DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.
A/N: Here's the next story! This story takes place the day after the last events in Baseball Blowup. Croelick has come back into Sharon and Andy's lives. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
Sharon was sitting at her desk in the middle of the work day wondering if what Bill Croelick had told them the day before held any weight. There were no reports of newly made wildfires in the area. Her team had done some research into the name Croelick gave them, Randall Myers, and they couldn't come up with anything at all. It was like Randall didn't exist.
She stood up from her desk and walked outside to the rest of the office where her team was still working on the research aspect. "There's no one by the name Randall Myers, ma'am," Julio stated as Sharon walked past his desk. "And no reports of any new wildfires starting," Amy stated as Sharon looked at a map of the forests surrounding the Los Angeles area. "Where was the last forest fire located?" Sharon asked out loud, giving anyone on the team the chance to answer her.
"It was around the Burbank area, near La Tuna Canyon Park," Andy stated as he circled the map that was on the Murder Board. "According to the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the La Tuna wildfire has been extinguished for a couple of days now," Mike added as he read the information off of his computer.
"So, where'd you get this name Commander?" Provenza asked Sharon as he turned around in his chair to face her. Sharon glanced at Andy who had his arms folded across his body as he continued to stand by the board. "It was anonymous, Lieutenant," Sharon answered her second in command. She didn't want to tell her team that the information had come from Bill Croelick, at least not yet. Andy wasn't going to say anything either, unless it came out in his anger at some point during this investigation.
"From the tip line?" Buzz chimed in on the conversation as he sat at his desk next to Mike's. "No, this was not called in to the tip line," Sharon shook her head. That part was true and she figured she could let the all know that much at least. "Maybe we're misspelling Randall Myers?" Sharon suggested and Julio ran another search in the computer database.
"How many different ways can you spell Myers?" Provenza asked as he thought the misspelling of the name was nonsense. "M-A-Y-E-R-S, M-Y-A-R-S, M-A-I-E-R-S," Buzz answered him and was going to keep going with the different spellings but Provenza cut him off. "Okay Buzz, we get the picture, ye gods!" Provenza threw his hands up in the air and turned around in his chair.
Sharon smiled at Provenza but quickly returned to the possible case they had. "Let's try all possible spellings and see what we can come up with," she said and then walked back towards her office. Andy watched her retreat and then went back to his desk. He sat down and thought about how they could move forward in the case without having to bring up Croelick's name.
Croelick reappearing twice now was starting to become a thorn in Sharon's and his sides. If he had just stayed behind bars, they wouldn't be dealing with his anonymous tip right now, and he wouldn't have met Sharon and left those notes to her months ago when they dealt with his return. But then again, if he was still in behind bars, Andy might not have joined Priority Homicide after Brenda gave him the benefit of the doubt when Croelick first reappeared in his life. Andy sighed and ran his hand over his mouth as he sat at his desk.
Sharon sat at her desk and stared out her window overlooking Los Angeles. She had to admit Bill Croelick was as creepy as they came. The way he snuck up on her at Matthew's game yesterday still disturbed her. She shook her head and then heard a knock on her office door. "Come in," she turned around in her chair and saw Provenza walk inside her office.
"Commander," Provenza sat down in front of her desk. "Something's going on with this so-called anonymous tip. Now I saw you glance at Flynn earlier when I questioned it, you two know something else, now I want you to tell me," Provenza demanded as he sat there. Sharon looked at Andy who was still sitting at his desk and she took a deep breath. "Fine, but I'm only telling you for now. I want the team to be objective as possible on this," she looked at Provenza.
"Bring Andy in here," she told him and he stood up and opened her door. "Flynn," Provenza stated quietly enough so only Andy heard him. Andy turned around and wondered what Provenza wanted. Provenza gestured to Andy to join them inside Sharon's office as he took a step back. Andy let out a puff of air before he stood up and joined them in Sharon's office. He could only guess why Provenza was summoning him there. Andy walked in and closed the door behind him. "What's up?" he asked as he looked at Sharon and then Provenza.
"Lieutenant Provenza thinks there is something going on with the anonymous tip we received," Sharon started to say. "Oh," Andy nodded his head as he moved to stand behind Sharon at her desk. "I told him that I wanted the team to be objective as possible on this," Sharon informed him as Andy leaned up against the short filing cabinet. He gestured with his hand to let Sharon know to go ahead and inform Provenza.
"While I was waiting for Andy to join me at Matthew's baseball game yesterday morning, a familiar face showed up and sat down next to me on the bleachers," Sharon started to tell Provenza as he sat there listening to her. "Who was it?" he asked her. "Croelick," Andy chimed in. Provenza shifted in his chair. "Croelick? He's back in LA?" Provenza asked. "I don't think he left," Andy added and then he let Sharon continue to inform Provenza.
"I asked him what he wanted and it's like he was stalling until Andy showed up, which he did," Sharon continued. "Oh, and I'm sure you gave our friendly Firestarter a warm welcome back!" Provenza glanced at Andy. "I grabbed him and pulled him off the bleachers, made sure he didn't have any weapons on him, yeah," Andy stood up and started to walk around her office. He wasn't pacing but he couldn't sit still all of a sudden.
"He told us that we would come across someone who likes to start fires," Sharon leaned back in her chair as she watched Andy walk around her office. "Did he mean himself?" Provenza huffed as he too was now watching Andy. Andy stopped at looked at both of them now. "No, he gave us the name Randall Myers, I just assumed common spelling," Sharon answered bringing Provenza's attention back to her.
"So why did he tell you all of this?" Provenza asked as he turned around to face Sharon again. "Because he wanted us to make sure that we knew it wasn't him setting another fire," Sharon said. "Yeah, like we should believe him," Andy scoffed under his breath, loud enough that both Sharon and Provenza heard him. "Regardless, that's why I want the team to remain objective on this," Sharon glanced at Andy and then back at Provenza.
"So we need to find this Randall Myers guy before he starts a fire?" Provenza questioned. "Yes," Sharon answered simply. "We don't even know where to start?" Provenza scoffed as he leaned back in his chair. "Well, I figured we'd start with the name for now. Once we get that, everything else should fall into place," Sharon informed him. "Okay, I'll agree to not tell the rest of the team, for now, but if things go south, and they can, very quickly," Provenza started to say. "Understood," Sharon nodded and watched Provenza walk out of her office.
Andy stayed in her office for a couple of more minutes. "Sharon, do I have your permission to run a set of fingerprints we obtained months ago?" he asked her as he stood in front of her desk. She looked at him, but didn't understand where he was going with this request. "What do you mean?" she asked him. "Remember when we were stopped at the light heading into work and someone pounded on the hood of our car?" Andy said as he was hoping that would jog her memory.
"Yes," she answered and wondered where he was taking this. "Well, there was a protest at City Hall that morning, remember the crowds of people standing in front there?" he continued and she nodded. "I looked up what the protest was about, before I came in here, and it had something to do with the Fire Department's pension," Andy concluded. "So you think this Randall Myers could be a firefighter?" Sharon asked as she worked this theory through her head.
"Possibly, I mean, some of them do like playing with fire and we have seen firefighters starting fires before," Andy sat down on the chair. Sharon looked away from him for a second and then returned to his face. "And you think by running these prints, it could lead us to," she stated, hinting for Andy to finish. "Someone who was at that protest?" Andy finished the thought.
"Fine, but I don't want you running it here?" Sharon stated. "Why not?" he questioned her. "Mike already knows about the fingerprints, he lifted them from our car back then," Andy explained to her. Sharon thought about it again. "Run them on your computer only," she told him. "Fine," he nodded and then stood up and left her office.
Andy sat down in his chair and looked at everyone in the Murder Room. They were busy trying to find this Randall Myers person. He wondered how long Sharon would sit on his theory as he pulled out the fingerprint card that had been sitting in his desk drawer all that while. He started at it for a minute before opening the application on his computer. He then scanned it into the program and clicked 'run'. Less than five minutes later, he was staring at Croelick's face on his computer as the fingerprints they had pulled off of their car months ago matched his fingerprints.
"Son of a," Andy muttered to himself and looked around the room. He got up from his desk and knocked on Sharon's door again. "Come in," he heard her say and he opened the door. "You're going to want to come and see this," he suggested to her and left the door open while he returned to his desk. Sharon joined him there and saw him point to his computer screen. "What?" she couldn't believe the fingerprints belonged to Croelick. She glanced at Andy and then at the rest of the squad.
Before she could finish her thought, Julio interrupted everyone with some new information he discovered. "Hey, I think I may have found Randall," he stated as he stood up and walked over to the printer to pick up the information he sent there. Sharon started to walk over to the Murder Board. Andy turned off his computer monitor as he didn't want anyone else to see Croelick's picture and fingerprints before he joined Sharon.
"Meet Randall Myers, spelled M-E-I-J-E-R-S, he's 42 years old and resides in Crenshaw," Julio placed Randall's picture up on the Murder Board. "Does he have an arrest record?" Sharon asked as she looked at the picture. "A very minor one, ma'am, when he was 18 he got into some trouble, was arrested a couple of times," Julio commented and then he sat down at his desk.
"What kind of trouble?" Sharon inquired further. Julio pulled up the arrest record on Randall. "Petty theft, shoplifting, and hang on a second," Julio stated as he read the report further. "Arson, ma'am," he read the report again. "Arson?" Sharon shifted and walked over to Julio's desk to read the report as well. "The charges were dropped in 1993," Julio read out loud. Sharon placed her hands on her hips and glanced over to where Andy was standing.
"Let me guess, he's a firefighter," Andy stated and Julio read through the report further. "You're right Lieutenant, how'd you know?" Julio looked at him. "Lucky guess," Andy shrugged his shoulders and then wrote that information on the Murder Board underneath Randall's picture. "According to this, he works for the LA County Fire Department," Mike stated as he brought up some more information on his computer.
"We can't bring him in yet for questioning as we don't know exactly what he did, or if he did anything at all," Sharon stated to her team as she didn't want to instigate a war between departments. She wanted to have all of the facts before they went to Randall.
"We could set up surveillance, follow him and see where he goes, especially when he's off duty," Amy suggested. "That's going to require a lot of man hours," Sharon stated knowing that the city was in a budget crisis again and they were just barely squeezing any overtime money as it was. "SIS could help us. I'm sure Lieutenant Cooper would be glad to do it," Amy offered that. Sharon thought about it and agreed.
"Call Lieutenant Cooper and have him stop by my office when he gets a chance, meanwhile, I would like to know everything about this Randall Meijers that we can find out," Sharon stated and then walked back towards her office. Amy nodded and picked up her phone to call Cooper.
"Flynn!" Provenza got Andy's attention before he returned to his desk. "A word please?" Provenza gestured to the hallway to speak and Andy walked towards the door. The two of them walked into the break room and made sure no one else was inside.
"Why doesn't she want the rest of the team to know about Croelick being the anonymous tip?" Provenza asked him. "You were in her office, she told you why. She wants the team to remain objective in this. If they found out that Croelick was behind the tip, then hell, we all could jump to the same conclusions," Andy defended Sharon's decision. Provenza knew his friend wasn't going to budge an inch on that so he changed the topic.
"How'd you know this Randall guy would be a firefighter?" he asked Andy as they continued to stand in the break room. Andy looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. "We all know that firefighters like to play with fire, right? So why wouldn't this guy be a firefighter? You and I have seen it before," Andy defended his conclusion to his friend. Provenza just kept looking at Andy. He felt that he was still holding something back.
"I don't believe you," Provenza came out and said it. Andy had looked hurt when he heard him say that. "What do you mean you don't believe me?" Andy questioned him. "You're holding back something Flynn, now what is it?!" Provenza demanded. Andy stared at his friend. "Fine," Andy gritted his teeth. "When you left Sharon's office earlier, I stayed in there to run a theory that I had thought about past her," Andy explained to him.
"A couple of months back, I was driving Sharon to work in the morning and we had come to a stop at the light on Spring and First. As we were waiting for the light to change, there were crowds of people crossing the street and heading over to City Hall. I looked down the street and saw a lot of pretesting going on. Then, one of the people walking in front of the car decided to pound on the hood. It scared both of us as we didn't know what happened. The person kept on walking towards the protests. I wanted to go after them but Sharon said to leave it alone," Andy explained.
"Anyway, long story short," Andy continued. "Too late," Provenza muttered as he listened and Andy gave him a look. "I had Mike pull the fingerprints from the hood of the car, which he did but Sharon didn't want us running them," he continued. "So what does that have to do with anything?" Provenza asked.
"Well, that protest that was going on in front of City Hall was for the Fire Department pension. So, I thought that if we ran those prints that we lifted, it might have led us to someone who was at that protest," Andy finished hoping Provenza was still following his story. "But, let me guess, it didn't," Provenza concluded. "How'd you know?" Andy asked him.
"Because I saw you get up and bring the Commander back to your desk, I could only assume you showed her who the prints came back to," Provenza answered him. Andy stood there and nodded. "So who did the prints come back to?" Provenza asked him, waiting for his answer. Andy sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Croelick," he mumbled. "Alright, I've heard enough!" Provenza said as he started to leave the break room.
"Wait a minute! Where are you going?" Andy said hot on his tail as he followed him out. "I'm going to go talk to the Commander," Provenza stated as he opened the door to the office. "Wait!" Andy said and reached his hand to stop Provenza from entering the office. "How do you know he's not playing the two of you, Flynn?" Provenza snapped back at him. "You of all people should be the first one to call his bluff!" Provenza added and Andy looked at him. Provenza then walked into the Murder Room and knocked on Sharon's door. He didn't wait for her to say anything; he just opened it and saw her sitting at her desk.
TBC
