Major Crimes
Dead zone
Sharon: It's not over by a long shot. Someone in the Z Brotherhood Organization have been following the Captain.
The morning started very early at 4am with a phone called from Lt. Provenza. Andy quickly reached for the phone as not to wake Sharon.
"Yes, he barked into the phone to his partner. Do we have a case?" asked Andy.
"Yes and No." said Provenza.
"What does that even mean?" said Andy into the phone.
"So why the early wake up call," asked Andy.
"Well", said Provenza. We have some new information that was delivered to the PAB early this morning. It's about the current case but also concerns the Captain.
"Ok, what?" asked Andy. Meanwhile Sharon is still sound asleep on his chest which makes him smile because it is one of her favorite place second to his pillow. What exactly is it? A letter, pictures, dead roses, what?
Taking a deep breath, "all of the above," said Provenza.
Dead silence on both ends of the phone as both Lieutenants wrapped their heads around this new information and how to proceed.
Andy slowly detangled his body from a sleeping Sharon to put on his robe and stumbled into the living room of the condo.
"Flynn, Flynn are you there," shouted Provenza.
"Yes, I am."
Flynn spoke in a quite whisper as not to wake up the household especially Sharon. Andy knew he had to tell her the truth because he nor the team could ever lie to her.
Andy glanced at the clock that read 4:30am and knew that he could not go back to sleep. "Louie are you there." asked Andy.
"Yes, I Am." said Prevenza. So what do we do now?"
I am going to get ready and will join you at the PAB and if Sharon wakes up, I will let her know that she can meet us there at her usually time. Andy hangs up the phone and made his way quietly down the hall to the bathroom to get ready for work.
His made his way into their shared closet to dress and not once did Sharon stir from her sleep. He sit on her side of the bed looking at her sleeping with his pillow under her head and the beautiful mess of hair that fell like a curtain all around her. He placed a soft kiss on her lips before heading out of the bedroom and making his way out the door with coffee in hand.
Since it was early in the morning the commute was very fast without idiot drivers on the highway. Andy thought of what to do as he stared at the elevator numbers as they ascend towards Major Crimes Division. Waiting at the elevator was Provenza with a tired and worried look on his face. Without speaking they made their way into the murder room to start the day.
The other team members were already at their desk piecing together all the information they gathered so far from the evidence of the Letters, Pictures and Dead Roses. They already sent for fingerprints, trying to trace where the flowers were bought and now needed Andy to help fill in the blanks about the Captain's whereabouts in the pictures.
After dumping his things on his desk, Andy made his way to the murder board to look at the information already up. Amy squeezed Andy's hand as she started to make a time line for the pictures.
About fifteen minutes in Chief Taylor made his way into the murder room looking as tired as the rest of the team. He surveyed the people around him before his eyes rested on the murder board. Taylor looked a little shaken up at what he saw on the board. He knew this was a life and death situation after what he experienced firsthand from Dwight Darnell in the courtroom yesterday.
Taylor sat with a sigh listening to the detectives put the pieces together and what steps or holes were missing in their case. As they spoke Taylor mind wandered to the first time he meet Sharon Raydor. He like every other man on the planet saw how beautiful she was. But he learned very quickly that under that beauty was a very sharp intellect and skilled officer that everyone dismissed out of hand to their own peril.
As the Captain of Robbery Homicide Taylor did not have much interaction with Raydor until Priority Homicide and now Major Crimes. By that time Raydor had a reputation from being in IA and FID. Taylor did not like her as well as many of the officers she investigated within the LAPD. But he knew that despite her reputation she was the only person that could uncover the mess of that lawsuit that was forcing possible closure of Priority Homicide Division and financial ruin of the LAPD and City of Los Angles.
Taylor was brought out of his trip down memory lane by the silence of the room because they all heard the distinct sound of heels clicking on the floor of Major Crimes. As everyone took a deep breath, Sharon appeared wearing a beautiful green pencil skirt with a white silk top with green flowers to match and a black jacket. She bid everyone good morning but not before catching the worried looks on their faces.
"Captain, May I see you in your office please," said Taylor. Sharon made her way to her office with Taylor close behind. After a quick exchange of words they made their way back to the murder room. Sharon looked around the room and finally to the murder board.
Lt. Provenza spoke first. Captain let us fill you in on what we have so far.
They proceeded to give a step by step account of the information so far. Sharon made her way towards Andy's desk to which Andy gave up his seat so she can sit down. As Amy finished a hush fell over the room with all eyes on Sharon awaiting her response.
Taking a deep breath Sharon got up from the chair and stood in the center of the room deep in though. Without any emotion she proceeded to fill the missing information about the pictures, gave Tao some ideas about analyzing the writing of the letters and the locations close to her house where she and Andy bought flowers from. Sharon took two steps towards her office before turning to let her team know how much she appreciated their love and protection of her. After closing the door she pulled the blinds half-way, which gave her enough privacy, while still able to keep an eye on the team and the progress of the case.
A soft two tap let her know it was Andy entering her office without lifting her head from her paperwork. "Are you ok? Andy asked Sharon as he leans on her desk."
At his gentle tone, Sharon lifted her head to stare into his beautiful brown eyes with a slight smile on her face.
"Yes I am, just a little rattled by this. And I appreciated the note this morning before you left. You were so quiet I did not hear you leave," said Sharon.
Andy sat down while reaching for her hands. "I knew you were tired," replied Andy. Don't worry so much Sharon, we will find the person behind this and nail the scumbag to the wall.
Sharon laughed a little which made Andy smile even if it was short lived. It helped to relieve some tension and stress for both of them. As the day came to a close the slow progress was very frustrating to all. After spending most of the day in her office, Sharon made her way to the murder board. As she stood there trying to put all the moving parts together she could not shake the feeling that they missed a clue that is staring them in the face.
With all eyes on her, Sharon addressed the team. I think we've all had a long day so please pack up and go home, we will pick this up tomorrow.
"Thank god, because I'm getting crossed eye just staring at this murder board," said Provenza.
With all eyes still on Sharon, everyone packed up and went home.
"Andy, we need to just relax tonight and no talk about the case", voiced Sharon.
With a nod, Andy drove them home in the early evening hours. After removing their guns and badges Sharon led Andy by the hands and straight into the shower where they made slow and passion love that words were not needed.
The next day saw an early start by Andy and Sharon to the murder room with everyone already at their desk. Both moved to their respective area to put their belongings away, Sharon to her office to drop off her purse, sign on her computer and organize her files and Andy to his desk to sign on his computer.
Ok, everyone, "what new information do we have?" asked the Captain to no one in particular while focused intently on the murder board. As everyone gathered their information to present to the Captain, Sharon was looking at the murder board because there was something from last night that she could not shake. Before anyone could speak Sharon looked to Mike, "is there any more evidence from the house of Henry Colson that we have not taken a look at including more pictures, or any correspond of any kind."
While going through the rest of the evidence from Henry Colson's house the Captain turn towards Amy, Do we have any more information on the Colson Family yet? Any military training, law enforcement or even any militia group affiliations. As the captain finish asking, Amy was printing all the information she requested from yesterday on the Colson Family.
Going over the pictures in her hands the Captain turned to the murder board and started to go down the line looking at all the very, very old pictures of about ten little boys standing in army fatigue in front of a house. All thought the pictures were much discolored Sharon thought that she could see some similarities to several of the boys but was not one hundred percent certain.
Sharon stood with her back to the rest of the team just staring at the pictures of the young boys. There was something that was troubling her and could not figure it out. She let the voices of her team washed over her as she stood and just looked. Without being aware several of the team would watch her and then each other and shrug their shoulders.
The longer she stared the more the fog was lifted from her brain, Sharon turn and moved to stand in the middle of the room and everyone going very quiet knowing that look. She is slowly putting the puzzle together.
"Everyone I need you to stop what you are doing." said Sharon. She turned to Julio, "Do you remember Dwight saying that there were still some Colsons' that are out there and we would need a tank to move them?"
"Yes, Captain." said Julio. With all eyes on them, Julio and the captain explained in great detail the exchange between Dwight, The Captain, DDA Rosen, and Chief Taylor in the courtroom.
On the murder board was a lone photo with several young boys sitting around Hart Colson the father of Henry and Clint Colson. He stood in the background with a serious look on his face and very much out of place amongst the other young boys. Sharon lifted the photo from the murder board and gave it to Mike to first try to clean up the picture, run facial recognize on the boy's face and age him to see if they can get a match. The boys were all dressed in uniforms saluting Hitler. Sharon had Mike make sure that SID printed every single item from Henry Colson house while Major Crimes run a search on the Colson family history. Sharon decided to let the team leave early because everyone was exhausted both physical and mental.
Another morning started bright and early for the team with the Captain fixated on the photos of the young boys.
"Look at the picture, and tell me what you see," said Sharon facing her two senior Lt.'s. Both Lt.'s stepped closer to the picture of the young boys, neither saying anything as they search the picture to see what it is that the Captain saw. After a few more minutes both Lt.'s turn with their eyes big as saucers seeing what she saw. The boy to the back and left bears a very strong resemblance to Hart, Clint and Henry Colson. They all new that it had to be a member of the Colson family.
"How did you see this when we all missed it?" voiced Andy looking from her to Provenza. Sharon just smirked at them which had Provenza rolling his eyes while muttering NERD.
"Captain, captain, I found him!" shouted Amy and had everyone running to her desk. How did you find him?" Sharon asked Amy. I thought that since the Military is taking so long why not check for a birth certificate.
"So Hart Colson third child was in the military and was dishonorable discharged for his racist behavior," said Amy to everyone in the room.
"What a shock?" Provenza said rolling his eyes.
Andy ran a search for any outstanding warrants for John Colson but nothing came up to give a clue to his whereabouts. "He is a ghost in the wind, I don't like It." voiced Andy to the room.
It turned out that the captain's clue about the young boy in the photo broke wide open the case and the family history on the Colson bore fruit. Hart and Clint Colson were the "brains" of the family while Henry and John were the screw ups. John especially was the black sheep of the family and did stupid things to try to gain his father's approval.
After watching his brother and father being blown up by the LAPD he knew the only way was revenge. From his vintage point John watched the officers and the Women in the middle talked amongst themselves in the chaos of the explosion of his father and brother. John watched the LAPD raid several of the brotherhood apartment complex and it was not very hard to find out information on the officers and their titles.
The women he found out was the Captain of Major Crimes Division of the LAPD and she had to go. As a sinister smile crossed his lips he made plans to rid the last breath from her body. He knew with the raids taking place every week it would give him enough time to follow and map out her daily routine. For a cop a few times she was so lost in thought that he was almost able to touch her. As the days went on he did noticed she became very observant and he knew that she received the gifts that was sent to her. And that made her more careful because a few times she turned around to see if she was being followed.
It was time to upgrade the gift giving to Captain Raydor. He sent the dead flowers, the pictures and the letters now let's see how this finally gift will be received.
As everyone was out of the murder room running leads Sharon sat on Andy desk with her legs swinging trying to put together this big puzzle. A young man snapped her out of her thoughts asking is there a Captain Raydor in this division, yes, "how may I help you?" replies Sharon getting off the desk.
"I have a package if you could please sign there," said the young man and left after he received a signature. Sharon smiled when she recognized the label because Andy likes to surprise her with their healthy snacks that he has come to love. As Sharon opened the box, she heard her squad footsteps entered the murder room simultaneously with a primal scream that had them running into the murder room even Lt. Provenza.
With her hands across her mouth all she could do was point to what was on Andy's desk. Gentle moving her out of the way the team lifted the lid of the box and inside laid three death rats with Andy, Sharon and Rusty's name attached to them. After getting her breathing under control Sharon became furious that they had yet to catch this guy and he took it a step further by including the man she loves and one of her children. She stared straight ahead formulating a plan to catch this bastard once and for all. "I am really sorry," said Sharon. I knew not to open any packages that came at the PAB until one of you opened it first. But Andy always surprise me a gift from that bakery near our home so I thought it was from him. Although they keep their lives separate, Andy gentle rubbed her back to comfort her. Andy knew that the team would be all right with that small level of affection between them.
He knew that the captain received her parting gifts and it was time to set the ball in motion. Now that all of his the gifts were received it was time for him to watch them chase their tail. For very few people knew that Hart Colson was his father. He knew that screwing up a couple of jobs would get him in trouble making him an errand boy for the Z brotherhood and would make it hard for me to rise up the ranks of the Organization. He watched from afar the homes and offices the LAPD raided trying to find the source of the pictures, the letters, dead roses and now the dead rats. The waiting came to a close on a Friday afternoon when he knew that she would be walking across the street from the PAB. It was so easy to gain access to the rifle. All he had to do was get into one of the warehouse of the Z Organization where millions of guns were housed before selling them on the black market.
His setup was isolated with a clear view of the PAB and a good view of all the surrounding streets. It was easy to get her schedule for that Friday, you would think that information like that would be guarded very closely. It worked in his favor when you give information saying that you were family. All he had to do was wait to take his shot and the reward would see him climb up very fast to the top of the Z Brotherhood Organization.
As Sharon studied the murder board there was cold feeling of pending doom. Lt. Tao came back from analyzing the fingerprints from SID. With very eyes on him Tao explained all the prints matched John Colson but not from their database but the military database.
The footage of Sharon in the flower shop and grocery shopping were pulled up on Toa screen for everyone to see. After a few seconds of viewing, "Mike can you rewind a few second please," said Sharon. On the play back Sharon noticed a man about 6'1 in a cap with his back to the camera to the left of her and Andy in the grocery store. They saw the same young man at the flower shop, ice cream shop and dry cleaners following Sharon but always with his back or side view making it hard to identify him.
"Wait a minute, hold on, said Andy. We now have the fingerprints and very old childhood photos, but no current photos from the military yet. What is taking so long?"
"Did they give a reason why the delay?" asked Provenza.
"We may have cleaned up the old photo, but a current one would help identify him a lot better when we release his picture to the media," voiced Amy.
They all turned to their captain to see if she knew the guy. "Captain, do you know this guy and how has he been following you without you knowing?" Lt. Provenza was the first to voice their thoughts.
Sharon knew that she had to come clean. A few days ago I was picking up our food order and had this feeling of being watched. Before the last word was out of her mouth, everyone started to speak at once. Sharon just stared at her team not saying a word.
"Enough, everyone," said in a familiar tone that everyone knew and obeyed.
She knew that she had to apologize because these people was family and would do anything to protect her and not telling them was wrong for which she was very sorry. She glanced at Andy but could not tell what he was thinking and she could always tell. The leaps and bounds that their relationship have taken help them developed some of the other's traits. In the past he would have flew off the handle but since their relationship have gotten stronger they have made a concerted effort to keep their personal and professional lives separate.
Amy then handed mike the prints from the birth certificate so he can match it up to more unidentified prints that was left from the home of Henry Colson. Within a few minutes Tao let everyone know that it is also a match for John Colson. They made sure to collect any and all available prints on John Colson to assure an air tight case against him.
The team informed the FBI, SOB and Chief Taylor of the evidence so far on John Colson. As the team continued to work the case Sharon could not shake the feeling that it would go down this afternoon.
While spinning in his chair a thought occurred to Mike, he turned to his computer and started typing. If John Colson watched the captain every move then how would he have known her schedule at Major Crimes because some of the pictures of her were taken at work. They showed her heading to the Morgue, the Courthouse and the DA's office for meetings.
Mike pulled the department phone records to match up against any burner or mobile phone numbers that John Colson may have used. Still missing some key pieces he kept looking before he wanted to inform the team. Shortly after going over the records Tao saw that this one number called the PAB several times – especially the Major Crimes information department.
Mike then pulled the officer's name that worked on the days that the number called the department. With everyone busy Mike left the murder room to go and speak to each officer.
"Has anyone seen Mike," asked Sharon. Everyone looked up nodding no. Sharon became a little worried since she told everyone don't leave the building unless necessary and not without informing where they were going.
Two seconds later Mike appeared with a big grin on his face none the wiser of the tension his disappearance caused. As he made his way further in the room everyone visible relaxed.
"Ok, everyone, I need your attention please," said Mike. As everyone put down what they were doing and face Mike he started to tell them what he found out.
"Please no tech speak, I am not getting any younger," said Provenza. Giving Buzz side eyes to keep his mouth shut made everyone laughed and helped relieved some stress from the day.
"The pictures of the Captain had me thinking," said Mike. Especially the ones of her at work and how John would know when she would be out of the building and on what days and time. I pulled all the phone records from Major Crime's information department to match against any phone records of John Colson. So I pulled up the officer's name and time that the number called the department and a few officer's name came up. I made my way downstairs to talk to the officer's and get the recordings of the phone conversation.
"If you all would follow me to my desk," said Mike.
Starting with last week's calls, a deep voice filled the silence in the murder room. The caller asked if there was someone name Captain Raydor of the Major Crimes division. A yes, was then heard from the officer confirming and then a hang up. As they listen to conversation after conversation more details were asked by John Colson and more information was revel by the officer about the Captain and her team. But the last phone conversation was about her kids and Andy. During that phone call John Colson pretended to be Ricky wanted to surprise her at work and wanted to know her schedule for Friday afternoon which was today. They all listened as the rookie officer gave a detailed scheduled of time and place for the Captain. The only thing you could hear was the breath of every team member in the room as Mike hit stop on the last phone call.
"What's the plan?" asked Andy.
Looking at her watch and if she has to die this afternoon they needed a plan fast seeing that it is eleven thirty all ready.
SOB started to look at the different buildings high points around the PAB because that is where he mostly likely be stationed. Buzz and Mike pulled up the cameras and was looking for any sighting of John Colson.
Amy along with Julio and other uncover SIS officers took up positions around the courthouse, PAB, City Hall and the streets in plain clothes in search of John Colson. Mike got another lead from the last phone call and it was made about a mile from the PAB. He started to put together a plan of likely places that they need to concentrate efforts on. An officer from SOB had a sighting of John Colson on a roof top near the Morgue area which they figure with so much crime in L.A. that the captain would mostly likely be at the morgue more than the crime scenes.
SOB kept an eye on John Colson so if he moved location they would be able to track him. The other officers were covering every part of the building and there would be no escaping alive for him. Meanwhile another female officer from SOB dressed like Captain Raydor made her way to the morgue hoping that John would put his plan into motion.
A few seconds after stepping out of Major Crimes Division, John spotted Captain Raydor making her way to the morgue and pointed his rifle with the scope at her. Just as he was about to pulled the trigger a laser was pointed at his chest.
"Put your weapon down," shouted Amy.
John refused to put his weapon down instead aim it at Amy pulling the trigger, but Amy shot was faster and deadlier right to the middle of his chest. John Colson looked up and then with a smile fell backwards on his back not moving.
Andy, Sharon, Fritz, Taylor and Provenza waited impatiently around the radio waiting for word on the operation. Suddenly Mike voice came through letting them know that John Colson was shot dead in the chest by Amy after pointing his gun and firing at her.
A big sign of relieve was let out by everyone, but knew that this was far from over, and they had to be very careful moving forward because the person or persons at the top needed to be captured for all this to end.
Later that night Andy and Sharon had a very quiet evening that saw them hold each other and was thankful that the day was successful.
The End