FIC: In the Arms of the Wicked, 22 (Megan/Larry, Charlie, Liz, Don, PG-13)
Title: "Related versus Unrelated"
Series: In the Arms of the Wicked, Part 22/?
Characters: Megan/Larry, Charlie, Liz, Don.
Rating: PG-13.
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Summary: A discovery is waiting for Megan, Charlie and Larry at Dr. Farrow's house.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything (characters, situations, etcetera) except my OCs.
Beta: The fantastic twins_m0m.
Previous chapters: Click here.
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22: Related versus Unrelated
As if taking their first look at Farrow’s residence wasn’t enough, Megan, Charlie and Larry stood in front of it with eyes full of surprise. This didn't seem like the kind of place a man like him would live in.
“Wow… I wasn’t expecting this,” Charlie muttered.
Looking around, Megan noticed the beautiful tree with blooming white flowers. It was perfect, almost like a fairy tale. “I was,” she admitted. “He’s a wealthy, well-known character, and he’s trying to find a quiet place to live without anyone bothering him.”
“Yeah, but… I’m all that and I don’t hide like this.”
“Well… You and he are different, Charlie.”
“I guess we are.”
Before Megan could say anything else, Larry took the lead to the house. With a worried look, he grabbed some of the books he’d insisted on bringing, exitied the car, and started walking towards the door. He limped and had trouble getting there, but he finally did. Watching him was sad for Megan, who could see all the effort he was putting into the investigation. Dr. Farrow was a mystery but he was also his friend.
“Let’s take care of the rest for him,” she said, taking some of the books. Agreeing, Charlie took the others and they both followed Larry to the door. Once they were there, Megan put the titles on the ground and took out her gun. “All right, guys. I’m going in. Step back, just in case.”
She kicked down the door and got in, holding her gun; Charlie and Larry stood behind her, letting her do her job. Everything inside the house seemed to be in place; decorations were in one piece, the horse paintings were straight… but when Megan got to what seemed to be Farrow’s room, something caught her eye.
Oh, no. There was the head of a man coming out from behind the bed. Holding her breath, she got closer to it and discovered that it was still attached to a body. This person had been tied to a chair and the chair had been kicked down… probably before he died. His mouth and his eyes were open in a shock expression. Walking around, Megan could see blood on the man’s face and clothes - signs of a horrible torture.
Absorbed by the image in front of her, she hadn’t called Charlie and Larry. But when she heard footsteps behind her and turned around, there they were, staring at the body she’d found. Charlie was in shock, breathing hard, but Larry was a lot more affected by the discovery.
“Larry…” Megan called, trying to figure out what was going on.
He just turned around and covered his face. “Oh, my God… Oh, my God.”
“What is this cult going to do next, huh?” Charlie snapped. Megan’s attention was still on her lover. She went to Larry and gently put a hand on his shoulder.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Larry folded his arms, not wanting to look at the corpse. “That man… He’s the missing person. Richard Peyton.”
“What?” Astonished, Megan looked at the dead man. “He’s the man who disappeared from the hospital?” Consternated, she took out her cell phone and called Don. No response, the call just went to voice mail.
“What is it?” Charlie wanted to know.
This has to be joke. Don, where are you? “Your brother’s not answering his phone.”
“What?”
“I’ll try again later,” Megan muttered, trying to calm herself and Charlie down, but thinking that Don had better pick up her call as soon as possible. Deciding not to waste time, she dialed a second number. “Liz? We’ve got something… Richard Peyton. He’s dead. No, that’s okay, you should stay and wait for that picture. We gotta get that shooter no matter what. Could you send me a Crime Scene unit?”
Within an hour, techs were analyzing the house and the body of Dr. Richard Peyton. Megan had been updated with every bit of new data and she kept going from corner to corner, walking from room to room, and encouraging everyone to find out what the hell had killed the man. The blood that covered several parts of his body could not be enough to cause his decease.
From time to time, she called Don, there was no answer. When she dialed his number for the hundredth time, she finally got to talk to her boss.
“Hey, is everything okay? Are you at Farrow’s house?” Don’s voice said.
Megan took a breath and felt the satisfaction of having him on the other side of the line. “Yes. Charlie, Larry and I are here. But I’ve been calling for a while now, and your cell phone was turned off… Don, you’re not going to like this… at all.”
“Damn… Who died?”
“Richard Peyton.”
“Oh…”
Hearing Don breathe hard, she tried to explain the situation. “I called Liz, she sent the techs in. They say that the bruises on Peyton’s body were done with a whip. They also say that he spit something out of his mouth. We don’t know what it is yet. The techs are taking samples to the lab.” As she watched the techs work, Megan made a signal for them to hurry with the analysis.
“Jeez… This is very personal, just like it is with Farrow…”
“Definitely. Plus, there’s this extra component, a blend of rage and calculated, controlled killing methods. Whoever did this is not an amateur, and, as we’re talking about a cult, it gets worse. It means we have a group of people dedicating themselves to murder for the sake of defending their beliefs.”
“All right. How are Charlie and Larry?”
Well… Megan put a hand on her hip and walked towards the front door. She watched Charlie and Larry in her car, talking and flipping the pages of the books the physicist had brought. They had decided to return them to the vehicle and work there. “They’re trying to solve the case. Larry… he didn’t take Peyton’s death very well. Apparently, they’d shared some investigation projects.”
Don’s response came a little late. “I’m sorry…”
She took a breath. “Yeah… Me, too. Okay, I gotta go. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Thanks, Megan.”
Noticing that Charlie and Larry’s talk seemed to have become some kind of discussion, she decided that it was better for her to be with them. She approached the car and realized that they were definitely arguing; but as soon as she got close enough to hear them, they both shut up. They looked frustrated, and she had to admit that it didn’t surprise her. A case like this - one that dealt with personal matters as well as criminal cases from the past - wasn’t easy for anyone.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, trying to sound natural so they'd relax from the abrupt interruption. She leaned on one of the open car doors.
From his seat, Larry didn’t take his eyes off his book as he talked. “My mind is not working. I can’t stop thinking… It’s such a shame that Christopher is being forced to deal with this situation…”
“He still could become a suspect,” Charlie muttered, as if that wasn’t something he was supposed to say.
The comment seemed to upset Larry, as he put his book down and looked into his friend’s eyes like he’d been offended. “I respectfully disagree,” he informed. “I’m the one who’s known him for years. I know who he is under those heterodox ways he has. Why is it that you, Don and McGowan persist on making him appear as guilty?”
As strange as it was for him to be mad at Charlie, the mathematician answered, “Larry, you’ve got to admit that he holds a dirty background. This is not the first murder he’s been involved with.”
Larry shook his head violently. “I’ve never believed that he had any participation on Louis Terrence’s tragic death.”
“He could have anyway, no matter what the investigation results were. It wouldn’t be the first time we've see that happen…” Fixing his eyes on the physicist, Charlie didn’t finish his point. “Okay… I’m sorry, but I don’t know him, so I gotta stick to the actual evidence.” As Larry didn’t respond, he continued, “Did you know he was working for the Egyptian government?” Again, there was silence. “I’ll take that as a ‘no.’”
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Larry stated, getting out of the car. Megan and Charlie followed him towards the house, but he suddenly turned around and started a speech. “Christopher does not have the obligation to share every project or plan he decides to take participation in. He’s free to work on any of them, regardless of their condition as public or secret. As far as I know, he hasn’t broken any structures or rules while pursuing the truth, which sometimes happens to involve justice being done.”
Megan was always surprised to see Larry defending Dr. Farrow with such passion. He wasn’t like that, or at least he didn’t show that side of his personality very often. By her side, Charlie stared at him and moved his lips like he wanted to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth.
Visibly upset, the physicist concluded, “If people would ever doubt of you the way you doubt about Christopher, I would never stop believing in you, Charles. Never. And that’s not all - I’d fight and prove that you’re innocent.”
Charlie remained in silence for a moment. Then, he walked towards Larry and stood very close to him. “Then do that for Dr. Farrow. Prove to us all that he’s not the kind of person we think he is.”
Immediately, Larry’s face turned into a sad expression. He definitely regretted having gotten into a fight with Charlie, and he was trying to apologize. “I will. This murderer is going to be persecuted, found and given the punishment he deserves.” He didn’t return to the car. He continued his way to the house, and once inside, he guided the way to one of the several rooms the techs were working on. He looked around and said, “Something here has to give us at least a little quantum of detail.”
Behind him, Charlie glanced at Megan. “Okay… Let’s revisit what we have so far. We have seven events. First, the location and the method involving the Egyptian items. Second, the Horus-eye fractions. Third, the CalSci shooting. Fourth, the buried object in Arizona and the coded message Farrow gave to the owner of the house where the last pieces of art were found. I think I have a new algorithm that could break that code.”
Thinking deeply about the connections that could exist between those issues, Megan nodded. “Great… What else?”
“We also have the jet explosion, that I’d like to work on separately from the car bomb. And finally, there’s the discovery of Peyton’s body here…”
Sadly, Larry shook his head. Megan could almost feel his sorrow in her soul. “According to what we already know, the cult is taking revenge on Farrow for trying to locate them and working with the FBI. He was located at a murder scene that happened two years ago, and he has enough connections to the robberies at the Cairo Museum, even if he’s helping them out with the thieves.”
“Megan…” Larry muttered.
She lifted her hand. “I’m just telling the facts. I’m not making any judgments. But the way I see it,” Megan explained, “This is too personal. I don’t think the cult would dedicate itself to persecute Farrow just because of what I said before. It feels that there is a much deeper reason… Whatever that is.” She wanted to tell Larry to be ready for any kind of answer about Farrow’s past, but she couldn’t. She didn’t want to upset him; he had enough for now. “Charlie, do you see any connections between the facts you listed? Isn’t there some equation you can use to link them?”
Charlie’s lips tensed. “I’ve tried when Larry and I were in the car… I got nothing. But like Larry says, there has to be something that ties them all together…”
Suddenly, Larry interrupted him. “Not necessarily,” he stated. “What if the related versus unrelated dichotomy doesn’t apply here? What if each one of these facts isn’t link to all the others but only to some of them?”
“A broken connection of commonalities. Facts represent causes and consequences that hold a certain order.” At this point, Charlie’s eyes had gone wide, and Megan supposed he was having one of his oh so helpful epiphanies.
“Exactly.”
“Great! That’s something we can start from… I’ll get my laptop…”
As Charlie went to get what he needed to relate the right facts, Megan let her hand rest on Larry’s arm. “That was a very good idea, Larry…” She was hoping for him to feel better now somehow.
He joined his palms, as if he was going to ask her for something. “I think this is the moment we’re going to start getting real and definite answers. But in order for us to collect more data, I’m going to ask you to contribute with your expertise.” He pointed at a corner of the room where several objects taken from the house were isolate and packaged for proper analysis. “Maybe you’ll be able to provide us a psychological profile from Christopher that can allow us to discard him as a suspect.
The solemn way he expressed his request made Megan smile. He never ceased to trust his friend. “Of course…” She immediately started analyzing the things that were in the room, looking for clues that could indicate any extra link Farrow could have to the cult.
Soon Charlie entered the room, looking excited. “Okay… Let’s do this,” he said as he sat down on the floor, opened his laptop and rubbed his palms.
During the next half an hour, Megan spent her time organizing and pulling out meanings from the objects around the house. She had taken some of them with her, with permission of the techs, as they held very interesting possibilities. Carrying them, she went back to the room where Larry and Charlie were. She listened to them talking the way they always used to - sharing ideas, discussing probabilities. Their little fight seemed to be in the past.
“Hey, guys. Listen, I’ve found some things that are going to help us…” she started, as she sat down on the floor beside them, but her cell phone distracted her. “Reeves.”
“Megan, I’m going to get the results on the enhanced photo in a few minutes. I’m gonna call Ian and Farrow so all of us can share everything we have. Something has to come out of it.”
“Okay, I’ll put you on speakerphone,” she said, and she left her cell phone on the floor, between Charlie, Larry and her. Both men raised their eyebrows at her with curiosity, and Megan calmly entwined her fingers. “Don, whenever you’re ready.”
Series: In the Arms of the Wicked, Part 22/?
Characters: Megan/Larry, Charlie, Liz, Don.
Rating: PG-13.
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Summary: A discovery is waiting for Megan, Charlie and Larry at Dr. Farrow's house.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything (characters, situations, etcetera) except my OCs.
Beta: The fantastic twins_m0m.
Previous chapters: Click here.
Previous chapter
Next chapter
22: Related versus Unrelated
As if taking their first look at Farrow’s residence wasn’t enough, Megan, Charlie and Larry stood in front of it with eyes full of surprise. This didn't seem like the kind of place a man like him would live in.
“Wow… I wasn’t expecting this,” Charlie muttered.
Looking around, Megan noticed the beautiful tree with blooming white flowers. It was perfect, almost like a fairy tale. “I was,” she admitted. “He’s a wealthy, well-known character, and he’s trying to find a quiet place to live without anyone bothering him.”
“Yeah, but… I’m all that and I don’t hide like this.”
“Well… You and he are different, Charlie.”
“I guess we are.”
Before Megan could say anything else, Larry took the lead to the house. With a worried look, he grabbed some of the books he’d insisted on bringing, exitied the car, and started walking towards the door. He limped and had trouble getting there, but he finally did. Watching him was sad for Megan, who could see all the effort he was putting into the investigation. Dr. Farrow was a mystery but he was also his friend.
“Let’s take care of the rest for him,” she said, taking some of the books. Agreeing, Charlie took the others and they both followed Larry to the door. Once they were there, Megan put the titles on the ground and took out her gun. “All right, guys. I’m going in. Step back, just in case.”
She kicked down the door and got in, holding her gun; Charlie and Larry stood behind her, letting her do her job. Everything inside the house seemed to be in place; decorations were in one piece, the horse paintings were straight… but when Megan got to what seemed to be Farrow’s room, something caught her eye.
Oh, no. There was the head of a man coming out from behind the bed. Holding her breath, she got closer to it and discovered that it was still attached to a body. This person had been tied to a chair and the chair had been kicked down… probably before he died. His mouth and his eyes were open in a shock expression. Walking around, Megan could see blood on the man’s face and clothes - signs of a horrible torture.
Absorbed by the image in front of her, she hadn’t called Charlie and Larry. But when she heard footsteps behind her and turned around, there they were, staring at the body she’d found. Charlie was in shock, breathing hard, but Larry was a lot more affected by the discovery.
“Larry…” Megan called, trying to figure out what was going on.
He just turned around and covered his face. “Oh, my God… Oh, my God.”
“What is this cult going to do next, huh?” Charlie snapped. Megan’s attention was still on her lover. She went to Larry and gently put a hand on his shoulder.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Larry folded his arms, not wanting to look at the corpse. “That man… He’s the missing person. Richard Peyton.”
“What?” Astonished, Megan looked at the dead man. “He’s the man who disappeared from the hospital?” Consternated, she took out her cell phone and called Don. No response, the call just went to voice mail.
“What is it?” Charlie wanted to know.
This has to be joke. Don, where are you? “Your brother’s not answering his phone.”
“What?”
“I’ll try again later,” Megan muttered, trying to calm herself and Charlie down, but thinking that Don had better pick up her call as soon as possible. Deciding not to waste time, she dialed a second number. “Liz? We’ve got something… Richard Peyton. He’s dead. No, that’s okay, you should stay and wait for that picture. We gotta get that shooter no matter what. Could you send me a Crime Scene unit?”
Within an hour, techs were analyzing the house and the body of Dr. Richard Peyton. Megan had been updated with every bit of new data and she kept going from corner to corner, walking from room to room, and encouraging everyone to find out what the hell had killed the man. The blood that covered several parts of his body could not be enough to cause his decease.
From time to time, she called Don, there was no answer. When she dialed his number for the hundredth time, she finally got to talk to her boss.
“Hey, is everything okay? Are you at Farrow’s house?” Don’s voice said.
Megan took a breath and felt the satisfaction of having him on the other side of the line. “Yes. Charlie, Larry and I are here. But I’ve been calling for a while now, and your cell phone was turned off… Don, you’re not going to like this… at all.”
“Damn… Who died?”
“Richard Peyton.”
“Oh…”
Hearing Don breathe hard, she tried to explain the situation. “I called Liz, she sent the techs in. They say that the bruises on Peyton’s body were done with a whip. They also say that he spit something out of his mouth. We don’t know what it is yet. The techs are taking samples to the lab.” As she watched the techs work, Megan made a signal for them to hurry with the analysis.
“Jeez… This is very personal, just like it is with Farrow…”
“Definitely. Plus, there’s this extra component, a blend of rage and calculated, controlled killing methods. Whoever did this is not an amateur, and, as we’re talking about a cult, it gets worse. It means we have a group of people dedicating themselves to murder for the sake of defending their beliefs.”
“All right. How are Charlie and Larry?”
Well… Megan put a hand on her hip and walked towards the front door. She watched Charlie and Larry in her car, talking and flipping the pages of the books the physicist had brought. They had decided to return them to the vehicle and work there. “They’re trying to solve the case. Larry… he didn’t take Peyton’s death very well. Apparently, they’d shared some investigation projects.”
Don’s response came a little late. “I’m sorry…”
She took a breath. “Yeah… Me, too. Okay, I gotta go. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Thanks, Megan.”
Noticing that Charlie and Larry’s talk seemed to have become some kind of discussion, she decided that it was better for her to be with them. She approached the car and realized that they were definitely arguing; but as soon as she got close enough to hear them, they both shut up. They looked frustrated, and she had to admit that it didn’t surprise her. A case like this - one that dealt with personal matters as well as criminal cases from the past - wasn’t easy for anyone.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, trying to sound natural so they'd relax from the abrupt interruption. She leaned on one of the open car doors.
From his seat, Larry didn’t take his eyes off his book as he talked. “My mind is not working. I can’t stop thinking… It’s such a shame that Christopher is being forced to deal with this situation…”
“He still could become a suspect,” Charlie muttered, as if that wasn’t something he was supposed to say.
The comment seemed to upset Larry, as he put his book down and looked into his friend’s eyes like he’d been offended. “I respectfully disagree,” he informed. “I’m the one who’s known him for years. I know who he is under those heterodox ways he has. Why is it that you, Don and McGowan persist on making him appear as guilty?”
As strange as it was for him to be mad at Charlie, the mathematician answered, “Larry, you’ve got to admit that he holds a dirty background. This is not the first murder he’s been involved with.”
Larry shook his head violently. “I’ve never believed that he had any participation on Louis Terrence’s tragic death.”
“He could have anyway, no matter what the investigation results were. It wouldn’t be the first time we've see that happen…” Fixing his eyes on the physicist, Charlie didn’t finish his point. “Okay… I’m sorry, but I don’t know him, so I gotta stick to the actual evidence.” As Larry didn’t respond, he continued, “Did you know he was working for the Egyptian government?” Again, there was silence. “I’ll take that as a ‘no.’”
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Larry stated, getting out of the car. Megan and Charlie followed him towards the house, but he suddenly turned around and started a speech. “Christopher does not have the obligation to share every project or plan he decides to take participation in. He’s free to work on any of them, regardless of their condition as public or secret. As far as I know, he hasn’t broken any structures or rules while pursuing the truth, which sometimes happens to involve justice being done.”
Megan was always surprised to see Larry defending Dr. Farrow with such passion. He wasn’t like that, or at least he didn’t show that side of his personality very often. By her side, Charlie stared at him and moved his lips like he wanted to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth.
Visibly upset, the physicist concluded, “If people would ever doubt of you the way you doubt about Christopher, I would never stop believing in you, Charles. Never. And that’s not all - I’d fight and prove that you’re innocent.”
Charlie remained in silence for a moment. Then, he walked towards Larry and stood very close to him. “Then do that for Dr. Farrow. Prove to us all that he’s not the kind of person we think he is.”
Immediately, Larry’s face turned into a sad expression. He definitely regretted having gotten into a fight with Charlie, and he was trying to apologize. “I will. This murderer is going to be persecuted, found and given the punishment he deserves.” He didn’t return to the car. He continued his way to the house, and once inside, he guided the way to one of the several rooms the techs were working on. He looked around and said, “Something here has to give us at least a little quantum of detail.”
Behind him, Charlie glanced at Megan. “Okay… Let’s revisit what we have so far. We have seven events. First, the location and the method involving the Egyptian items. Second, the Horus-eye fractions. Third, the CalSci shooting. Fourth, the buried object in Arizona and the coded message Farrow gave to the owner of the house where the last pieces of art were found. I think I have a new algorithm that could break that code.”
Thinking deeply about the connections that could exist between those issues, Megan nodded. “Great… What else?”
“We also have the jet explosion, that I’d like to work on separately from the car bomb. And finally, there’s the discovery of Peyton’s body here…”
Sadly, Larry shook his head. Megan could almost feel his sorrow in her soul. “According to what we already know, the cult is taking revenge on Farrow for trying to locate them and working with the FBI. He was located at a murder scene that happened two years ago, and he has enough connections to the robberies at the Cairo Museum, even if he’s helping them out with the thieves.”
“Megan…” Larry muttered.
She lifted her hand. “I’m just telling the facts. I’m not making any judgments. But the way I see it,” Megan explained, “This is too personal. I don’t think the cult would dedicate itself to persecute Farrow just because of what I said before. It feels that there is a much deeper reason… Whatever that is.” She wanted to tell Larry to be ready for any kind of answer about Farrow’s past, but she couldn’t. She didn’t want to upset him; he had enough for now. “Charlie, do you see any connections between the facts you listed? Isn’t there some equation you can use to link them?”
Charlie’s lips tensed. “I’ve tried when Larry and I were in the car… I got nothing. But like Larry says, there has to be something that ties them all together…”
Suddenly, Larry interrupted him. “Not necessarily,” he stated. “What if the related versus unrelated dichotomy doesn’t apply here? What if each one of these facts isn’t link to all the others but only to some of them?”
“A broken connection of commonalities. Facts represent causes and consequences that hold a certain order.” At this point, Charlie’s eyes had gone wide, and Megan supposed he was having one of his oh so helpful epiphanies.
“Exactly.”
“Great! That’s something we can start from… I’ll get my laptop…”
As Charlie went to get what he needed to relate the right facts, Megan let her hand rest on Larry’s arm. “That was a very good idea, Larry…” She was hoping for him to feel better now somehow.
He joined his palms, as if he was going to ask her for something. “I think this is the moment we’re going to start getting real and definite answers. But in order for us to collect more data, I’m going to ask you to contribute with your expertise.” He pointed at a corner of the room where several objects taken from the house were isolate and packaged for proper analysis. “Maybe you’ll be able to provide us a psychological profile from Christopher that can allow us to discard him as a suspect.
The solemn way he expressed his request made Megan smile. He never ceased to trust his friend. “Of course…” She immediately started analyzing the things that were in the room, looking for clues that could indicate any extra link Farrow could have to the cult.
Soon Charlie entered the room, looking excited. “Okay… Let’s do this,” he said as he sat down on the floor, opened his laptop and rubbed his palms.
During the next half an hour, Megan spent her time organizing and pulling out meanings from the objects around the house. She had taken some of them with her, with permission of the techs, as they held very interesting possibilities. Carrying them, she went back to the room where Larry and Charlie were. She listened to them talking the way they always used to - sharing ideas, discussing probabilities. Their little fight seemed to be in the past.
“Hey, guys. Listen, I’ve found some things that are going to help us…” she started, as she sat down on the floor beside them, but her cell phone distracted her. “Reeves.”
“Megan, I’m going to get the results on the enhanced photo in a few minutes. I’m gonna call Ian and Farrow so all of us can share everything we have. Something has to come out of it.”
“Okay, I’ll put you on speakerphone,” she said, and she left her cell phone on the floor, between Charlie, Larry and her. Both men raised their eyebrows at her with curiosity, and Megan calmly entwined her fingers. “Don, whenever you’re ready.”