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: Hi everyone. This is Part Two and continues where Chapter 19 of Part One ends. Also, just warning that the description of the crime may be too gruesome for some to read about.
Chapter 1
When Sharon and Andy arrived at the crime scene, there were still several fire trucks on sight. Chief Mason had called Sharon and informed her that the crime scene that her team was called out to was a house fire in the Crenshaw neighborhood, but it wasn't that simple. When firefighters arrived at the scene, the fire was mostly extinguished and as they moved through the house, they had discovered bodies that were dismembered.
As Sharon stepped out of the car, she saw the rest of her team looking over the area. She started walking towards Provenza and Andy joined her. "Lieutenant, what do we know so far?" she asked Provenza.
"Ah, Commander, isn't it nice of the Pope to call us for this," Provenza turned around and moved his hands around the crime scene.
"It is what it is, Lieutenant," Sharon said as she looked around as they waited.
"As far as we know, there are five bodies located inside the house. We are waiting for the fire department to give the all clear before we enter," Provenza continued to speak.
As he said that one of the firefighters walked over to where Amy, Julio, and Buzz were waiting and gave the all clear. Julio turned around to Provenza, Andy, and Sharon and gestured with his hand they were ready to go inside.
"Where's Lieutenant Tao?" Sharon asked the group. "He's with Kendall over there," Amy stated and pointed to the garage of the house.
"Amy, can you find out how this fire was started please," Sharon gave her an order and she nodded.
Sharon followed Provenza into the house as Andy stepped in behind her. They all had their flashlights out and aiming at the direction of where they were walking. As soon as she stepped in, Sharon was overwhelmed by the smell of burnt flesh and wood.
"Commander, you might want to put this on as we move closer to where the bodies are located," Mike told her and handed her a mask. "Thank you," she told him and placed the mask over her nose and mouth.
Mike handed the rest of the masks to the team and they went further towards the back of the house. Buzz was filming every aspect of the house as they walked. The team came to the room where the bodies were located. Kendall moved towards the room and then stopped.
"Jesus," Kendall muttered under his breath as he stepped inside the room and saw the remains of the bodies.
Andy stepped in front of Sharon, shielding her at first from having to look at the bodies but couldn't hold her back for long as she stepped right in after him and saw the room. The bodies were half burned and there were several cuts on the remaining flesh.
"What sick bastard would do this?" Andy said as he looked around, shining his flashlight, and then turned to Sharon. He saw the sadness in her eyes and placed his hand on her shoulder. "You okay?" he asked her and she quickly nodded yes.
"Kendall?" Sharon cleared her throat before she said his name. "From what I can tell right now, I'm going to say they were slashed and stabbed prior to the fire. Judging from the dried blood on the parts that are not burned, I would say time of death maybe 4 or 5 hours ago?" Kendall stated as he moved and looked at the bodies.
Just then, Amy met back up with them and walked over to Sharon. "I spoke with the Battalion Chief and he stated to the best of his knowledge, the fire started in the kitchen, the stove was turned on and it moved from there," she told her.
"So, no traces of accelerants used then?" Sharon asked out loud. "The Battalion Chief didn't think so," Amy responded and then Mike jumped into the conversation. "Commander, take a look over here," he said and Sharon walked back into the kitchen to join him.
"See this here," Mike pointed to something along the wall behind the stove that was pulled out. "What am I looking at?" she asked as Mike held the flashlight on the area. "It's an "O" ring, most gas appliances have them. They're not supposed to have this ding on them though," Mike continued.
"Could mean somebody tampered with it before the fire happened?" he added and then stood up along with Sharon. "The problem is we're not going to know," Mike concluded and Sharon walked back to where Andy was standing.
"Kendall said Morales might be able to get fingerprints off of the bodies, depending on how bad they really are when they get them to the morgue," Andy informed her and she acknowledged.
"We need to find out who owned this house and where they are," Sharon said and started to walk out of the house. She saw Julio talking to some of the neighbors and walked up to Provenza who was already outside.
"Commander, Julio is trying to get some more information from the neighbors, Kendall said it may take a while for the bodies to be ready at the morgue, do you want to head back to the office?" Provenza asked.
"Yes, have everyone meet back there when they are finished here," she told him and he nodded.
Andy walked with Sharon back to their car. He opened the passenger door for her and she slipped into the seat and settled herself. He closed the door, took one more look at the scene, and walked to the driver's side and started the car.
The drive was silent as Andy drove the car on Interstate 10. There was hardly any traffic on the road at that late of an hour. As the car turned North and headed on the 110 towards Downtown LA, Sharon reached over on the center console and intertwined her fingers with Andy's.
"Who would do something like that?" Sharon asked Andy as he drove them to the PAB. "A very sick person," Andy responded, shaking his head at the images of the bodies in his mind. Sharon took a deep breath and continued to look out the window. In no time they were pulling into the parking garage at the PAB and Andy parked the car in his spot.
He turned the car off and glanced at Sharon. She didn't move from her seat yet and he respected that she wanted to sit there for a minute. "Sharon?" he whispered as he waited for her to be ready.
"I'm fine Andy," she gave him a small reassuring smile. He squeezed her hand and they both exited the car. They walked to the elevators and Sharon leaned her head on Andy's shoulder as they rode up to the 9th floor. He glanced down at her but didn't say anything.
When they stepped off the elevator, Sharon was a little ahead of Andy as they walked back into the Murder Room. Sharon opened the door to her office and Andy went to his desk. He placed his travel coffee mug on top of his desk and sat down.
He stretched his neck and his shoulders while he sat there. He looked back to see what Sharon was doing in her office and he saw her staring out the window at the city. He knew this was going to be a hard case to deal with. By the time he turned on his computer, Provenza and Buzz walked in the room.
"I'm going to screen print the photos of the scene that I took, give me about ten minutes to do so, Lieutenant," Buzz told Provenza. "Take your time Buzz," Provenza waved his hand at him and went to his desk.
Andy stood up from his desk and walked over to join Provenza. "This is going to be a hard one," Provenza mumbled to him as he looked to see what Sharon was doing. "How is she?" he asked Andy.
Andy turned around and glanced towards her office. "She said she's fine but I know this is going to be a more gruesome case than she's used to," Andy shrugged his shoulders.
Sharon was in her office, sitting at her desk, when she looked up and saw Buzz walking over to the Murder Board and handed Andy the pictures that he took at the scene. She took that as her queue to join her two Lieutenants out there. She stood up and pulled her cardigan sweater closed and walked outside her office.
Andy started to place the photos on the board as Sharon walked over to where Provenza was sitting. "Lieutenant, did we find out who owns the house where the fire was located?" she asked him. "Ah, not yet Commander, but my guess is once we identify the bodies that were discovered in the house, we will stumble upon the owners," Provenza answered her.
Sharon gave him a look that he hasn't seen in a long time. Her eyes narrowed and lips pursed as she crossed her arms. Provenza cleared his throat before he answered her again. "I'll run the address with the city and see what we have," he mumbled. "Thank you," she simply said to him.
She turned her attention to Andy who was finished with the pictures. "If the fire department said that the fire wasn't started by arson, then how was it able to spread quickly through the house, almost destroying the whole structure?" she asked him.
"Not sure. What was Mike showing you at the house?" Andy asked as he followed her back towards her office door. She stopped and rubbed her forehead. "He thinks there might have been a faulty ring around the stove, an "O" ring, he suggested that someone could have tampered with it," she told him and he nodded, placing his hand on her shoulder.
Just then, the rest of the team came walking into the Murder Room. Andy moved to lean up on an empty desk while Julio, Amy, and Mike filtered into their desks. "Commander, I spoke to the neighbors across the street from the house. They said the Millers resided there, but they haven't seen them in a couple of days. Didn't know if they went out of town or not," Julio stated as he read from his notebook.
"Hmm, the Millers," Sharon said as she walked from the desk to the board. "Lieutenant Provenza, perhaps you can start there," she eyed him with a smirk. "Yes, Commander," Provenza cleared his throat as he mumbled. Sharon wrote down the name on the board and turned around to face the team.
Julio and Amy laughed at Provenza for a brief second and then returned to the seriousness of the case. "Kendall counted five bodies at the scene, but the Millers are a family of two," Amy added and Sharon wrote that on the board.
"So, five bodies, the Millers are a family of two, if the bodies do belong to the Millers, who are the other three?" Sharon questioned as she looked at her team. "They could be anyone from family to friends," Mike suggested.
"Or complete strangers," Andy added, shrugging his shoulders. Sharon turned to the board again and glanced at the pictures. "No identification was left?" she asked.
"No," Mike answered her and walked over to the printer to pick up the paper that he had sent there.
"Here's what an "O" ring should look like on the back of a stove, and here is what it looked like on the back of the stove inside the house," Mike pointed out as he put the pictures on the board.
"We'll need the fire department's final report on the matter before we can jump to conclusions on how the fire started, meanwhile let's concentrate on the bodies that were discovered in the house," Sharon told her team.
"From the way they were cut up, are we looking at a serial killer?" Julio asked. "That and/or someone who likes fire," Provenza added.
Andy swallowed hard at that thought. He wasn't going to bring up his name again. He thought running into him on the street the other day was just a coincidence. Besides, why would Provenza bring up that if the only one who knew he had run into Croelick was Sharon.
"Croelick doesn't dismember his victims like the ones that were discovered," Andy found himself answering Provenza's statement and glanced over at Sharon. She nodded in agreement. He straightened up from leaning on the desk when she walked over to him.
"Let's concentrate on the bodies first, see if any missing person reports were filed recently," Sharon suggested again to her team, lightly touching Andy's forearm, and walked towards her office. That simple touch from her grounded him as he watched her retreat to her office.
Andy started to walk back to his desk when Provenza called out his name. "Flynn!" he said and Andy turned around and looked at him. "What?" he asked as everyone else got back to the task at hand. Provenza simply pointed to the hallway and stood up from his desk. Andy hung his head and followed him out there.
"You know the Commander said we need to concentrate on the bodies and identifying them, I don't think she meant for us to have a meeting out here," Andy started as soon as they stepped outside the office. No one was around so they didn't have to worry about being interrupted.
"What's going on?" Provenza asked him. "I don't know what you're talking about," Andy answered and folded his arms across his chest. "Why don't you start by telling me what happened to your face?" Provenza quipped back at his friend.
Andy huffed and scratched his head before he spoke. "We went to Emily's performance Friday night, like planned, and Jack was there with his date, one thing leads to another, and at the end of the night, we end up throwing punches at each other," he muttered.
"Oh, I'm sure the Commander wasn't too thrilled with that," Provenza raised his eyebrows as he looked at Andy. "Hard to tell," Andy mumbled as he leaned up against the wall. Provenza gave him a look and inquired further.
"He threw the first punch if that's what you're wondering," Andy added and started to walk towards the break room. "Hey, I'm not done with this conversation yet," Provenza followed him. "Then follow me to the break room," Andy was irritated now as he turned the corner and opened the Break Room door.
"Everything is fine between Sharon and me if that's what you're worried about," Andy offered that little fact and started to make a pot of coffee. "I'm not worried about that, that's between you and the Commander," Provenza stated.
"But I am worried about you and your obsession with Croelick," Provenza added which shocked Andy. "My obsession, with that dirtbag!" Andy turned around and looked at his friend. "Why else would you bring up his name so quickly?" Provenza asked him.
Andy was going to say something but then closed his mouth and just shook his head. "Don't worry about that," he simply told Provenza as he waited for the coffee to be ready. Provenza looked at him and nodded.
"Do you want a cup?" Andy asked him. "What do you think?" Provenza quickly responded as he took his mug from the cabinet and placed it on the counter in front of Andy.
TBC