Chapter 9
Don arrived at Charlie's house shortly after 8 p.m. He still had keys to the front door from when he had fetched some things from the basement on the weekend.
"Hello, somebody there?"
No answer. Where could they be? He went on in the direction of the kitchen and stopped suddenly as he discovered the perfect outlines of a tiny little butt covered only by a shirt. Don swallowed hard. Amita was obviously rummaging about for something edible in the fridge. Charlie, dressed in jeans and t-shirt, came down the stairs soon after.
"Hey Don," he said surprised.
His brother showed no reaction. Charlie came around the corner wondering and followed Don's look. Now he knew the reason. Amita still hadn't noticed.
"Hello Don!" Charlie hollered and Amita jumped almost to the roof.
She slammed the door of the fridge and looked for cover behind the kitchen island.
Don spun around. "Hi – hi Charlie. I ... I'm sorry, I just wanted ... I still have the keys," he stammered. "I had no idea that Amita and you," he made some helpless gestures.
"Having sex?" Charlie said mischievously.
"Charlie!" Amita protested.
"What? It's only the truth. Why should you be running around just dressed in my shirt otherwise? Don's a big boy he can deal with it, can't you?" He patted his brother's shoulder. "And could you please be so kind and tell me what you are looking for. Cause I believe it's not Amita's lovely backside."
"I'm sorry Amita," Don said. "I just ... never mind. Where's Dad? Why isn't he at home?"
Charlie led him to the couch. "What about a beer first?" he suggested.
Don nodded, "That's a good idea."
"On its way."
Charlie disappeared in the kitchen where Amita leaned against the kitchen island, her face crimson. "I ... I'm, sorry, Charlie. I had no idea that he was watching me."
Without saying a word Charlie took three beers out of the fridge and opened them.
"I can't tell you how awful I feel about it," she continued.
Charlie took the bottles, turned round and left. Amita felt miserable. As she was passing them to hurry upstairs and get changed, Charlie suddenly cracked up laughing. Don and Amita couldn't help but follow suit. Neither had any idea what was going on, however.
It took some time before they calmed down. Amita got changed and joined them, now also wearing jeans and t-shirt.
"You should've seen your faces," Charlie gasped. "Don, you looked like you'd been struck by lightning and Amita… your expression was simply priceless."
They raised their bottles in silent recognition.
Charlie glanced at Amita and gently patted her thigh. "You'll have to get used to seeing Amita here regularly… right?"
Don's eyes widened. "Are you telling me ...?"
"Yes, as soon as I get back from France I'm moving in with Charlie." Amita nodded happily. "Of course we will have to discuss a few more details with Alan."
"I am happy for both of you," Don said. "Then I'll for sure have more time to-"
Charlie elbowed him sharply in the ribs.
Don winced. "Ouch! that hurts! Let me finish speaking, dammit! I only wanted to say that I would have more chances for intelligent conversation." The silly grin returned to Don's face.
Laughing, Charlie shook his head. "I truly believe you, bro."
Don blinked. "Could these eyes lie?" He turned his gaze on Amita.
"Stop flirting with my girlfriend," Charlie protested with feigned anger.
"I'm not flirting with your girlfriend. Am I, Amita?"
"No comment," she replied with a grimace.
The banter continued for a while and then Don became serious. "Do you know when Dad will be back?"
Charlie shook his head. "No idea. He's at the theatre with Millie. For sure not before midnight. Why?"
Don hesitated, took a sip from the bottle and put it back on the table with shaky fingers. He ran his hand over his face. "From now on the house will be observed 24/7 and you and Dad get personal security. If necessary, Amita will get the same attention."
She and Charlie exchanged alerted looks. Silence fell.
Charlie took another sip. "Because of what?" he wanted to know.
"Because somebody threatened me and my family with murder. There you go," Don seemed relieved.
Any color had drained from Amita's face. "For heaven's sake, Don!" she exclaimed, reaching for Charlie's hand.
"You know who threatened you?" Charlie asked.
Don nodded slowly. "I think it's Craven, also known as the Aura Killer."
Charlie swallowed hard.
"He sent me a nice little package with a bloody message today. Fortunately it turned out the heart belonged to a pig."
Amita pulled a face in disgust. "How sick is that?"
"Kinda similar to what Colby said", Don stated flatly. "Of course there were no fingerprints on it and his note 'Home is where the heart is' was written with a computer. I am nevertheless convinced Craven's behind all this crap. Remember when I told you I'd paid him a visit and he insisted that he had nothing to do with the last two murders?" Charlie nodded. "He also mentioned the name of a guy who called himself Raphael and said he was responsible for the killings."
"Do you really think it might be possible?" asked Amita and felt her stomach churn.
"I ... Honestly I have no clue. I've told the whole story to the public prosecutor, but he didn't want to hear about it. He's stubborn as a mule. Novak… Charlie, I'm sure you remember him?"
His younger brother nodded and gnawed thoughtfully at his lower lip. "His girlfriend took advantage of you to give him some payback. I remember the two of you had gone to Vegas to spend a hot weekend there. Soon afterwards she returned to him, full of remorse. Since then he does everything he can to throw a spanner in your works. Not good news for any requests concerning Craven's case."
Don sighed, "You're right. And today ADA Vasquez took me to task unnecessarily just to tell me that I should back off or it would come to a sticky end with Novak."
Charlie closed his eyes briefly. "Could you give me the relevant data without cutting the ground from under your feet? Maybe it's possible to find out whether he's right or not. I consider the Brute-Force-Method the best." Don's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "In computer science, brute-force search or exhaustive search also known as GT - Generate and Test - is a trivial but very general problem-solving technique that consists of systematically enumerating all possible candidates for the solution and checking whether each candidate satisfies the problem's statement," Charlie started to explain, reinforcing his words with gestures and facial expressions. "For example, a brute-force algorithm to find the divisors of a natural number n would be to enumerate all integers from 1 to n and check whether each of them divides into n without remainder. For another example, consider the popular eight queens problem, which asks to place eight queens on a standard chessboard so that no queen attacks any other. A brute-force approach would examine all the 64! /56! 178,462,987,637,760 possible placements of 8 pieces in the 64 squares, and, for each arrangement, check whether no queen attacks any other. Brute-force search is simple to implement and will always find a solution if it exists."
Don lifted his hands. "STOP Charlie! My brain's about to explode. Is there a simplified explanation?"
"Craven's game was his killings, so to speak. In his case we already have the solution: his victims. What I'm going to do is modify the method. It's quite possible that I'll find something to corroborate his statement."
"Good." The truth was Don didn't really grasp what Charlie was talking about. "How long will it take to come up with some results?"
Charlie shrugged. "I can't tell… maybe a few days."
"I'll help you," Amita offered, giving her boyfriend an enchanting smile. He gave her a sound kiss in return.
Tired, Don shoved his hand through his dark hair. "I can't tell you how long I've got permission for your surveillance, Charlie. It's important to act quickly."
"Don't worry, we will," Charlie said, trying to mask his concern. "I'm also going to tell dad what's going on if you don't mind."
Don got up. "Thanks a lot Charlie … Amita. I'm sending David with the documents tomorrow. Please be careful. If you see or hear anything, no matter what don't hesitate to give me a call. Although Craven is in San Quentin that doesn't mean he's cut off from his environment. His supporters are still out there, lurking in the dark."
Charlie tightened his jaw and looked his elder brother straight in the eye. "And how are you going to protect yourself?"
"I wear my bullet-proof vest and I have my weapon." Don patted his holster.
"You know, unlike you, Dad and I are not always out there on the street exposed to all kinds of danger," Charlie muttered.
Don hadn't seen him so concerned for a long time. Against his usual behavior Don felt obliged to give his little brother a big hug. "I'm sure we're gonna make it. Perhaps it's only a false alarm and within a couple of days we'll be laughing about it." He turned to the door.
Neither Charlie nor Amita felt he sounded too convincing.
Don had his hand on the doorknob before he stopped and turned to face them again. "Sorry for disturbing you. If I had known I would have called first." Looking at Charlie with shining eyes he added, "Time went by pretty fast, Chuck. I guess the times when I stuffed you with a bunch of chocolate on Christmas and told you fairytales are gone. In future I'm going to treat you more like a man and not like a toddler, I promise. Take care of yourselves… see you soon Amita." He hurried out the door, swallowing hard against the lump in his throat that threatened to choke him. On the way to his black SUV Don looked around, deeply worried. He didn't see anyone apart from the strategically-placed FBI agents. The radio in his ear crackled briefly as one of the agents called in, letting him know everything was under control. tbc
