3 dead women
2 cities
2 great FBI teams
1 investigation



Don Eppes didn't even make it to the office before he had to get to work. In fact, he didn't even make it out of bed. He awoke to the sound of his cell phone. Without opening his eyes, he reached for it on his bed stand. He missed and knocked his clock onto the floor, and he also manged to hit the lamp a time or two before he actually got his hands on the cell phone. He pulled it over and opened it and his eye at the same time. He winced a bit at the amount of light coming into his room. When he finally got his phone to his ear, he groaned out his name. "Eppes."

Upon hearing the information from the other ide of the phone, he sat up and winced again at the light. He looked to his bedstand for the clock. It wasn't there. "What time is it?" He waited for the answer. "My God! The sun must have been up for what, ten minutes?" He couldn't believe that he had to get to work again already after the long night he had just finished about four hours earlier. He really wanted to get back to sleep. "Allright, I'll be right there."

He got up and thought to himself, "Great! Little sleep and probably no breakfast either." After he got dressed, he went to his fridge and looked in quickly. "Nope. No breakfast. I need a woman to make me some breakfast on days like today."

____________________________________________

Colby Granger and David Sinclair were going about their investigation on the beach. Megan Reeves was a little ways away talking on her cell phone probably with one of the local agenies that was originally involved with the crime scene. At least that was Don's best guess. He parked the car amongst those of all the others and then headed straight for Megan on foot. Megan saw him coming and pulled her phone from the ear for just a moment. "Colby and David will bring you up to speed. I'll be with you in a bit." Don just nodded and kept on toward his two excellent agents.

As he approached, he saw that they were huddled over a woman who was young and good looking, but obviously dead. "Hey guys. What have we got?"

Colby and David both stood up and spoke with him. Colby started. "We've got a young woman who appears to have been strangled and then left. Judging from the marks in the sand, we'd defintely say she was moved."

David pointed to a purse sitting right next to her. "Whoever did this didn't care that we know about her. They left the purse here as well." As David continued, he handed an evidence bag to Don with a driver's license in it. "We found this in there. There's also other things that a thief might have taken such as an expensive watch and about $200 in cash, not to mention a credit card as well."

"Definetley looks like death was the main objective." noted Colby.

Don looked closely at the driver's license. "Wanda Owens. Born in January of 1985. Ok, so she's about twenty years old. But look at this. Her home address is in Virginia. What's she doing out here in L.A.?"

"It's spring break, Don." commented Colby.

"Yeah, but if you live in Virginia, why not go to Virginia Beach. I mean, chances are good that it's in driving distance."

"Well," said David, "maybe she goes to a college or university out here."

Megan walked up right as he finished. "Nope. I just got off the phone with the office. They just finished the back ground check. She has actually been attending a university in Washington D.C. Not here in L.A."

"Washington D.C.?"

"Yep."

Don said, "Allright then, my question remains. What was she doing out here in L.A.?"

"Well, I think our answers will be found in Washington. You see, this isn't the first woman found on the beach this morning. The locals have told me that two other women were found, one about a mile down the beach that way, and the other about two miles in the same direction. They both were attending the same university as Wanda."

"Really?" asked David rhetorically.

"Yeah, but there are clues and bodies and crime scenes here. Besides that, whoever dumped the bodies is still likely to be here in California, not D.C." said Don. "Let's find out as much as we can from the people around here. Someome must have seen something, right? Megan, contact the Washington bureau and have them investigate on their end."

__________________________________________

Sue Thomas walked in to the bull pen bright and early ready for another day of fighting crime in Washington D.C., her hearing ear dog, Levi, right by her side. It was common for her to be one of the first in between eight and nine in the morning. She saw that Jack Hudson, the fearless leader of their FBI team was already there talking with their current supervisor, Demetrius Gans. She didn't want to evesdrop, so she didn't look at them for too long. However, her curiosity was peeked because she had noted the words, "L.A. beach" come out of D's mouth. She went straight to her desk and began to settle in and work on their current cases. She knew that there was a surveillance tape that she was going to have to review at some point today, but she had to do a few things first.

As she busied herself about her desk, others began to arrive as well. As was usual, when Lucy came in, she came over to Sue to chat a little bit. "Morning Sue. You left early."

"I had a few things that I had to do before I review that surveillance tape from the chemical plant. Who knows what kind of important information I might find on there. I need to get this stuff done before we rush out to save the world...that is if we need to."

"I know what you mean. Hey, you'd never guess who called right before I left."

"Really? Who?"

"It was your mom. She wanted to talk to you."

"Did she say why?"

"No. I told her that she had missed you and that you would call her back after work. She sounded fine with that."

Sue nodded her head, and then she felt Levi's paw on her lap. She looked down in time to see Levi look over at Jack. He was getting everyone's attention.

"Ok! We have a new case that we need to add to our work load. It will not be our primary case, but it does need some immediate attention. The bureau office in L.A. needs our help here. You see, someone killed and dumped some teenagers onto some beaches out there. The reason they need us is because they were all out there celebrating spring break, but they all attend the same university here in D.C. They recognize that we need to do some things here while they still investigate there."

C.H. I am so excited, in case you didn't notice. Sue Thomas and NUMBERS crossover. I've been waiting for someone to do this. I love NUMBERS. It will be great having the two greatest FBI teams working together. I'm wondering if you will be able to get Charlie involved. That's got to be pretty tough, but he's so cool, in such a funny way. Looking forward to more.

This looks like it's going to be quite a ride - I can't wait!!!

Joy

I've only seen a few episodes of that show, but I think it's a great crossover. Can't wait to read more.

kav

I've never seen NUMBERS, but I'm excited for the cross-over story. Great start!

Gasp! Cindy01, Kav...you are both missing out on a really great show! BTW, for those of you who like Numb3rs, did you know that Numb3rs has it's own fan fiction site?

C.H. Slater

I love Numbers!! This will be such a cool crossover. I agree with Anne it would be nice to see you work Charlie in, but that would be a hard one to write. Can you imagine trying to explain it to Sue? I can hear and don't understand most of what he's talking about when he's explaining the math!! Of course I had a hard time just understanding Algebra let alone what he's trying to explain! Can't wait to see how the teams react when they meet.

great way to add numb3rs and stfbe together! both are fabulous shows!

Wonderful idea a crossover between STFBEye and Numbers! I love both shows! I think I've even understood what Charlie said a couple of times...
For those who are interested in reading another crossover between these two wonderful shows I suggest the stories of KatsMeow on this site. It's a saga that already counts two finished stories and one in progress.

Ornella

Great idea for a cross-over. I love both shows, and this is already looking very promising.

Thank you, Ornella! You're such a sweetie!

This looks like it'll be fun, C.H. I can't wait to read more!

And for those of you who are interested in those other crossovers, Undiscovered and Revealed are in the completed fan fiction area, while Realized is still a work in progress.

This is great, and although I have never seen an episode of numb3rs (sorry Kat) ducks I have to say that I am a fan of the crossovers (just look at Kats storys and you'll see what I mean! )

Which reminds me Kat - what are you posting here for missy we are awaiting your new post with abated breath in WIP!!!!

Sam

Jack continued. "I've given the names of these three teenagers to Tara. She has pulled up some pictures for us because they all had driver's licenses. Tara."

Everybody gathered closer to see the pictures as they popped up onto the screen. They saw three young women, all white with blond hair. Tara told them all about the young ladies.

"The first one on the top is the first one they found. Her name is Jane Austin. According to her driver's license, she lives in Silverton, Maryland. She is currently...or rather was...nineteen years old.

"The second one down was the second woman they found. Her name is Colleen Smith. According to her driver's license, she lives in Forestville, Virginia. She was also nineteen years old.

"The third one down is... obviously you know by now... the third one they found."

"Couldn't have guessed." said Myles, dripping with his usual sarcasm.

"According to her driver's license, she lives in Wild Grove, Virginia. She actually is twenty years old, technically not a teenager anymore, but you wouldn't have known the difference with me when I turned twenty. Probably not with her either."

Myles gave her a very annoyed look. Bobby looked on with glee and chuckled a bit. Sue looked at Jack, who then rolled his eyes.

"The part that the bureau in L.A. figured out is that they all attend George Washington University." finished Tara.

Jack took over again. "Originally the L.A. locals were going to take this case. When they realized that these were all likely connected, they feared a serial killer was on a spree or something, so they contacted the bureau office. This is where we come in now. Tara, I need you to call George Washington University and found out who is there that we can actually talk to."

Tara picked up the phone as he spoke.

"Bobby and Myles, I want you to go to Virginia and inform these ladies' parents of their daughter's deaths, and see what they might know." Bobby and Myles were reaching for their jackets and gathering the things they needed imediately, not waiting for Jack to finish.

"Sue, you're with me. I know you need to look at that surveillance tape, but it'll have to wait until we get back. We are going to visit the parents of Jane Austin." Sue nodded her head and began to get things around as well. Levi got up and was ready to go.

Tara set down the phone and walked quickly over to Jack as he was walking to leave the room. "The President of the University is there, and many of the professors are there as well."

"Good. After we see Jane Austin's parents, Sue and I are going over there. Make sure that the President can be available." Tara nodded her head and went back to the phone, as Sue joined Jack and they walked out the door together.

____________________________________________

Don Eppes stepped over to a local motel near the beach. It was a little more impressive than most motels in the area because of the tourist attraction of the beach. At first look, it seemed like everything was pretty well normal here. He stepped in the front door. He didn't see an attendant immediately at the desk. He figured someone must have heard the bell on the door ring. He leaned over the counter a little. "Hello."

A moment later, a middle-aged man came around. "Sorry about that. We don't usually get people coming in at this hour. Can I help you?"

Don held up his badge. "Yeah. I'm with the FBI, and I need to know if you saw anything unusual on the beach over night."

The man looked a little surprised. "Uh, no. I've been here all night almost. But I thought you might ask if I saw anything unusual here in our parking lot."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

"Well, last night around ten, this young woman comes in here and rents one of our rooms for the night. After she paid, she went back out and went to her room. Three other people joined her. They seemed to be in a jolly mood. Then, around 2:00 they all came out with quite a rucus and just drove away."

"What did the woman look like?"

"Well, I'd say she was about 5' 10" or 5'11". She was about medium build with blond hair and blue eyes."

"What about her friends?"

"Well, there were two other girls. Both aound the same height and they also had the same hair color. One had a bit of a dirtier blond than the others. There was also a man who was a bit taller than the women. He looked a little bit on the burly side. Brown hair...mustache."

"Did you notice what kind of vehiclethey were driving?"

"Well, it looked like a big conversion van. Seemed like some unusual transportation, but spring break brings all sorts around here."

"What color was it?"

"Brown."

"Do you mind if I look in their room?"

"Yeah sure. Come with me."

The man went and got the key and escorted him to room 8. After unlocking the door, the man swung the door open and stepped back. Don stepped in, taking in what he saw with great scutiny. He saw the standard two bed room. Both beds had obviously been used. He saw a candy wrapper, a soda bottle...nothing extremely noteworthy. He looked down at the floor as he walked around the beds and he glanced in the garbage can. More candy wrappers. He also saw what looked like an empty tube of...something. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a cloth. He reached into the garbage with it and pulled out the tube. Sex chocolate.

With that, he went over to the bathroom. He flipped on the light and saw towels strewn about, obviously used. He noted a small shampoo bottle laying empty on the sink counter. He stepped over to the garbage can in there. Three used condoms.

He went back out to the main room. Suddenly, he noted that there was something sticking out of the drawer in the lamp stand. He went over and opened the drawer. There was a picture there that dropped down into the drawer. It was a picture of three naked blondes standing in some very seductive positions.

As Don pulled out his cell phone, he turned back to the door where the motel attendant was still standing. "This room has now become a possible crime scene. Nobody comes in here, and you don't touch anything. Understand?"

The man nodded. "Yeah."

And the plot thickens. Be careful Don, get some backup. Jack wants/needs Sue with him. I'm glad you posted again C.H. Looking forward to more soon,

Ugh -- that has to be one of the worst jobs an agent has to do -- inform a parent that their child is dead.

kav

Great job! Can't wait for Charlie to make his entrance in the story!
Post more soon, please.

Ornella

Looks like quite an intricate story you've got going here. Very interesting. Looking forward to more!

C.H.

You have certainly pulled me into your story. I am a fan of Numb3rs also but have only seen a few episodes back in season 1. This makes me want to go watch some episodes to catch up on the characters. I love Charlie by the way and hope you do incorporate him into the story.

Lynn

This is getting very, very interesting!!!

Joy

Don stood outside the motel when Megan pulled up in her car. The forensic team was all over the motel room that the ladies and their friend had been in. Megan walked over to Don and asked, "How did you figure out that they'd been here? I mean, we didn't even have Wanda off the beach yet when you called this in."

"Yeah, well you guys were busy with that, and I saw that this was close by, so I just stopped in thinking that maybe someone had seen something on the beach overnight. I actually had no idea that they'd been here. It was a total surprise to me to find out that they had. I really just kinda stumbled onto this."

"What did you find exactly?"

"Well, I've told these guys to check out everything. There's a soda bottle, stuff in the garbage like sex chocolate and condoms. There's even a nudie picture of the three girls that was obviously taken last night with like a Polaroid camera or something."

"Wow! This guy they were with must have had a lot of fun, huh?"

"Well, apparently. You know, there were three, that's right, three used condoms in the bathroom garbage. I wish I had that kind of stamina. I mean, these people arrived here around 10, and they left at about 2. Man, that's three times in four hours."

"Busy man."

"Yeah, well, maybe too busy, huh. I told the forensics guys here that I wanted the condoms checked individually, inside and out. I want to know if there was an extra person or two that we don't know about, and who did what with whom. I don't know, I just don't have a good feeling about all this. I'm certain that there's a whole lot more to this picture, and we're only seeing a small little piece of it."

"Were you able to prove that this was a crime scene?"

"No, but the owner agreed to allow this. He's been cooperating fully. He was very clear that a search warrant was not necessary for him. He said that if there was any illegal activity on his property, he would rather the perpetrators be caught and prosecuted. He said that he's had incidents here before, but never anything like this. He would rather nip a crime problem in the bud, before it starts."

____________________________________________

Bobby and Myles knocked on the door of the Smith residence. Mrs. Smith opened the door. "Hello." she said cautiously.

Bobby and Myles showed their badges. "Mrs. Smith, we're with the FBI. We need to talk to you about Colleen." began Bobby.

"Colleen?"

"Maam, do you mind if we come in?" asked Myles.

"Sure. Ok."

They came in and sat down together in the living room. "Mrs. Smith," began Myles, "We have some bad news."

Mrs. Smith began to turn pale. "Oh no. What happened."

"Mrs. Smith, there's no easy way to tell you." said Bobby. "Colleen was found dead on a beach in Los Angeles."

Mrs. Smith began to cry. After a few moments, she asked, "How did she die?"

"We're not sure yet, but it appears to have been strangulation."

"Oh my!" Her mouth dropped wide open. "She was murdered?" The tears streamed down her cheeks.

"It appears so maam."

She put her face in her hands and cried uncontollably for a minute. When she composed herself a bit, she lifted up her head and asked another question, "You say she was in Los Angeles?"

Myles answered, "Yes. Do you know why she was there?"

"No. The last time I talked to her, she said that she was going on a spring break trip with some of her friends, and they were going to Virginia Beach."

____________________________________________

Jack and Sue were in the living room of Jane Austin's parents. Mrs. Austin was crying. "I can't believe that she's dead. But what was she doing in L.A.?"

"Well," Jack said, "we don't know. We were hoping maybe you knew."

"No. She went on a trip with her friends to Virginia Beach, not L.A."

_______________________________________________

Myles and Bobby later visited the home of Wanda Owen's parents. There, they heard something familiar. "She wasn't in L.A." said Mrs. Owens. "She went on a trip to Virginia Beach. How'd she get to L.A.?"

As my mother used to say...Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive! I like! Poor Bobby, having to break the news. That has to be hard for him, more so I think than Myles and Jack.

Lynn

I agree Lynn. I'm not exactly sure why, but I do think it would be harder on Bobby. What a terrible job for anyone to have.

This case is very intense. Quite a mystery.

What a way to learn about your child's death...and why are all three families surprised that the girls were in LA?

kav

oh my.... i can't wait to see/ read what happens next. please update soon.

HOW did the girls get to L.A.???

Joy

This is a very interesting case, and I'd love to read more about it soon

Nice and intriguing start C.H. This will be very interesting. I have only seen one episode of Numbers and I thought it was pretty good. I can't wait for more:)

Don was hungry. It was well into the morning now, and he still hadn't had a chance at breakfast.

He walked into the crowded office area of the FBI building. Some offices around the country had a quiet and homey atmosphere, but Don liked this one better. It had the sense of work being done. No time for goofing off. There's bad guys to catch. We can goof off later when the job is done. Most of the walls were actually transparent glass. You could always see that people are busy here. You can always see when there is somebody waiting for you too.

Don walked over toward his desk. He saw Charlie headed his direction, but he kept going because he had work to do. "Hey Don!" he shouted.

Don kept going but did turn for a second to see Charlie. "Hey Charlie, what do you need?"

"Nothing really. I was really just wondering if maybe I could help you with something today."

"Why? I mean, don't you have classes to teach or something?"

"Ah, no. It's Spring Break Don. There's no classes."

"Oh yeah, right. Well, don't you have some tests to grade or something? Maybe you could prepare a lecture or something."

"Well, I already corrected all my tests, and all my current lectures are ready. Come on Don, there must be something that I can help you with."

"Well, Charlie, I know that there are a lot of things that you can do for us, but you can't help us with every single case. Not everything has to do with math you know."

"Now, Don, I'm just going to pretend that you didn't say that."

Finally Don arrived at his desk. "Look, Charlie...I had a late night last night. We put the bad guys away in the wee hours of the morning, only to get a few hours rest, and then we had to go back at it to find out who killed the three girls on the beach."

"Oh, so you do have that case!"

"Yes. Yes I do. And I have to get back to it. Now, if you really want to help, you could go get me some breakfast."

"Breakfast? You haven't had breakfast? You know Don, breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

"Yes, I do know that. I just haven't had time for it. Look, here." Don pulled a twenty dollar bill out of his wallet. "Just go get me something like a breakfast sandwich or something, and that would be a great help."

Charlie looked at the twenty and gently took it in his hand. He looked up at his brother. "Don, I'm a professor at Cal Sci in the math department. I come to you offering help and you send me to McDonald's for breakfast?"

"Well, no, it doesn't have to be McDonald's. I don't care where you go."

"That's not the point Don. I really can help you if you just let me."

"I really don't think you can help me on this one. Look, just go get that for me and I have to get back to work. Thanks."

Don turned around and stepped over toward Megan's desk. Charlie crinkled the twenty up in his fist, turned around and left. As Don neared Megan, he turned around enough to see Charlie leaving.

"What did Charlie want?" asked Megan.

Don turned back to Megan. "Oh, nothing important. He's just looking for something to do."

"Oh, so did you let him know about the case?"

"No, I sent him to get me some breakfast."

Megan looked at him with a baffled look. "You mean Charlie the genius brother comes and offers to just help with whatever, and you just send him after breakfast?"

"Alright stop it. I know he's smart, but he doesn't have ALL the answers. Besides, he's not your brother."

"Ok, but if I had a brother that smart, I think I'd at least give him a chance."

"Well, you don't, so you don't have to. Back to the case though. We contacted the Washington office, right?"

"Yeah. We got them informing parents of the girls' deaths, and they are also going to talk with people at the university."

"Good. Did we get the phone number of the agent in charge over there? It would be helpful if I could contact him easily with infomation."

"Yep. I've got his office phone here, and this is his cell phone." Megan handed him the paper.

"Very good. Jack Hudson huh?"

"Yep."

"That doesn't sound like a scary agent kind of name. Jack Hudson. Sounds like an explorer, not an FBI agent."

"So do you think that the bad guy quake in fear because they here Agent Eppes is on the case?"

"You betcha."

_____________________________________________

Jack and Sue parked the car at George Washington University. Jack was talking with Bobby on his cell phone. "Ok, thanks Bobby."

He hung up. "What did they find out?" asked Sue.


"Just as with the Austin's both sets of parents thought there little girls were at Virginia Beach. Also, the only people that the girls mentioned being with was each other. No other friends were mentioned."

Jack was about to continue, but his cell phone rang again. He looked at the caller ID. Nobody he knew. "Agent Hudson."

"Agent Jack Hudson, this is agent Don Eppes. I'm with the L.A. Bureau office. I understand you are the one in charge of the investigation there with our three dead girls."

"Yeah, that would be me."

"Good. I hope you don't mind that I'm calling. I just thought that it would be good if we could have a direct link with each other. We could update each other much more quickly this way."

"Yeah, that's fine with me."

"Good. What have you got so far?"

"We have visited the parents of all three girls. All sets of parents thought that their girls were in Virginia Beach."

"Really. I thought that would make more sense for college girls in D.C. So what were they doing out here?"

"I hoped maybe you could tell me."

"Not yet. I hoped you knew too."

"We're just about ready to ask some questions on the University campus. I'll let you know if we find anything."

"Ok. Well, I have some information for you. We stumbled across the place where they were last night before they died. We found a number of things in a motel room near the beach where we found the last body. It included three used condoms and a nudie picture of the three girls."

"Really!?"

"Yeah. The guy who manned the motel last night said that he saw them with a guy friend...alone."

"Just one guy?"

"Yeah. You'll want to remember that we are still waiting for the results from forensics. I don't know for sure that there was only one guy in the room with them. That's one of the things that I specifically asked for from forensics. But there is definitely at least one man involved in this."

The two teams seem to be working really well together, keeping each other informed. I hope the questioning on campus will bring some good leads in the case.

Great job....more soon please!

Poor Charlie I just want to help big brother! LOL Don is so jealous of Charlie's brains. But they make a great team. Love how the LA and DC teams are working together! Looking forward to more!

This is getting very exciting!!!! Can't wait for more...great job C.H.

I had to chuckle about Eppes' reaction to Jack's name!! I think he will find out there's a lot to that name!!!

Poor Charlie - isn't he a little too smart to be sent on an Egg McMuffin run?? I bet with his analytical mind, he can come up with something on the case!!!

Joy

C.H.

I loved the dialogue between Don and Charlie. I agree with Joy and Megan. Am wondering why Don does not want to let Charlie help him? As many times as he has helped to solve the cases, I would think Don would welcome Charlie's help. Is Don always so reluctant to let Charlie help him?

I also am liking the good rapport that Don has established with Jack. He sounds like a no nonsense kind of agent, yet, wants to establish good communication between his and Jack's team. Nothing like that other agent who came from CA we all dislike, namely one Tony Campono.

I just finished watching "Numbers" and it was a good episode; although, it was hard to follow some of the personal interaction scenes since I had not seen previous episodes. When I get home from KS I'm going to have a marathon and watch all the shows I've recorded.

Will be eagerly awaiting your next post.

Lynn

Well, you've succeeded in not only leaving two teams of FBI agents stymied, but your readers as well. This really is a mystery! Can't wait to figure out whodunit!

kav

Jack and Sue were able to get right in to talk with the president of the university. "Hello. I'm President Williams."

Jack and Sue both shook his hand and introduced themselves. And of course, Sue had to introduce Levi. "He's my hearing ear dog."

"Ah yes," said President Williams. "Just like a seeing eye dog but for the hearing impaired instead."

Sue nodded. "Actually, I'm deaf. I can't hear anything at all, but I can read your lips."

"I thought maybe that was the case." responded the president. "So I understand that three of our fine students have been found dead."

"Yes." answered Jack. "They were found this morning on some beaches in L.A. The unusual thing about that is that their parents all thought they were in Virginia Beach."

The president nodded with a very sad look. "Yes, it is unusual for local students to travel that far for Spring Break, but it's not unheard of. We have students that come here from all over the country, and they sometimes will take local friends to their homes or locales for Spring Break. It's a sad thought that some friends may have gone to California together only to get killed. Do you know how they died?"

"Well, we don't have the autopsy reports yet, but there is evidence of foul play."

He hook his head some more, appearing even sadder than before.

Sue asked, "Do you know anything about the plans of your students on Spring Break? I mean, do the students sometimes share their plans with their professors?"

"Well, I have heard a few things about some student's plans being shared. It doesn't happen with everyone though. It usually only happens with those that have formed a level of friendship with their professors."

Jack spoke again. "If it's allright with you, we would like to ask some questions of your professors then. Perhaps some of them heard something from these girls."

"By all means. I'll have my secretary get all of their professors to come and meet you if you like."

"That would be good." responded Jack.

________________________________________

Charlie entered into the FBI office again. He had an orange juice and a breakfast sandwich for his brother. He went straight to his brother's desk and set it down in front of him, with his correct change of course. Don's eyes lit up. "Hey thanks!" He dug right in.

"You know," said Charlie, "I don't have a problem doing nice things for my big brother. But I can do some much better things for him than just make sure the McDonald's worker can count back the right change."

Don looked up at him with his orange juice in one hand and his sandwich, already having a bite taken out of it, in the other hand. He swallowed and responded, "You're not going to let this go are you?"

Megan walked over from out of Don's sight. "Hey Charlie. Has Don told you what we're working on today."

"Well, kind of. I know that you have the case of the three dead women found on the beach this morning, but that's all he's told me."

As Charlie talked, Don looked at Megan with disbelief. "Megan, I really think we can handle this case just fine without Charlie. Like I told him earlier, not every case calls for a math equation."

"Yeah," said Megan, "maybe, but he has been able to help us a few times when we didn't realize he could. Would it hurt to just tell him and see what he thinks. I mean, he might agree with you after all, after we give him the facts."

Don couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Well, allright fine. Go ahead. Tell him. But when you realize that this is just an average murder investigation..."

Charlie cut in. "You mean you know they were murdered?"

Don realized that he had said to much. Megan continued for him. "Well, we haven't got the autopsy reports yet, but there are signs of strangulation. The three girls aren't from around here though. They all attend a university in Wshington D.C."

"Really? Which one?"

"George Washington University. We called the D.C. Bureau office, and they questioned the parents of the girls. They all thought that each of the girls were at Virginia Beach, not here in L.A."

"Interesting. Do you know how they got here?"

"That's the question of the hour." chimed in Don. "We know where they were staying last night, but that's all we know so far."

"Is it possible that they all came together with a friend?"

"Yeah, well, anything's possible Charlie, but that would seem to make the most logical sense."

Possible equations started to run wild through Charlie's head. "You know, if I had a list of her classmates and friends, as well as a little bit about their backgrounds, namely where they have all lived, I might be able to narrow down which of their friends would be the most likely to have brought them along."

"Oh? Well how are you going to do that?" Don quickly regretted asking the question. Charlie went through this lengthy explanation of some math theory or something that he had never heard of and will never understand. Don interrupted him before he was done. "OK, OK. But what you're telling me is that if we get you some basic background information on their classmates, you can tell us who the most likely suspect may be."

"Yes, that's right."

"Ok, Megan. Call back to the D.C. office and get that information from the university. In the meantime, I'm going to finish my breakfast."

I think Charlie is going to turn out to be a big help with this case.

I'm with you Cindy. Charlie is going to dive in there and come up with the answer.

Good post C.H. Will our D.C. team get to fly out to CA at some point instead of using the phone?

Lynn

Cindy and Lynn.....Charlie to the rescue, lol Another great post C.H. Can't wait for more!!!!

Charlie's brain scares me....my logic skills are nil and the math gene skipped me all together! So I'll let him do the figuring while i cheer him on

kav

Jack and Sue don't have much to go on, but maybe the girls' professors will be able to tell them something!!!

Good - Charlie is going to help!! Watch him solve the murders!!!

This is a great murder mystery!! You have me totally hooked!!!

Joy

wow, the teams are now contacting each other. i can't wait to find out what happen next. please update soon.

Jack and Sue were interviewing the first professor without much luck when Jack's phone rang. He took the call and then hung up. He looked at the professor. "Look, thanks for your time. You can go now."

The professor got up and left. Sue looked to Jack with some slight frustration in her eyes. There was also the anticipation that Jack would share who was on the phone.

"That was Tara. The L.A. office called again. They want to have the whole roster of the Univesity. Apparently they have some mathmetician who thinks he can narrow down the suspect field based on the background information of the students."

"How do they know that it was a student?" asked Sue.

"I don't know. It may be that they have some new information that they haven't shared with us. It doesn't matter really. It's their investigation. We're just here to help. I'm going to go talk to the secretary and see if we can't get that for them."

__________________________________________

Myles and Bobby walked into the bullpen after having been out. Myles went straight to his desk, but Bobby went to Tara's. "Hey Tara!"

"Hey Bobby! How'd it go?"

"Well, we were able to ascertain that the girls were supposed to be in Virginia Beach, not L.A. At least that's what the girl's parents told us. I talked with Jack, and Jane Austin's parents said the same thing. Another thing that they agreed on was where they were supposed to be staying."

Bobby handed her a small piece of paper. "Could you check with this motel and see if they ever made it there?" asked Bobby.

"Sure."

_____________________________________________

Jack came back into the room with Sue. "Well, the secretary is going to get all the names and send them to Tara with all students from California earmarked for her. I hope this helps the team in L.A. She didn't seem to want to do it at first."

"How did you convince her to do it?"

Jack gave Sue a smile. "I'm not tellin'. I can't give away all my secrets."

"You must have used your natural charm, no doubt." Levi barked in agreement.

There was a knock on the door. It was the next professor.

"Come on in." said Jack.

________________________________________________

Tara hung up the phone and hurried over to Bobby who was talking with Myles at his desk. "Hey guys, listen to this. I called the motel you asked me to. Not only did the girls never get there, they've never even heard of them. They said that they would have had to make a reservation for this time of year, and they never did that."

"Well isn't that interesting." said Bobby as he picked up his phone to call Jack.

_________________________________________________

Jack hung up from talking to Bobby and went straight to the professor they had in the room. "OK, so Jane told you that they were going to stay at the motel in Virginia Beach, right?"

"Yes." he answered.

"When was that?"

"Well, it was the last day of classes before break. She stayed behind for just a little while to ask a question. Out of curiosity, I asked her what she was doing for Spring Break. That's what she told me."

"Do you often ask the students about their break plans?"

"Always. I like to keep in tune with the generation that I'm teaching."

____________________________________________________

Megan reported to Don. "I just got the list of students from the Washington office. I've got some people working on the background information so we can get it to Charlie as soon as possible."

"Good!"

"Also, they found out that the girls were telling people that they were going to be staying at a certain motel in Virginia Beach, but they never showed up. In fact, the people at the motel said that they never even made a reservation."

"That's interesting. Why would they tell people that they're going to be staying somewhere during Spring Break without making accomodations?"

Don stopped to think for just a bit. "......unless they were lying and they never intended to be there in the first place."

Good post CH.

I like the switching back and forth between the various offices. Keeps the pace moving along. Especially liked Sue's curosity on how Jack persuaded the secretary to prepare the list. Must have been those chocolate brown eyes!

Lynn

can't wait for more.
update soon.

Yes - the switching back between the teams trying to solve this case is interesting. It shows how complex detective work can be. You still have me stymied.

kav

"Wait a mimute." said Don. "The guy in Virginia Beach made a point that they never made a reservation?"

Megan nodded.

"OK, well the guy here at the motel said that the girl came in and paid cash. He acted like it was just someone walking in and asking, 'Hey you got a room.' If they needed a reservation in Virginia Beach, wouldn't they need it here too?"

"He's hiding something." said Megan.

"Let's get over there."

___________________________________________

Don and Megan both pulld up to the motel and went straight to the door. They looked around as they approached. "Not many vehicles here." noted Megan.

Don agreed. "Yeah."

When Don got to the door, he tried to open it but it was locked. Then he noticed the sign on the door that said "Closed." "Closed. How can a place like this be closed?" He pounded on the door. "FBI! OPen up!"

Megan went over to a window and looked in. "All the lights are off."

"OK. Go around back and make sure he's not making a run for it."

As Megan went around, Don continued to pound on the door anouncing FBI. When Megan ame back she said, "All locked up. No sign of him. I really don't think he's here."

Don turned around and stepped toward the parking lot. "Well someone must be here somewhere. I mean, there's a vehicle right here."

He walked over to the car and, seeing that it was unlocked, he opened the passenger side door and looked in the glove compartment. "Huh. Would you look at that. James Spencer is the name on the registration. That's him. This is his car."

"Don, come look at this." came Megan's voice from the other side of the car. He went around and saw that a suitcase had been spilled onto the ground a couple of parking spaces over. Megan was looking through the contents with a gloved hand. "This is NOT his. This is women's clothing."

Don put on a glove and began looking as well. He noted the condition of the suit case. "Wait. This wasn't dumped out. This was thrown to the ground." He showed Megan the marks on the suit case. "This is defintely a sign of a struggle."

"Oh my gosh! His car is here, but he's gone. There was a struggle here. He stole a car and made a run for it. We're too late."

___________________________________________

James was driving down the road at a high rate of speed. In one hand, he had his cell phone to his ear. "I don't know how they found the motel so quick! But I did just as you said. I gave them the bogus story, and the bogus description of you. The only thing is, I didn't have time to clean up the room." There was yelling on the other side of the phone. "I had to tell them about the room. They were going to want to look around anyway. If they went looking around and found the room, they would have caught me in a lie while I was right there, and I wouldn't have been able to get away." More yelling from the other side.

"Would you calm down. Everything's going to be fine. After they left, I got out of there. But I figured that if they came after me, they would just put out an APB on me and my car, so I stole one. The only thing is, the only car left with keys still in it also had people in it." There was more yelling. "No I don't know how to hot wire a car! I'm a motel manager, not a professional car jacker! I just got out my gun and made them get into the back seat!" More yelling. "Would you stop yelling! Look, one of them is a nice looking young lady with blond hair."

The woman in the back seat gasped. There was quiet on the other end of the phone. James looked into the mirror and saw the wide eyes of his captives. Obviously, they now had an idea that he was involved in the death of the three girls the night before. The man in the back seat yelled at James, "No, you can't do this! If you touch her, I'll kill you!"

James set down the phone and picked up his gun. He swung the gun into the back seat, right into the man's face. "Shutup! If you say another word, I'll kill you right now!"

The man put his hands up and backed into his seat as far as he could go. He had a look on his face that said he got the message.

James picked up the phone again. "Look, I've got to do something. I'll call you back in a little bit." He hung up the phone and pulled off the road to the left. There was a ledge off a cliff right there that hung out over the ocean.

James got out of the car and made the captives get out and stand by the ledge. The blond woman asked him on the way, "Are you going to kill me?"

James pointed the gun right at her and said, "Be quiet. No, I'm not going to kill you......I'm going to kill him." He turned the gun on the man and fired. He hit him squarley in the chest. The woman screamed and bent down to help him. James stepped over and pulled her back. He shot the man in the head just to make sure he was really dead. Then he threw the woman down on him. She put her hands on him and sobbed uncontrollably.

James knew that he didn't have much time. "Push him over." The woman turned and looked at him while still sobbing. "I said push him over the ledge."

She shook her head and shouted as best as she could through the sobs. "I can't."

He put the gun right down in her face. "Either you push him over the ledge, or I'll kill you too."

She looked at the gun, and then she turned and began to roll him over near the ledge, sobbing all the more. When she finally got him over the edge, James grabbed her and pulled her to the car. He opened the trunk and found something to tie her up with. He bound her, and pushed her into the back seat, then got in and drove off.

Oh my! That was really frightening...very well written!

Yep hiding is a good thing right now...very scarey!!! Nicely done tho C.H.

Wow! Wow!

I'm speechless. I put myself in the woman's shoes and what would I have done? Pushed him over the edge just like she did. I'm too scared to go to bed now!

The adrenelin is flowing! Will be hard to wait for the next post, but guess I'll have to. Don't make us wait too long...I don't think my heart can take too long a wait!

Lynn

I just caught up, C.H., and what a ride you have us on!! They need to find this James as soon as they can and try and get the woman away from him safely!! I think I need to hide under the bed again!!!

Joy