The Flip Side

It was the start of yet another day and yet Sharon Raydor already wanted to go home.

Normally Sharon enjoyed her job and ever since the team started getting used to her it was almost nice to come to work each day.

But Sharon couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen today.

Sharon was above all else a sensible person so feelings like this drove her crazy because she couldn't figure out what was causing the feeling. Not to mention the fact that when she did get this feeling there was not much she could do to keep the bad thing from happening.

Tao calling her from the squad room drove the unhappy thoughts from her head for the time being.

"Captain?"

"Yes? Did we get a new case?" Sharon asked, knowing that Tao had just come from Taylor's office.

"Yes, Ma'am. Someone found a boy downtown that matches a series of past cases."

Nodding her head, Sharon got up from her desk and gathered her things.

"Well then let's go meet the rest of the squad at the crime scene."

The dead body turned out to be a teenage boy and Sharon couldn't help but think of Rusty when she saw him.

In terms of looks the boy could have been brothers with Rusty, which was not a connection that Sharon wanted to make considering the torture wounds on the body.

Looking at the body made Sharon grateful that Rusty had gotten off the street and avoided the similar fate like so many boys on the street did.

Clearing her throat, Sharon turned to Provenza.

"Do we know anything about the boy yet?"

Provenza shook his head.

"He didn't have any identification on him. We'll fingerprint him and hopefully he'll be in the system for something."

"Captain." Sanchez called from beside the body. "There's something you might want to look at over here."

Sharon walked over to Sanchez, nodding to Morales as she knelt by the body.

It was clear what Sanchez had called her over for.

The body had been written on in what looked like black marker.

All it said was "I obey."

Deeply disturbed by the message Sharon got up and let Morales take the body.

There was nothing else standing out about the crime scene but Sharon made sure that everything was completely searched.

After a long search of the crime scene the squad bagged all of their evidence and headed back to the office.

The odd thing was the feeling in the pit of Sharon's stomach was getting worse as the minutes passed.

"Hey, Sharon."

Sharon jumped as the voice spoke up as she opened the door to her office.

Then she relaxed when she realized that the voice belonged to Rusty.

"Rusty, please don't startle me like that. What are you doing in here anyways? Shouldn't you be in your cubicle doing your homework?" Sharon smiled at him as he stood up.

"Yeah I should. I just came in here to see if you were back before I got to work. Did you just get back?"

"Yes I did but you know I can't tell you anything else. Now let's go so you can get on that homework."

Sharon smiled again as they walked out of the office but her smile soon disappeared.

A woman was walking towards them and suddenly Sharon knew that this woman was the event that Sharon had been dreading all day.

Sanchez stood up, walking towards the woman with a smile on his face that made it clear that he was interested but the woman ignored him, focusing on Raydor and Rusty instead.

"Captain Raydor? I'm Emma Rios, with the District Attorney's office. I've taken over the Stroh case and I was hoping that I could speak with you." Rios glanced at Rusty. "Alone, of course. I'll deal with the witness at a later time."

Sharon looked at her squad but they looked just as surprised as she felt.

"Alright. I would be happy to speak with you, Ms. Rios. Rusty, I believe you said that you had homework that had to be done?"

Sharon stressed Rusty's name, annoyed that Ms. Rios had just called him the witness instead of using his name.

Rusty hesitated, unsure of the new woman.

But finally he nodded. "Yeah….Homework. I'd better get on that."

Glancing at Ms. Rios again, Rusty headed to his cubical.

Sharon gestured to her office. "If you wouldn't mind….."

But she didn't even finish the sentence before Ms. Rios got into the office.

Sharon made sure the rest of the squad knew what to do before she followed Ms. Rios into the office.

Judging by the looks that her squad was sending towards the office, Sharon could tell that they didn't like the new woman any more than she did.

She knew something bad was going to happen today.