Megan entered Ben and Maggie's address into her GPS system. "This is a lot easier than scribbling directions on the back of an envelope," she said with a grin.

"It is," Maggie said, slipping into the back seat. "Do you ever find yourself talking back to the GPS woman?"

"Oh, I thought I was the only one," Megan said. "Turn right. No. Turn right. No. Recalculating ..."

Ben closed the front passenger's door and fastened his seatbelt. "I do believe she sounds frustrated when I don't pay attention to her."

"Kind of like a wife?" Megan asked.

Ben raised his hands in surrender. "I'll take the fifth on that, Agent."

"Good idea," Megan chuckled as she backed out of the driveway. "So, how much longer do you folks have at Cal Sci?"

"This is our last semester, sadly," Ben said. "It'll be nice to be back home, but I'm definitely going to miss everybody here."

"Me too," Maggie said. "We've toyed with the idea of submitting our resumes to some of the colleges around here."

"I think you'd love it here. I'm from back east too," Megan said, "and I must say the weather out here is a lot better than it is back home."

"It's not just the weather," Ben said, "We are really enjoying our time at Cal Sci, and working on cases with your team has been very exhilarating."

Megan nodded. "It is great catching the bad guys, isn't it? When you can tell them apart from the so-called good guys, that is."

"Your DOJ assignment didn't go well, did it?" Maggie asked softly.

Megan hesitated, pursing her lips. "No, it didn't. But I really can't talk about that yet."

"Sorry," Maggie said, "So whereabouts back east are you from?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"So, what was your impression of Mr. Davis?" Colby asked as he stirred his coffee.

David swallowed his sip of soda and said, "I believe him. How about you?"

"He seemed like he was on the level. You talked with him before. Does he seem any different today than he did then?"

David shrugged. "A little more frustrated at us." He picked up his burger. "I thought you were starving. Shut up and eat, will you?"

Colby picked up his hamburger. "At least the poor guy isn't a suspect." He took a bite and closed his eyes. "This is great," he said around a mouthful.

"Damn it, Granger. How carefully did we check out Mr. Davis?"

"With the thousand and one other suspects we have? I doubt we even looked at his background. Why?"

"Well, it's a long shot, but what if he found out his wife was involved in this crime ring and wasn't exactly thrilled?"

Colby sighed. He took another bite of his burger and chewed thoughtfully before answering. "Makes a lot more sense than the Agincourts or the Chinese mob killing her."

David swallowed and wiped his mouth with his napkin. "But on the other hand, she could have done something to tick off the Agincourts. Or someone else could have wanted that painting enough to kill for it."

"Either way, it doesn't look like we're going home any time soon."

"Home? What's that?"

"Shut up and eat," Colby shook his head as he took another bite.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don stretched gingerly. "I think I'm going to head off to bed."

Liz stood. "Let me have a look upstairs first."

Don chuckled. "You don't really think Chuck heard anything besides a raccoon, do you?"

"Shaddup," Charlie muttered, not looking up from his computer. "Hey, I just got an email from David."

Don stood and, with Liz steadying him, walked to Charlie's side. "What's it say?"

"It's a file on Ellen Davis's husband. He wants me to put him in my program."

Amita chuckled. "By the time we're finished, you're going to have the entire population of Los Angeles in that program."

Charlie stifled a yawn and turned to Amita. "Would you mind getting me a cup of coffee? I think I'm going to be at this for a while."

"You need to get some rest," Alan said. "Don, tell him to put this aside for now."

Don shrugged as he walked toward the stairs. "Sorry. I'm on medical leave. You'll have to talk to David about that. Besides, you know how Charlie is when he gets working on something."

Alan sighed. "Unfortunately, I know how both of you are when you sink your teeth into a problem. I'm going to bed."

"Goodnight, Dad," Charlie glanced up from his computer. "Don, you want me to wake you up when I have something? No, wait. I forgot. You're on medical leave."

"Smart aleck. You'd better wake me up if you solve the case. Medical leave or not, I want to know about it."

"Control freak," Charlie muttered.

Liz laughed. "I think that's in his job description."

"I've got to keep my team under control," Don said with a shrug. "Goodnight, Amita. Goodnight, Chuck."

Don watched with amusement as Liz checked his room. "Is it clear, Agent Warner?"

"It's clear, Agent Eppes. Hey, you can make fun if you want, but if you wake up hearing a strange noise, you'll thank me for checking."

"I know. Now I know how Charlie felt when David was on protection detail." Don paused, his hand on the doorknob. "You coming in with me?"

"With your family here? No way."

"Hey, we're adults. And they know we're not just friends."

Liz put her arms around Don's neck and gave him a kiss. "You really think you're up to it?"

"Good point. So what are you going to do? Watch the geeks do their thing?"

Liz rolled her eyes. "Not likely. I wouldn't understand a word they said. I'll see what's on TV."

"Sounds exciting."

"More exciting than listening to you snore or watching Charlie and Amita do their computer thing."

"Good point. Even an infomercial would beat those choices." He kissed Liz. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

-------------------------------------------------------------

"Look who's here," David said as he and Colby crossed the bullpen.

"Hey!" Megan looked up from her computer. "I was beginning to think you guys had gone home."

"It's good to see you, too," Colby said with a grin. "How're you doing, Megan?"

"Better now that I'm back here."

"What're you working on?" David said, craning his neck to see Megan's screen.

"Background on Tomlin. You guys have anything new?"

"Not really," David said, turning on his computer. "Just a couple more leads we need to check out. Like we need more leads on this case."

Colby dropped into his chair. "David already emailed Charlie asking him to plug Ellen Davis' husband into his magic program. Now the husband mentioned that Ellen's brother, Greg Spencer's father, is a lowlife, so we gotta check him out too."

Megan rolled her eyes and opened her desk drawer. "Here, it looks like we're all going to need some chocolate." She pulled out a bag of Hershey Kisses and set them on the corner of her desk.

"I'll get the coffee," Colby said, standing and heading toward the break room.

"Two basic food groups," David said with a chuckle. "So, what did you find on Tomlin?"

"Not much. He's been here for ten years. No commendations, but no black marks in his file either. You've been here longer than I have. Did you know him?"

"Not really. He pretty much kept to himself." David paused, smiling. "Isn't that what people always say when they find out their next door neighbor is a serial killer?"

"Pretty much," Megan agreed. "So, what's Ellen's brother's name?"

"Donald Spencer. I've got his record coming up now."

"Here you go," Colby set coffee cups in front of Megan and David and sat at his desk. "What've you got on Spencer?"

"Ed Davis wasn't kidding. The guy's a real loser. Bad checks, drugs, burglary. But nothing big."

"Hmm," Colby said, "any connection with the Agincourts?"

"Nothing I can see from here. I wonder if Charlie is still up."

Megan looked up from her monitor. "He was working on putting Ed Davis in his program when I left the house. You want me to call him?"

"I'll just email him this file and see what he can do with it."

-----------------------------------------------------

Amita sat on the couch, Charlie's head on her lap. He sighed in his sleep, and she idly ran her fingers through his hair. He had stayed awake long enough to study the information David had sent him and show her what needed to be done. But after that he had faded fast.

Now she sat, Charlie's laptop balanced on the arm of the couch, making the changes to the program.

A new mail message popped up on the screen. When Amita clicked on the message and realized it was from David, she opened it. She toyed with the idea of waking Charlie, but decided he needed his sleep. She read the information David had forwarded, then replied to David's email, signing her name instead of Charlie's.

As she typed, she wondered when she had started feeling comfortable picking up Charlie's work where he left off. In just a few years, she had gone from a student in awe of her thesis advisor to his colleague. And so much more. She smiled as she brushed a stray curl from his face.

In a few minutes, the changes were made and the program was recalculating. She moved the computer onto the end table and tried to get comfortable without disturbing Charlie. Across the room, Liz glanced up from the movie she was watching. "How's it going?" she asked Amita.

"Good. David just sent us another file to work with." She glanced down at Charlie, who had stirred and mumbled something. "Shhh," she whispered, gently stroking his face. He sighed and stilled. "I'll wake him up when the program finishes doing its thing."

Liz stretched and moved to the chair across from Amita. "It's been a rough week for the Eppes brothers, hasn't it?"

Amita nodded. "It has. But they don't give up, do they?"

Liz chuckled. "Never. I saw it in Don back at Quantico, but I was amazed at how tenacious Charlie can be. They must have given their parents conniptions when they were growing up."

"True. I'm surprised Alan doesn't have more gray hair."

"He should by now. What was that?" Liz asked as the computer beeped.

"Looks like we've got some results."

"Already?" Charlie muttered.

"How long have you been listening?" Amita asked as he sat up.

"The computer beep woke me up," Charlie stretched and reached across Amita for the computer.

"Here," Liz said, "let me get it for you." She lifted the computer and put it on Charlie's lap. "We don't need you straining that arm of yours."

"Thanks. Amita, what's this?"

"I put in some data David sent me while you were sleeping. Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Donald Spencer? Is he related to Greg?"

"His father. According to Mr. Davis, he was a real loser."

"I guess so. Remember that case Don had with the lady who robbed the jewelry store? She got roped into it by her lowlife brother."

"I remember that," Amita said. "You think this is the same kind of thing?"

"Could be. Is David in the office?"

"I don't know. The email was from his FBI account, but he could have sent it from anywhere."

Charlie smiled. "Well, not from ANYWHERE, but I'm too tired to lecture you now."

"Thank goodness," Liz breathed. "I'm way too tired to listen to your lecture. Let me call David and see where he is."