DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters. They belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.
A/N: This story picks up right after A Little R&R ended with Sharon and Andy arriving at the crime scene. To refresh people's memories, they are called to a crime scene at a local college campus to find the Dean of the school murdered.
Chapter 1
Sharon followed Provenza in to the library of the school. From what she could tell in the early morning hours, it was an old brick building that reminded her of a castle. As she followed Provenza into the building, Andy was right behind them looking around at the different statues that graced their presence upon entry. Sharon passed by Sanchez and Amy, who were both interviewing people at the entrance. She could only assume they were witnesses in this crime. "Buzz has captured everything at the crime scene on video, Captain" Provenza said to her as they walked. They made their way through the library stacks of wall to wall and rows of books till they arrived at the winding metal stairs that went to the basement.
As they arrived at the metal staircase, Provenza yelled down the stairs to Tao. "Hey Mike, the Captain is here" he said to him. Mike came by the staircase and looked up. "Come on down Captain" Mike said to her. Sharon slowly made the descent down to the basement with Andy in front of her holding her hand for support. There was very little light once she was down there. "You coming?" Andy said to Provenza as he looked back up at him. "I don't do stairs, you know that" Provenza said to Andy. Andy just shook his head.
"Sorry about the lighting down here Captain" Mike said to Sharon. Sharon nodded as Andy came back to her side, his flashlight was out. The area they were at was very dim, damp, and cold. She walked over to where the body was laying and saw Kendall examining it. "What do we know so far?" Sharon asked Mike.
"Well, his name is Doctor Richard Bryant; he was the Dean of the college and was found hanging from the rafters by one of the students. Sanchez is getting a statement from him" Mike stated to her. "Kendall, do you have a time of death yet?" Sharon asked Kendall as she walked closer to where he was kneeling over the body. "Liver temp is around 33 degrees Celsius so approximately 4 hours ago?" Kendall stated as he moved the body.
"Ligature marks on the neck from the rope that was used" Mike said as he pointed to the marks on the body and the rope that was cut down. "Multiple stab wounds on the body though" Mike added. "Dr. Morales can tell you more once we get him to the morgue" Kendall said and then prepared the body to be moved out of the basement of the library.
"So, we have a Dean who looks like he committed suicide by hanging himself but then gets stabbed?" Andy stated to Sharon and Mike. "Or, is that what we are led to believe" Sharon said as she made her way around the basement. It looked like a catacomb down there with boxes and shelves of old papers and writings. There were statues of gargoyles hanging on the walls. Andy shown his flashlight at one of the statues. "This looks like it is something out of a horror movie" he said as he moved back to where Sharon was standing. Sharon just looked at him and then back at Mike and said "Yes, a movie" as she looked around the area. "That's not all Captain, come over here and I'll show you something else we found" Mike said to her as he motioned for them to follow him.
In the back of the area where the body was found there looked to be blood splatter on the wall. "Is that blood?" Andy asked Mike. "No, but I think it's meant to look like it" Mike answered. "It smells like cocoa powder" he added. Sharon looked closely at and then turned around to the guys. "Does this whole area look staged to you?" she asked them. Andy looked at Mike who looked back at him. "A little bit Captain" Mike said to her. "So are we dealing with a psychopath or a wanna be here?" Andy asked them. "I don't know" Sharon said as Andy walked back to her. "Let's gather up all the evidence here and head back to the PAB" she said to him.
Sharon then walked back to the staircase and started to climb back up to the main level. Andy was right behind her and placed his hand at the small of her back to guide her up the stairs. She looked back at him. "What?" Andy said innocently. Sharon just turned around and shook her head. She then met Provenza who was walking back to her and Andy. "Captain, this is the Associate Dean of the college, Mr. Martin Campbell" Provenza said to her. "Dean Campbell, I'm sorry for your loss" Sharon said to him. "What can you tell us about Dean Bryant?" she continued.
"He was liked by everyone here at the college" Dean Campbell started to say as he was walking now with Sharon and the others towards the front entrance of the library. "Who had access to the library after hours?" Andy asked him. "Oh, well there's a student worker on site here to make sure everyone is out of the building before the doors are closed at midnight" Dean Campbell responded to Andy. Dean Campbell seemed distracted by the coroner's office wheeling away the body of Dean Bryant. "And the custodian staff, along with the faculty librarian" he continued to answer but there was something in his demeanor that Andy didn't like.
"Thank you Dean Campbell, if we have any more questions, may we call you?" Provenza asked him. "Of course" Dean Campbell answered and stood there while the three of them walked outside the library. "I want all of the people that he just mentioned questioned by us" Sharon said to Provenza. "Sure thing Captain" he said back to her.
"I don't like that guy" Andy said to Sharon. "What don't you like about him?" Sharon asked as she stood in front of Andy with her arms crossed. "Something's off here" Andy said as they started to walk back to their car. "We will meet you at the morgue Lieutenant" she said to Provenza as she got in their car. Andy got in and drove away heading towards their office at PAB. "Well, someone didn't like the Dean, we just need to figure out who that is" Sharon said to Andy as she looked out her window. She laid her head against the headrest of her seat. Andy grabbed her left hand and held it. She moved her head towards him and smiled. "Are you sure you are ready to be back in the field?" Sharon asked hesitantly. Andy just shook his head. "Yes, I'm ready. You heard the doctor, I'm good" he said.
They pulled into the parking garage at the PAB and started to walk towards the elevators when Andy stopped Sharon and pulled her next to a concrete pillar. "Andy what are you" Sharon started to say but stopped as Andy placed his lips on hers and gave her a kiss. "I know I may not be able to kiss you when we get to the office, so I thought I would take this opportunity to do so now" Andy whispered to her. He looked back into her eyes and said "I'm fine, okay?" She nodded. Then held her hand and guided her back towards the elevators. He didn't want Sharon to doubt anything about him being able to continue his duties as a Lieutenant.
They stepped into the elevator and hit the button for their floor. It was a silent ride with both Andy and Sharon stealing glances at each other. They wanted to remain professional while at work. Sharon and Andy stepped out of the elevator and headed towards their office. Chief Howard was walking down the hallway and stopped when he saw them. "Chief, you're here early" Sharon said to him. "Well, when both the Mayor and Chief of Police call you in the middle of the night, you tend to show up at the office" Chief Howard said back to Sharon. "I know it's early, but you both need to sign some paperwork for me" he added as he walked away towards where Chief Taylor's old office was.
Sharon and Andy both looked at each other and went in their office door. Sanchez was back before they got there and was already writing things on the Murder Board. Sharon went into her office and Andy went towards his desk. Andy stopped and took a look around the area. Even though they came back here after the whole Stroh/Peter Goldman incident, the last time he was here as a fully cleared detective was the night of his heart issue when he collapsed on the floor next to Sharon's office. His mind flashed back to that night. "Lieutenant, everything okay?" Sanchez asked him as he looked over to where Andy was standing. Andy looked back at Sanchez. "Everything is fine Julio, thanks for asking" Andy said to him and decided to walk over to the Murder Board instead.
"Andy?" Sharon said to him as she walked to where he was now standing by the board. Andy was studying the board closely and didn't notice that she walked up to him. She reached out to touch his arm and he was startled. Sharon looked at him. "Sorry" he said to her. "Dr. Morales is ready and Provenza is down there now" she said to him in a calming voice. "Let's go" Andy said back to her and they walked out of the office. Sharon stopped him before they made their way around the corner to the elevators. "Is everything okay?" Sharon asked him. Andy just looked at her. He didn't want to tell her that he had a flashback when he was standing at his desk, but he also didn't want to worry her either. "Umm, I had a flashback when I was standing by my desk to the night of my collapse, that's all" he said to her and now she had that worry look on her face. "But I'm fine, really" he said trying to reassure her and gave her a smile.
They continued towards the elevators and went down to where the morgue was located. Provenza was there already gowned up. Sharon and Andy both dressed in gowns and then Dr. Morales came out of the office. "Your victim is ready now" he said to all of them and they walked inside the room.
TBC