. "You got any brothers or sisters?"
Colby shook his head. "Nope, I'm the only one."
Again, the opportunity for ribbing was passed up.
Colby sighed. "I always thought it would be cool to have one, though," he said. "What about you, two?"
"I've got one sister," David said. "We got along well when we were little. Then she started getting, well," he shot Megan an apologetic look.
"Girly? Megan suggested.
David nodded. "She lost interested in playing sports and stuff," David said. "She was only interested in boys."
"C'est la vie," Megan said.
"It improved for a while in high school," David said. "When we could introduce each other to our friends. But then one of my friends made a pass at her and I beat him up."
"Where were you when I was in high school?" Megan asked. "I had to learn to beat up the creeps by myself."
"Beating up his sister's dates," Colby said.
"Well, it turned out that the guy's advances weren't unwanted, and Linda never really forgave me for that. In fact, she went and married the creep."
"Who says he's a creep?" Colby wanted to know.
"Then she divorced him."
"Ah," Megan said. "She says he's a creep."
"Then she remarried him," David said.
Megan shook her head. "Women," she muttered.
"You said it, not me," Colby joked.
Megan rolled her eyes. "I could have said that the trouble with women is that they get all excited over nothing, then they marry him," she said. "But I will restrain myself."
Colby half bowed in her direction. "So kind of you, Agent Reeves."
"So, what about you and your siblings, Megan?" David asked.
"I have three sisters," Megan said. "My dad never quite forgave me for being a girl instead of a boy."
Colby and David shook their heads.
"Man, I thought that kind of thinking went out in the nineteenth century," David said.
Megan shrugged. "Well, my dad never did catch on to that. My mom and I had a good relationship, though. My sisters and I got along, too. Mostly because I was the tom boy of the family. I didn't use their make up, borrow their clothes or hog the bathroom."
"Always sound policies," David said, nodding solemnly. His eyes twinkled.
"Yeah, but we were never really close," Megan said. "I would have loved to have had someone to pal around with, but my sisters were mainly interested in boys."
"I hear that," Colby said. "I would have loved to have had somebody to hang around with at night… Or at least somebody else to take my parent's attention away from me."
David looked at Megan and raised an eyebrow. "Were your sisters close to each other, then?" he asked.
Megan shook her head. "Not really, they were more interested in hanging out with their boyfriends than with each other."
"So," David said, resting his chin on his fist. "Flying solo didn't work. A boy/girl combination didn't work. The girl/girl combination didn't work." He sighed. "So, that leaves… what?"
As if on cue, the elevator doors opened and Charlie burst out, curls flying, face an interesting shade of maroon.
"I didn't say that! I have never said that!" Charlie denied vehemently as he lead the way to one of the conference rooms.
All of the agents in hearing range were suddenly struck by a fierce need to focus intently on their computers.
"No? Well, you inferred it!" bellowed Special Agent Don Eppes, who was hard on his brother's heels.
Charlie whirled and gestured at Don with his thumb touching his fingertips like Don Corleone. "If that thought had even considered crossing my mind, I would have implied it! I'm not responsible for what you choose to infer!"
Charlie turned on his heel and marched into a conference room. From where they were sitting, the three members could see Charlie linking his laptop to an overhead projector.
"What?" Don shouted after him. "What was that? An English lesson from the guy who used to spell his name with two 'e's?"
"That was when I was three , Don! Get over it!"
To his team, Don said. "Professor Grammaticus there says he has an equation that will help us make sense of this case."
"Expression, not equation!"
Don spun around and marched into the conference room. "Expression, is it? I'll give you an expression, you overeducated…" He shut the door then, cutting off the rest of the tirade.
Megan, Colby and David gaped after them.
"The answer to your earlier question, Sinclair… Dogs," Colby said.
"Cats," David countered.
"Zero population growth," Megan concluded. "C'mon, before they hurt each other…"