Disclaimer and beta thanks in Part 1.

And the plot thickens…

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Chapter 5

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

"I'll have to check with him and get back to you." Don drummed his fingers harder on the desktop. "Yes, Mr. Storper, I understand your position, and I'm sorry for any inconvenience." He clenched his hand into a fist, but kept his tone pleasant. "All right, I'll get back to you later today, okay? Thank you. Goodbye."

He managed to hang the phone up quietly instead of slamming it down like he wanted to. Instead, he sprang up from his chair and started pacing around the room. "Goddammit, I'm going to kill him!"

Terry looked up from the table where she and David were poring over a pile of Brett Rangadar's e-mail. "Storper giving you a hard time?"

"No, not Storper," he growled. He'd reached the whiteboard at the front of the plexiglassed-in conference room, and he fought the childish urge to snatch up an eraser and obliterate the few lines of equations still remaining from the counterfeiting case a few weeks ago. Instead he turned on his heel and stalked back towards the desk.

"Don, what is it?" His partner's voice was low and concerned.

He turned to face them, his eyes flickering towards David before settling on Terry. "I can't really say."

There was a pause. Then David straightened up from where he had been bending over the e-mails and said, "Look, I was just going to go get a cup of coffee."

Don closed his eyes for a moment and pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, it's okay." He waved a hand at the taller man. "I shouldn't bring either of you in on this, but I'm going to need your help. I'm sorry."

"About what?" Terry was regarding him seriously, arms folded across her chest.

He sighed. Then he crossed over to the table, standing close to the two of them and speaking in a low but irritated tone. "This does not leave the room, okay?" Terry and David nodded. "That was Scott Storper, the geologist who consulted on the Crescenta Court project."

"You were setting up an interview with him and the developer, right?" David's voice quietly rumbled.

"Yes, but that's not why he called." Don gave an exasperated sigh. "He was checking to verify that the consultant who called him this morning was really working for the FBI and wasn't a reporter or someone else trying to pry information out of him."

David and Terry both had blank expressions on their faces. "We aren't using any outside consultants on this one," Terry started. Then her eyes grew wide. "He didn't."

Don grimly nodded.

"What?" David asked.

"My --" he briefly pressed his lips together to keep anything from spilling out that he'd regret later-- "brother called Storper with some questions about the geotechnical report. Some fairly detailed questions, about the data he used to make his calculations, and the parameters of an infinite slope model or something. When Storper started asking why he wanted to know all these things, Charlie said he was consulting with us on the case."

"He did that?" David exclaimed.

"I didn't think he had it in him," Terry murmured with a touch of admiration in her voice. When Don glared at her, she looked down. "Sorry. It's just that I don't associate that kind of deviousness with Charlie."

"Well, obviously he wasn't too good at bluffing, or Storper wouldn't have needed to call to verify his story." Don ran a hand through his hair. "Damn it, I am going to get in so much trouble."

"Why?" David asked. "Charlie's the one being unethical here."

Don shook his head. "This is the part that really can't leave the room." When the two of them solemnly nodded, he went on more quietly, "I need to figure out a reason to bring Charlie in on this. Storper insists that Charlie be at this interview, so he can talk directly with our 'scientific consultant.'" He made air quotes and then dropped his hands. "I am going to kill him."

Terry laid a calming hand on his arm. "We'll think of something, Don. Though it's not like there's much need for a mathematician on this case at the moment."

"Tell Charlie that." He shook his head. "He just won't let it go. I mean, I knew he was pretty wound up about helping Larry's student, but I've never seen him do something like this. If the wrong people find out about it, he won't be doing any more consulting for us."

"Then we're going to make sure that doesn't happen." With a quick look at David, who nodded in agreement, she went on, "Look, Don, we obviously don't know Charlie as well as you do, but we know he gets really…intense. But he's also got a strong code of ethics, and if he went against it like this, there must be a good reason."

"Yeah, I'm trying to tell myself that." He absently tapped his fist against the table. "Did he not think I would find out about this?"

"It probably didn't even enter his mind," David replied. "I mean, I've only seen him work a few times, but like Terry said, he gets pretty intense. There's been entire conversations going on in the room that he hasn't heard a word of. He probably was focused so much on what he was doing, he didn't think of the consequences." He shrugged. "At least, that's how I see it."

"I suppose you're right. But you're right too, Terry: I didn't think he had it in him."

"He's just lucky he's got you to do damage control for him."

"Damn straight he is." He pounded the table one more time and straightened up. "Is there anything in those e-mails?"

Terry shrugged. "A lot of radical environmentalist views, including a denunciation of the Crescenta Court development. But nothing like, 'Tomorrow is when we start the landslide,' if that's what you're asking."

"All right, keep looking. Penneman was sure that Rangadar's voice was that of the guy who called him, so there's got to be something here. We have his phone records, right?"

"I checked those out earlier today," David said, gesturing towards a neatly stacked pile at the far edge of the table. "There's a few numbers we haven't managed to trace yet."

"Well, keep on it. Right now that's our best lead. That and the e-mails. I don't suppose there's anything mathematical in there that would be an excuse for bringing Charlie in?"

David shook his head. "Why do you need an excuse? Just say you wanted him to verify the scientific aspects of the case."

"Yeah, but he's not a geologist. Even if he has been reading nonstop about it for the past week, Storper's gonna see right through him."

"Nor is he an epidemiologist or a structural engineer, but he helped us solve those cases," Terry reminded him. "He provides a unique perspective. That's all you need."

"Yeah, he's unique, all right. He's uniquely dead, once I get a hold of him."

She gave him a sympathetic smile. "Don't do anything too drastic, okay?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't tell me you've fallen for it, too."

"Fallen for what?"

"Oh, ever since we were kids, he figured out he could use that sad little puppy-dog look of his to get him out of trouble. He gets on people's good sides so much that even when he does something wrong, he's automatically forgiven." Don shook his head. "Good thing I'm immune to it."

The corner of Terry's mouth turned up. "And you've never tried to get yourself out of trouble by looking cute."

"Me? No, I don't play games like that."

"Really? Because I remember you looking at me with that 'sad little puppy-dog look' right after you -- " She looked sideways at David, who was watching the two of them like the umpire at a tennis match. "Never mind."

"You know, I really could use that coffee." David's voice was overly cheerful. "Can I get either of you anything?"

"No, I've got to get over to CalSci and chew out a certain mathematician," Don sighed. "Wish me luck, will you?"

He started for the door and was stopped by Terry's voice. "Don, just remember, this must really be important to him."

"Yeah, well, it's pretty important to me, too," he called over his shoulder as he walked out. Damn it, he couldn't believe Charlie would do something like this. He just hoped neither of them would regret it later.