Chapter Four
When Don and Jack got back to the car outside the Cal Sci Math building, Jack called Danny at the office to have him update the timeline. "Terry and David have some information for you Jack." Danny said into the phone.
After a moment's pause Terry's voice came on the line. "We have Charlie's phone records and it shows that he made a call to the Associate Taxi service Wednesday from his house just after 9:30 in the morning. David contacted the manager and he pulled the records. The driver who picked Charlie up won't be back at the garage until noon. Charlie also called a lawyer. According to the taxi records Charlie's last stop was an office building on Wilshire which coincides with the address listed for the practice that he contacted."
Jack raised his eyebrows and said, "Oh, really? What is the name of the lawyer he contacted and what were the other stops he made in the taxi?" Don turned his head sharply and looked at Jack. After another moment Jack said, "Good work, Terry. Charlie's credit and bank records should be coming in soon and I want you and David to concentrate on that. Don and I will have a talk with the lawyer. Have Danny and the others keep going through the phone records for his cell and office." Jack hung up the phone and looked at Don, saying, "Charlie called a cab yesterday that picked him up and made three stops; a local cemetery, a bank, and an office building downtown to see a lawyer."
Don closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. "He visited Mom's grave and then went to see a lawyer?" Don rubbed his face in his hands and said, "There must be a logical explanation. Charlie has been thinking about Mom a lot the past few days, so it doesn't surprise me that he went to visit her grave, but what on earth would he want to see a lawyer for?"
"Let's find out. We need to go to the offices of Jacoby and Meyer at 6549 Wilshire Boulevard." Don nodded and pulled out of the campus and turned east toward downtown LA. Traffic on the 110 was horribly congested and Don found himself getting more and more irritated as the minutes ticked slowly by. Jack could see the strain on Don's face and said, "Don, you need to trust the team and your own ability as an agent. We all know our jobs and will do them effectively. We will find Charlie. You need to trust in that fact."
Don heard Jack's words and tried to find some solace from them but the alarming things that his baby brother had been doing over the last few days had his stomach in knots. As Don sat stopped in traffic he thought ruefully to himself 'When did I start thinking of Charlie as my baby brother again?' After nearly an hour fighting with the traffic Don and Jack arrived at the law offices of Jacoby and Meyer Associates which was on the tenth floor of a tall office building on Wilshire Boulevard.
Friday 11:00 AM - 27 Hours Missing
When they entered and walked up to the receptionist she immediately knew that these two men were some kind of police officers by their dress and manner. Jack pulled out his badge and showed it to the woman at the desk and said, "Good morning, I'm Jack Malone with the FBI and this is Special Agent Eppes. A young man named Charles Eppes came in to see someone in this office Wednesday afternoon." Jack pulled a photograph of Charlie out to show the woman behind the desk.
The woman looked at the photo for a moment. "Yes, I remember this gentleman. He made an appointment to see one of our associates to have some paperwork drawn up." she said as she handed the photograph back to Jack.
"We need to speak to whom ever Mr. Eppes met with."
The woman looked at her schedule book for a moment. "Mr. Eppes met with Mr. Jacoby, but he is in court all day today. I could see if his assistant is available to speak with you." Just as she said this, a tall man in a neatly pressed three piece suit stepped out into the front reception area.
He was able to tell immediately that these men were FBI or some other federal agents. Having worked in the court system for as many years as he had, the look of federal agents was almost second nature to him. "My name is Brian Meyer. May I help you gentlemen with something?"
Don turned to the newcomer and said, "We wanted to speak to Mr. Jacoby about a client he saw on Wednesday."
"I see. May I see some identification, sir?"
Don and Jack pulled out their badges and Jack said, "We are investigating the whereabouts of Professor Charles Eppes, and have learned that he was here the other day."
Mr. Meyer looked to the receptionist and said, "Please pull the file on Mr. Eppes and bring it into the rear conference room. Gentlemen, if you would follow me." Mr. Meyer led them to the back of the office and showed them into a small conference then closed the door. "This gentleman that you are looking for, is he under investigation for a crime?"
Don sat forward and said, "No, sir, Charlie Eppes is my brother and he's missing. We are just trying to find him."
Mr. Meyer seemed to relax slightly and dropped his ultra professional manner. "I'm terribly sorry to hear that. Once I have his file I can tell you the nature of Mr. Eppes' business here, although it is against privacy privileges to divulge any details."
The receptionist knocked lightly on the door and walked in handing Mr. Meyer a file before stepping out again and closing the door. Mr. Meyer paged through the documents in the file briefly for a moment.
"It seems that your brother retained my partner to do two things for him. He has appointed the practice to take over tax payments on his property and he had a Last Will and Testament drawn up. These are fairly basic services and it looks as though Mr. Jacoby has allocated the functional application of executor to his assistant Michael Enos."
Jack had his pad opened and took down the name of Mr. Jacoby's assistant. "We will need to speak to Mr. Enos."
Don just stared at this man with a shocked expression on his face. "A Will; He had a Will drawn up? May I see it?"
Mr. Meyer could see how disconcerted this agent was; getting news that his brother had drawn up a Will, but that didn't change his answer. "I'm sorry, that is privileged information, Agent Eppes. Many people draw up Wills, sir, it is not so uncommon. This is not in and of itself an indication of anything to worry about. I will grant you, coupled with his recent disappearance, I can see why you might be concerned, but unless there is some more compelling reason, I simply cannot violate the confidentiality of a client."
Jack had been jotting down what Mr. Meyer had said and looked up at this lawyer. "The fact that Professor Eppes' disappearance is an official federal investigation should be compelling enough reason, sir. We are trying to ascertain where this man is and what his intentions are."
"I'm afraid that without a court order, I am not going to be able to help you further. I will speak to Mr. Jacoby about this matter as soon as he is available. If he feels that there is pertinent information that will help your investigation I will have him contact you. As for speaking with Mr. Enos, he is also in court all day but I will be sure to have him contact your office as soon as he is available."
Jack pulled out a business card and handed it to the lawyer. "You do that, Mr. Meyer." Jack stood up and noticed that Don was still sitting there with an almost blank look on his face. "Agent Eppes?" Don looked up at Jack and got up almost mechanically and followed him out of the office.
When they got back into the car Don rested his head against the steering wheel. "Don, this may not be what it looks like. If there is one thing I have learned doing this for so long, it is that things are not always as they appear."
Don looked over at Jack with troubled eyes. "That sounds like something Charlie would say." The strain and worry were starting to get to Don so Jack tried to re-direct him. "Our taxi driver should be back to the garage in thirty minutes. With the traffic it should take us that long to get there so let's just keep focused on the job."
The taxi driver was indeed at the garage when Don and Jack arrived. Alberto Cruz remembered Charlie from his photograph instantly and said, "I felt really badly for him. He was very upset after I took him to the cemetery."
Jack pulled out his pad and asked the driver to elaborate.
"Well, I took him to Grant Cemetery and waited for him while he visited a grave. I assume it was someone he knew and cared about an awful lot. It was obvious even from a hundred yards or so away that he was having a really hard time of it. When he came back to the cab things got a little odd."
Don frowned in confusion and Jack said, "What do you mean by odd?"
Flashback
Wednesday 10:30 AM
Charlie got into the back of the cab and although he had dried his face of tears his eyes were red and swollen and the cabbie asked him if he was all right.
Charlie took a deep breath and said, "Do you believe that what goes around comes around?"
The cab driver looked curiously at Charlie and said, "You mean fate or Karma?" When Charlie nodded the cabbie responded. "Yeah, I do. I took physics in high school and my teacher would say that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Well, I believe that the universe follows those rules. There is a balance to things that maybe doesn't always happen right away, but in the end the universe will level the scales. So, yeah, I guess what goes around will eventually come around."
Charlie put his hands up to his face and scrubbed it, saying, "Yeah, well I guess it's my turn."
The cabbie frowned and said, "What was that?"
Charlie brought his hands down and the driver noticed how utterly exhausted he looked. "Nothing. I need to make a couple of stops downtown."
"I took him to the bank, then to an office building on Wilshire Boulevard." Don was frowning, trying to put the pieces of this puzzle together. Everyone that they had spoken to seemed to have noticed an enormous strain on Charlie, so why had he failed to notice that something was terribly wrong?
The cab driver said, "Hey, he also asked me if I was available to pick him up Monday morning at his house. I guess I don't need to do that now huh?"
Jack frowned and said, "What time did he ask you to pick him up?"
"6 AM. But he didn't say where he was going to be headed." Jack jotted the rest of the information down and said, "Well, thank you, Mr. Cruz. If we have any other questions we'll be in touch."
As Don and Jack walked back to the car Don repeated under his breath, "I guess it's my turn?" Jack looked over at Don and could see him really struggling with the things he was learning about his kid brother.
"That could mean several different things, Don. Remember that Mr. Cruz said that Charlie was very upset. Don't forget about that note we found in his office indicating that he had somewhere to go Monday morning. That clearly points to the fact that he was planning on being around to have the driver pick him up. We don't really have enough information yet to draw any firm conclusions."
Don got in the driver's side and paused for a moment. "Ok so what do we know? Charlie put Dad on his life insurance policy, he had a Will drawn up, he took care of the taxes being paid on the house, he arranged a leave of absence from work, he cleaned his office and he visited mom's grave. Jack, he stopped by my apartment night before last to apologize for that argument we had and that is something that he has never done before."
Don sighed heavily and allowed his head to drop back on the head rest. "I know what this looks like, but I refuse to believe it. That just isn't Charlie." Don was having trouble putting the keys in the ignition. As his level of frustration increased, this simple task became nearly impossible. When he dropped the keys on the floor he hit his fist on the steering wheel in anger at his clumsiness.
Jack put his hand on Don's forearm and said in a gentle voice, "Don, get out." Don's looked at Jack not really understanding what he had just said. "You can't drive like this. Get out and I'll drive us back to the office. Perhaps Terry and David were able to turn up something that will lead us closer to the truth."
Realizing that Jack was right, Don obediently stepped out of the car and went to the passenger side. As they drove back to the office, he stared blankly out the window while his stomach churned in knots. Charlie's behavior was more than troubling; it had begun to frightened Don. He didn't want to believe that Charlie was even considering ending his own life. That just didn't fit with who he knew his brother was.
'Let's face it Eppes, what do you really know about Charlie? Everyone else noticed that something was eating at him for the last few weeks except you. How well do you really know him?' Don's thoughts echoed hollowly in his head. He tried to tell himself that this could be something else. One key piece of information could turn all of these things that Charlie had done over the last few days into an explainable course of action, but as much as he told himself that, he found that he didn't really believe it.