Chapter 2: More Questions
"What do you want to do now?" asked Megan quietly after three minutes had passed and her boss had yet to say something, let alone look at something else than his phone.
Don swallowed. That was the question, wasn't it? What should he do now?
He knew what he wanted - but it didn't look as if he'd get a chance at what he wanted - namely that his little brother would walk in right about now and it would turn out that all this had been a very bad joke - or even better, for Don to wake up and realize that he really had taken a nap and it all had been just a nightmare.
But he was awake, and the doors of the elevator didn't open to reveal Charlie.
Reality was that he had no idea where his brother might be or with whom he was. Nor had he any clue to know where to start looking. Fuck, he didn't even know what this was: was it a kidnapping, a protective move of some other agency after the shooting or a cover-up of said unknown agency or was it perhaps even possible that it was something else altogether? Some twisted game his brother had gotten in and that was now playing viciously?
God, he prayed Charlie hadn't been kidnapped. That would be the worst case scenario.
He tiredly ran his hands over his face, then looked up at Megan, not really meeting her eyes though. "Get your things. We're driving out to CalSci to talk to Larry. Perhaps he knows something more. And I can take a look at the scene and at Charlie's office perhaps," he said and got up.
Megan nodded. "Want me to call in Colby and David?"
Don contemplated that for a moment. The other two members of his team had taken a leave for the rest of this week, starting as of today and as he really couldn't think of anything for them to do at the moment, he shook his head. "Let's first see what Larry can tell us. It's no use to ruin their leave if we don't have anything to go with anyway."
"You know they wouldn't care ab..."
"I know," waved Don Megan's remark away. "Come on, hurry up. Before Larry doesn't know anything about all this anymore either."
Megan knew better than to loose even more time and hurried off to get her things.
"Larry," Megan warned the professor, as usual lost in his brilliant mind, before Don had even a chance to open his mouth.
Charlie's friend and old mentor looked up, startled, and his eyes widened as he came aware of a worried Megan and an obviously pissed Don standing in front of his desk. "Oh may, when have you gotten here?" he mused, his eyes trailing towards the clock on his wall.
"Just now," managed Megan to get out a millisecond before Don went straight to the point.
"Charlie," he bellowed.
Larry's forehead wrinkled up in confusion. "I'm sorry, Don, Megan, but I'm afraid Charles hasn't yet returned. Actually, I am fairly certain he won't be coming back to campus today."
Don scowled.
Once again, Megan hurriedly intervened. She understood that Don needed to get to the bottom of all this, she too for that matter, but she knew that Larry would be no use to them if Don scared him. "We assumed as much already as well, Larry. We wanted to talk to you and see what you can tell us about what hah happened exactly, this afternoon," she explained calmly, shooting Don a look to warn him to leave her in lead of this interview.
Don's scowl deepened, but surprisingly, he said nothing.
Larry's confusion grew deeper. "Didn't Charles fill you in on everything? Really, he was much more a witness of this terrible incident than me."
Megan sighed. "We haven't seen Charlie yet, Larry."
"No?" Larry asked, perplexed, raising an eyebrow. "This is very surprising. I was sure Charles wanted to head for your office right after he's given his statement."
"What makes you think that?" Megan asked, curiously.
"Because Charles asked me to cancel his classes as he was sure that after giving his statement, he'd have to head over to the office and do some damage control," Larry answered and glanced at Don.
"But he didn't specify that he wanted to come see us at the FBI building?" Megan clarified.
"No, not in as certain ways, but he usually refers to your workplace as simply the office," Larry replied and glanced back at Don again. "And as I'm sure you've had to be very worried about Charles I found it only normal that he would try to go ease your fears."
Don met the professor's gaze and struggled to keep his FBI mask in place. Damn right he was worried. "Tell us about the shooting," he ordered gruffly. "What happened?"
"If you wish. But I already told everything to the detectives." Larry sighed and his eyes took on a far away look. "Charles and I were on our way back from the main hall form a meeting. The meeting had sadly lasted a lot longer than anticipated and Charles was in quite a hurry as his class had already started. Though he had arranged for Amita to cover for him, once it was clear that we wouldn't be able to escape the meeting on time for his class, he was anxious to get back and take over. As I understood it, he is in a critical phase in that special class and Amita, though undoubtedly a well capable teacher of her own, would just not be able to replace Charles wholly." Larry smiled. "Of course, what Charles seems to have neglected to remember, it is quite impossible to replace a young genius mind like his. His students are lucky to have him at all, especially with the increase of his consulting work lately."
Megan and Don exchanged a look, frowning. Increase of consulting work? Charlie hadn't been needed for a while, lately.
Megan turned back to Larry. "I'm sure, Larry. Now back to the shooting," she gently reminded him.
"What? Oh yes, of course. Well, like I've said, we were on our way back, Charles quite in a hurry. We separated where I had to turn right in order to get to my office and Charles had to continue straight on in order to get to his lecture hall. I may have taken perhaps thirty steps when this bang shattered the peace." Larry got that look he got when he contemplated a human problem. "Charles once mentioned that the sound of a gunshot is a quite remarkable sound, similar to a car backfiring, but in the end, quite unmistakable. Of course, Charles was right. So, when I heard it, I identified it almost immediately and looked back, only to see Charles diving for cover behind a tree. I took that as a good suggestion and saw to myself to head to the safety of a tree. Another shot was fired, then silence." He suddenly looked wary. "I fear that were a few very long minutes until I dared to come up from behind the tree and another long one until I was sure that Charles was still alive, despite having him seen take cover myself."
Don couldn't agree more as he himself felt slightly sick at the professor's narrating of the incident. Especially as there was something very wrong with this story. "The shots were aimed at Charlie?" he asked, trying desperately to keep his voice neutral and not let his panic show.
Larry frowned. "I am not sure of that. But Charles was the only one who could have possibly been a target so I fear that that is a very high possibility."
"No one else was on around him?" Megan asked, a little unbelieving. This was a busy campus they were talking about after all.
"Like said, classes had already begun, so no, students and professors alike were either in classes or in another part of the campus." Larry frowned. "The part we were in is always a rather quiet one, too far away from the main areas where the students like to gather while having a free hour or something alike. To my knowledge, no one else was close to Charles who could have been a target."
Megan shot a look over to Don who had paled, his hands fisted into balls. She just hoped they would find Charlie soon. She wasn't sure how much longer Don could hold himself together before he snapped. And when he snapped, she hoped she would be far, far away from him then. Focusing back on Larry, she asked the next question. "So the shots were over and you left your cover. What then?"
"I went over to Charles to check on him," Larry picked up the trail and shook his head. "I must say, I was quite amazed, upon finally reaching him, to see how calm he had taken all this, especially seeing as the first bullet had grazed him, even though it was hardly a scratch, according to Charles." He looked apologetically at the agents. "Not that I think Charles is weak in any way, or easily scared. But I fear past experiences of Charles with shootings like that terrible rampage at your office let me to believe that an incident like today's would leave him quite rattled."
Neither Megan nor Don could blame him for that assumption. If having been asked, both of them would probably have given the same answer.
"But like said, Charles was very calm. He was already on the phone, calling you, I assumed," Larry continued, glancing at Don. "Soon after, the police arrived along with some paramedics. I gave my statement to the detectives while Charles had that graze wound looked after. Then he left with the detectives, I went back to my office and well, that was all." He looked back to Megan. "I called you to see how Charles was fairing." Another glance towards Don. "After you haven't shown up like I would have expected it, I was sure Charles must have gone straight to your office - or you went directly to him. He really hasn't been by your office yet?"
"No," Don answered shortly, not wanting to go more into that, all the while doubt eating at him though. Why hadn't Charlie called him immediately? "And he didn't call me. You say he called someone right away? Why don't you think it's been simply 911?" he wanted to know, telling himself to concentrate on the facts. Everything else had to wait.
Larry frowned deeply. "Because I heard him assure whoever was on the other end that he was fine and that everything was okay. He asked the person not to worry and just send the cavalry." He shook his head. "He sounded very much like he does when he speaks to you, further strengthen my belief that he was notifying you."
Once again not going more into that, Don fixed Larry with a hard glare. "You said the police showed up. What makes you believe that it was the police? Were there uniforms? Squat cars?"
Now, Larry looked truly puzzled. "No... No, now that you mention it I guess I just assumed as much. The two detectives flashed something like a badge though. I must confess I wasn't all that attentive perhaps. While Charles was fairly calm, I fear I was a bit rattled at the unusual experience of being witness to a shooting taking place, let alone one that seemed to be aimed at a dear friend of mine."
And suddenly, he looked every bit as rattled as he had claimed to be, causing Megan to move and put a sympathetic hand onto his shoulders. "That's all right. Everyone would be a little shocked by such an experience."
Larry smiled thankfully up at her. "Thank you, Megan," he said quietly, then looked over to Don who fidgeted impatiently. "May I ask why you are asking me these questions? Is something wrong with Charles?"
No, he was just missing, thought Don bitterly, but pushed the thought away immediately. He may not know where his little brother was at that moment - but it couldn't be said yet that Charlie was missing. Yet. Don truly hated that little word. It just held too much foreboding for his liking. Especially now. "What about the ambulance? Who called it in? You happen to know for which district they drove?"
"Ambulance?" Larry repeated, puzzled.
"You said Charlie had the wound checked out!" Don reminded him, clearly loosing his patience with the professor.
"Right, but there was no ambulance," Larry told them as if that was obvious. "Shortly after the first car with the detectives arrived, two more showed up with each having two more men inside. Two of them were paramedics or at least that was what I gathered from the comments and it was them who took a look at the graze and had it bandaged."
Seeing as those news hit her partner hard, Megan took over once again. "And what did the other team do?"
"Processed the scene, I believe is the correct term," answered Larry. "They took pictures, gathered the evidence."
"And none of them wore any sort of uniform? Or at least a jacket, indicating them as members of the Crime Scene team?" Megan clarified.
"No, I fear not. I did notice that they all seemed to be clad in rather dark clothes, but other than that they seemed to wear plain clothes," Larry denied and eyed them. "Why? Is this an anomaly?"
Don and Megan's eyes met briefly. Oh yeah, that was an anomaly all right.
"What about the cars? How did they look? Did you happen to see and remember the license plates?" Megan continued the interview.
To her disappointment, Larry shook his head. "Hmm, I can't say I paid much attention to them. I would say they were black SUV's though, very similar to those you drive. Nor do I remember taking note of the license plates. But even if I had, I have not the photographic memory Charles has and I probably couldn't have remembered them anyway."
Frustrated, Don kept himself from punching something. "Do you remember the names these 'detectives' gave you? Or from which station they were?" he asked, quite desperately. The professor had to give them at least something.
Slowly, Larry shook his head. "No. Actually, I don't think they introduced themselves properly. Then again, I had the impression Charles was familiar with the detectives so I didn't bother to think much more about that."
Don's eyes narrowed. "Familiar? What do you mean with that? Why would they be familiar with Charlie?"
"Well, one of them seemed especially worried about Charles' safety. He was also the one who insisted on Charles letting the graze be looked at. And while I was mostly out of earshot, Charles' body language for sure looked as if he was quite familiar with these men," Larry answered with a slight stutter but then he braced himself and met his friend's worried brother's eyes. "Don? What is going on here?"
His nervousness about this whole interview immediately pitched up when the FBI-agent's eyes closed briefly. "I don't know," was the quiet, defeated answer and alarmed, Larry averted his eyes to look at Megan.
She sighed. "We weren't able to reach Charlie yet. Nor did we find a location on him. Apparently, he never was brought in to give a statement."
Larry did take in all these disconcerting news and felt worry for his friend manifest itself rapidly. Running his hands through his hair, he forced himself to remain detached and thought back to that long half an hour. Finally, he looked up. "Well - did you check with the FBI?"
He shriveled a bit when Don shot him a terrifying glare and even Megan frowned. "I just mean - now that I think of it, while those men clearly seemed to be part of law enforcement," he hurried to explain. "I got much more the same vibe off them that I also get from your team. Perhaps, they were agents?"
Don and Megan's eyes met and Larry was startled when suddenly, Don turned abruptly. "Let's go."
Being no fool, Megan didn't even try to protest and just scurried after her boss. At the door, Don turned and fixed Larry with smoldering eyes. "Thanks, Larry. But next time something like this happens, you call me immediately. Got that? No matter if you believe I've already been informed or not."
Swallowing, Larry could only nod.
The FBI-agent held his eyes a moment longer, then nodded. "Good."
Being left alone, the shaken professor could only exhale in relief.
"Don't you think you were a bit hard on Larry, there at the end?" Megan asked after perhaps three minutes back in the car, glancing at her boss, well aware that she had probably just risked her job with that one single question.
After talking to Larry, Don had marched to Charlie's office to take a look, nor surprisingly finding anything. Then, after quickly checking Charlie's schedule, they headed over to where the shooting probably must have taken place. Of course, no remaining evidence was found there either. Those guys must have cleaned it up really very well. Nothing even indicated that an attempt on Charlie's life had been made only mere hours before. So now they were on their way back to the office, Don brooding and fidgeting and she... well, she just tried to keep a clear head.
Like expected, Don's answer was anything than pleasant. "I'm aware you and the professor have some thing going on. I don't care about that. But don't you dare to question me in matters that concern my brother, ever again, no matter if I happen to have a harsh word with your lover or not."
Megan's grip on the wheel tightened and she forced herself to stay calm - professional. At least one of them had to. "With all due respect - that was uncalled for, Sir."
Don passed her a glare, but said nothing. Considering the circumstances, that was enough for Megan.
"What do you want to do now?" asked Megan for the second time that day now, turning back to the issue at hand.
She didn't like it that Don was quiet for so long before he answered and even less did she like his answer.
"Go back to the office and finish what we were doing," he said flatly.
Her foot going down onto the break, she turned to gape at him. "You want to do nothing?!"
She regretted it immediately as Don shot her a look that should have incarnated her on the spot.
"This has hardly anything to do with what I want, Reeves!" Don hissed. "But clearly, I'm out of options. We've followed all leads, it looks as if at least Charlie has really gone on his own free will with those guys, whoever the hell they are, and apart of Larry's statement, there exists no records of this ominous shooting. What do you suggest I should do? Run through all of LA, screaming Charlie's name?"
"What about Larry's hunch that the guys have been FBI? We could check at the office if..."
She got rudely interrupted by a snort. "No agent at the office would be mad enough to not notify me immediately, not if he wants to keep his badge."
Megan had nothing to say to that - it was true enough. Everyone at their office knew just who exactly Charlie was and that if you messed with him, you messed with Don. With the entire team, to be frank. Charlie was one of them, be he an agent or not.
She sighed, suddenly feeling defeated herself. "So you think Larry imagined that vibe?"
Again, Don took his time to answer. "Not necessarily," he finally said, his jaw clenched.
The profiler waited for an elaboration but it got clear pretty soon that Don was not inclined to give her anything more. She wisely let it be at that. In her opinion, she had risked her job enough already that day.
Don was feeling a myriad of emotions, but anger was definitely right there at the top, rivaled only by worry.
He had no idea what the hell was going on here.
He had no idea in what a mess his brother had managed to get himself into this time.
He had no idea where Charlie was or if he was indeed fine.
He had no idea, if what had happened that afternoon was some cruel, twisted joke or a serious attempt on his brother's life. He tended to believe it was the last though.
But he knew, without a doubt, that whatever was going on was nothing Don would like one bit.
He knew that all things considered, his little brother must have been holding back at least something from him.
And he knew, that no matter what, Don would get to the bottom of it. No matter if Charlie or anyone else objected to that or not. And once this was over, he would have a serious talk with Charlie about just what he was allowed to keep from his brother and what not.
National security clearance be damned, if his brother ended getting shot at, Don had a right to know what was going on.
He wasn't stupid.
A phone call that left no recordings, a shooting that hasn't happened, 'detectives' that could be agents, clad in dark clothes and driving black SUVs, Charlie having called them in himself, knowing them, his comment to Larry to go by the office...
The FBI wasn't the only agency with an office in LA. Far from it. And the FBI wasn't the only agency Charlie worked for as a consultant.
His dark musing were interrupted by his phone ringing.
"Eppes," he snarled, unhappy to have been disturbed in his train of thoughts.
"Don," breathed an all too familiar voice into his ear and Don closed his eyes in sudden, utter relief. "You wanted me to call you back? You sounded pretty urgent. What's up?"
As quick as they had closed, Don's eyes snapped open again. Fury was not word enough to describe the expression in them.
"Charlie," he growled.
TBC!
(Author's Note: Hmm, seems to keep working with the uploading. Just hope it stays that way. Anyway, thanks for the many reviews for the first chapter. They were wonderful. I'm really very glad you liked it this much. I just hope you enjoyed Chapter 2 as much. More soon hopefully.)