The day had gone on like usual; Charlie reviewed the new documents for Zeken until his eyes were dry.

  And the results were as usual; nothing. He found nothing that could lead them to where Zeken went after that cave.

  He leaned forward at his desk and unfrosted the glass walls of his office with the press of a button. He leaned back once again and looked over the giant ASA lobby that was a couple steps down below.

  It had a sunken center lined with doors on all sides but his office. Any ASA office door in Manhattan led to this very lobby. In the center of the sunken floor was a large round front desk and information center. Eyes trailed up from the lobby, the building hollowed out in the center and stretching up for multiple stories.

  He could never get enough of this view.

  Leaning back in his chair, eyes turned to look at Brenner's slightly smaller glass office just to his right. The chair at the desk sat empty, but his work bag was still on one of the seats. Charlie guessed that he was at the in-house training center and gym. That’s usually where he went at the end of the day.

  He rose from his desk just as Jenna walked into his office. Grabbing his gym bag off the floor, Charlie didn’t want to start a conversation with her. He knew where it was going to go.

  “Your session is scheduled on your calendar in a couple of minutes. I figured I’d walk you to her office,” Jenna smiled at Charlie. He knew she was really there just to make sure he actually went to his therapy appointment for once.

  Charlie tried to remain professional and held back a groan of displeasure.

  “I can walk by myself.”

  “With your gym bag?” She countered.

  “Yes,” Charlie narrowed his eyes, “I want to make sure I’m in comfortable clothes for my session with the therapist.”

  “We both know you’re not going to her office.” Jenna was having none of it anymore.

  Charlie stood up straighter. “I just don’t see why I have to go. I feel no different than I did before I saw that wall. Besides, I still have my required gym hours to get to and that is way more important.”

  To say Charlie didn’t believe in therapy would be wrong. He thought it was fine for other people to go. The issue was that he didn’t think he had to go because he was smarter than most people. He also believed that it was time taken away from figuring out cases. Charlie fully believed he could process everything just fine on his own.

  Jenna, on the other hand, knew that wasn’t the truth.

  “Might I remind you that skipping these could put you on leave,” Jenna spoke sternly, tired of him dodging this and Charlie knew that. He would’ve felt bad, if he didn’t think she was wrong.

  With wide strides, he made his way to his office door where she was standing. He put his bag down, gently took the woman’s shoulders, turned her to the side, picked his bag back up, and stepped out.

  “Charles!” She called after him, watching him walk down the hallway from behind the office glass.

  It didn’t take more than a couple of feet to run into Brenner. Charlie stopped. “I was just coming to the gym, you finish?”

  Brenner shook his head. “I’ll be there shortly. I’m just coming back from therapy.”

  Charlie closed his eyes to stop them from rolling. He just could not escape this therapy thing. “Right, hope it went well.”

  “Oh, it usually does. I’m just grabbing my water bottle and phone,” Brenner had the same idea as Charlie to change before therapy, only Brenner actually went to his appointment.

  “See you there,” Charlie nodded his head and went on his way to the gym’s locker room.

  Now changed, he entered the facility and went to complete one round of combat simulation. A round of combat was usually how Charlie started off his gym sessions, it got his heart pumping just the right amount.

  The training center was standard, two floors that overlooked the city with floor to ceiling windows. There were locker rooms, machines, a yoga studio, and the simulator that sat over by the entrance.

  He filtered through the options of the empty control room before he came across one that looked new; he had done them all at least a dozen times until he perfected each creature's fighting styles. So, a new one always stood out to him right away.

  When he clicked into it, he discovered that it was a Hellhound fight simulation that had been added in since he was last here. Maybe this was Jenna’s way of helping him ‘process’ whatever she wanted him to process, but he didn’t care. He knew that a hellhound was a new threat to the team; he didn’t mind practicing.

  He clicked it and grabbed the fake gun and blade off the wall.

  Hitting the button on the wall, the door’s pressure released and slid open for him. Charlie stepped inside and allowed the door to close behind him. The room went from four walls of gray to coming alive.

  A cave was set out before him and his clothes had been changed to his uniform once the simulation had begun. There was no desk with triggers or any bloody walls, it was just him and the hellhound.

  Only this time, he kept failing.

  After each failed attempt, he would rush out to the central command center and press the option again and again to restart it.

  No matter what he did, he couldn’t outsmart the hound.

  On the last go of it, he ended up on his back in the center of the room. The cave, and hellhound that was on top of him, materialized away, leaving him alone in the once again gray room.

  Huffing and puffing from all the movement, he rolled to his side and got up.

  Now dripping in sweat, he exited the simulator and quite angrily put the gun back on the wall. Exiting the area, he chose the treadmill instead of weights in an effort to calm himself down.

  The place was big enough that he didn’t see Brenner for about a half hour into his run. He pressed the stop button as Brenner came down the stairs and allowed the belt to move him backwards before he hopped off. They both removed their headphones.

  “You were doing arms?” Charlie spoke up.

  “Upper body,” Brenner nodded, “cardio?”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Charlie replied.

  “You certainly weren’t doing mind day.”

  “Stop,” Charlie scolded his best friend. “I’m fine, it’s not like I haven’t seen worse. It was just a little blood on the wall.”

  Brenner looked at him with a scrunched up and confused face. “Yes but this time it was your own name.”

  “I said, I’m fine.” Charlie started to get a little angry.

  Brenner turned and picked up two of the dumbbells, lessening the tension in his voice before he continued to speak.

  “Hey, I’m just worried about you, man. That’s all.”

  “Thanks, but no need.” Charlie rolled his neck around once, it was stiff from looking at the evidence all day.

  “You seeing Winnie again tonight?” Brenner moved the conversation along as he sat down on a weight bench.

  Charlie shook his head, watching as Brenner leaned back for his chest press.

  “Unfortunately, she wants me to drop in on Rodgers. Make sure he’s alright.”

  “Is he ever alright?” Brenner huffed through his workout.

  Charlie shook his head. No, his brother usually wasn’t alright.

  “Good luck with that,” Brenner said through his laughter.

  “Thanks,” Charlie left the gym after that and showered off, changing into his work clothes once again. It’s what made him the most comfortable.

  By the time he crossed the lobby, it was empty except for the night crew. He said goodnight to a couple of people but ultimately kept his head down and made his way to his car. He got in and started her up, plugging in Henderson’s Bar and Grill because he couldn’t remember how to get there. He didn’t care much about getting there so it wasn’t something he was willing to commit to memory.

  The drive was only a couple of blocks and he was able to park relatively fast. The one time he wanted parking to take forever, it didn’t. He sat in his car for a solid ten minutes, debating on if he actually wanted to check in on his brother. He could very well just tell Winnie he did without going inside.

  Eventually, he locked the car and walked up to the restaurant door, the bell ringing as he entered.

  Rodgers was currently talking to the one out of two tables he had, so Charlie just took a seat at the bar. He shifted from left to right, not being able to get comfortable where he sat.

  Ending his conversation with a fake laugh, Rodgers turned and saw Charlie for the first time. He froze in his spot, looking at his brother who was lost in his phone judging by the bar mirror reflection. In a rush and a pounding in his chest, Rodgers walked up, rounding the corner of the bar to him.

  “What are you doing here?” He was out of breath from the nerves rising up in his chest.

  “Hello to you too,” Charlie clicked off his phone after he spoke. He looked up and gave his brother the flattest smile, it was all he could muster for this errand.

  “Hello,” Rodgers rolled his eyes, his nerves calming as his brother’s attitude brought him back down, “now what do you want? I’m working.”

  Charlie didn’t speak, just blinked slowly at him. He was only required to come in and make sure he was alive, afterall.

  “Is Winnie alright?” Rodgers decided to talk again, making sure everything was okay with the only sibling he actually cared for.

  “Winnie’s fine,” Charlie nodded, “Aren’t you going to do your very important job and ask me what I would like to order?”

  Rodgers felt anger bubble up in his chest but he tried to suppress it. He hated that his brother tried to rub his success in his face at any moment. Even if Charlie hadn’t meant it that way, he still felt it. After all that, Rodgers still decided to hold his tongue for the very reason that this guy was going to be in jail tomorrow. He figured he should be nice to him while he still could.

  That didn’t stop his tone from coming out all wrong, though.

  “What do you want to order?” He spoke through his teeth.

  “Water.”

  Without taking his eyes off Charlie, Rodgers grabbed a glass and slammed it on the counter. With his other hand he grabbed the hose to spray in seltzer water. He might be going to jail tomorrow, but Charlie still didn’t deserve still water.

  Charlie stared at him silently. Once the cup was full, he spoke.

  “Slide it to me.”

  Rodgers moved the cup back towards himself, away from Charlie, and walked away without a word.

  Charlie watched him go with a smile as he grabbed his water, having to lean all the way forward to reach it. He took a sip and clicked on his phone to text Winnie that their brother seemed just fine.

  At least, as fine as he usually was.

  After running table two their food, Rodgers went back to his spot behind the bar to clean while he went. He didn’t dare start speaking to Charlie again. If he wanted to talk, Charlie would have to speak first.

  So, they ended up coexisting in silence for a while.

  Charlie watched him closely while he did his job. With Rodgers being in his short sleeve black shirt for work, Charlie could get a good look at the tattoo sleeves he had gotten during his time away. They were symbols, for the most part, but Charlie couldn’t recognize them from anything.

  A pang of guilt struck over him. He didn’t quite know where it came from, probably Winnie, but he decided to extend an olive branch. “Listen, I’m sorry I didn’t,” He paused, like the words didn’t want to come out of his mouth, “answer your phone call. You could’ve needed my help and I should’ve answered.”

  Rodgers didn’t look up at him. He stayed focused on his rag and the bar top. “Came all the way here to say that?”

  Charlie shook his head.

  “She’s just worried about you again. She wanted to make sure you were alright when you didn’t show up yesterday.”

  Rodgers gave a long sigh, “I meant to come, I just got tied up at work. I told her that.”

  “Right,” Charlie bobbed his head awkwardly. The conversation died again.

  The first table got up and left after paying. Rodgers, with that signature fake smile, accompanied them to the door. The bartender rounded the corner as he went up to the register for the next table that was ready to leave.

  “Another water?” Rodgers asked as printed the check for table two.

  Taken back, Charlie questioned. “Me?”

  Rodgers shook his head and rolled those brown eyes of his as he slid the check into the sleeve. “No, the person next to you.”

  “Yes, more would be nice.” Charlie answered after having a look around to ensure there wasn’t anyone next to him.

  Rodgers sucked in a breath and walked over, grabbing the hose on the way before he shot the seltzer into the same old glass. He turned, grabbed the sleeve he had before, and went to get table two out of there.

  It was as the table was pulling out their cards that he thought of something. A plan, maybe, to clear his conscience completely. If he gave Charlie an alibi, he couldn’t be framed. They would unravel it that way and find the signature with a chance for no secrets needing to come out. He returned to close out the table just as Charlie was getting up out of his chair to leave.

  “Wait,“ Rodgers quickly spoke to his brother. “Just, wait here. Please.”

  Rodgers ran back and gave the completed check to his final table before disappearing behind the kitchen doors. Charlie waited for a while, smiling awkwardly at the couple that was leaving the bar as he stood there by his bar chair.

  When Rodgers came back out, he went right over to the other side of the bar from Charlie.

  “Come out with me.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Charlie looked disgusted, “It’s a Thursday.”

  “Thirsty Thursday is a thing,” Rodgers stared at his brother with pleading eyes.

  “Why?” Charlie was confused and did not like the sound of ‘thirsty thursday’.

  He shifted, putting his hands together in a begging stance. “Charlie, I really need ya to do this one night for me.”

  “If I say no?”

  “I’ll jump off the Brooklyn.”

  “Why would you say that?” Charlie looked surprised.

  “So you’re coming?”

  Charlie thought for a long hard moment. On one hand, he had work tomorrow. On the other, Rodgers had never invited him anywhere. Most of their interactions were silent as Charlie was forced to visit him at Henderson’s upon Winnie’s request.

  “Uh,” He shifted, “Fine. Sure, but don’t you have to clean up?”

  Rodgers rushed around the bar, heading to the kitchen doors,

  “Henderson is letting me out of it because I had to stay late yesterday. Wait here.”

  Once Rodgers disappeared, Charlie was left alone once again in the bar area. He looked around at the place. He felt filthy just being in there.

  Upon his return, Rodgers was sporting his usual ratty red hoodie and worn down jean jacket. He went to the door quickly.

  “C’mon.” He led his brother to the same bar as the night before. Only this time, it had a line. Witches, wizards, nezulus, and Rodgers swore he even saw a pixie at one point. This was one of the only bars willing to do droplet sized drinks, afterall.

  They waited out in the crisp cool air, the line barely moving. As much as Rodgers wanted a drink in his hand already, he almost didn’t mind the line because it kept Charlie out later. There was no exact timeframe that he gathered, but he was sure if he got him to stay out until at least one, snap a picture with him around that time, that could be enough.

  With IDs checked with bioscanners, they were finally allowed into the bar. Given that there were so many different species, the bioscanners helped the bouncers confirm if they were old enough in their regulation to drink.

  The place was much different from the night before, music blasting throughout the place and people packed on the dance floor.

  “You weren’t kidding about this thirsty Thursday thing?” Charlie yelled over the music.

  “No! It’s real.” Rodgers yelled in return.

  “Weird,” Charlie followed up.

  “You really need to get out more,” Rodgers teased.

  The not-even-closely-identical twins shoved their way to the bar and each ordered their own drink. It was Charlie’s card that was placed down on the tab and Rodgers' mouth almost drooled at the thought of a nearly unlimited tab for the night. He told himself that no matter how tempting it was, he had to stay focused. He thought it would be perfect to nurse one drink for the night, stay sober, and snap that picture before parting ways. It was just the challenge of getting Charlie to loosen up and stay out that late on a work night.

  Charlie took a sip of his drink, then another, and another. He could not believe he was in a club with Rodgers. He also couldn’t believe he was in the Bronx for personal reasons and not work.

  “Loosen up,” Rodgers was placing his already empty cup on the bar, “You look like a fed.”

  “I am, “

  Rodgers waved his hand in front of Charlie's face, “You can be something outside your job, you know.”

  He picked up a new drink, a second drink, and motioned his head to the dance floor.

  This caused Charlie to reel his head back in concern. “Oh, no. No, I couldn’t.”

  “C’mon,” Rodgers started to walk backwards into the crowd, “come dance with someone. Or, actually, better yet, go home with someone! Stay the night.”

  Charlie remained planted at the bar. “No, it’s a work night.”

  As Charlie began to watch his brother attempt the worst dance moves possible, he took another sip. This was a mistake, he should’ve told him no and just went home.

  He remained parked where he was at the bar, having lost Rodgers to the sea of people for more than an hour at this point. He was sure his brother was making bad decisions with someone out there, and he didn’t want to wander out and stumble upon that just to say goodbye.

  He was determined to head home at a reasonable hour, with or without saying goodbye to Rodgers, so he flagged the bartender down for his check and handed his card over to confirm the tab. It was then that Rodgers reappeared, like he could sense his free flowing booze was over.

  “Where did you get that from?” Charlie remarked upon seeing a drink in his hand that he didn’t notice Rodgers' order.

  “Some guy,” Rodgers looked back and tried to spot said guy, but couldn’t.

  “Ah, I’m sure he’s got a new one.”

  It dawned on Charlie then that this drink was probably not offered freely to his brother. “Wait, you stole that from him or did he get that for you?”

  “Stole it.” Rodgers spoke proudly before he downed the rest in fear that Charlie would try to take it.

  The bartender came up to Charlie and placed down the check for his signature. In the span of the hour, Charlie had two reasonable drinks and Rodgers had three. Not including the one he stole. Charlie quickly signed it and left a hefty tip, a number Rodgers never saw at the bar he worked at.

  “Why’d you close it?” The ex-prince looked confused.

  “Because I’m going home.”

  “What? No! We only just got here.”

  Charlie shook his head, having none of his brother's antics.

  “It’s a work night, I said that. Plus, you completely left me. Haven’t seen you since we got here.” The check was slid back across the bar and Charlie put his credit card back in his wallet.

  Rodgers stood in front of him when he moved to leave but it wasn’t hard for Charlie to get around him. He waded through the crowd, heading towards the exit with Rodgers right behind.

  Back out into the fresh air, Rodgers ran up behind his brother. “Charlie! Wait—”

  Charlie turned on his heels back to his brother at his call. “Listen, dude, I don’t know why you invited me out here, but I just want to go home.”

  “You have to come back inside with me.” Rodgers' drunk mind at least knew he had to try to stick to the original plan.

  “No, I don’t have to come back inside. I’m going home, Rodgers.” Charlie shook his head slowly.

  Rodgers took a couple of desperate steps towards Charlie, “c’mon, are you really that mad at me for dancing?”

  ”That you left me after taking me all the way out here? Yeah, I think I have that right.”

  “Dude, listen—“

  “No!” Charlie put his foot down, “Whatever weird shit you’re trying to pull tonight is over. It’s done, I’m going home. I’m not some drunk like you, okay? I don’t want to drink on a Thursday. If you don’t have money for this, then find some other way to pay besides forcing me to come along.”

  Feelings were definitely hurt with the amount of alcohol in Rodgers system. Was that all he thought of him, then? That he just invited him out to get free drinks? It was a solid plan, but he never wanted to be around Charlie enough to ever actually consider it for future use.

  “I didn’t,” He got caught up in what to say. “That’s not why I invited you.”

  “Then why?”

  Rodgers stayed silent. He couldn’t answer. He didn’t want to answer.

  Charlie shook his head letting out a sigh, “stop lying to me. Stop lying to her, too. Either show up and communicate or don’t because I don’t want to check on you ever again.”

  “Charlie—“ Rodgers protested.

  Charlie waved his hand and turned, walking away. “Stay out of my life, Rodgers! Do us all a favor and go missing again.”

  Rodgers let him go, he just stood there and watched his twin walk away. Slowly, he lifted up his phone and snapped a photo. It wasn’t even midnight, he failed. Unable to process what exactly Charlie had just said to him, Rodgers sauntered back inside the club to drink away the guilt.

  It didn’t take Charlie long to get home. He was sobered up enough by the time he reached Henderson’s to take his car a couple blocks to his building’s parking garage. Taking the private elevator up to his two floored penthouse, he thought about what he had said to Rodgers. He replayed it over and over in his head.

  Stay out of my life, Rodgers! Do us all a favor and go missing again.

  He supposed it was a little harsh. Charlie figured he’d just send an apology text tomorrow so that Winnie wouldn’t hear about it. That is, if Rodgers wasn’t too faded off other people's drinks and actually remembered what he said to him.

  The elevator dinged and he stepped out. After kicking off his shoes, he walked past the sitting area out to where the open concept kitchen and living room was, the walls lined with floor to ceiling two-story windows much like the training area. His eyes followed up the grand staircase to the open hallway above, the water feature at the bottom of said staircase echoing along the cold and empty walls.

  When a racket sounded, his head snapped over to the room he kept under heavy lock. In the darkness, he crept over to the ASA gear room , clenching his hands into fists.

  The door ended up being slightly ajar, which caused concern in Charlie. It could only be opened with his thumb print, so either he had forgotten to close it or someone found a way to break the ASA tech it was made out of. The rustling sounded again and Charlie opened the door slowly, ready to fight.

  It was the sound of a meow that made him relax.

  His long haired gray cat, Lavender, walked up to him. Her silky smooth side brushed against his legs before Charlie scooped her up. “Must’ve just forgotten to close it up this morning.”

  He held the large cat like a baby as he exited the room and shut the door behind him firmly. While talking to his beloved cat, he went up the stairs.

  “You’re not hurt, are you? No,” He looked her over in his arms, “I don’t think you are.”

  She plopped on the bed with a thud before Charlie made his way to the bathroom. He got ready for bed fast, taking a shower to rinse off once again. He wanted to scrub the grime off of his body after being in the club.

  Once he got under the covers, Lavender joined him silently at his side and they quickly drifted off to sleep together.

  It had felt like he had only been asleep for a minute before his phone started to ring him back to the real world again. He squinted at the little bit of sunlight coming through his curtains before reaching for his phone. Seeing Brenner’s name, he picked up the phone and answered.

  “Hello?” His voice was raspy with sleep. His only thought was that this call better not be about Rodgers.

  “Charlie,” Brenner answered, “You’re going to want to come into the office as soon as you can.”

  Charlie sat up straight in his bed. He was almost excited at the thought of urgent news.

  “Zeken?”

  “I, we aren’t sure,” Brenner had a hard time getting out what he had to say, “Charlie, whoever it is, they hit us. They hit us bad.”

  Charlie didn’t say a word, but his body language shifted. This was not good news on the Zeken case like he had hoped. He let his friend attempt to finish.

  “Abe,” Brenner finally admitted, “whoever it was, they killed Abe.”

  The air hung heavy between them. Charlie didn’t know what to say to that. Abe had taught them almost everything that the academy hadn’t. He took them in and mentored them when he was still active in the field. He brought them onto this head team with full confidence and trusted them enough to lead it.

  “He came for a meeting,” Charlie finally said, “He texted me to get dinner but I declined because of my dinner with Winnie.”

  “Better excuse than mine, I was just tired from the attack,” Brenner tagged on and Charlie could feel the guilt in his voice.

  “I’m on my way, I’ll be there as fast as I can. For now, just try to gather everything that’s known. Have you been to the site?”

  “No,” Brenner explained, “they won’t approve my request to have our team show.”

  Charlie didn’t like the sound of that. “Gather what you can, we are the top team, there is no way they wouldn’t give this case to us.”

  Charlie hung up and bolted out of bed, causing Lavender to shift in her sleep. He was out the door in nearly 10 minutes, buttoning his shirt as he got in the elevator. His car was unlocked the second the elevator door opened and he was on the street 15 minutes after Brenner’s phone call with him had ended.

  Thirty minutes had now passed since the phone call and Charlie was walking through the doors of the ASA. Brenner was right there to greet him.

  “What have you found out?” Charlie wasted no time in greeting his friend.

  “Justin has some images from the crime scene already dragged from the cloud to his screen. He’s reviewing and writing notes as we speak.”

  “Cause of death?”

  Brenner slowed his pace before he stopped completely. Charlie stopped a couple steps ahead of him and looked back. Brenner looked down like he was trying to control his emotions before looking back up to Charlie.

  “One single gunshot wound to the back of the skull. It was fast. A bullet casing was found at the scene of his hotel.”

  “Shouldn’t be that hard to crack,” Charlie put his hand to Brenner’s shoulder, “We’ll get whoever did this. It’s a long shot that it’s Zeken, so once they’re able to place what gun, we’ll get them.”

  Brenner nodded before they continued to walk together into the large boardroom. The rest of the team was waiting inside already and Charlie noted that he was the last one notified but he didn’t mind, he was close with Abe. He understood Brenner wanting to tell him, himself.

  Justin looked up upon their entrance and went to speak before looking back to his computer, confused.

  Charlie caught his gaze. “You okay?”

  “It’s gone.” Justin began tapping on his keyboard rapidly, nearly panicking.

  Jenna stood up as the TV screen went black, “hey-”

  It was then that a man caught Brenner’s eye just beyond the glass walls of their room. Brenner nudged Charlie and Charlie looked up from Justin.

  “Internal affairs,” Brenner mumbled mostly to himself as he craned his neck.

  “The hell is Ralph doing here?” Charlie moved to the other side of Brenner, moving to follow the man around on their side of the glass on his way into their boardroom. They met face to face in the door frame, Charlie standing like a brick wall at the entrance.

  “Good morning,” Ralph spoke before Charlie could. He forced his way into the room with a smile, having to press against Charlie who refused to move. “I will be taking whatever you have on my case and locking it down. This is turning over to my department.”

  Charlie and Ralph never really got along all that well. He didn’t like when they stole cases Charlie was invested in.

  “With all due respect, we were all very close with Abe. We would like to help in any way we can,” Charlie spoke through his teeth and with no amount of respect in his tone.

  Ralph took a deep breath and looked over to Charlie. He took a step to be closer to him and spoke slowly. “I suggest you go back to your other cases, Agent Fisher.”

  “Prince Charlie,” Jenna corrected, even though she knew Charlie didn’t like that title. In this case, she wanted to remind Ralph who he was talking to.

  “Prince Charlie,” Ralph pressed his lips into a stressed line, “This is my case. I suggest you, and your little rag-tag bunch of team members that should have never made it this far, back off.”

  Before they could even protest, he walked past Charlie again and was gone.

  Charlie looked at his team as they looked back at him. They were waiting for an answer. “I want to look into it as much as all of you do, trust me.”

  Chelsea crossed her arms. “You’re about to add a ‘but’ to that, aren’t you?”

  She was right. Charlie knew there was no winning this fight against internal affairs.

  “Let’s get back to the Zeken case.” A collective disappointment filled the room. He tried to raise their spirits, “Who knows, maybe they’re linked.”

  ”None of the tactics are the same,” Justin pressed. “Doubt they’re linked.”

  Charlie took in a breath. “We need to let them handle it.”

  “He was our friend, Charlie,” Chelsea said.

  “I know but maybe that’s why it went to another team,” He didn’t want them off their game when such a big hit was taken to the ASA this morning. This could leave them vulnerable to Zeken.

  “We are too close to Abe to think straight, you have to admit that much.”

  The team remained silent. None of them wanted to admit that much. Not even Brenner tried to back him up.

  “C’mon,” Charlie said as the tv screen turned back on again, the data they had now gone. “Pull up what we took from the cave and let’s review it from the top.”

  Jenna looked to Justin and gave a nod of her head. He clicked a few buttons and eventually their images and pictures came to the screen in the room. Charlie sat down and Brenner was short to follow, neither one of them going to be able to concentrate on the task at hand.

  They made a little headway by noon. They had given out action items to scan the area and Brenner was to look into the books they found in the desk. There was something about Frankenstein that made Charlie feel as if there was more to those books. It was just a matter of determining which books mattered. Zeken was known for leaving breadcrumbs almost like he was too cocky to get caught, like he wanted them to be right on his tail the entire time. It was what Jenna had pointed out the first time they had caught him. If it wasn’t for her reading his behavior so well, they probably wouldn’t have ever caught up to him.

  When Brenner had suggested they break for lunch, no one protested. Charlie stood and rubbed his hands on his pants. The sweat had built up on them from the nerves of what happened to Abe. He kept thinking about that blood wall, maybe this was connected and they just couldn’t see how.

  As they all began to gather their things, Chelsea discussing where Jenna wanted to order out from, Ralph made his entrance back into the room.

  Charlie nudged Brenner, who got up right away.

  “Thought you didn’t want our help?” Charlie said.

  “I don’t,” Ralph said with a smile on his face. “Just stopping by before wrapping up the case.”

  Justin sat forward at that. “Is it solved?”

  There was something about Ralph that Charlie didn’t like, more than usual.

  “It has,” He replied before holding out the case file towards Brenner and Charlie. When Charlie went to grab it, Ralph tsked and yanked it away.

  “Not you,” He cooed, like he was ready to sing and dance around the room.

  Brenner grabbed the document and opened it up. The arrest warrant was front and center, “Made to me for the arrest.” Brenner had a bad feeling as he started to read aloud, “You are commanded to serve the Herein Warrant of Arrest to seize and take into custody the accused person named below…”

  But he had stopped there, as if he was reading it over a dozen times to make sure he was reading it correctly. Brenner’s eyes looked up to match the bloodthirsty gaze of Ralph.

  “Read it.” Ralph edged him along.

  Brenner swallowed and looked to his friend. A moment of silence hung in the room before Brenner said the name aloud.

  “Prince Charles Brenton Fisher.”

  Charlie’s face barely changed but his mind was soaring, ears ringing. He didn’t know how this could be possible. He was at that stupid club and then he was in bed all night. Plus, there was no motive he could have.

  Then, for a brief moment, Rodgers’ voice rang in his head.

  Charlie, I really need ya to do this one night for me.

  “This is an outrage! Over what cause?” Jenna sprung into action as Charlie stared at Brenner and Brenner stared back.

  Ralph stood there like he was almost waiting for that very question. “The murder weapon is none other than Charlie’s old ASA handgun.”

  Charlie put up his hand to Jenna, as if asking her to say no more. He looked at each of them and whispered, “it’s okay, it’s going to be okay.”

  It was kind and reassuring, he didn’t want a scene. He held out his wrists to Brenner and nodded, “It’s going to be okay.”

  “I don’t have my handcuffs, I can’t do it,” Brenner protested in his own way but Ralph quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair.

  Brenner looked at Ralph as he took the cuffs gently into his hands.

  “Came prepared,” Brenner muttered under his breath. He refused to look at Charlie as he secured the cuffs on his wrist and took deep breaths to keep his head level.

  “Find Rodgers,” Charlie kept his voice as low as he could and gave Brenner a smile. A smile that Brenner didn’t look up to see, but he did nod in acknowledgement before he took off his coat and draped it over Charlie’s hands.

  “Thank you.” Charlie whispered.

  The rest of the team that was still sitting, stood out of respect. Charlie looked at them individually and tried to hold his head up high. He said nothing to them, he didn’t know what there was to even say. He only hoped that they believed his innocence without him even needing to plead for it.

  They did.

  “We’ll find a way,” Justin spoke to Charlie as Brenner began to lead him out.

  “I know,” was the last thing Charlie said to his team.

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