Chapter Nine: Prevailing Winds

The morning sky was gloomy and overcast. From his limited view out of the window from the bed in his hospital room, Charlie could see another round of storm clouds building in the ominously darkened sky.

Storm clouds.

The memory of the storm clouds he had seen on the horizon last night assailed him and he felt his heart flutter. It was right before they got to the bridge and ….…. He stopped himself before he could finish the thought. He didn't want that visual memory to play through his mind again.

With his right arm in an elbow cast, he had been forced to lie on his left side all night and his hip and left shoulder were aching. With a deep sigh, Charlie arched his back and stretched his sore muscles.

"Good Morning."

The familiar feminine voice startled Charlie from his traditional early morning stupor and quickly pushed the lingering terror from the night before back a notch. Hoping his hospital gown wasn't gaping open in the back, he felt a blush rise to his cheeks.

"Amita?"

He turned his head away from the window and found a pair of dark eyes staring at him. Although her presence was initially puzzling and moderately embarrassing given his present condition, he was genuinely pleased to see her.

"What are you doing here?"

A soft smile lifted the corners of her mouth.

"Your Father is with Don. He didn't want you to wake up alone."

Charlie felt a surge of panic sear across his chest at the mention of his brother's name. He tried to remember what his father had said about Don's condition last night. He had looked relatively okay considering the night they'd had. And the doctor and nurses didn't seem to be acting as if it were a major trauma. Charlie fought to control his nerves and tried to keep his voice from cracking as he spoke.

"Is he okay? Did something else happen?"

Watching the expressive eyes of her close friend and colleague, Amita felt a warm fluttery feeling growing in her chest. She had to smile at the literal translation of having butterflies in her stomach; feeling slightly awed at her reaction to seeing him so vulnerable.

"Don? No."

She walked closer to the bed, resisting the urge to reach out and brush the dark curls away from Charlie's eyes.

"No. He's fine. He has a pristine white cast on his foot, but the bone wasn't crushed, just a fracture, so he won't need any pins in it. They're actually downstairs at a news conference."

Charlie's mouth fell open in an almost comical fashion.

"A what?"

With a smile, Amita brushed her hair behind her shoulders.

"I guess you were out of it last night."

Charlie watched her carefully as she stood and walked to the other side of his bed.

"You were here?"

She nodded as she grabbed the remote control for the television from the bedside table.

"I was at your house when David called. Remember, we were supposed to proof Larry's mathematics for his chaos presentation?"

"Yeah, but I don't remember seeing…………."

Furrowing his brow, Charlie tried to run though the sketchy memories of what had happened after he had woke up in the exam room. He remembered going to find Don and the nurse putting him in a wheel chair….but after that? He lifted is left hand and gently caressed what felt like a softball on his left temple. It seemed to be the primary source of the ache in his head. He was still a little shocked to feel it there, but he knew he had hit his head when he fell into the water….….he remembered that part.

When Amita put her hand gently on his arm, Charlie looked up and met her comforting gaze.

"Its okay, Charlie. The concussion is minimal and the doctor told your father there should be no permanent effects. You don't have amnesia or anything. I was in the waiting room with Larry, that's why you didn't see me."

An actual exhalation of relief rushed out of him.

"Well, that's good to hear. I was starting to wonder."

He smiled diffidently.

"What else did I miss?"

Flipping on the TV and then hitting the MUTE button, Amita pulled up a chair on the other side of the bed.

"Last night after your CT scan, Robert Whitney pitched a fit in the hallway outside your room. He demanded to talk to you and Don. David almost had to throw him out."

The knowledge that both he and Don had come out of this thing without any non-repairable damage seemed to have taken a physical load off of Charlie's shoulders. He pulled himself up straight and began adjusting the bed into a sitting position.

"Robert Whitney? You mean the defense attorney?"

"Yeah, the one who all the big Hollywood types use. It turns out he's………."

Charlie cut her off.

"…their father."

The conversations he had overheard after his rescue played back in his mind. The medical team thought he was non-responsive. He thought Don was dead and didn't feel like opening his eyes and facing the reality of it. Shaking off the powerful urge to jump out of bed and go find Don again, he turned back to Amita.

"The girls that Don and I pulled out of the car. He's their father."

"Yeah, How'd you………."

Charlie waved his hand to dismiss the question, his brow furrowed with concern.

"Why was he looking for us?"

Turning to the television Amita laughed genially.

"He's a high profile celebrity defense attorney, Charlie. Looking good on television is part of his image."

Following her eyes to the screen a snippet of the news conference was being played back. Amita didn't bother to un-mute the television, but Charlie could read Don's lips and he caught the words 'justice' and 'attempted murder'. A distinguished looking man in a suit next to him was nodding emphatically with each word. Seeing Don sitting up in a chair, in living color on television set Charlie's heart racing. He was alive. He was bruised and battered and really looked like he needed to go back to bed, but he was alive. Suddenly Charlie found it difficult to swallow.

He reached for a glass of water, but it was empty.

Amita grabbed the plastic water pitcher and headed for the bathroom sink. She raised her voice to be heard as she refilled the pitcher.

"He decided making a public spectacle out of thanking the heroic citizens who saved his children's lives would be a good publicity move. When he found out Don was a federal agent he and his minions marched in here like the grand marshal in a small town parade."

Amita walked back into the room and filled Charlie's glass with water.

"Thank you."

He paused to take a sip and then tilted his head slightly to the left to stare at her.

"You're saying Don agreed to a press conference?"

"Yes."

Walking back around to the side of the bed where the remote was, Amita looked up at the television.

"I'm not sure why. I think he thought it might help find the guys who ran the cars off the road."

"That's exactly what he thought."

Charlie and Amita both turned their head to see Colby standing in the doorway.

"It's pretty apparent this wasn't an accident, Charlie. We know that from the statements we got last night from you, Don and Ms. Damari. She's the Whitney's nanny, the one who was driving the other car."

Charlie nodded as another memory from last night assailed him.

"Sophia. The little girl called her Sophia."

Colby nodded a slight smile playing across his face.

"Yeah. The girl's name is Hannah, by the way. I talked to her earlier this morning."

"Is she….are they all….?"
His voice cracked as he tried to ask the question, so Colby went ahead with the answer.

"They're all fine, Charlie. Kaitlyn, the girl who was in the water with you…she's up in Pediatrics, being treated for hypothermia, same as you. You may not remember, but you got her back up out of the river and kept her out of the wind. Her father said she was going to be fine. You and Don are the heroes of the day."

Colby smiled at him jovially as he walked further into the room.

"Hannah just finished telling the press how you two saved her and her baby sister and then how you almost died trying to save Kaitlyn while the car was 'whisked away' down the river. It was all very dramatic. That kid can really tell a story. You guys won't have any trouble finding a date after this."

Charlie could feel an embarrassed flush rising in his cheeks again and he took another sip of water.

"What's Don going to do? Do we know who…."

Colby shook his head.

"We'll we're investigating everyone with a grudge against Don and…….."

A good-natured snicker from Amita interrupted him.

"I'll bet that's a pretty long list."

With a wide grin, Colby pulled up a chair from the corner of the room.

"Not as long as you might think. Mr. Whitney's list is longer. And Ms. Damari's list is almost as impressive."

"The nanny?"

Amita shot Colby a wary look and Charlie laughed at her surprise.

"I suppose that's not as completely unreasonable a supposition as you might think, Amita."

He turned to the federal agent.

"Do you really think someone was trying to kill the nanny?"

"Why not?"

Leaning back in his seat, Colby crossed his arms.

"For that matter, why not you?"

"ME? Why would someone want to kill me?"

Charlie struggled to set up a little straighter and cradled his cast with his left arm.

"That's what Don said too, Charlie. But we have to look objectively at every possibility."

Charlie grinned, waiting for the punch line, but his smile quickly faded as Colby's expression remained serious.

"You're up here to find out if anyone might want me dead badly enough to run us and another car, full of children….of all things, off the road?"

Colby nodded; looking moderately uncomfortable.

"Yeah, 'fraid so."

"Well, the answer is NO!"

Charlie's eyes flashed with an over embroidered defiance and Colby had to suppress a smile.

Lifting his hands in mock surrender, he stood to leave.

"And that's what Don said too. So now that we've got that out of the way….."

"What about….?"

Amita's voice stopped him in his tracks.

She paused and looked from Colby to Charlie.

"That kid you had expelled. The one who stole the midterm last semester?"

Charlie forced a laugh in feigned astonishment.

"Oz?"

Amita nodded and turned to Colby.

"Nathan Oswald. He was a student who…….."

With an exasperated sigh, Charlie cut her off.

"….who knew what he did was wrong, Amita. He certainly wouldn't try to kill me."

Colby turned back toward the door.

"We'll have to talk to him, Charlie."

"The mere notion that this incident has anything to do with me….Well, it's completely absurd, Colby!"

Amita scooted her chair closer to the bed and put her hand on Charlie's arm again.

"No more absurd than someone wanting a teenager and three little girls dead, Charlie. Besides, its just standard procedure to check out any possibilities."

She turned to the stout federal agent for confirmation.

"Right? It's not like you're going to 'drag him downtown.'"

Opening his eyes wide in response and giving her a flagrantly exaggerated nod, Colby gave the disconcerted mathematician one more glance.

Thinking about how a tragically different outcome of last night's events would have changed the tone of this investigation, he pulled out his cell phone. Dialing the office, Colby headed for the door.

He would have to send someone to pick up Nathan Oswald.

Then they were going to have a little chat.

………………………………

Authors Notes:

Two words - Stomach Virus

Two more words - Sick kid

Sorry about not posting for a few days. Things got a little crazy there for a while.

Think 'The Exorcist', but with chocolate donuts instead of the pea soup.

Yeah. That's what I said too.

Anyway - the next chapter shouldn't be so long in coming.

Chapter Ten: Overcast With a Chance of Showers