CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Interrogation
Don decided that since his father wouldn't be home for a few hours yet, he would have to make dinner, which involved ordering pizza. Once that was taken care of, he decided that what he and Charlie would need to do to get over their awkwardness, was just to not discuss anything to do with Charlie's disappearance. They would need a neutral topic. Afterall, when Colby and David had been there, things had been perfectly fine. Don determinedly walked back into the living room, where Charlie had woken up from his quick nap.
"Can't sleep?" Don asked.
"No," Charlie said, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes. "This is going to kill me."
"Maybe you just need to get drunk," Don suggested with a quick laugh.
Charlie laughed as well. "Yeah, no, that would not be helpful."
"I ordered pizza," Don said casually.
Charlie nodded in reply.
"So, I just wanted to make sure…you don't mind that I moved in here, do you? I mean, at the time I thought it would be better for Dad to be with someone, you know? But I've got to admit, it's been pretty great to come home to a home rather than an empty apartment, you know? And I'm not trying to guilt you into letting me stay here, and I can pay rent, if you want."
"You don't have to pay rent," Charlie said with a slightly incredulous expression. "And of course I don't mind if you stay here."
"I just wanted to make sure. It's your house. Sometimes you must just want everyone out."
Charlie laughed quietly. "Well, yeah. But that doesn't mean I actually want to live here by myself. That would be way too quiet. Besides, if you live here, I don't have to feel guilty about leaving Dad here alone when I'm away."
"Luckily you're never going away again in your life," Don said with a grin. "Dad will be installing deadbolts and motion detectors as soon as he gets back."
Charlie laughed again, but Don could sense that something wasn't quite right about him. "What?" he asked.
Charlie looked at him uncertainly. "I might not be staying all that long."
"You're not disappearing again," Don said determinedly. "Even if I have to quit my job and become your personal bodyguard, I don't care. You're not going anywhere."
"It's not the same situation," Charlie said placatingly. "But I may have a… business trip to go on in a month or two? I don't know yet."
"If you do I'm coming with you," Don said.
"Uh, no?" Charlie said. "You don't need to watch my every move, you know."
"Yes, I do. You don't tell people when you're disappearing."
Charlie rolled his eyes. "Ok, we'll talk about it later. I'm going to try and sleep for a bit, alright? Wake me up before Dad gets here. I don't want to be ambushed."
Don shrugged casually and watched Charlie walk up the stairs. After a few minutes he picked up the phone and called David, asking him if he and Colby would mind picking Alan up at the airport. David assured him he didn't mind, and Don thanked him and hung up the phone.
Don sat back in his chair and stared at the stairs, where Charlie had walked up only moments before. He was very suspicious of the story Charlie had been telling him and knew it was full of holes. There had to be more to it than 'we went to a couple of places in Europe and then holed up in Africa.' And then there was the illegal thing Charlie had apparently been a part of. What in the world would Charlie do that would be considered illegal? It wouldn't be anything violent, that was certain. Had anything come across his desk or been in the news lately that Charlie could have had a hand in? Don tried to think back the last eight months or so and what had all happened in the news. Then he remembered Agent MacRooney, and her quest to find Charlie to help her with a massive fraud case. A case that had involved billions of dollars, and banks from all over the world. Don remembered meetings in the conference room that he hadn't been part of, but that had included people from INTERPOL and the CIA and other fraud agencies. Lauren had been part of the meetings because it had involved computers and hacking. Something Charlie was awfully good at.
The case had yet to be solved, and since it was a one time event, where billions of dollars had vanished from banks all over the world, the trail was getting very cold. If Charlie was involved in this, and if he were ever caught, dozens of countries would want his head, and he would certainly spend the rest of his life in prison.
Well then, Don would just have to make sure Charlie was never caught.
The doorbell rang and Don opened it to find the pizza delivery man. He had completely forgotten about ordering, and awkwardly searched in his wallet for the appropriate change. The pizza-guy left, and Don set the boxes down on the kitchen table. He had ordered a few pizzas, because he wasn't sure when exactly his father would be home or if he even wanted anything to eat, and if Colby and David would want to stay for a bite. That and pizza for breakfast was always appealing.
Don eyed his cellphone and debated calling up Jane MacRooney to ask for an update on the case. See if they had made any headway. With a determined frown he dialed her number and waited. Then he remembered it was Saturday. After the third ring she breathlessly picked up.
"Hi Jane, it's Don Eppes," Don said, mentally kicking himself for having called in the first place.
"Don," she answered in surprise. "What's up?"
"You working on a Saturday?" Don asked.
"Well you know, still working on that case… we've got so many agencies all over the world that I had to come in today for a couple of conference calls."
"Making any headway?" Don asked, trying to sound casual.
"Nope."
"Oh. I just wanted to let you know my brother is back in town-" Don had to hold the phone away from the resulting shriek.
"Charlie's home? Oh, can I speak to him?"
"Well, he just got back a few hours ago," Don said, "And he's actually asleep. And you know, there's still the clearance thing…"
"Oh I'll get him clearance," Jane said stubbornly. "Can you have him call me as soon as he's up to it? His help would be the greatest thing ever, seriously. Plus, if he helps us solve this case, it would probably go a long way with his status with the FBI and CIA and all of that."
"Yeah, you're right," Don agreed. "I'll let him know you want to talk to him. Can't promise he'll call this weekend though."
"Ok, that's ok," Jane said. "Any help at all would be absolutely wonderful."
Don said goodbye and disconnected the call. If Charlie could insert himself into the investigation, then he could also make sure the investigation didn't lead back to him, Don figured. But then again, he couldn't be sure Charlie was even involved. He'd only been back a few hours and Don was already accusing him of serious crimes. Don shook his head and picked a slice of pizza. He was hungry.
If Charlie was the one who had stolen all this money, then he would have had a very good reason for doing so, Don figured. And but then again it was billions of dollars. Where had the money gone? As far as any of the experts had ever been able to figure it had simply vanished. Charlie suddenly wasn't any richer. Or maybe he was, Don wouldn't know. But Charlie certainly wouldn't steal money for himself. Would he? Don decided he needed to tell Charlie about Jane MacRooney's case. And more importantly, see his brother's reaction to it.
Don took the stairs two at a time and walked into Charlie's room, where his brother was sprawled across the bed, sound asleep. Don looked at him critically for a moment, took in the arm draped protectively across his stomach and the bruise on his face. Don suddenly didn't believe anything Charlie had told him in the past few hours. Angrily, he stepped forward and unceremoniously yanked Charlie's t-shirt up. Charlie yelped and leaped to his feet.
"Don! The hell?"
"What was that?" Don demanded. In the brief glimpse he'd had, he'd seen serious bruising and a suspicious-looking scar that he was certain hadn't been there before Charlie had disappeared. "You're lying to me, Charlie. That doesn't just look like bruised ribs to me. That's one heck of a scar." Don was suddenly feeling very queezy. He sat down on the bed and lowered his head in his hands for a brief moment to avoiding vomiting. He looked up at Charlie, who was staring at him with wide eyes. "Did you get shot or something?" Don demanded, afraid of the answer.
Charlie looked guilty and then shook his head. "A long time ago, it's not important."
"Not important?" Don demanded incredulously. "It's not important that you were shot?"
"I didn't want you to worry, and there's nothing you can do about it now. It's healed, it's fine, I'm fine. Don't tell Dad."
"I'm not going to tell Dad," Don muttered, sinking down on the bed. "When did that happen?"
"On the way to South Africa," Charlie said. "It wasn't… I was lucky. It didn't hit anything vital."
"Well that's great," Don said sarcastically. "As long as it didn't hit anything vital."
"Look, I'm sorry, ok?" Charlie said, sitting down beside Don.
"Not ok," Don replied stubbornly. Charlie wasn't going to get away with this, he decided. His brother was being far too secretive for Don's liking.
Charlie shrugged. "I don't know what you want me to say."
"How about the truth?" Don suggested. "Anyway, I just got off the phone with Jane MacRooney. She'd like your help with an international fraud case her department has been working on for a month or two."
"Oh?" Charlie said, sounding far too casual for Don's liking.
"Yeah, something about some hackers siphoning funds from accounts. They have no leads."
"I can certainly take a look," Charlie said slowly. "But, you know, with my clearance…"
"She said she'd take care of it," Don said, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. Charlie was keeping his gaze firmly on the opposite wall, and that meant guilt to Don. "So, if you help her out with the investigation, you'll be able to make sure it doesn't lead back to you."
Charlie looked over at him in surprise. "Who says I have anything to do with it?"
"Oh, I don't know," Don said casually. "Maybe because it's a pretty massive case that could only have been pulled off by a couple of geniuses in coding and hacking and you mentioned you'd done something illegal. So are you a billionaire now?"
Charlie shook his head in annoyance. "Don…"
"Excuse me for caring," Don added moodily.
Charlie looked over at him and couldn't help laughing at Don's expression. Don rolled his eyes. "Look, Charlie, seriously. Really seriously this time. Getting shot is not a little thing. It's a big thing. It's a thing that you need to tell me, if for no other reason than if you have some sort of medical emergency in the future and the doctor needs a complete medical history. That's all, no argument. I would tell you these things."
"Really?" Charlie asked skeptically.
"Yeah," Don said, lying smoothly. He absolutely wouldn't tell Charlie anything, but then Don was an FBI agent, and getting shot was part of the job. Besides, he'd tell David or Colby, and he'd be at a hospital in town, where they kept adequate records. It wasn't nearly the same thing.
"You are such a hypocrite," Charlie said as if he could read Don's thoughts. "You would not tell me anything. You've been nearly shot a million times since I started consulting for you."
"Nearly is not the same as actually," Don informed him.
"Whatever," Charlie said with a shrug. "I was shot twice when we were escaping Milan. Neither was serious enough to require surgery, so I just stayed at the compound in South Africa until I was well enough to do some….illegal things to get the price off my head."
"There is no such thing as a gunshot wound that isn't serious," Don said stubbornly.
"Alright, well, one was a graze on the side of my head, and the other just hit my ribs. Broke a couple of them." Charlie lifted his shirt to show Don the scar that ran over his bottom two ribs on the left side. It was a fairly neat scar, all things considering. "The only real issue was stopping the bleeding, but once that was under control it was ok."
Don nodded. "And your head?"
"It's fine. It just needed a few stitches."
"That's the truth?"
"Yeah, that's the truth."
"And this fraud case MacRooney wants your help on? You know nothing about that?"
Charlie looked doubtful for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, I might have had a hand in it. And I don't need you to fix anything for me," he added seriously. "It's under control. You'll just get me in more trouble."
Don ran his hands through his hair. "Dammit Charlie," he exclaimed. "That's a billion dollar fraud case!"
"Yeah, I'm aware," Charlie replied indifferently.
"It's not nothing! It's people's money! I know money doesn't mean anything to you, but I bet these people that you stole from feel differently."
Charlie stood very quickly and spun around to face Don. "I don't need you to tell me why what I did was wrong. I'm well aware that I'm facing a few hundred years in jail if I'm caught. I didn't do it by choice, remember?"
"Yeah, you did. You chose to steal this money. You said you were safely holed up in Africa, so there was no need to do it, was there?"
"You know what," Charlie snapped. "Why don't I just go back there then? If you'd rather."
"Don't be ridiculous," Don replied.
"I'm not being ridiculous," Charlie snapped. "You're the one that keeps pushing me to tell you what's happened and then lectures me when I do!"
"I'm not lecturing," Don said indignantly. "I just think there had to have been a better way than to steal from thousands of people."
"I didn't steal from thousands of people," Charlie said. "I stole from a few hundred corporations that regularly deal with the Ninth Alliance. This isn't a big deal."
"Except you'll get caught, and you'll go to jail," Don said. "I don't understand why you don't think what you did was wrong."
"I do understand, Don. I'm well-versed in US and international law. But you have to understand my predicament in all of this. I really had a very limited amount of options. I'm sure I could have stayed in Africa for the rest of my life, but I thought – and maybe I was wrong – that you and Dad wouldn't want to spend the rest of your lives wondering where I've gone. And I don't know that I could spend all that time away from my family and my friends. It just didn't seem like an option at the time. And yeah there were other things we could have done, and a few that we did try, but in the end we decided that if we did just one thing for them, then they would drop the whole thing and I'd be safe again, and sorry, but that was important to me."
"Ok, ok," Don agreed. Maybe he had been overreacting. He didn't know all the details, after all.
"You're being really hard on me about this, Don. When you go on an undercover case, you don't tell me and Dad everything you're doing or that happens, do you? You need to think of this as the same."
Don frowned at looked at Charlie skeptically. "It just doesn't feel the same," he admitted.
"Yeah, because this time it's not you that's being left in the dark," Charlie said quietly.
Don ran his hands through his hair again. "I'm starving," he muttered.
Charlie laughed. "Did the pizza come?"
"Yeah, it came. Let's get a bite to eat. Dad and Colby and David are on their way, they should be here soon."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Compromises