A few days later, Don arrived at the Eppes house that evening to find Charlie and his father playing chess. His father looked like he was struggling.

"Hey, Don," Alan Eppes said. "Come on over here and help me beat your brother."

Charlie smiled knowingly. Don glanced over the board. "I don't think anything can help you, Dad." Don commented. Alan studied the board harder. Don sat between them. He turned to Charlie.

"So the case on Russell Taylor and his accomplices is finally closed," Don said. Charlie took a deep breath. Don patted him on the shoulder.

"We couldn't have done it without your help," Don said.

Charlie shrugged. "I'm glad my kidnapping helped you," he said sarcastically.

Don started to protest but Charlie waved him off with a smile. "I know what you meant."

"All of those murders," Alan commented. "It's amazing how long Taylor and his associates got away with it."

Don agreed. "Thank God he's finally behind bars."

Charlie's cell phone rang. It was Amita. "Hey Amita," Charlie said into the phone. "That's great, thanks. I'll be there tomorrow. See you soon." Charlie hung up proudly.

"Amita talked to the Dean," Charlie told his brother and father. "I'm getting two senior level classes to teach next semester."

"That's great," Don replied. "So you're going back to teach." Charlie nodded happily.

"Maybe before then you can look at some of these cases for me," Don said, pulling out some files from his briefcase and handing them to Charlie.

"No, no, no," Alan said, looking intently at the chessboard. "Not until we finish this." Charlie smiled at Don and glanced through the files. Don went into the kitchen for a beer. He opened the bottle and stood at the threshold for a moment, watching his father curse over the chess game and his brother rummaging through the files, already coming up with mathematical algorithms that made no sense to Don. Don smiled. Things were back to normal.

THE END