Thank you to everyone for your continued support for this story! Here's the next chapter.

As always, I do not own Major Crimes or any of the fabulous characters.


Chapter Three

The next day, the squad continued to interview regulars from the coffee shop Amy Martin frequented. Things were moving at a snail's pace, and the lack of forward progress had frustrations high and Taylor breathing down their necks. Sharon was still waiting to receive the personal notes from the detective in San Diego, although, she wasn't sure what good the information would do since there had been two murders since.

By late afternoon, the team was scattered with some members staying behind to continue to research the previous cases. The murder room was quiet when a handsome middle aged man entered. He looked around with purpose and finally settled on Sykes.

"Excuse me," the man began. Amy looked up.

"Can I help you?" She inquired. The man stepped closer to her desk.

"Well, actually, I was hoping I could help you," he said with a smile. Great, Amy thought, a charmer. "I'm here about the woman from the coffee shop. One of the employees told me you were looking to speak to the regulars," he explained. Amy stood up, introduced herself, and directed the man into an interview room. She sent a silent signal to Buzz and he headed into electronics. Once everything was set and Tao had joined Buzz, she jumped right in.

"So, Mr...," she tried hoping to gain the man's identity.

"Bishop. Kevin Bishop," the man helpfully provided.

"Mr. Bishop. You're a regular at Grady's Grounds?" She asked.

"Every morning. Can't start my day without one of their specialty coffees. You really should try them. They're amazing. Life changing, even," he added enthusiastically.
Amy just smiled.

"Did you know Amy Martin?" She asked pulling the victim's DMV photo out of a folder in front of her.

"Well, I'm not sure I knew her. I mean how well does someone really know someone they stand in line with at a coffee shop," he said with an amusing tone.

"But you do recognize her?" Amy tried.

"Of course. She was always there, well, until recently," he recalled sadly. "She was very nice. I saw her give up her seat once for a pregnant woman. It's a real shame about what happened," he explained. Amy heard Mike in her ear letting her know Kevin Bishop did not have a record.

"Did you ever see her talking with anyone?" Amy inquired.

"You mean more than a polite word or two? No. She, like everyone else in the morning, was busy on her laptop. And she was always alone. Like me, she was a fan of the specialty coffees," he said. Amy was beginning to wonder why this man seemed to know so much about someone he claimed not to know.

"You ever talk to her?" She asked and she saw something dark cross the seemingly kind man's face.

"No, never," he answered simply.

"It's just... You seem to know an awful lot about her habits at the coffee shop. You pay this much attention to everyone in there?" Amy asked pointedly. He seemed slightly aggravated.

"She was... Quite pretty. Beautiful, even. Men tend to notice women like that. We've even been known to let our eyes linger a little longer than they should. Is that a crime, Detective?" He asked a bit annoyed and allowed his eyes to purposely rake over her. She smiled.

"Nope, not a crime. Anything else you can tell us about Amy or any of the others in the coffee shop?" She knew when to stop pushing, and something told her she had reached that point with this interview.

"Nothing I can think of at this time, but I'll tell you what," he began before grabbing the folder in front of Amy and the pen beside it and writing down information. "Here is my contact info just in case you have any more questions for me, Detective," he said. "And I'll be sure to let you know if I think of anything else," he concluded before getting up and walking out of the room. As he crossed back through the murder room towards the exit, his eyes landed on Sharon as she leaned on a desk talking to a recently returned Julio. She felt the weight of his stare on her and lifted her head. Their eyes met, and Sharon felt a sudden chill run through her. After Bishop had turned and exited, she turned to Amy.

"Who was that?" She asked.

"Kevin Bishop. One of the regulars at the coffee shop. He didn't have anything helpful to add, but he did seem to pay special attention to our victim," Amy answered.

"Did we run his name?" Sharon asked turning towards Mike who had just exited electronics.

"Yeah, no record," Mike explained.

"Amy, why don't you and Julio take Mr. Bishop's photo down to the coffee shop. See what they have to say about him," she instructed.

"You think he's our guy?" Amy asked confused.

"I think it's worth looking into him a little further," Sharon answered simply. Amy didn't look convinced, but the guy had given her an uneasy feeling that she couldn't quite shake. She and Julio headed out of the murder room with Kevin Bishop's DMV photo in hand.


When the two detectives returned a little later, the rest of the squad was busy at their desks. Sharon saw them enter, and left her office to join them in the murder room.

"Anything on Mr. Bishop?" she inquired.

"Well, it might not be anything, ma'am, or it might be something, but Mr. Bishop is a very recent regular," Julio explained.

"Also, we talked to a couple of the employees, and they said they saw Bishop speaking with our victim several times," Amy added.

"So, he lied. But why?" Sharon asked.

"Maybe he thought the truth would make him seem like a suspect," Andy offered.

"Then why voluntarily come by in the first place," Sharon wondered.

"That's the other thing... The employees never told Bishop or anyone else that we were looking to speak to them," Amy added.

"Another lie. What else is this guy lying about?" Sharon asked.

"He gave me his contact info, so why don't we ask him," Amy said.

"This time, I want to read him his rights, but very carefully. I don't want him knowing he's on our radar," Sharon explained.

The phone number Kevin Bishop provided went straight to voicemail, and it was one of those generic types that could belong to anyone. Amy left a message, but no one was holding their breath for a return call. As the afternoon turned into night, the team ordered takeout and ate it together in the murder room. After working through another series of dead ends and failing to receive a callback from their "witness", the hour got very late and they went home to get a few hours rest before starting fresh in the morning. Unbeknownst to Sharon, she was once again followed home that night. Her mind was distracted by details (or lack there of) of the case and her shadow was being much more discreet. Once he saw that she was home - alone - he drove off into the darkness.


A few days passed without any promising leads or a callback from Mr. Bishop. Taylor was on the verge of exploding and the team was feeling the weight of the case. They had all filed in for the morning to once again chase down anything they could find when Sharon finally received some promising news. The detective from San Diego had found his notes on that helpful witness. He emailed a scanned copy to her, and she began pouring over them. As she read the detective's meticulous notes, she couldn't help the feeling that there was something familiar about this so-called "helpful witness". He had come into the police station on his own, offered a tiny bit of information, charmed one of the female officers, and left contact info. The man's name didn't match their own "helpful witness", but Sharon knew that didn't cancel out a connection.

Just as she was beginning to tie things together in her mind, Provenza came rushing into her office in a fury. His sudden interruption into her thoughts startled her, and she took a moment to register his presence.

"Captain, we have another body. Red ribbon and all".

TBC