Chapter 4

"Wait, so you're saying this guy knew where we were going?" Don looked at her curiously.

Manny's grin grew as she saw a light go off in Don's mind. "Exactly. Not only did he know where we'd be but I think he knew why we'd be there." She turned quickly to Charlie. "Char, you said this problem was easy, right? You'd had a similar one a few weeks ago, you said."

"Yeah I did. Almost exactly like this one. Well, in the beginning it was. It didn't work until we looked for two points of origin of the murders." Charlie was not having the easiest time catching on. "You think we need to look for another point?"

"No, no. You're thinking of it too much like math," she remarked, resting her hand on his shoulder. Don's smile became a smirk; when did Charlie not see things as math? "Think in terms of human free will. If you were in this guy's shoes, trying to rob all these places and you knew you were creating a pattern, do you really think you'd stick to it? Hell no! It'd be too easy to follow. I think he's trying to throw us off."

Terry was the next to understand. "You think he's just been doing all this to throw us off?"

"No, not throw us off. Well, okay, a little bit, but I think he's mathematically spitting in our faces. He's giving us clues we won't see, showing us where the real crime will be."

Charlie suddenly got it. "That makes sense! He's leading us down the easier path, which, in this case, is the wrong one."

"Bingo," Manny said, pointing at Charlie. 'For a genius, he's a bit slow,' she thought. "We need to keep an eye on the location of the planned crime, because I think he'll use it as a decoy. We won't be expecting to look in the logical place, just the unlikely one. And Charlie," she said, moving closer to his, placing both hands on his shoulders. 'He has broad shoulders for a mathematician,' she thought, fighting the urge to blush. "You need to start looking for alternate patterns that don't quite make sense. Patterns that only mostly fit the crimes are the ones we need." She nodded her head at him, finished with what she had to say. Everyone stood in silence for a minute, not sure what to do.

"Why are we standing around? We have new information. We need to act on it. Get moving! Now!" Don barked. Everyone started moving, refueled by Manny's theory.

Little beads of steam formed on Manny's forehead, burning her face. She quickly replaced the lid of the pot, grinning and looked up at Don, who was staring at her.

"For a 'fabulous' cook and a FBI agent, you think you'd be smart enough not to stand over a boiling pot of noodles," Don commented, handing her a napkin to wipe off her face.

"You overestimate me Agent Epps. I am indeed not that smart." Manny laughed at him, gladly taking the napkin. She was in a great mood, but how could she not be? She was at the Epps's household, cooking dinner for all three Epps men, celebrating her discovery and Charlie's new equation. The poor men hadn't had a woman cooking for them in sometime and of course Manny didn't mind spending a night with Don and Charlie. Yes, this was heaven.

Authors Note: I leave you with an extremely lame cliffhanger-like thing. Actually, it's not really, but I want to write a lot about the night, so I'm putting it in a whole other chapter. Look for it around Tuesday, I believe. Please, please, please RR! Thanks, much love!
-Shelby