Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or settings below – I am only borrowing them – and will not be financially benefitting from the story in anyway. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author Notes: Thanks for the lovely reviews – they were very encouraging and big hugs to Mellow_Mel for the beta!
You'll Get Yours - Chapter 2
It was 15 minutes before Sharon arrived in the parking garage. She quietly opened the driver's door to her silver Hyundai Genesis and slid into the seat - without so much as a glance in Rusty's direction.
Silently, she put the car into reverse - before steering them out onto the streets of LA.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sharon could feel Rusty watching her. She wanted to speak to him, to put on a brave face – to act normal; but it had taken everything she had to simply leave her apartment.
'When was the card delivered? Was the sender still in the building? How the hell did they get past security?'
Rusty cleared his throat and Sharon tensed; if he asked her what was wrong, she may crack.
xXx
Rusty nibbled on his lower lip, bouncing his right leg on the ball of his foot nervously as he eyed his caregiver with suspicion.
Sharon had been working a lot recently; it was a rarity for her to be home in the morning to drive him to school. When she did, ordinarily the drive would be filled with chatter about his impending school day; she would pester him about homework and tease him about girls.
He pretended to hate it - but in truth, he treasured those mornings; they made him feel like family.
In that moment - all Rusty felt was uncomfortable.
Sharon appeared a little pale - her jaw was tense and she gripped at the steering wheel tightly with both hands.
'What the hell was in that envelope?'
He cleared his throat, but before he could verbalise the question - it was Sharon that broke the silence; "Rusty, I want you to come to the station right after school." She kept her eyes on the road.
"But Sharon, why?" Rusty wailed, the suspicious envelope instantly forgotten in the face of not being able to use his birthday gift immediately. "I wanted to set up my PlayStation and…"
"No buts, Rusty." She said firmly, as they pulled up at some lights. "You will come to the station, and we will go home together; understood?" This time she did look at him, glaring at the young man from behind her dark rimmed spectacles.
"Fine." Rusty huffed defeatedly - crossing his arms at his chest and looking out of the window. "Happy birthday, Rusty."
xXx
Sharon marched purposefully through the foyer of HQ; her gaze focussed on the elevators dead ahead. She clutched her purse tightly to her chest; a red envelope lay in its leather confines - the contents of which weighed heavily on her mind.
'You'll get yours, bitch.'
Even after all these years, those words cut straight to her heart.
In her mind's eye, Sharon replayed the night she had first heard them – how they were yelled angrily across Detective Banston's front yard.
It was an empty threat; words spoken in the heat of the moment - but even though it happened almost twenty years ago, she remembered it vividly.
The Banston case should have ended with the detective's arrest - and for several years, Sharon thought it had.
That was until she received her first envelope.
"Testing your powers of telekinesis, Captain?" Sharon started as a familiar voice dragged her into the present; she glanced over her shoulder to see Lieutenant Andy Flynn standing closely behind.
"Andy," She greeted him with flatly, but as he reached around to press the elevator button he leaned in a little closer and Sharon took a step to the side - slightly flustered by his proximity.
He didn't seem to notice; "in my experience, elevators come quicker if you actually call them."
"Sorry, I…" Sharon felt herself blushing, not something the poker-faced Captain often did. "I'm a little distracted this morning..."
"Oh," Andy rocked back on his heels and clasped his hands in front of him; watching the elevator light up numbers as it descended to ground level. "Everything alright?"
"Everything is fine, Lieutenant." The elevator reached ground level and with a 'ping' and the doors slowly opened.
Sharon was the first to board, ensuring that this time - she remembered to hit the button.
As the metal doors slid closed, she could feel Andy's eyes on her.
xXx
"We just caught a case!" Without raising his head to face his superior officer, Lieutenant Louis Provenza waved a white sheet of paper in the air – he had instantly recognised the gait of the Wicked Witch approaching; her heels clipping rhythmically on the linoleum. "Hollywood division just sent this over…"
"Can I at least have my coffee first?"
Provenza, was not expecting the reply to come from Flynn; he glanced up to see his partner in crime approaching with Raydor; "you can get it to go…" the elder detective held up his own coffee flask "mines milk and one."
"Yes, your Highness." Andy quipped, taking the proffered flask and signalling to Sharon, "You want?"
"No - thank you…" She set her purse down heavily on Sykes's empty desk and gripped the leather handle; a new case was the last thing Sharon needed right now. "Good morning, Lieutenant Provenza, Julio…is everybody else here?"
"Morning ma'am," Detective Sanchez looked up from his monitor. "Buzz and Sykes are in the break-room and Tao's on his way. Did Rusty like his gift?"
"He did," Sharon nodded and offered him a tight smile. "Thank you for your help, Julio."
As she removed her trench coat, she turned to her most experienced detective, "Lieutenant Provenza, gather the team – get Mike on conference – you can brief us before we leave."
"Aye Aye Captain," Provenza reached for the phone.
Sharon threaded her coat through the handles of her handbag and watched him make the call; the sooner this case was solved - the better.
xXx
"Our victim's name is Jessica Ardell; 19 years old – found dead early this morning at an address on La Messa."
"Nice!" Sykes eyebrows' retreated to her hairline; that was an affluent part of town. "Rich kid?"
"No Sykes," Provenza answered the younger detective in his usual disparaging tone, "…our victim was an assistant to TV actress, Amber Moore."
'Something's definitely off with the Captain,' Andy was distracted by Sharon pacing the office as she listened to Provenza's briefing.
The pacing in itself wasn't strange; the Captain often walked the floor – it was part of her process.
What didn't sit right with Andy - was her lack of reaction to the victim.
Jessica was young.
Having spent years working Homicide, Flynn had developed a second skin when it came to dealing with most violent crimes; it wasn't an impervious skin, but having spent almost her entire career in Internal Affairs - Captain Raydor was a little more sensitive.
To Andy's trained eye; it was obvious that kids were her weakness.
It wasn't a huge tell – the Captain most likely didn't even realise that she had one…but she always flinched. And for the briefest of moments, it was written all over her face; 'what if that was my child?'
He had first noticed it back when the Chief still running the unit, and Raydor was just poking around in a case.
Truthfully, this type of reaction wasn't so unusual for an officer with kids of her own; Andy wouldn't have paid much attention - if it hadn't gone completely in the face of Raydor's 'ice queen' reputation.
That contradiction intrigued him.
Now, working with her every day and listening to Rusty divulge snippets of their home life together, 'Sharon' had started to seep through the small cracks in the Captain's armour.
She may not be as tough as she made out, but she was always focused at work.
Right now, as Andy watched her pacing backwards and forwards – a frown creasing her brow – he wasn't watching Captain Raydor; he was looking at Sharon, which meant that something was definitely off.
"Amber who?" The question dragged Andy from his thoughts and back into the room, where he was met with a questioning gaze from Amy Sykes.
At Andy's shrug, Amy's eyes moved quickly around the team for an answer, until assistance came from an unexpected source.
"Amber Moore," Tao offered over loud speaker. "She plays the part of Pricilla Davies on Days. Her character actually went blind from shock when she found her twin sister Sasha – whom she also played – in bed with her fiancé, Marco."
Provenza rocked back in his chair and rolled his eyes as the rest of the team stifled their smiles – everyone but Sharon, who had stopped wearing a hole in the floor and was gesturing impatiently for the briefing to continue.
"Lieutenant Tao," Provenza continued, scowling at Raydor, "thank you so much for that detailed insight into the world of the soap opera." He rested his forearms on his desk and clasped his hands in front of him, "Miss Ardell, was found face down in the hall way to the stars home; Hollywood division got a call early this morning when the actress found our victim in a pool of blood. Miss Ardell's throat had been slashed – no murder weapon was recovered at the scene – no signs of forced entry."
"This actress have an alibi?" Sanchez enquired.
"Apparently, she was at a party."
Sharon crossed her arms at her waist. "Lieutenant Tao - where are you right now?"
"On the interstate – should I head right over to the scene?"
"Yes do – the team will meet you there; Lieutenant Provenza will give you the address." Sharon grabbed her purse and trench from Sykes desk and began the retreat to her office. "Oh and Lieutenant Provenza," She called over her shoulder, "can you text me the address, also?"
At his puzzled expression she continued.
"I will be meeting you at the scene," She said stoically, "there is something I need to do before I leave."
As Sharon shut the door to her office, Andy got to his feet and approached Provenza's desk, "she seem okay to you?"
"What? Raydor? Let's see…she's uptight, she's bossy…." He frowned for affect. "Nope – she seems perfectly fine to me."
Andy wasn't so convinced; his gaze drifted to the glass walls of Raydor's office - just in time to see her snap the blinds shut.
xXx
In the comfort and privacy of her own office, Sharon removed the envelope from her purse and sat it on the desk.
She felt sick.
The letter was evidence; she was breaking the rules.
Inhaling deeply, she switched on her monitor and navigated the computer to Google; finding what she required – she picked up the handset to her phone, punching in a number.
The line rang twice before someone answered; "Ridgewater Psychiatric Hosptial, how can I direct your call?"
"Good morning, my name is Captain Sharon Raydor…"
TBC
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