Chapter 7

Megan was back at Charlie's house by 8 the next morning. She figured he'd want to get to the hospital as soon as possible. When repeated knocks on the door went unanswered, she tried the knob — and frowned when she found it unlocked. She rested her hand on the gun in her shoulder holster and crept inside, promising herself that if Charlie just left it unlocked, she'd give him a lecture worthy of Don himself. She stood in the entryway and called softly. "Charlie!" She stood still for a few moments, and listened for anything amiss.

All she heard was a snore.

She relaxed her stance a little, but left her fingertips near her weapon, took a step and peeked around the corner into the living room.

Charlie slumped on the couch, asleep, still in the same clothes he was wearing at the hospital seven hours earlier. A small pillow was behind his injured shoulder, and his head shared the corner. He needed a shave.

Megan walked over to the couch and stood in front of him. She almost hated to wake him up. While she hesitated, the cell phone still held loosely in his hand began to ring, and he jerked, then grimaced as the movement affected his shoulder. Without opening his eyes, he flipped the phone open and brought it to his ear. "…'Lo," he rasped. He listened for a moment. "Sorry. I meant to call. It's that late?" He opened his eyes then and saw Megan right in front of him. He jerked again. "Shit!" he yelled into the phone. Megan smiled a little as he tried to explain himself — apparently, to his boss. "No, no, not you, I'm sorry…listen, both my – my father and my brother were admitted to the hospital last night, I have to request another leave." Charlie made a face and held the phone a few inches away from his ear. Megan could hear an excited voice on the other end, but couldn't make out any words. Charlie spoke again, interrupting. "I'm sorry, Dr. Randlebaum, I'll ask my brother to stop getting robbed in alleys — and I won't let my father get away with this blood infection stuff any longer, either. I'll explain that it's an inconvenience." With that, Charlie flipped the cell shut, not even saying 'good-bye'. He threw the phone across the living room, where it bounced off of Alan's recliner and crashed onto the floor. He glared at a startled Megan. "What?"

She actually found herself taking a step back. "Wow. You okay, Charlie?" He didn't feel that was a question worth answering, so she went on after a few moments. "I came to give you a ride to the hospital, but it doesn't look like you're quite ready yet. Aren't those the clothes you were wearing last night?"

Charlie looked down at himself, then rubbed his eyes with his good hand. "Ouch," he said, when he hit the bruises. "I just sat down for a minute," he mumbled.

Megan was seriously worried about Charlie. He had a lot to handle all of a sudden — and it didn't look like he had made a very good start. She spoke quietly. "Look, Charlie, I should check in at the office — see what Colby's got, and brief David. Why don't you sleep a little more? Take a shower, shave, have something to eat — I'll come back around 10:30 to take you to the hospital, okay?"

He sighed and looked blearily up at her. "I'm sorry."

She smiled reassuringly. "It's going to be okay, Charlie. We're not going to leave you alone in all of this." He looked rapidly away and she was afraid she'd said too much. Well, I'm in trouble anyway, she thought, and she leaned down to quickly touch his face. "I'll see you soon," she said when she straightened again, and started for the door. "By the way," she called back over her shoulder, turning slightly to catch Charlie in a yawn, "I'll be locking this for you."

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Colby was already catching David up on the news by the time Megan arrived, and she walked into the end of the conversation. "…idiot still had the bat when they caught him."

Megan was shocked. "Bat? What?"

Colby nodded at her. "Mornin'. I was just telling David, the asshole who clubbed Don tried to use one of his credit cards at a gas station. He was headed out of town, but he hadn't even dumped the bat. The grip end is covered with prints, and the business end with blood and matted hair – probably Don's. There shouldn't be a lack of forensic evidence on this one!"

David was shaking his head. "Man. All I did was forget to charge my cell. How's Don?"

Megan shrugged. "I was at the hospital last night with Charlie. He said Don has a Grade 3 concussion and a hairline skull fracture. He hadn't regained consciousness, yet."

Colby looked away and David down at his feet. "Doesn't sound good."

"Not great, no," Megan agreed. "I stopped by Charlie's this morning to take him back to the hospital so that he could see both of them, but – well, he wasn't ready yet. I'll try again in a couple of hours."

David looked at her. "That's right, Larry's in the hospital too. How's he doing?"

Megan frowned. "He sounded worse than ever when I spoke to him on the phone this morning. But actually, I was referring to Alan."

Colby jerked his head back around. "Alan? Don-and-Charlie's-Father, Alan?"

Megan let out a long breath. "Right. He passed out in the ER last night when they went to see about Don. He's been admitted with blood poisoning. Apparently an infection in his leg got way out of hand."

The trio exchanged glances, and nobody could come up with an accurate description of what it meant to be an Eppes right now. Instead, they filed silently to their desks and got to work.

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A little after 10, Megan informed her partners she was going back to Charlie's. They both decided to go with her, hoping they would get to see Don – or at least get some updated word as to his condition, more details than the hospital would give them, as non-family members, over the phone.

On the way, Megan told them about her conversation with Charlie the night before.

David was incredulous. "So he thinks this is somehow all because of him?"

"That's idiotic," Colby interjected.

Megan demurred. "You know how sensitive he is ordinarily, anyway. I read the police report from that accident last week – Don got a copy. Henderson didn't die on impact, Charlie had to listen to him choke and gurgle and gasp out a last message for his wife – that's a pretty overwhelming experience, for anybody."

"So he's already not playing with a full deck," paraphrased Colby.

Megan would have rolled her eyes, but she was driving. Instead, she made an observation. "I've gotten to know Charlie pretty well the last couple of years, and I only know of three people who can reel him back in when he gets this close to the edge. And Larry and Alan together don't have the success rate Don does." She sighed, all her concern for Charlie, Larry, Alan and Don going into it. "Right now, Charlie needs his brother."