Chapter 19

US DOJ METROPOLITAN DETENTION CENTER, 30 DAYS AFTER THE ARREST

"David?"

"What?" Seeing the uncertain, even troubled expression on his boss's face, David softened his voice. "You know I'm here for you, right?"

"Do I strike you as a rough cop? I mean – I know I've crossed some lines, but in general?"

David sighed. "You've had some very dark days, and I do worry about what you'll do sometimes when things get too personal."

Don planted his face in his hands, and David studied the ugly bruising around his wrists, the taped-together wound on his head, the crushed posture. This was as close as Don Eppes ever got to a heart-to-heart with a colleague, and David wished he could reach out to him more effectively.

"I've seen you with crime victims, Don. It's hard for me to imagine anyone being gentler, physically or emotionally."

"Yeah, well, not a lot of agents beat up crime victims," said Don dryly. "In general, that's not a problem we have to deal with."

"Okay. Look – if we're talking on a purely physical level, I'd say anyone who watched you work for even a week would know you don't get off on hurting people."

David looked down at his hands, twiddling his thumbs. "Your manner might be a different matter. I don't think you always realize the impact the pissed-off attitude has on people who aren't used to it."

"Aren't used to it? What, you mean like you guys are?"

"Yes," admitted David. "We love you, Don, but you're not known for your warm and fuzzy manner. I sometimes think the only people you do care about actually expressing empathy with are the victims."

Don sighed. "Thanks for the honesty."

David wanted to reach out and hug him. This was a side of Don he rarely saw, the one that made him believe Charlie and Don actually were brothers.

"How many years dealing with the worst, and I feel like I'm just an over-educated, over-trained ten-year-old freaking out because he just figured out life wasn't fair."

David smiled. "Well, that ten-year-old grew up to spend his life trying to change that, it's hardly surprising it's still a thing with you."

"Yeah. I guess." Don rubbed his forehead.

"Hey. Why do you think we all put our lives on hold without hesitation when you were arrested? You're a good man. You're a loyal man, and a deeply caring one. The fact that we're having this conversation just proves that."

BULL PEN, FBI OFFICE, 32 DAYS AFTER THE ARREST

Vic Nychev strolled into the bull pen a little too casually. "I just talked to my boss. This is now an active investigation into the potential framing of an FBI agent." He grinned at the exhausted group of agents. "That means you boys have free rein to run the case on company time."

"Wow," said David. "Vic, thank you."

Nychev winced. "Don't thank me until we figure out whether I'm the guy who sent your boss to jail on a frame-up, okay? Rest of the rules haven't changed, interviews get cleared through my department, no contact with evidence without express permission –"

"Yeah, we get it," said Colby. "No falsifying evidence to clear the guy sent to jail by falsifying evidence."

Nychev eyed Colby with curiosity. "You guys have never doubted that, have you. What do I gotta do to get a team to be this loyal to me?"

"Be this loyal to them."

WAR ROOM, FBI OFFICE

Charlie burst into the war room with a flash drive clutched triumphantly in an upraised hand. Liz raised her eyebrows. "All hail the – memory stick?"

"From the NSA," said Charlie. "They completed their analysis, and this contains a report detailing exactly how they determined that the recording is a fabricated composite made on a M2K-300 sound station. Fully documented, and completely admissible in court."

There was a moment of silence and ecstatic glances. David grinned. "If it wouldn't make me sound like a complete idiot, I'd whoop out loud right now."

Colby grinned back. "You already sound like a complete idiot."

"Well, stop flattering me and get to work. There can't be many of these things out there, so let's tell Nychev we need to subpoena the manufacturers records of who purchased these units in the LA area."

Liz retrieved a folder and handed it to Charlie. "This is the employee list for Talbott Studios."

Charlie opened it and started flipping through the pages. On the sixth one, his eyes stopped dead. "Lisa Savarkar." He looked up at David, troubled. "She was one of my students."

"Was she a friend of yours?" asked David.

Charlie shook his head. "But – I liked her." His disappointment was clear, and the agents remained silent until he continued. "She was a gifted student, with a passion for saber metrics. She never finished her degree. She was hired by Google after her first year at CalSci, and as far as I know she never re-entered the academic world."

"I'm sorry, Charlie," said David.

Charlie sighed. "I'm not. It's a lead."

"Okay. As soon as the warrant comes through and we get the data pointing to Talbott Studios as the owner of a M2K-300, we'll use Lisa Savarkar as a reason to focus our investigation on Talbott."

"That should circumvent Lobell's involvement pretty neatly," said Liz. "I'll start seeing what I can find on Savarkar's known associates."

"Good. We should probably focus on finding anything that ties her to Rob Girsh, because we still don't have any way to connect him to the case without Lobell's statement."

US DOJ METROPOLITAN DETENTION CENTER

"You know, I could get used to this whole having hope thing," said Don, grinning.

Charlie grinned back. Don still had an unnaturally subdued air about him, but something had changed. This wasn't the ghost of Don Eppes sitting opposite him - this was Don.

"Yes, because giving up is so Don Eppes."

Don shrugged. "Hey, you guys were taking so long, figured you were glad to have me out of the way. David's probably making a power grab for my job…."

"I did catch him rubbing his hands and cackling the other day," admitted Charlie.

Don smiled. It wasn't the courageous, hurt smile of the past month, but an expression of joy. "This – really is gonna work out okay. That was a hard thing to believe for a while."

Charlie nodded. "Long month."

"You know – the whole concept of faith always bugged me. You spend even a year in law enforcement working violent crimes, you realize that God just doesn't step in and stop people from being murdered and tortured and raped, so why trust in something that'll let you down?"

Charlie's breath caught at Don's sudden shift from joy to darkness. "Don – are these the things you think about in here?"

Don shrugged. "Sometimes. I always thought it was so strange – so naive when Colby said he knew we were coming for him out on that freighter. I mean – it was a close thing we even figured out where he was, and I was so pissed I was this close to not even going after him. Hell, I would have shot the guy if he'd made the wrong move earlier."

"But you did come. Don't lie and tell me you hesitated to send in the cavalry, because you didn't. You just needed one good reason to trust him."

Don nodded, a soft smile showing through his eyes. "Being in here – I guess in some weird way I do have faith. I could be convicted, easy. Happens to innocent people all the time – " he threw up his hands. "Why should I believe I'm any different?"

"Don – you said once that you thought – whatever God was, He was in how we were there for each other. I'm not ready to hand my beliefs over to God, but I do know you have a great many people there for you."

"You know, when Lobell was here, he was just – screaming - in such terror. I was in a pretty bad way myself, and listening to that – I couldn't deal. I put my hand on that constellation on the wall and I prayed with everything I had. Only thing I had left."

Don drew in a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. "I'm not one to look for miracles, but not long after that Anderson decided to let me back out to talk to him. Whatever bond I formed with the kid that night – it's probably going to be the reason I go free."