"So much for him being in some conspicuous act" David added sarcastically.
"Yeah...except for the fact that we have a witness, a phone number, a mysterious blond, and nobody home." Groaning mentally Don looked at his watch. Half hour left.
"It sounds too much like a perfect scene to me." Colby pushed on the conversation. "Nothing on the body except for a bullet to the head, perhaps a few footprints. And a young girl who had just witnessed the crime."
"Okay, so besides the missing furniture and mail, why would he dump or take the furniture. Wouldn't that look strange, coming out of a house where a person had just been murdered?" David asked, laying out the evidence known.
"Charlee was heard saying that her parents were fighting. A custody battle."
"Right...which means that the absence that Anthony's neighbor's saw could have been the time that he was searching for both Andrea and Charlee. That and it might not have taken Anthony that long to find somebody new."
"Except there was no evidence that anybody besides him had been living there the past few months. And he had the time to come up with something that might not have looked suspicious in the first place. All Anthony had to know was that both Charlee and Andrea were going to be home that day, and then to plan something to where if he had to he could make up a scenario without bringing too much attention on himself."
"Like a person reinstalling carpet or something minor. But what I don't get is how no one can notice an entire glass window breaking and nobody in the entire neighbor notices, but they do when the police cars, ambulances, and yellow tape go up."
"Yeah it's like saying, 'teacher I didn't do it', but clearly the evidence is already in front of them and is heading their way."
--
"I'll get you your receipt." Landa offered later on after they had almost finished with the meal.
"Thank you that would be great." Megan set her fork back on her plate, Charlee was still finishing the last of her water as Megan checked her watch. "We've got to get a move on anyway."
Setting her empty glass down, Charlee sighed. "Do we have to?"
Her hand caught Charlee's chin softly, lifting her gaze to hers. "I'm afraid those are the rules." She didn't want to get the girl's hopes up. It was hard enough for Megan to work on not getting too attached to her. It would just make it three times as hard to let go. For the both of them. Charlee's eyes diverted to a spot on the table. "Don't give up hope that easily Charlee. There's always something around the bend that makes right now simplicity." Charlee's brown eyes gazed sadly at hers, a sparkle of hope inside.
"Sim-pli-kity." Charlee mulled over the new word. "What does it mean?"
Digging into her purse, Megan pulled out her wallet and they both stepped out of the booth. "It means easy." She smiled, placing her hand on the small of Charlee's back.
"Oh." Charlee drew out, looking back at the table. "My paper." With that she climbed back on the cushioned seat, reaching over with her small hand and grabbed the piece of paper. "Got it!" she smiled.
The smiling was contagious. "Come on, let's go pay for our meal." Megan walked over to the cash register, Charlee trailing along behind her. Landa set down some drinks on another table filled with peoples and walked back behind the counter.
"How was breakfast?" Landa inquired, adding up the bill.
"It was delicious, thank you." Megan offered, pulling out a twenty dollar bill that would be sure to cover the bill and handed it to her.
Landa nodded, "Out of twenty?" looking over the corner of her eye at Charlee as she took the money and counted out the change. "You don't see that many kids that age that are that behaved. She looks like she adores you." Pointing out she held out her hand and counted back the total amount before handing Megan the receipt and closing the register.
Megan looked up from putting the money putting back into her wallet, "Thanks, but I'm such how much I'll be adored after today."
Shaking her head, Landa bowed down to the shelf behind the counter, coming back up with a sucker in her hand. "Well if I didn't know better I would have thought that she your child and that you were a regular natural." She winked in a hinting gesture, "You've got to give yourself some credit though. I see plenty of people around this place--well you get the picture." Waving it off, she smiled lazily and looked over at Charlee who was again looking around the diner with curiosity. "Anyway, Who likes suckers?"
That caught Charlee's attention as the young girl abruptly gazed in her direction, eyes looking hungrily at the sucker; lips curling into a smile. "I do." Her voice was soft over the diner life; people talking, dishes bumping against each other as they were stacked together or loaded onto the cart.
Landa grinned back at her, handing her the sucker. "There you go, enjoy the sucker."
Charlee giggled. "Thank you!"
"Oh your mom taught you well. Let's go." Megan smiled, looking back over her shoulder to where the waitress was standing. "Thank you." she gestured with her hand, then gently led Charlee back to the car in safety.
"Bye." Charlee waved to the waitress, sucker in her mouth before they were out the door.
--
"So we already know that nothing unusual came up in the autopsy." Colby offered, tossing the file that he was holding, onto his desk. David walked up behind him, breaking off to go sit in his chair. "However we did get a hold of the phone number that we found on the phone records. The house belongs to a Kate and Rudy Morgan."
"Yeah, I believe that it was Suisan that we talked to. She said that the person that we were looking for is her husband. Not to mention that she was looking 'forward to something like this' before she walked back into the house." David added cocking his head in the direction of the file sitting on Don's desk. "I guess we'll be going back later when Joe gets off work then. What about the missing mail, did we find anything on that?
"Yeah, one. Found it tucked underneath a pile of magazines. Having it dusted for prints and maybe any evidence before they send it up here." Don picked up his phone and dialed.
Colby looked at his watch, nodded, then looked up towards the elevator doors that slid open. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe Charlee knows more than what she's letting on?"
"It's possible, but how much more could we get out of her? We have no idea how much this has affected her or how much she'll remember right now."
"Some children suppress the memories until later when they actually feel safe again. Not when they're in temporary safety." David pointed out as Don placed the phone back in the cradle.
Their conversation was put on hold as Charlee and Megan walked into view. "Hi Charlee."
"Hi." She greeted back softly."I got a sucker."
"That's never fair, I never get suckers." David teased her just as Megan's phone rang. She captured the moment of bonding before walking over to the window on the side of their floor.
"Reeves."
"Megan this is Dr. Meyers. Hey I received your message yesterday, but knew that I haven't had a chance to get back to you. I see you were referred to me by Dr. Erickson?"
"Yes."
There was a slight rustling on the other line, a file perhaps or a piece of paper. "Alright. I'm actually looking at your chart right now and see that you have received a positive on a pregnancy test. First off, congratulations. Second off, I welcome new clients and wondering when a good time would be for you to come in?"
"Guess that means I should be asking what days you have available. I'm actually working on a case right now, but should be able to get most any day off."
"Alright, let me check for you here. Hold on just a minute." A click of the keyboard sounded as Megan looked back over at the team, watching from a distance, the interaction between the team and Charlee. "This your first pregnancy?"
"No. I had a son, but he ended up being stillborn when he was six months along." She swallowed, but was surprised to how much she had kept her emotions at bay.
"Okay." Another few clicks of the keyboard. "Alright Megan, I would like to see you as soon as possible. And it looks as if I have an opening for nine tomorrow morning, or another at eleven thirty this Wednesday, is the soonest that I could see you."
"...Wednesday would be fine."
"Okay then I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday at eleven-thirty." Dr. Meyer's proceeded to finish, filling her in on a few details of the appointment and then the call was over--to which they ended and Megan closed her phone, re-pocketing it as she turned back to the animated interaction between the team. In fact if she wasn't mistaking--it almost looked like the perfect scene.