A Series of Unfortunate Events
Disclaimer: These are not my characters they are fully James Duffs. I just love them so much and love to play with them
Chapter 1
Friday evening 8:00pm
Fresh from a shower, Sharon stood the kitchen in a white fluffy robe, with matching white mule slippers, and very little else. Andy had gone to an AA meeting and would pick up dinner on the way home. Then, they had plans to take full advantage of their alone time in the condo. Rusty was in Cathedral City babysitting his sister for Jim and Linda and his other mother. They each had something important to do today and had asked Rusty to babysit a month before, once they realized that they had scheduled events on the same day. The Lewis's were going to a high school reunion event taking place in San Diego. Sharon Beck had to work till 2 in the afternoon at Target, and then had to get a bus to get to her study group. She was studying to get her GED. Then she had two hours left to complete her community service at the homeless shelter, which was around the corner from her study group.
Now that Isabella Esme' Beck, Bella for short, was four months old, Rusty was a little more comfortable with his baby sister, and had agreed to babysit albeit with some trepidation. Over the past month he had spent every weekend in Cathedral City. While he was there over those weekends he'd babysat for an hour here and two hours there. Increasing the time gradually so he could manage an entire day with her by himself. While he became more and more comfortable with being alone with Bella, he still panicked if she cried for a long period of time.
As Sharon waited for Andy to get home from his meeting she poured a cup of raspberry peach tea, and then sat down on her couch to read her text messages. She noticed there were several from Rusty. The first three were from earlier and she had answered them already.
7:00am Mom, arrived at Jim and Linda's.
She answered Good. Glad you're safe. Have a great day.
7:30am Bella smiled at me when she saw me. Soo cool!
See it's nice to have a baby sister, isn't it? ?
Yeah, I guess it is.
5:45pm Mom, Jim and Linda and my other mother left several hours ago and other than being a little fussier than usual Bella seemed fine, but now she's screaming and she won't stop or go to sleep. What do I do? ?
She suggested a warm bath, a bottle and a ride in the car if all else failed.
7:00pm Mom, I took Bella for a drive to get her to go to sleep like you suggested but she's still screaming. Arrived back at Jim and Linda's to get her health card and custody papers so I can take her to the clinic down the street, but the door's wide open, police are everywhere! What should I do?
7:15pm Mom, where are you? Some police guy is taking Bella and I to the police station in Cathedral City.
7:40pm Mom the DCFS worker took Bella and won't give her back! Mom, where are you? Help me! They won't tell me what's going on, but they're acting like they think I did something wrong! Mom, I'm scared!
The last texts had been from fifteen minutes ago, to a half an hour ago. She'd been in the shower then. As Sharon ran to her bedroom she texted, "Was in the shower! I'll get there as fast as I can! She threw on some black jeans, a white t-shirt and her coral jacket. Quickly she packed an overnight bag for her and Andy and was putting her boots on when Andy arrived home.
He started to throw his keys on the table in the foyer, but noticed Sharon was on her way out with an overnight bag she handed him. There was a mixture of worry, dread, anger and something he couldn't name on her face.
"Where are we going?" he asked curiously. He took for granted that he was going with her.
As she threw on her black trench coat, grabbed her purse and other belongings, she kissed him and pushed him gently in the direction of the front door. "Up to the roof, to wait for Fritz. He'll fly us to Cathedral City PAB in his helicopter."
"Wait! Fritz has a helicopter? Since when?" Andy asked shocked.
"Don't know, it was news to me too. Anyway, Rusty needs us and this will take less time. We can use Rusty's car on the way back." While she'd gotten dressed, Sharon had called Chief Mason and explained to the best of her ability, what little she knew of the situation. He had suggested asking Fritz to fly her there.
She had balked at using LAPD resources but he had assured her that it was a private helicopter that would be used, Fritz's own. She had not realized Fritz flew, let alone owned his own helicopter, but she supposed it made sense. He was the head of SOB and he loved all things that flew, airplanes, helicopters, jets you name it. So, she had called him and he had readily agreed, telling her to meet him on the roof in twenty minutes. He'd been planning on doing some flying anyway so he was already enroute to the hangar where he kept his helicopter. He was meeting Brenda in San Francisco, since she was there on business, this would just mean he'd need to stop in Cathedral City instead of passing above it on the way to see Brenda.
As Sharon and Andy made their way to the roof of Los Feliz' towers she told him about what was happening with Rusty and why they were heading to Cathedral City in a helicopter instead of having dinner at the condo and making good use of having the condo to themselves. They neared the door to the roof and could hear the helicopter approaching. Andy opened the door and the noise was overwhelming not to mention the wind from the blades whipping Sharon's hair into her face. She was thankful she hadn't worn a dress. Fritz gestured for them to come towards the helicopter once he touched down. They got in and put on the headsets, to cut out the noise and so she could tell him where they were going. He put it into the GPS system and Andy and Sharon buckled themselves in. With a nod to Fritz they felt themselves being lifted into the night sky.
Sharon chewed on her lip and tried hard not to look down. She'd flown before but never in a helicopter. She usually enjoyed flying but this was different from being in an airplane. There wasn't near enough metal between her and the night air. She had her black trench coat on but it wasn't enough, she was freezing. Out of the corner of his eye Fritz saw her shivering and pointed to a compartment that had heavy jackets of different sizes. Andy helped her find her size and one that would fit him. She and Andy put them on and he held Sharon's hands between his to keep them keep away the chill. She knew the coat she was wearing was Brenda's because it was bright pink with pink feather trim. It wasn't her color or style but it was warm. Sharon sent Andy a glare at seeing him smirking at her.
They arrived in Cathedral city twenty-five minutes later. Fritz landed on the roof of the Police Station in Cathedral City, after contacting them and letting them know his intentions and those of his passengers. As they disembarked from the helicopter Sharon handed Fritz a check that covered the cost of the fuel and his time. He shook his head and tried to refuse, "Sharon, you don't have to…"
She opened his hand and placed in his palm as she said, "yes, I do Fritz. Fuel is expensive. Thank you for getting us here so quickly."
"I was heading to San Francisco to see Brenda anyway. Here, take it back, it's too much," he tried to give her the check back.
Sharon refused to take it. Instead she placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. "No, use it for a night on the town with Brenda. Believe me you saved us hours on the freeway."
"Do you want me to stay and take you back?" he asked.
"No thanks, we'll have Rusty's car to get back with and apparently him and his baby sister will be joining us. Besides, I have no idea when we'll be coming back. Thank you though this was a big help, now we've got to get to my son."
Fritz nodded, wished them luck and closed the door to the helicopter to begin to rise up in the air. She and Andy waved and then they picked their way down the steep steps to the elevators to get to where they were holding Rusty. They arrived at the office of the captain of the Cathedral City police station and while they waited to be shown in, Sharon stood tall and put on her best Darth Raydor mask.
A tall dark haired middle aged man stood up and greeted them, "good evening. I'm Captain Anthony Michael Weatherly, and you are the famous Commander Raydor and the famous Lieutenant Flynn. Nice to meet you both Commander and Lieutenant. What can I do for you?"
Sharon was non-plussed. News of her promotion to Commander had spread quickly, and apparently as far as Cathedral City. She cleared her throat to give herself time to respond. "I don't know about famous, Captain, I just know you are holding my son Rusty and keeping his baby sister away from him and not explaining yourself to him. I need to be briefed on what's going on and then I want to see him. Also, I need you to turn Bella over to us."
"Don't be modest Commander, news of your recent heroism at the LAPD is already legendary. However, as the head of Major Crimes, you should know that we don't always reveal pertinent information to persons of interest, potential witnesses or suspects in a triple murder," Weatherly said condescendingly.
"Are you kidding me?" Sharon questioned in her best Darth Raydor tone. "You are holding my son in suspicion of a triple murder. Whose, pray tell?"
TBC…