"Larry?" Charlie called out to his friend as they sat in the reserved quiet of his office. Deep in thought, Larry turned his head in Charlie's direction
Finally seeing his fault in not listening to the conversation, Larry apologized. "I'm sorry Charles, but my head is not so much in the game of theory right now. Well actually it is but in a different form which leads to a deeper meaning."
Charlie sighed, shoving his hands into his pocket and walked up to the window where Larry had been staring out for at least the last twenty minutes. The corners of Charlie's mouth twitched in reason. "This wouldn't have to do anything with Megan does it?" He looked half amused, half way for the fact that Larry was still half in the clouds, and finally looked him in the eyes. Charlie pointed out in a gesture with his hand. "In fact I know that look."
"For all I know, I could be expressing a million different expressions right now, Charles. One that's asking if Megan and I are taking this way too fast, and another is still slightly numbing blocking out every other emotion needed by man."
"That serious huh?" Digging out his hands from his pockets, Charlie straightened and walked over to the chalkboard and erased the last equation that he had illustrated to his class about an hour before.
"I just proposed to the woman of my dreams." He explained the seriousness that Charles spoke of, although the obviousness wasn't immediately apparent. "We're talking of houses, marriage and kids here, Charles."
"Really you're talking about kids...already?" Charles sided blowing out a breathe of air, an uneasy smirk, as he rubbed his hand through his curly hair. "You're not even married yet."
At that the corners of Larry's mouth twitched in that familiar way that he knew. Larry ended up pacing back to the window. "Technically...no. But if you're asking me if things are going to change immensely--" He opened his mouth to continue but quickly closed it. Gathering the books that he needed, he placed them in his bag.
Charlie gestured his hand in the air. "And so what you're trying to tell me that you're alright with all this? Larry Fleinhardt is ready to get married?"
Larry gave him a grim look. "Not ready Charles. I honestly cannot explain the depth all this brings. I feel like the luckiest man on earth, yet I also feel like my life on earth has flipped about three hundred and sixty degrees and brings me a different perspective on life."
"But you love her." Charlie threw out, slashing Larry's doubt. "I know with Amita that I haven't gotten close enough to ask her to marry me yet. However, I do know that when you love someone you should spend the rest of your life with them--no matter how long it takes to get to point A to point B."
--
Charlee sat up, slightly confused. For a moment she had forgotten how she had gotten here. She was having a dream about climbing a tree--looking at the beautiful sunset as she sat perched in the tree's limb. It was a beautiful sight. However what was even more beautiful than the colors of the sunset was the people that surrounded her below. Megan. Don. David. Colby. And also a few other people that she didn't know.
Sighing, she shivered violently before wrapping the warm blanket tighter around her body and sank back into the couch. Her eyes slammed closed at the pain in her head as her eyes caught the light of the break room. She felt sick that was for sure. Groaning, she snuggled into the coach, tears welling up in her eyes. She cried quietly and let her steady breathing lull her back to a deep sleep.
--
"Susian Carlos is still in surgery but is expected to make a full recovery from the gun shot wound that she received." David reported as he sat back at his desk. Megan was standing by, her back against the desk.
Megan nodded. "We ended up finding the gun stashed underneath the bed under an old violin case."
"Yeah and we're running a ballistic match against the one we found in Andrea as well. If Joe Carlos and Anthony Harrison were close enough to make a money deal, now we have to ask if they were they close enough to exchange a gun? I'm assuming that neither one of them suspected the neighbor would be planning to go over there. We're still trying to figure out where the van that Anthony was using the day Andrea was murdered. We have no hair, no DNA, and no weapon--unless we can find some sort of a match between the two murders.
"It's either dumb or dumber." Colby looked in the direction of the interrogation room.
"Or it could be neither." Everybody just stared at her. "Rex and his brother could be some kind of throw off. They either know that they did the crime or they didn't. If they're hiding something, eventually guilt is going to creep up on them whether they talk or not. So far we know that the car was registered to Rex, although there was a van that Anthony was driving just like what we're ripping apart now. We had no other contact of knowing where Anthony was these past few days after we found Charlee and if the autopsy for Anthony ends up showing that he's been dead for the past two days--then we know that we're looking at either charging at both of them to where they'll tell us to who did the crime."
"Which means that we're going to have to talk to the neighbors again to find out if anybody remembers any other details that could place Anthony not being the only one in that vehicle." Don groaned, turning towards Colby and David. "Why don't you and Colby go check that out. Anything suspicious might help us with a lead that doesn't end at a dead end. Megan and I will go through all the information again and see if there's anything that we can find that might have been overlooked or missed." Standing up, both followed orders and headed towards the elevator.
"I'm going to go check up on Charlee before we get started."
Don grunted, making her pause and look back. He had a file in his hand and was flipping through it with mute interest. "So what did your doctor say?"
"I have an appointment at eleven-thirty tomorrow and I should know more of the details by the time Wednesday dinner comes around." Nodding once in dismissal she turned back towards the break room.
"Good. And Megan, I know this isn't probably something that you want to hear, but if you--let me rephrase that, take the day off." He knew she was the same way--not taking lightly to instructions. Neither one of them could stay in the hospital or a home knowing that there was a good case that couldn't be passed up.
"Would love to. But the last time I checked, I don't take a break until my partner does." Crossing her arms, the corner of her lips tipped up in an amused way. "I haven't forgotten Don. You're only human--and even though you're putting others before yourself, doesn't mean that you're not suffering the consequences. Leaning against the desk, she straightened offering him a bleak look and headed off towards the break room; closing the door quietly behind her.
Breathing out a sigh, she slowly walked over to where Charlee's body was facing the couch. Her steady breathing was a sign that Charlee was still asleep. Pulling up a seat, Megan checked her watch on her wrist before placing her hand softly over Charlee's forehead. It had been quite a few hours since Charlee had laid down, not to mention that the young girl was now burning up with a fever.
Looking towards the cabinet, Megan thought about how they didn't have any type of thermometer here at the office. And the office life wasn't anywhere appropriate sick little girl. Not like this whole thing with her parents, or rather her adoptive parents was doing any good. Everyone had almost forgotten that the reason that Andrea and Charlee had been discovered because the neighbor had volunteered to bring over some soup for Charlee. Other than that, if they hadn't been discovered--Charlee probably would have perished as well.
Making a brief assessment, Megan rolled the young girl over. Her heart sank at the tear stained cheeks and the rosy cheeks. Her hand stroked the young girl's forehead over and over as she called out her name. "Charlee. Come on sweetie, I need you to wake up."
Several times Charlee stirred but did not awake that easily. The young girl mumbled and groaned, trying to turn back into a comfortable position in the process. Even in the mumbles, Charlee cried out once. "Please don't make me go. Please." Her voice proved weak as she asked her desperately, eyes still shut tightly.
"Charlee it's Megan." At the sudden recognition Charlee's eyes flew open. Her eyes searched Charlee's fierce and still scared gaze. Megan reassured her, "You're not going anywhere right now. In fact I'm going to take you home so you can rest up."
Slowly the young girl sat up, her hand holding onto Megan's. "Really? Why?"
Megan stroked her hair with a sigh. "Because you're running a fever and an office is not place for the sick."
"I'm not sick." Charlee offered unconvincingly, standing.
"Oh...I beg to differ. Nice try kiddo. Let's go." Placing her hand on Charlee's small shoulder Megan led her out the door. When they had reached the office area, Don was now sitting at his desk.
"Hey Charlee. When did she wake up?" He looked over at Megan next.
"I woke her up just a few minutes ago. She's running a slight fever, so I decided that I should take her home."
"Right. The office is no place for the sick." Don repeated Megan's words from earlier with a wink. Charlee's mouth fell open a little, even though she was still only half awake.
"Can you read minds? Megan said that already." Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Charlee sighed in wonder. Her gaze caught Don's and a small but apparent smile lit up on her face. She was really starting to like this place. Hopefully this wouldn't be the last time that she would be seeing it. Yawning, Charlee covered her mouth with her hand and looked up at Megan with content anticipation. "This means I get to go home?"
"For now it does." Megan answered exchanging an odd glance with Don as she directed Charlee in the direction of the elevator before turning back towards his desk. "Let me know what happens, I'm going to see if we can beat this sickness."
Giving a nod, it was apparent to both Don and Megan that they shouldn't mention the sheer fact that Charlee's mother was close by--searching, or in fact had been searching for her daughter. They weren't sure because if this was anything like the child service spoof they had gone through earlier, they didn't want this to be another. What they wanted most right now was for Charlee to make a swift recovery, and to close this case. That's what they were all counting on right now.
--
"So we've got so far, no evidence on Andrea besides the bullet. However ballistics called a little while go and said the bullet in Andrea and the gun that was found at the Carlos house was the exact match that had killed her." David reported with a raise of his eyebrow.
"That makes no sense." Colby furrowed his brow. "And the gun was registered to Joe?"
It was Don's turn to shake his head and step up to the plate. "Not exactly. It was Anthony's gun that Joe used to shoot his wife Suisan. Or so we think. So far no prints in the house but Joe, Suisan, and their daughter Lucia. We don't actually have much on how the gun made its way over to his house anyway, and there's definitely no trace that Anthony was anywhere near the house."
"So the evidence is just as empty as in Andrea's house." David sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as they tried to put what they had, together.
"Unless, Joe killed Anthony and Suisan found out about it in the end. Perhaps they had an argument about it."
"Or it could be just as much the daughter if anything. She looked kind of surprised that Megan and I were there in the first place. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if Suisan found out about everything he was up to and then called their daughter to let her know of the good news that her daughter was in fact still alive. Lucia told me that she hadn't etablished communication with her father for the last year, which probably meant that she wasn't coming over as much as well."
Nodding, Don sat up in his seat. "Which gives her a reason to being there at the house. Let's check the phone records of the Carlos' Although we don't have much on the daughter yet, we might be able to find something on the record that may or may not tell us if she made contact with them beforehand." Turning around in his seat, he picked up the phone. "What about Andrea's neighbors?"
Both Colby and David exchanged a glance before David pulled out his black notepad and flipped halfway through before getting to the correct page. "There was one neighbor that came forward, said she didn't watch the news or read the newspaper. Mainly she said she minds her own business. But. She did mention later that she followed behind a white van that she saw leaving the residence of Andrea Lucas' house on Monday. We also showed her a picture of the van we found earlier today and she confirmed that it was the same one that we saw earlier today. She couldn't confirm that it was Anthony that was actually driving the van though."
Colby nodded in agreement. "She did however follow him for a few minutes down the highway on her way to the grocery store about fifteen minutes away, which can possibly give us a partial route that he was on before taking off."
"And this also leaves us to find out what part Rex and his brother had in this twisted crime. Whether we find out that they were both there at the time of the murder, or just there to help settle the score. I guess we'll be finding that out soon."