Chapter 7

Moving through the halls of Cal Si, Charlie hummed along with his Ipod. "One minute I held the key, the next the walls were closed on me, and I discovered my castles stand, on pillars of salt and pillars of sand…" Coldplay sang for Charlie's ears only.

Reaching his office Charlie noticed the door ajar. Opening it slowly with the palm of his hand Charlie stepped inside the empty office. "Hello?" he called instinctively before shaking his head. Larry must have forgotten to shut the door properly when he left last. Moving over to the desk Charlie took his jacket off and placed it on the back of the chair. Rolling up his cream shirt sleeves Charlie looked about his office. Everything appeared to be exactly where he left it yet slightly out of place as well. Had Larry been looking for something? Charlie thought moving over to a stack of reports on his shelf.

"It was the wicked and wild wind, blew down the doors and let me in, shattered windows and the sound of drums, people couldn't believe what I'd become…" Coldplay broke through his thoughts.

Turning around Charlie almost died of a heart attack when he saw Larry standing in the door way. Removing his head phones Charlie clutched at his beating heart. "God don't do that to me man, I almost had a heart attack."

"Well Charles I did call you three times. If you insist on listening to a device that will cause you to go deaf with the volumes you crank it up to, well you deserve it frankly." Larry said moving to the spare desk and taking a seat.

"What's up Lawrence?" Charlie asked regrettably.

"Two words Charles. Student Reports." Larry replied placing his hand on his mouth as he slowly shook his head.

"What did they write this year?" Charlie asked amused. Last year they had called him boring and intellectually inaccessible.

"Well I hardly expected them to sing 'O Captain! My Captain!' from the roof top like they do with you," Larry told Charlie morosely. "But this year they out did themselves. They wrote and I state miss spelled as well, 'your like a no polar covalent bond. Get it? Not attractive.'" Larry said distressed.

Laughing loudly and slapping his thigh, Charlie got up and moved over to Larry. "Don't worry man." He said placing a hand on Larry's shoulder. "I love your sweater vests."

"Thanks Charles." Larry replied missing the joke.

"Larry have you been looking for something in here?" Charlie asked distractedly.

"No, I used the office as a base when Don and I were working a case last week, but we didn't move anything that wasn't on this desk. Why?" Larry asked looking concerned.

"No reason. So what happened in this case? I asked Don but he didn't want to discuss it with me." Charlie asked going back to his reports.

"Ah well it is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment." Larry replied evasively.

"Meaning what? You wont tell me either?" Charlie said looking up from his grading.

"Meaning I will tell you what I can. But as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said I can not theorize on what I do not know, or it is a biased result."

"Ok I can settle for what you know." Charlie said putting his pen down and giving Larry his full attention.

"Well ok then. Don and the team were investigating the death of these policemen. Don knew most of them back in Quantico and then Detroit where he was before switching to Fugitive Recovery. We found that the murder weapon was an old 38. Revolver that was used in a police suicide back in 95. The weapon was meant to have been destroyed."

"Did you find the murderer?" Charlie asked worried. No wonder Don was behaving strangely a few of his old buddies had been murdered. Charlie felt guilty for pushing Don this morning.

"No the trail ran cold. There was no evidence except that they were preformed by the same person." Larry replied getting up and moving over to the window.

"Is anyone still following the case?" Charlie asked.

"Some other team were handed the case after Don well he lost it Charles. I've never seen him talk in such a manner to a superior officer." Larry said facing Charlie.

"Don lost it? He never looses it." Charlie said leaning back in his chair.

"I know I was scared Charles. Don hit the wall leaving a whole in the plaster." Sighing Larry returned to gazing out the window. "So angry and scared. He was not pleasant to work with and you know I like Don. But then the nightmares can't be helping." He said absently.

"Nightmares?" Charlie asked worried. Charlie had only woken Don up from one this morning.

"Some old case involving a death of a policeman. He told me I was off the case when I tried to talk to him bout it. But then later I gave him some herbal tea to help him and he asked me back on the case. I am still working the case with this other team."

"Well if you need any help-"

"-I'll ask thanks."

"Hey boy's what happening in the mathematic and scientific community today?" Don asked strolling through the door. "What?" He asked at their concerned faces. "What?"

"Nothing Don, you need help with something?" Charlie asked pushing his voice to be jovial.

"Yea I need you to look at this security footage and tell me if you can get me what was really being recorded? Some computer whiz kid looped the system during a high-end museum theft. We need the real footage."

"Well I'm no computer science student but if the tape was looped they effectively stopped the recording meaning it's impossible to get back." Charlie replied disappointed.

"You know Charles a saying comes to mind. 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however, improbable, must be the truth. It is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close up to you.'" Larry replied hands to his mouth and leaning in at the laptop with the CCTV footage Don had provided.

"What'd he say?" Don asked looking over at Charlie.

"It's Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He's saying that we should consult Amita who might know some way around this." Charlie said laughing and patting Don on the shoulder.

"Alright cool. Well I better get to the office. Why don't you pick up Amita and meet us there?" Don asked strolling to the door.

"Sure thing Don. You coming Larry?" Charlie asked.

"Unfortunately I have a class to get to. Today I will be teaching them that 'the radical novelty of modern science lies precisely in the rejection of the belief, which is at the heart of all popular religion, that the forces which move the stars and atoms are contingent upon the preferences of the human heart.'" Larry replied.

"Bertrand Russell?" Charlie asked.

"Walter Lippmann." Larry said leaving the room.

"I swear that man speaks gibberish." Don said laughing.

"Yea," Charlie said half heartedly.

"Ok well I'll be off. See you soon." Putting out his hand Don left the office.

"Later." Charlie said to the now empty office. Moving over to the blackboard Charlie raised the world map. Strapped to the chalk board was an old photograph of a man in police uniform with the words 'ASK DON' written underneath in chalk. Hand shaking, Charlie took the picture off the board and tuned it over to see the words 'Alex Warrenton, Detroit, Michigan, 1995' scrawled on the back in the same handwriting.

Grabbing his Macintosh laptop and the security footage off of his desk, Charlie quickly left the office and locked the door before running to his car. Pulling out his cell phone Charlie called Amita and told her to meet him at the FBI offices. Turning his engine on, 'Someone to save you' came on the stereo.

"Honesty, is what you need, it sets you free, like someone to save you, let it go, but hurry now, there's undertow, and I don't want to lose you ..." One Republic sang as Charlie put his blue Toyota Prius in gear and left the Cal Si car park.