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 picks up the next day after the events in "Swiping Assets". Warning: this is going to be a dark and sad story so sorry if that bothers some people.

Chapter 1

It was Tuesday morning and yesterday, Provenza and Sykes were at the courthouse all day waiting for the sentencing hearing on Ally Moore. The rest of the team had dealt with miscellaneous paperwork until they had returned later that afternoon. Sharon had told them all to go home and they did. Andy had got a call that night from Robby Oderno saying that he had dropped off a file on Andy's desk and asked him to take a look at it when he could.

Now that the team was back in the morning, Andy had briefly read the report that was left on his desk. Missing person cases were always hard on the families and on the police as well. This one was no exception. A little boy had been missing for a couple of months. Robby had hoped that Major Crimes would be able to find a new lead as all of his on this case were frozen. That's at least what he had told Andy in the note that he left with the file.

Andy glanced up at the calendar on his desk. It was almost Memorial Day weekend and they were scheduled to be off. He had promised Sharon, Matthew, and Rusty tickets to the Dodgers vs. Cubs game that Monday, which meant that if they did take on this case, it would give him and the rest of the team one week to solve it.

Sharon had told him to find a dirt bag so that she could arrest him, and maybe then things would get back to being normal after the whole Ally Moore situation. Andy was hopeful with that, and he was hopeful with this case. He looked up from his desk to see Provenza walk back into the office. "What are you reading, Flynn?" Provenza called out to him as he sat down at his desk.

"Some missing persons case that Oderno wanted me to take a look at. He said all of his leads on this case froze up and wanted another pair of eyes to look it over," Andy explained as he stood up with the file in his hands and walked over to join Provenza at his desk.

"What? Missing Persons is giving us their cases to solve now? As if we didn't have enough work of our own to do," Provenza shook his head. "Would you relax!" Andy said and handed him the file. "This is a sad case," he added as he stood there. Provenza looked over the file. "Of course it's a sad case, all missing persons cases are sad," Provenza claimed as he read the report.

"Says here that the father was found not too far from where the boy went missing. The boy went with his father camping in Topanga State Park in March of this year," Provenza read and then he glanced up at Andy. "Who goes camping in March?" Andy asked. "I don't know," Provenza stammered and then handed the file back to Andy.

"It also says further down, if you read the whole thing, that the father was found on Palisades drive not too far from one of the trails. He was beaten up and his car was wrecked," Andy continued to explain to Provenza. "So, what do you want me to do? We just got done with one case, in case you don't remember, you want us to take on a missing persons case now? It's almost Memorial Day weekend, Patrice and I have plans to go out of town!" Provenza stated.

"I know, we have plans too, but I think this should be looked at," Andy said as he glanced over at Sharon who was sitting in her office. "Fine," Provenza muttered and then Andy started putting some things on the Murder Board.

Julio and Amy walked in with Mike. They were returning from the break room and saw Andy standing at the board. "Did we catch a case, sir?" Julio asked Provenza. "Robby Oderno gave Flynn here a case that went cold on him and he wanted another pair of eyes. I think we can take a look at it as a team and, who knows, maybe solve it in time for the weekend!" Provenza said. "But I am warning all of you, this is about a missing boy, just so you know," he added and pointed at each of them. They nodded and returned to their desks.

Sharon looked up from her paperwork and saw Andy putting some things up on the Murder Board. Had he gotten his dirt bag for her to arrest so quickly, she thought to herself. She shook her head and decided to join the team. "What's going on here, Lieutenants?" Sharon walked up to the Murder Board as Andy turned around.

"This is the case that Robby wanted us to take a look at. He said something didn't sit right with him on it and wanted another pair of eyes to look through the file," Andy said to her and handed her the file he was holding. She remembered him calling Andy last night about a case, but then Andy had distracted her. She paged through it and stopped at the picture of the young boy. He couldn't have been much older than Matthew. "So what's going on with this?" she asked him.

"Well, from what I have read so far, the father, a Mr. Colin Paxson, took his son camping at Topanga State Park back in March of this year. It was his weekend to have his son and when he didn't return back at the agreed time, his ex-wife called the cops," Andy explained. "The cops found him on Palisades drive not too far from one of the trails. It looked like he was beaten up and wrecked his car," he added. "The boy has been missing since then. The father was interviewed by Brentwood division early on and they contacted Missing Persons a day later," Provenza stated.

Sharon looked at the items that Andy had placed and written on the board. "Do we know where the father is located now?" Sharon asked them. "I'll look him up, ma'am," Julio raised his hand and then started typing on his computer. "Also, we need to talk to the ex-wife, and call Robby Oderno. I'd like to speak to him about this case in person," Sharon said as she turned around and looked at her team.

Fifteen minutes later, Julio came back with some information regarding the father. "Okay, so it looks like our Mr. Paxson resides at a house in the Beverly Hills area," Julio stated as he read his computer screen. "Lifestyles of the rich and famous!" Provenza chimed in and Sharon gave him a side glance. "Julio, you and Mike go find our rich and famous guy, and see if he's willing to speak to us," Sharon said as she moved closer to the board.

"Amy, do we know where the ex-wife lives yet?" she asked her. "From what I gathered regarding the latest court records, she resides in West Hollywood," Amy stated and then walked over to the printer and picked up the current photo of the ex-wife. She then placed a nickel in Provenza's jar as he held it out for her.

"Lieutenant, I want you and Amy to find our ex-wife. I think she will be more than willing to talk to us about this," Sharon stated to Provenza. "I think so, Commander. Something tells me she will be," Provenza said as he stood up from his chair and placed his suit jacket back on. Then he and Amy left the Murder Room.

"Robby is on his way up here to talk to us," Andy said to Sharon as he hung up his phone. He was currently sitting at his desk and she walked over to him. "Good," she said as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "This boy looks younger than Matthew in this picture," Sharon said as she handed the picture of the boy to Andy. "I know," he said as she looked at her.

"Commander, Lieutenant," Robby Oderno said as he walked into the Murder Room. Sharon turned around to address him. "I'm glad you could join us on such short notice," she said as she shook his hand. "Well, I'm glad that you guys are looking at this case," Robby said as he nodded to Andy. "What can you tell us about this," she asked him as they all walked into her office. Andy closed the door behind them.

Sharon leaned up against her file cabinet in back of her desk as she listened to Robby explain to her and Andy what he had discovered and why his leads went cold. "I suspected the father at first. He had no recollection of the accident occurring, just stated that when he came to, his son was gone from the car," Robby stated. Andy glanced at Sharon and she met his eyes. "But, I couldn't find anything concrete linking him to his son's disappearance," he added. "What about an Amber Alert? Was there one issued at that time?" Sharon asked. "We didn't have any evidence that showed the kid was kidnapped. Besides, the father couldn't describe anything to us," Robby looked at Sharon.

"What about the ex-wife?" Sharon asked him. "I know she wasn't involved. They were going through a custody battle after their divorce and she won custody of the boy. However, the judge granted visitation rights to the father every other weekend starting back in January of this year," Robby stated. "So, the father plans a weekend trip to go camping with his son, something happens on this trip, he gets beat up, and his son conveniently goes missing," Andy shook his head as he folded his arms across his chest.

"We searched for the boy in the state park, there was no sign of him anywhere. Even the dogs couldn't pick up his scent back then," Robby stated as he looked at Sharon and Andy. "So, it's like he vanished, but how and why?" Sharon stated as she tried working the case through her head.

Robby started to stand up from his seat. "If you can somehow tie the father into this, I know he was involved, I just couldn't prove it," he said and then made his way to the office door. "Thanks Oderno, I'll let you know if we get anything," Andy said and then Robby left. Andy turned around to face Sharon. "So, what do you think?" he asked her. "I'm not sure," she said to him.

Meanwhile, Julio and Mike arrived at the father's house and walked up the walkway to the front door. Julio took a look around the area and Mike pressed the doorbell. A few seconds later, a young blond woman answered the door. "Oh, excuse me miss. LAPD, we are looking for a Mr. Colin Paxson, is he here by any chance?" Mike asked her. She smiled at him. "Of course, let me go get him for you," she said and then turned around and left the door open.

Mike and Julio both looked at each other and Mike raised his eyebrow. Colin Paxson then came to the door. "Yes, can I help you?" he asked Mike and Julio. "Mr. Paxson?" Mike asked him. "Yes, what is this about?" he asked again. "It's about your missing son, sir," Julio said. "Did you find him?" he said with a worried look. "Um, no, we have not yet found him. We were wondering if you could answer a few questions about the incident a couple of months ago," Mike stated as he looked behind the father and saw the same woman standing in the hallway. "Preferably downtown at our office," he added.

"Oh, um, yeah. I can do that, ah give me a minute," he said and then turned around and spoke to the young woman. He then grabbed his car keys and walked out the front door. "Oh, you won't be needing those sir, you can ride with us," Julio said as he pointed to the car keys. "We prefer it that way," Mike added. "Sure," Mr. Paxson nodded and went with them to their car.

Just east of them, Provenza and Amy were standing at the front door of the ex-wife's house and Amy rang the doorbell. "Hopefully she's home," she said to him as they waited and then the door unlocked. "Ah, Mrs. Genna Paxson?" Provenza asked her. "Yes," she nodded. "LAPD, ma'am," Amy said. "Oh my god, did you find him? Did you find my son?" she said as she braced herself on the door frame. "Um, no, we haven't found your little boy yet. We were wondering if it was possible for you to answer some questions we have regarding the missing of your boy, Hudson," Provenza calmly told her.

"Sure, come on in, please," she said as they walked inside her house. "Please, have a seat, would you like something to drink?" she asked as they took a seat on the chairs in the living room. "Um, no, we're fine, thank you," Provenza answered her and she sat down across from them. "What would you like to know?" she asked them.

"Well, we'd like to know the custody arraignment you had with your ex-husband regarding Hudson," Amy asked her. "I had won full custody of Hudson, because Colin was unfit to be his father. But, back in January, the judge had granted him custody every other weekend, he had to check in with a social worker and eventually, he was on his own with my son," she said in a bitter tone.

"And what happened when Hudson went missing?" Provenza asked her. "Colin had taken him camping. It was all Hudson would talk about weeks leading up to the trip," she started to talk as her hands shook a little. "He was excited to go, but I was hesitant to let him," she continued as she wiped a tear from her eye. Provenza quickly glanced at Amy and then offered the ex-wife his handkerchief. She took it and wiped her eyes with it.

"When Colin didn't show up Sunday with Hudson, I started to panic and I called the police. I had told them where they had gone to and they informed me that they would send someone in the area to look for his car. They had found Colin, in his car, wrecked not too far from the state park, he was beat up but there was no sign of Hudson," she continued to tell them.

"I called missing persons a day later and spoke to a Detective Oderno on the phone. He assured me that he would look into his disappearance. I knew they were searching for him because he kept me up to date on the progress, but about two weeks ago, Detective Oderno spoke to me over the phone and said that he had ran out of leads on the case," she said as she wiped her tears.

"That's why when I saw you two standing there, I thought you were going to tell me that you found my boy," she cried. Provenza placed his hand on her shoulder. "It's okay," he whispered to her and let her cry. "Detective Oderno gave us this case, and we are going to look into it, and I promise you, we will find your little boy," Provenza said to her a few minutes later and then he and Amy left the house.

As they walked back to their car, Amy turned to Provenza. "So, do you think she's somehow involved?" she asked him as she opened the driver's side door. "If she is, she's a great actress," Provenza answered as he got in the passenger side. They drove back to the PAB.

TBC