Chapter Three- Missing: April Miller

“Hey” Don greeted with a nod as he opened the door to the house. His father, who was now standing up gave his greeting, a pleased smile creeping on his lips as his oldest son entered the house,

“Hey Donny.” His father held a glass with a small amount of water in one hand, the ice sliding around in circles as his hand held tightly around the glass. Turning around to head into the kitchen, Charlie turned around from the television that had been turned onto some football game. “How was San Francisco?”

“It went well, kept us busy” He nodded over to the screen, as caught his brother’s eye and shrugged off his coat.

“Charlie who’s playing?” If anything, it had been more than a long day and he was ready to settle on a nice warm bed. But for now he would settle for the couch.

“The San Diego Chargers” He watched his brother lightly toss his jacket onto the side of the banister, and circle the couch until he plopped down right next to him. Stretching tiredly, he let his head drift back into the couch.

Alan watched the manner between his sons, and finally pending on not pushing the subject just yet, and he made his way into the kitchen, leaving his two sons in the living room.

There was a fleeting pause between Don and Charlie, besides the exception for the announcer on the television, the room was silent. But despite the growing weariness on his eyelids, the comfort of home did not wash away the growing feeling of anguish inside, nor did it fall wayward to the exhaustion that happened to wash over him, despite not being able to settle.

Charlie raised a brow, watched his brother’s chest rise up and down. Some times, even though being a big involvement in cases—working beside the team, he worried for his brother. Long hard nights of working every last straw on this case had worn them all thin, especially Don.

Equally, they all had their worries. But taking on the weight of the job, holding himself responsible left his brother drained, and Charlie knew it. And he looked just that, once more—but knew his job once was not the only thing weighing heavily on his mind.

“Who are the Chargers playing against?” Don muttered wearily, breaking Charlie’s thoughts about what else may be drawing his brother’s attention—or reflecting in the form of this distraction.

Don’s eyes were still closed as Charlie shifted to a standing position; his brother hardly noticing the change, as Charlie reached for the remote control and turned the television off. With hardly a flinch at what seemed to be total silence in the house, his brother sat still as Charlie watched him with growing interest.

“ New England” Another pause and Don tiredly raised his hand, rubbing his forehead before sloppily placing it back to his side. “Twenty-one to twenty-four” He tilted his head to the side, sharply taking in a breath in continuation of something more of the questions that happened to be rattling through his mind. “You know if you’re that tired you have a room right?”

Never meaning it to be a question more than a statement, Charlie didn’t halfway expect for a response, as Don’s breathing got heavier; the warm leather framing around his slumped frame. Moments later though, his brother’s eyes flittered open, his head drifted from side to side as if he was fighting sleep itself.

“Yeah, I know” Charlie was slightly confused for a moment, but after putting two together he knew what Don had meant. He just wondered how much of this conversation he was conveying in that mind of his. “Night Charlie.”

His brother’s words took him by slight surprise, as if his sudden action to move off the couch and up the stairs were one gigantic blur—and the next thing Charlie heard was the soft echo of Don’s door closing soundly behind him.

“Night Don” He was a bit late with his nightly greeting, but assumed he wasn’t the only one that happened to be lacking sleep. Apparently he needed the sleep just as much as his brother did, and had not been paying attention to his own needs verses how late it actually was.

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Even though he had wished for himself to be awake after the sun had long set in the sky, Don found himself staring at the serene bright green numbers of his clock that sat on the nightstand next to his bed.

Still finding the reason to his wakening, the blatant ringing of his cell phone was the only reason he could find, and he reached out and grasped it as he pushed himself up in a sitting position and he focused on the caller at hand.

Megan Reeves.

His mind registered that he was fully awake now, he flipped the phone open, pushed the receiver to his ear, and hoped that she was about to inform him about another case, he greeted, “Eppes”

“Don,” His mind quickly registered on instinct that something already was not right, and he flipped on the lamp, ignoring the covers that were around his body, before he pushed them off to the side. He knew Megan—one of his best agents. Strong. Quick on her feet. But the way that she was fighting for breath right now, the steel of fear that evidently escaped in her voice, something was not right.

Despite how many hours they worked side by side working a case, he had always been a bit more protective over her since the Crystal Hoyt case. All of them had. And he was up on his feet, grabbing the first shirt—well the t-shirt he had thrown onto the chest that lay at the foot of his bed.

“Don, did you hear me?” Her voice snapped him out of what almost seemed like a trance. He rubbed his eyes with the side of his index finger, as he held his phone up to his ear with the other hand. “There’s been a glitch on the Miller Case”

“The Miller Case” He furrowed his brow, carefully pulling the t-shirt over his head. Blinking, he looked back at the clock and realized he had only been asleep for about an hour and a half. She didn’t sound better off—her voice weary, something in her voice still defining a deep feeling of concealment, but had not yet made itself known.

She exhaled. With the sleep they had accomplished getting in the last few days, and after she had been awoken by Colby, she promised to keep trying to get through to Don after Colby had tried to get a hold of him at least four times. But by the time Colby had called her for the second time, letting her know that he and David were already headed over to the crime scene, she agreed to continue to get a hold of Don.

“April Miller has now been reported missing by her husband, as of two days ago” She walked over to the kitchen counter and grabbed an apple, noting his pause and the exact expression on his face.

“Two days ago leaves enough time for her get half way round the world and settled, so why wait for her to do so?” Sitting back down on the bed he reached down and grabbed his shoes.

“April was in France, visiting her mother. Her cell phone records report that she made a call to her husband, one at home, and another one to his cell phone moments after she landed at the airport. Point is, she never made it there. She was suppose to call him back later that night, after she went to go visit a friend. Instead he was woken up by a frantic call by his mother in law."

To be continued...