Chapter 6
"Hold the elevator!"
Charlie pressed the 'open door' button and then cursed under his breath as Colby slipped into the compartment beside him with a grateful smile. "Thanks. Wouldn't want to get in trouble with the boss for being late," he joked with a sly wink.
Charlie smiled uncomfortably and shuffled over slightly to put some more distance between them. Normally he enjoyed Colby's company, but today Charlie would have preferred to avoid him. He stared up at the floor number display and willed the elevator to move faster.
"I hear Don put ya in the doghouse. No more helping us on cases." Charlie glanced over in surprise and Colby shrugged. "It's hard to keep a secret around this place." He waited a moment before adding, "I also hear you're investigating agents to try to find the leak. Any leads?"
Charlie's throat tightened, but he pushed the words out. "A few." Eager to change the subject, he asked, "How about you?"
Colby chuckled slightly and said, "So far, our best suspect is Don."
Charlie's head snapped around to look at him in shock. "What?"
Colby shrugged. "It's probably just a weird coincidence. But so far, the one person who we know for sure had contact with both victims within a few days of the murders is Don." Cutting his eyes over to Charlie he added, "That's the thing about investigations. You have to look at more than just the circumstantial evidence. If you don't, you could end up accusing the wrong person."
Charlie swallowed nervously, but before he could reply the elevator doors opened to reveal Don waiting on the other side. He raised his eyebrows slightly before stepping back to let them pass. "Colby. Charlie," he nodded.
"Hey, Don. See ya 'round, Charlie," Colby said quickly before heading toward his desk.
Don let the elevator go and watched Colby walk away for a moment before turning back to face Charlie. "You here to see Merrick?" he asked.
Charlie nodded once. There was no reason to feel guilty about it, but he did anyway. Don had taken some heat for his decision to pull Charlie off of two active cases. Director Merrick had eventually agreed to allow Charlie to focus solely on investigating the leak. But there was a catch. Merrick had insisted that Charlie bring the results to him personally. He wasn't allowed to discuss his findings with anyone else in the office. Including Don.
Don glanced around and lowered his voice before cautioning, "Charlie, you can't pal around with your primary suspect. What'd you two do? Carpool in together?"
Charlie was shocked. He'd run through the numbers three times trying to come up with a different result. He refused to believe Colby was the weak link, but each time he calculated the probabilities, Colby's name came out on top. "How did you know…"
Don stepped to the side slightly to better block their conversation from anyone passing by and lowered his voice still further. "He's impulsive, he's up to his ears in debt, and he has a history of disagreeing with his partner. Now, the fact that he hasn't made any complaints lately could be a sign he's settling into the team. Or it could mean he's decided just complaining doesn't do any good. Believe it or not, it doesn't take a genius to figure out he'd be at the top of your list."
"But he's still working on the case, right?"
Don nodded and reached around Charlie to press the down button for the elevator. "Yeah. For now."
"What's that supposed to mean? You're not thinking about taking him off the case are you?"
"I'm not. You are. Come on, Charlie. What do you think is going to happen when you tell Merrick that Colby's your chief suspect? Merrick will say he doesn't believe a word of it but better safe than sorry, and before the end of the day Colby will be pulled off this case and reassigned to some old cold case."
"And David?"
Don looked surprised and asked, "Is David a suspect?"
Charlie stayed quiet, but his face must have given something away because Don relaxed slightly and said, "Then he'll continue to work on the case. Without Colby."
"But that's not fair! We don't know that Colby's done anything. He—" Charlie cut off his words as the elevator doors opened and three agents walked past them.
Don exchanged greetings with the agents and stepped into the empty elevator with a shrug. "Don't tell me. Tell Merrick. I'm not allowed access to your case and you're not allowed access to mine. Remember?"
Don let the doors slide shut without waiting for a reply. Charlie was starting to regret offering to help with the internal investigation. He'd already been feeling guilty and now he felt worse. With a start, he realized he hadn't even asked Don how he knew both victims. Sighing, he readjusted the shoulder strap on his backpack and trudged off toward Merrick's office.