Leaping In

by Kadi

Rated T

Disclaimer: This is not my sandbox, this is just my favorite place to play. I promise to put all of the toys back when I'm done.

A/N: To all of your comments since I posted the note on Chapter 3, I thought I would say... you rock! Love you all! Readers are some kind of awesome!


Chapter 4

Despite the revelations of the weekend and Emily Raydor's sudden appearance and return to the city, life continued to progress in much the way that it had prior to her return. The routine of rehearsal and production prep was not new to her, and she managed to settle into that easily even with the change in venue. The learning curve came in cohabitating with another person. Emily had roommates in the past, but none that she was romantically involved with. It was a curious transition, the move from being responsible only for her own needs to having to incorporate the needs of another into the course of her day.

The first week was a juggling act. They had to find a way to mesh their schedules such that neither was late to work, and so that they could share Buzz's car. He saw no reason for Emily to rent a vehicle for the eight weeks that she would be in Los Angeles when his remained parked at the Police Admin Building for a large portion of the day. If he went anywhere during the day, he was riding with another member of Major Crimes. As luck would have it, the PAB was on Emily's way to the studio where she was rehearsing for Coppélia. She dropped him off each morning and had the car during the day. When his evenings ran late, he was able to get a ride from Amy or Julio, or Emily would pick him up and they would go to dinner.

Buzz took a lot of teasing in those first few days. It came primarily from Julio and Amy, but once Lieutenant Provenza had learned why they were giving him such a hard time, he made sure that his opinion was more than heard on the matter of his relationship with Emily. As with most things, though, they had gotten over it pretty soon. Especially after having to turn their attention back on their next case. There were more important things for all of them to worry about than who any of them were dating.

Now they were well into the second week and Emily was starting to become a regular fixture in and around the PAB. Her schedule called for morning and afternoon rehearsals and left a large block of time open between the two. She would fill it by catching up with old friends who were still in town, or by swinging by to see her mother.

As they were filled in on yet another case, it was becoming obvious that with just a few differences, life was rolling along as it always had. They lived their lives between each investigation and tried not to let the darkness follow them home.

"I don't get it, how exactly is this our problem?" Andy Flynn tossed a file onto his desk and then dropped into his chair with a sigh. "The guy shot his wife, he confessed. What is the DA's problem?" He leaned forward in his chair. His arms were propped lazily against his knees while his hands were dangling loosely between them. "How exactly does this constitute a Major Crime? The guy has already been caught."

Provenza pointed at his partner. "What he said." He tossed the case file that he'd been handed onto his desk and leaned back in his own chair. The Captain had returned from a meeting in Taylor's office and started putting the information up on the board while the rest of them got up to speed on the case. "The crime has been solved."

Sharon looked over the rim of her glasses at both of them and tapped the marker against her open palm. "Yes, but mistakes were made. We've been requested by the DA's office to reopen the case and sure up the evidence. The confession happened prior to the suspect being mirandized, coupled with the fact that he is a sixty-five year old man who was tackled by the arresting officer. He was hardly running away. FID suspended the officer responsible and he is receiving the appropriate training. At his arraignment, Martin Hollings pled not guilty to the murder of his wife. The judge tossed out the confession. Without that, there's nothing to tie him to the crime."

"Really?" Flynn was staring at her. "He just woke up next to his wife, who happened to have half of her face missing, and what… the cat did it?" He rolled his eyes at the Captain. "Come on, he did it. He so obviously did it. There's no way he slept through his wife's head being blown off."

"It's always the husband," Provenza began to drawl, but one look at his captain had him stopping. He sighed. "So now we're cleaning up Robbery Homicide's messes? Don't we spend enough time cleaning up our own?"

Her brow arched. She could agree that they did, instead she tilted her head at them. "I don't particularly like this any better than you do, but the fact is, the District Attorney requested that we look into it after the mistakes made by Robbery Homicide. I would also agree," she stated, looking at Lieutenant Flynn, "that it looks very much as though Mister Hollings is responsible for his wife's death. It is rather obvious. The fact remains, however, that we have no evidentiary proof. There was no murder weapon," she ticked off on her fingers, "and the spatter found on his clothing was consistent with his having been laying beside his wife when she was shot. There was no gunshot residue on his hands or clothing. Martin Hollings can, and has, easily claimed that he was disoriented, panicked, and felt coerced. In large part, because the investigating detectives have beliefs much like yours, Lieutenant Provenza." She paused and looked at him. "That it is always the husband."

"So not all of Robbery Homicide is completely useless," Flynn smirked at her. "Weirder things have happened." He leaned back in his seat and waved a hand at where Sykes and Tao were unloading the boxes that had been sent up to them by the other division. "So what, now they expect us to rework the entire case now that we've got no crime scene, no body, and no element of surprise with the main suspect? Yeah, sure, why not."

Sharon's lips pursed. The Lieutenant was in a mood today. She clasped her hands in front of her and leaned against Detective Sanchez's desk. "That is exactly," she said at length, "what they are expecting us to do. We have all of the evidence collected from the Hollings home," she nodded toward the boxes. "We have Doctor Morales's findings from the autopsy, and if need be, a court order to have the body exhumed, although it is doubtful that it will come to that. We have financial reports and witness statements. Honestly, Lieutenant, the case has practically been gift wrapped for you." Her eyes glittered at him. "What more could you possibly ask for?"

His eyes narrowed for just a moment, then he threw his hands up. "You're absolutely right, Captain." Flynn stood up. "What was I thinking? I'm going to get right on this." He gestured at the boxes. Andy walked across the room and took the lid off of one of them. "Why wouldn't I want to clean up someone else's screw up?"

Her lips pressed into a thin line while the others snickered. At his desk, she saw Provenza lower his head while his shoulders shook in silent laughter. Sharon tilted her head and looked toward the ceiling for a moment. Finally, she hummed. "Andy, with an attitude like that, you'd make a fine career in FID." Beside her, she was aware of Provenza choking.

"Yeah, been trained in that." He lifted a stack of files out of the box and waved them at her. "Trip your suspect? Anger management. Call a cross-dressing hooker a tranny, and it's off to Sensitivity training. Oh, and then, there was that one time, pissed off this Lieutenant in FID, and damn… that one got me a full week of Diversity training."

"Do we even want to know what you did?" Tao squinted at him. Flynn had a rather long and colorful reputation and history for trouble. It wasn't only his association with Provenza during the past several years that had garnered that for him.

Flynn thought about it for a moment. On the other side of Buzz he spied Rusty looking entirely too interested. "Probably not," he decided. "I will tell you, it was epic."

"Epic?" Buzz screwed up his face at him. "Lieutenant, do we need to discuss proper use of the dictionary again? Actually, who even let you have a dictionary? I thought we discussed this the last time?" Aside from the Captain, the Lieutenant was the only person from whom he had not received any teasing on the subject of his dating Emily Raydor. Even Rusty had enjoyed a few laughs at his expense, but the Lieutenant had stayed out of it. Whether that was because of his own relationship or not, Buzz couldn't say. He was grateful for that, just not grateful enough to change anything about their usual exchange of banter.

While the others chuckled, Sharon was considering how much longer she would allow it to go on. After another moment, she hummed quietly. She turned her head and looked at Provenza. "I rather enjoyed sending him to that one." She stood up and there was a look on her face that could be described as both nostalgic and gleeful. "I asked for two weeks but my Commander thought I was being over zealous."

Sykes's jaw dropped open as the Captain pushed away from the desk and walked back to the murder board. "You sent the Lieutenant to Diversity training, Captain? For upsetting you?"

"Hm." She grinned. "Indeed, Detective." She glanced back over her shoulder with a pointed look directed at Flynn. "And I am not above doing it again."

"I'm digging," Andy muttered. He waved the files at her again. "See, this is me, digging."

"This is what comes of you transferring out of FID," Provenza decided. He reached for the case file again and opened it. "Flynn is getting too full of himself, and since they all still idolize you," he told her. "There's no one down there willing to put him back in his place."

The afore mentioned Lieutenant lifted his head and scowled at his partner. "Hey, whose side are you on anyway?"

Provenza smirked at him. "Mine." He pointed a finger at him and shook it. "When you get out of control, I pay for it."

Flynn turned and pointed at him. "Now look—"

"Alright gentlemen," Sharon interrupted with a half smile, before they could get too far involved in an altogether too familiar argument. Whatever concerns that either of them had about their current romantic relationships affecting their partnership had been easily put to rest. They didn't spend as much time together outside of the department as they used to, but neither man seemed to mind that. They were still each other's go to for rabble rousing. "I might have failed to mention earlier," she explained, "that we have until nine o'clock tomorrow morning to find a reason for Martin Hollings to remain behind bars, otherwise he is being released. I suggest we get to work."

"You're kidding me?" Flynn looked at his watch. "It's three in the afternoon! That only gives us eighteen hours."

"Yes, Lieutenant," she sighed, not exactly pleased with that fact herself. "It's going to be a very long night." She wasn't holding out much hope that they would find anything in that amount of time, but this team had pulled off the impossible before, many times.

Where he sat at Buzz's workstation, Rusty raised his hand. "Does that mean all of us?" After Judge Grove had cut off Sharon as his information source for the Alice project, Rusty had looked for another way to get the resources that he needed. Those resources consisted of contacts and case file data, at least that data that didn't have any direct involvement in Slider's trial. Rusty had learned his lesson on that front. He also wanted to understand more about the investigation process. He didn't want to make the same mistakes that he made while he was looking for Alice's family. What he had learned so far was helping him out a lot, but he felt the need to know more. It was Emily's idea to look for an internship inside the Department.

As he was learning more about his sister, Rusty had discovered that her degree was in Art History, and she had actually interned at a Museum in New York the summer that she was auditioning for the American Ballet Theater. Later, while she was establishing herself with the company, she had worked part-time at an auction house. Rusty just thought that she liked to dance. What he was discovering was that there were a lot of ways for someone to realize their goals.

The internship that he was able to get allowed him to work with Buzz, and while he might have been uncomfortable before with the idea that Sharon had maneuvered him into that position, he knew that it was her way of still helping out with his VLOG. Although the Alice project was now over and Marianna Wallace was laid to rest, Rusty was looking for his next story. Granted, it was an unpaid internship, but as Emily had explained it, they really looked great on college applications and resumes. So here he was, unpaid and working his butt off. Not that he really minded. It was kind of interesting, and he was used to spending time with the team. At least now he felt like he had a reason to be there, since it was kind of where he wanted to be.

What Rusty had not told Emily, or even Buzz, was that he thought this might also help him keep an eye on whether or not Flynn was really keeping his word. He promised to help find Paloma. He did that. What Rusty questioned was the rest of it. This whole dating thing with Sharon was a little unnerving. In his experience a mother's boyfriends were not always a great thing. He might be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least for now, because that was what Sharon wanted… but if he found out he was lying, or if he hurt her, then all bets were off.

"Rusty." Buzz slanted a look at him and shook his head. "You were warned, and knew very well, that our work hours were not always normal. You're an assistant." He thrust a box toward him. "Assist."

At the murder board, Sharon glanced over with a smile. Buzz was enjoying having Rusty around far more than he would like to admit, if for no other reason than having someone else to do all the myriad tasks that were thrust upon him throughout the day. "Buzz, could you and Rusty set up the interviews that were conducted with Mister Hollings and his neighbors. I'd like to review them."

"Do you want them on the projector out here, or in electronics," Buzz asked, already sorting through the boxes for the discs that contained that data.

Sharon thought about it for a moment. "The projector will suffice. It wouldn't hurt for us to all have a look. Let's start with the 911 call." She held out a hand when Sykes approached with a folder and skimmed over the information. Then she began copying it on the board.

The two women worked in silence while photographs and details were placed. Over the course of the next half an hour, all of the pertinent facts of the case, as the DA's office knew them, were spread out in the Major Crimes murder room.

"Alright," Provenza stood up from his chair and walked over to stand at the edge of the room, near the secondary murder board. "Let's break it down." The projector was being lowered, and he was moving to where he would be able to see it. "On the night of June 23, a 9-1-1 call was placed from the Hollings residence at 2201 North Rainier Avenue. The call was received at around three in the morning."

Sharon glanced over as he stopped speaking. "Buzz, play it please."

"911, what is your emergency?"

"It's my wife, I think she's hurt. She must have fallen. There's blood on her head and she's not moving." There was an edge of panic in Martin Hollngs's voice as it filled the Murder Room, but it was not quite bordering on the level of panic that one might expect. Concerned, but a decent defense attorney could explain it away as dazed and disoriented.

"Emergency personnel are being dispatched to your location. Can you tell me your name sir?"

"Hollings, Martin Hollings. My wife's name is Sue. Is… will they be here soon? I'm not sure she's breathing. I'm trying CPR but there's just so much blood!"

"EMS will arrive on scene shortly, Mister Hollings. Can you tell me where in the house you found your wife?"

"The bedroom. I was asleep. I got up to go to the bathroom and I found her. Oh god, she's dead. I think she's dead!"

"That's good Buzz," Provenza waved at him to stop the playback. They had a transcript of the call, and from that moment, Mister Hollings became more excitable. "When EMS arrived on scene, Hollings let them into the home," he recited from the report. "Paramedics phoned police upon realizing that Mrs. Hollings had not fallen as the husband recounted in the call. Half of her face and head were missing, splattered on the pillows and headboard."

"The body had been moved," Andy picked up. He walked over and tapped the photos from the crime scene. "Hollings had tried to do CPR on his wife as stated, in so much as he could with the level of her injuries. He was covered in her blood. It was smeared on his face, hands, and clothing. Hollings told paramedics and responding patrol that he attempted to help his wife upon finding her. The patrol officer that tackled Hollings said that he was reaching into a drawer in the bedroom. They thought he was going for the murder weapon."

"He's a rookie," Sykes read from her report. "Only six months on the job. Over zealous."

Sharon nodded. "Which is why FID is sending him to training. He won't be formally reprimanded, but he was suspended for the duration of the investigation." She had done dozens of such recommendations during her tenure with that division. The guidelines for how patrol officer Stewart Lawrence was being handled were in large part her own. As was much of the FID handbook. "At that point, Mister Hollings was taken into custody by the LAPD, and the case was passed on to Robbery Homicide, as it was not deemed a Major Crime at the time of its occurrence."

"Yeah," Andy paged through a case file. He snorted and his brows drew together in a scowl. "Well, that explains it; the case was handled by Lewis and Davidson. Those jokers wouldn't know their asses from—" He glanced up and spotted the look on the Captain's face. Andy quickly trailed off. "Right. So anyway, Lewis and Davidson caught the case. They interviewed Hollings at the scene. In the meantime SID and the Medical Examiner's office showed up to pick up the body and evidence."

"Buzz," the Captain waved a hand at him, indicating they were ready to start with the interviews.

The first was conducted on scene. They watched as the responding Robbery Homicide officers walked through the house while a camera man, who was not in anyway up to Buzz's standards, trailed after them. There was a blood trail from the bedroom to the door, documented by Hollings letting EMS into the house. The bedroom was a mess.

SID found no signs of struggle, forced entry, or a murder weapon anywhere inside the house or on the grounds. When Robbery Homicide initially interviewed Martin Hollings he was visibly anxious with police, thanks to having been tackled by the rookie patrolman. He explained to the detectives that he had not heard anything, but had taken a sleep aid the evening before due to a headache. An Ambien prescription was found in the Hollings medicine cabinet. Robbery Homicide raked the man over the coals in their questioning. It was rapid fire and designed to further disorient the already disoriented man.

"What about the confession," Flynn asked, after the playback of the interview had ended. "The notes say that Hollings made a spontaneous confession to having killed his wife. Where is that? I don't see it here."

"It was made to Paramedics and patrol," Sharon was paging through her own file. "Hollings stated to them, Oh my god, I killed my wife." She shrugged. "It was said after Patrolman Lawrence secured him, and when Hollings recanted the confession, he said that he was frightened and believed that he'd somehow injured her by moving her in his attempts to do CPR."

"Which we're not buying for a second," Provenza stated. He walked back toward his desk and took a seat.

"No," Sharon agreed. "Martin Hollings is a Cardiologist at Pacific Health Medical Center in Santa Monica. Until recently he was the head of their cardiology department. He recently stepped down, stating a desire to return to patient practice and allowed the position to go to another doctor. He knew how to perform CPR, and he would have known upon seeing his wife that she was already deceased. Statements gathered from neighbors, colleagues, and friends all say the same thing. He is an incredibly intelligent man."

"So he could have easily staged the entire scene," Flynn said. "Shoots his sleeping wife in the head. Gets rid of the weapon, the residue, calls 9-1-1, and then while he's waiting for EMS to show up he tries to save her. It's a pretty gruesome scene, he knows he'll be the prime suspect, so he provokes the police on scene into a reaction that he can later use against them, and makes his spontaneous confession. Then he plays confused and clueless with Lewis and Davidson, who aren't the sharpest tools in the shed already. They're a couple of loose canons, he gets them to react, so it can be said that they are coercing him, and he signs his spontaneous confession. Later, after he's had time to calm down and think about it, he recants."

"Yes." Sharon hitched her hip against Julio's desk and folded her arms so that the case file was held against her chest. "The only question is how do we prove it? There is no murder weapon, and the forensic evidence supports that Hollings was lying beside his wife when she was shot. How did he manage that? Splatter and wound patterns indicate the wife was shot by someone standing over the bed here," she pointed to the side of the bed depicted in the crime scene photos.

"He hired it out." Provenza suggested. "He paid someone to shoot his wife. He let them into the house, laid down beside her. Afterward, they left, taking the murder weapon with them."

"I don't think so." Tao said. "There are no large payouts from the Hollings bank accounts. I'm looking at their financial records, and nothing here is consistent with a murder for hire."

"No, he's too smart for that." Flynn's eyes were narrowed as he studied the murder board. "He took his clothes off." He pointed the file in his hand at the board. "The smart son of a bitch. He took his clothes off and laid them on the bed beside the wife. Then he shot her, showered, got dressed and then staged the rest of the scene. It explains the spatter and void patterns."

"Yes," Sharon agreed. "But we still have to prove it."

"We need that gun," Provenza said. "It's got to be in that house somewhere." He was still reading the original notes. "Neither vehicle in the garage had been recently driven, SID checked, the engines were cold. He didn't leave the house after he shot his wife. It's got to be there somewhere."

"SID poured over every inch of the house and yard," Flynn said. "They didn't find it." His bottom lip poked out for a moment, while his head inclined. "Have we still got a warrant for the house?"

"And the garage," Sharon told him. "As well the grounds. That covers anything located inside either structure or within the property line. What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking we can sit here all night looking at all this crap," he tossed the folder onto the desk. "Or we can go look for that gun. If Hollings' prints are on it, we've got him."

"Robbery Homicide and SID have been all over that house," Provenza pointed out. "The gun was no where to be found. What makes you think that we can find what a team of Robbery Homicide's best and brightest missed?"

The sarcasm in his tone was met by a bland look from his partner. "I could point it out for you," Flynn drawled, "but the Captain doesn't like it when I use that kind of language in front of the kid." He waved a hand in Rusty's general direction. "But later, when the kid ain't around, I'll even draw you a diagram."

Provenza snapped his fingers and pointed at his partner. "I knew those water colors we got you would come in handy for more than just finger painting with your shrink."

When Julio bowed his head and began to choke on his own laughter, Sharon rolled her eyes at them. She slapped the folder in her hand against Flynn's chest as she walked by. "I agree that it's unlikely we'll find anything, but it is worth a look. Take Detective Sanchez and Buzz with you. Have SID join you—"

"What about me." Rusty popped up from his seat near Buzz's workstation. "It's not a real crime scene anymore. I could go—"

"I don't think so." Sharon continued her stroll to her office. "Besides, we are going to need you here, filling in for Buzz while he is with Lieutenant Flynn."

Rusty was tempted to slump back into his seat, but then an idea occurred. Buzz was smirking at him, as though he knew that Sharon was never going to allow him to go to a crime scene. The teenager's head tilted. He tapped a finger against his lips. "That means, I could potentially run the equipment in electronics."

"Wait…" Buzz's smirk faded. "What?" He twisted where he stood. "Captain?"

Sharon ignored him. She stopped at her office door and turned. Her attention was not on them, however. "Lieutenant," she directed at Provenza, "why don't you call over to county and have Mr. Hollings brought in. I think we should have a chat with him."

"I don't know about this," Buzz said. He looked mildly panicked at the idea of leaving his equipment in the teenager's hands, even if he had taught him how to use it all.

Provenza decided to poke at his discomfort. "You know, I can get to like this. No more waiting around for Buzz to get back. We could get twice the work done." He smirked as he reached for his phone, to call County as requested.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Flynn flashed a concerned look at him, where he stood pulling his jacket on. "Twice the work? Really?"

"The way I see it," the older Lieutenant continued. "The more we do, the faster we get done. The sooner I get back to my crossword and watching you act like a complete dunderhead."

Andy rolled his eyes. "Yes, that sounded more like it." He grabbed his keys and waved toward the door. "Come on, Julio. Let's get out of here. We don't want to disappoint the old man."

"You said I was the assistant." Rusty smirked at Buzz. "I'm off to assist." He rubbed his hands together, looking entirely too pleased with himself as he headed over to get electronics ready for an interview.

"Don't worry, Buzz." Tao slapped him on the shoulder as he walked by, following Rusty. "I've got it." Technically an interview had to be recorded by a member of the LAPD. If not Buzz, then one of them. The intern could assist, but he couldn't be left totally in charge of the equipment.

"Just… don't leave him alone with anything. Don't let him move anything around," Buzz stated, as he took his bag and his camera and made to follow the other detectives. "For crying out loud, no eating or drinking in there," he called after them.

"Come on Buzz," Julio beckoned. "Crime scene isn't going to film itself."

Buzz followed after them, but muttered under his breath. "I'm wondering if having an assistant was such a good idea after all…"

Provenza watched them go and cast a look at Sykes. "There is just no pleasing some people."

The detective snorted and fought a laugh, because the irony of him saying that was not lost on her.

-TBC-