Chapter 2

Charlie wasn't home when Megan, Edna and I arrived. However, we had barely settled down with clinking glasses of iced tea when he showed up with two paper bags in his arms, plus a couple of plastic bags dangling from his wrists.

"Don! How about a hand?" he said.

Dutifully, I applauded.

Charlie rolled his eyes.

Megan and Edna giggled.

Dad shook his head and stood up, but Megan and Edna beat him to Charlie's side.

Charlie beamed at them and they visibly melted. Honestly, I don't know why my brother isn't married yet. He can get chicks eating out of his hand in less time than it takes to describe it. Just don't tell Megan that I called her a chick, okay?

"Four bags?" I said. "That's all you got?"

"It's plenty," Charlie said smugly. "I can feed your entire team." He looked at Edna inquiringly.

"Charlie, this is Edna Rush," I said. "She's in charge of a cold case we're working."

He tilted his head, sparrow-like, and studied the three of us. "So, you have some numbers for me to crunch? A pattern for me to define?"

Edna and Megan looked at me to take the lead.

"Have a seat, Charlie," I said.

"I've got to put the frozen stuff away," he demurred.

This time I got up to help.

"It's a nasty one," I said. "Even if it is a cold case."

"What kind of case?" Charlie asked as he packed the ice cream away.

I put away the last of the frozen vegetables and closed the freezer. "Serial child molestation."

Dad hissed, but said nothing.

I watched Charlie's profile. He frowned, but said nothing. I knew that he had issues because of Jessica.

He looked at me and he frowned. "What? You know I'll help."

"We don't need your usual kind of help, Charlie," I said.

Charlie looked puzzled, but Dad began to look worried. I think he had a suspicion of where this was going.

"It's a cold case, you said," Dad asked.

My mouth felt dry, so I went back to my tea for a gulp. I nodded. "New evidence has turned up." I said. "A derelict hotel in downtown LA was being cleaned out and a box of pictures was discovered in the lost and found section of the basement."

"How do you know this relates to the case?"

"A combination of luck and paranoia," Edna said. "One of the cleaners watches true crime shows. He wondered why anybody would have a box filled with pictures of obviously unrelated children. He suspected ugly things and called the cops. The cops checked the photos and confirmed those ugly thoughts. They matched one of them to a local girl who went missing twenty years ago."

"So you ran the rest of the photos against missing children?" Charlie guessed.

Edna nodded. "We also searched the hotel. One of the trunks in the lost and found…" she trailed off, and then rallied. "That missing girl was found in a trunk in lost and found."

Charlie winced and sat down next to Dad.

Dad reached over and patted his forearm. "How can Charlie help, if not with his math?" Dad demanded.

Charlie blinked at him.

"I doubt there's anything a mathematician could help with," Edna said. "These cases are scattered over the west coast."

Charlie shook his head and launched into his spiel. "There's almost always something I can help with mathematically," he said. "Math isn't just about numbers, it's about discerning patterns. I can do a geographic analysis based on where the missing children lived, where they were last seen…"

"We need you to look at some photographs, Charlie," Megan interrupted gently.

Charlie's eyes went wide. "Jessica?" he asked.

Megan shook her head.

Charlie turned to me. "Is one of the children Jessica Cartman? I still haven't been able to get in touch…"

I also shook my head. "I don't think so," I replied. "But I'm not that certain that I'd recognize her, anyway."

Dad was definitely looking alarmed, and I wondered if his suspicions were based on my behavior, or if he had previous knowledge about what had happened to Charlie.

"One of the pictures is of you, Charlie," I said.

For a moment, I thought Dad was going to leap up and grab Charlie as if that would protect him from something that happened seventeen years ago.

Charlie, on the other hand, was still looking blank. That was more reassuring than anything he could have said or done. Y'see, Charlie's face is an open book. If you can't read it, it's because you're not looking. And if Charlie hadn't connected his being the focus of a sexual predator with being sexually assaulted, then it hadn't happened.

"This guy was stalking me?" Charlie managed after a few minutes. "You think I could have seen something?"

I took a deep breath.

Edna beat me to the punch. "Or survived something."

Charlie went white and Dad squeezed his arm again. I got up, decided against touching him right away and got him a glass of water. I put it in front of him and patted his shoulder.

Charlie craned his neck to look at me, and then looked at Dad. "You…" his voice squeaked and he took a hasty swallow.

"I didn't know what to think, Buddy," I said. "I mean, that picture was you at age thirteen or fourteen. When we weren't exactly on the best of terms."

Charlie frowned at Dad. "You would have known," he said.

"I…" Dad stopped. "You're right. Your mother would have told me if something like this had happened when you were at Princeton."

Charlie nodded. "Well, for the record, I have never been attacked that way."

Megan straightened slightly and the dark look in her eyes faded. She really feels protective of my brother. One of the reasons I've become so fond of her.

Edna sighed.

Dad shot her a dirty look and she looked abashed.

It was Charlie's turn to pat Dad on the arm. "Dad, she only meant that their lead has petered out," he said. "Not that she wanted me to have been molested."

Dad relaxed a bit.

"Right, I'm glad you were spared that," Edna said sincerely. "However, you may still be able to help. Do you remember anybody paying an undue amount of attention to you when you were that age?"

Charlie barely managed to not laugh in her face.

Then it was Edna's turn to look bewildered.

I rubbed my upper lip to hide a smirk. When I had my face under control, I said, "Sorry, Eddie, I sometimes forget not everybody on the planet has heard of my brother. He was a math prodigy; he started Princeton when he was thirteen."

Edna nodded. "So there were a lot of people paying attention to him," she said. "Wait a minute." She dug a notebook out of her jacket. "One of the first murder victims, Andre Long, age 10, was a chess prodigy." She flipped through her notes. "And one of the missing girls was snatched from a piano recital… Correction, a piano concert when she was fourteen."

I frowned. "What about the others? Were they all especially talented?"

"Good question," Edna said.

"Wouldn't the original team have made that connection?" Megan asked.

Edna shook her head. "These cases hadn't been connected before," she said. "They're spread out in time and location and have been treated as separate cases. It wasn't until this stash of pictures turned up that anybody realized that this was all the work of one monster."

She looked at Charlie. "Maybe some of these unidentified children were prodigies, too," Edna said. "Maybe you would recognize one."

Charlie licked his lips.

"Charlie?" Dad asked.

Charlie stood. "I can try," he said.

"You sure?" Dad asked worriedly.

Charlie frowned. "I'm a big boy, Dad," he said.

Dad stood up and reached out. For a moment, I thought he was going to hug Charlie. Instead, he grasped Charlie by the arm and turned him around so they could stand back to back. Dad held his hand to his head.

Charlie snorted and sliced his hand over his head and touched Dad's shoulders. "Okay, I'm an adult, even if I'm not a 'big boy,'" he said ironically.

Having established himself as alpha wolf, Dad turned around and patted Charlie on the head.

Charlie ducked away.

"Why didn't you give me any of those tall genes that you're so proud of, Dad?" Charlie complained.

"You should have exercised more when you were a kid," Dad said. "I told you those dry erase fumes would stunt your growth."

Charlie rolled his eyes heavenward. "So, what's Don's excuse?" he said. He shot me a snide look.

"Are you inferring that I'm short?" I demanded.

"No, I'm implying that you're short," Charlie shot back "You are inferring."

A gave a bark of laughter that I didn't really feel. "Oh, when did you become a grammar expert?" I demanded. I stood up, and straightened my spine as I much as I could. "I'm taller than you, smart guy."

"Ah, I just inherited all the brains," Charlie said.

"C'mon, boys," Megan said. "We'd better get back to work."

"You're sure you're up to this?" Dad asked.

"It's only looking at pictures, Dad," he said. "Besides, I may be able to work out some pattern from the locations of the children who have been identified. I could give Don's team…" he looked at Edna apologetically. "I could maybe give Edna and her team some idea of where the unidentified victims came from."

"You could do that?" Edna asked, perking up a little.

"Charlie's done stranger things," Megan asserted with a touch of pride. Like he was her brother. No, that doesn't bother me. Well, maybe a little. My brother and I had just gotten our relationship into a good place. I didn't need more sibling rivalry.

"You have no idea of the strange things Charlie has done," I said. What can I say; zinging my brother is my automatic reaction.

Charlie rolled his eyes at Megan. "You had to give him a straight line, didn't you?"