DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

A/N: Thanks for the great reviews and reads. I'm going to digress for a moment...… To the "guest reviewer" that said Matthew is old enough to sit in the front seat of a car. Matthew is 10 years old in this story. According to the law in several states, in order to sit in the front seat of the car, the child has to be 12 years old and/or meet a weight requirement. I don't know where you come from but before I published the last chapter, I did my research regarding that. California law might state this: California law requires a child to be 8 years old to ride in the front seat. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends that a child be 13 years old to sit in the front seat . But, since this is my story we will go with the fact that the Flynn's won't allow Matthew to sit in the front seat while he's 10. Also, to the same "guest reviewer" because I believe you are the same person and I think I figured out who you really are (you don't need an account on in order for me to figure out who you are dear), is it really necessary to say I don't know how to write and that I miss basic grammar from first grade? Last time I checked this is writing for fun, not some graded essay paper for school. Everyone else seems to enjoy reading these stories, ever notice how your reviews never get posted or approve by anyone on here?...…. Okay, onward to the next chapter...

Chapter 4

They had been sitting in Sharon's office for a couple of hours now, going over all of the cases that ADA O'Malley had been involved with. Nothing had stood out to them until Andy mentioned something about a recent case. "Hey Hobbs, what was this case about?" Andy asked Andrea as he handed her the case file he was looking through.

Andrea read through it quickly, page by page, and then looked up at Sharon and Andy. "This was a couple of months ago, but I'm pretty sure the guy is serving jail time," she told them. "Hands get extended from jail all the time, you know that, we've seen it happen," Sharon reminded Andrea as she moved her hand between Andy and herself.

"Where is his appointment book?" Sharon asked as she looked around her desk. "Here," Rusty handed her the book and she smiled, showing her gratitude to him. She flipped through the pages to see if O'Malley had written down any meetings with anybody in the past week. "What are you looking for?" Andrea asked her.

"Doctor Morales suggested that O'Malley was shot at close range," Sharon kept looking through the book. "Which means he probably knew his killer," Andy finished as Andrea sat there, still holding the case file he had handed her. "He had a meeting with a T.J. last night," Sharon said as she pointed to the date on the appointment book.

"I don't know who that could be?" Andrea said as she leaned forward and placed the case file on Sharon's desk. "Well, he met with them several times in the past month," Sharon turned the book around and showed Andrea where O'Malley had written in the meetings.

"Could they be a client?" Rusty asked the group as they sat looking over the papers. "Maybe there's a case where a "T.J." is mentioned?" Sharon said as they looked through the case files. "Where's the file I handed you?" Andy asked Andrea and she handed the file to him. He paged through the case but did not see anything mentioning a "T.J.".

"Was he seeing anyone that you know of, Andrea?" Sharon asked her as she sat back in her chair, frustrated that all leads seemed to be dissipating quickly. "He never really talked about seeing anybody or dating," Andrea shook her head no.

Sharon stared at the appointment book on her desk. She then looked up and glanced through the blinds to see if Mike, Julio, and Buzz had returned yet from the crime scene. "Where's his cell phone located right now?" she asked Andy and Provenza. "It should be in the evidence box on Sykes's desk," Provenza told her as he looked out at Amy.

Just then, Mike, Julio, and Buzz walk back into the office. Sharon stood up from her desk and told Andrea and Rusty to stay in her office. She walked out with Andy and Provenza and met up with the rest of the team by the Murder Board.

"Commander, we got some footage from the building across the street. I'm going to go run through it now and see if there's anything interesting during the time of the murder," Buzz told Sharon and she nodded. He walked away with his camera and headed towards Electronics.

"Did you guys find anything else out there?" Sharon asked Mike and Julio. "Our killer couldn't have been standing where the witness said they were, judging by the location on the street," Julio informed her. "And, we found another casing nearby, this was by the sewer grade on the street in front of the building," Mike said as he held up the round casing.

"So there are two weapons?" Andy stated as he looked at the casing Mike found. It was a 9mm. casing which means they possibly had two different shooters. "Before we jump to conclusions here, are we even sure this casing came from last night's shooting? I mean, it could have been lying there for who knows how long!" Provenza quipped as he sat down at his desk.

Mike looked at Provenza and shrugged his shoulders as he sat down at his desk. "Mike, I would like you to look through O'Malley's cell phone," Sharon said as she walked over to Amy's desk and pulled out the cell phone in the evidence bag. She handed it to Mike. "Anything particular I'm looking for, Commander?" he asked her as he took the bag. "Anything related to a T.J., or anything else that stands out," Sharon nodded to Mike and then she turned to face the rest of her team.

"Amy, where are we with O'Malley's financials?" Sharon asked her as she walked back towards her desk. "He didn't have any debt, paid off everything, including all loans he had taken out for law school," Amy informed her as she handed Sharon the financial reports. Sharon looked over them and was amazed that there was no outstanding debt. Everything was paid off. She took a deep breath as she glanced at Andy.

Meanwhile, down at Holding, Grady Reed sat there on the bench and wondered how long they were going to keep him there. He had to go to work and if he didn't show up, his boss was going to be mad at him. He rubbed his forehead with his fingers and shook his head. "I'm in a real mess here," he mumbled to himself.

Just then, he heard some keys jingling and someone walking towards the holding cell he was currently sitting in. "Grady Reed?" an officer called out his name as he stood in front of the cell. "Yes, I'm Grady," he answered as he stood up from the bench. "You have a visitor," the officer told him and Grady nodded. He was hoping that it would be Brenda Leigh Johnson and that he would finally get out of this mess.

He waited by the cell bars and heard someone walking towards them. "Thank you Joe," a man's voice called out as he came closer to the holding cell. "Grady Reed, what are you doing in here?" Chief Howard spoke to him as he stood in front of the holding cell. "And why are you asking for my wife?" he added as the young man stood in front of him.

Grady didn't know how to respond to his question. He thought that when he got arrested by the officers at the scene, he would just say that he knew Brenda and she could get him out of whatever mess he had found himself in, but his plans didn't turn out so good from how they were in his head and now he had to answer to Fritz Howard.

"I, um," he started to say and paused for a moment, scratching his head. "I'm in over my head and I don't know what to do. I was walking home from a bar when someone shot a guy a couple of feet away from me, I went over to see if he was ok and the next thing I know, three cops pull up and start arresting me. I asked them if I could speak to Brenda because I thought she would want to know I was back in town," Grady explained but Chief Howard wasn't buying that explanation.

Chief Howard shook his head at Grady. "First of all, Brenda no longer works for the LAPD," Chief Howard informed Grady. "Yeah, that's what I've been told," Grady muttered as he stood in front of Fritz. "Secondly, if Major Crimes is holding you for questioning, that means that they think you are somehow involved in something, and neither I nor Brenda will interfere with their investigation," Chief Howard explained.

"I understand, sir," Grady stated and dropped his head to look down at the floor. "Do you think, when they are done holding me here, I could find out where my brother is?" he asked Fritz. "Your brother," Chief Howard said and then remembered they never told him what had really happened. "Um, well, once you are done here, we will talk, Grady," Chief Howard huffed as he told him and then walked away from the holding cell.

Chief Howard paused a moment outside of the holding area and pulled out his cell phone. He knew Brenda would be up and at her meeting in Washington D.C. at this hour, but he dialed her number anyway. "Hey Brenda it's me, you won't believe who's back in LA, and he asked for you several times. Give me a call back whenever you can," he left her a message and hung up his phone.

As he started to walk towards the elevators, he was glad that Sharon had given him a call regarding Grady asking for Brenda, but on the other hand, he knew that the result of him asking where his brother is would not end well for him. He knew Brenda should have told him about his brother right there when it had all happened, but she lied to both Grady and Wesley at that time. Her mother had called her out on it after she had found out the truth, but that didn't faze Brenda at all.

Back in the Murder Room, the team was greeted by Assistant Chief Mason as he walked into their office. "Is your Commander in?" Mason asked Provenza as he sat at his desk. "Yes, she's in her office," he sat up and pointed towards Sharon's door, which was closed. Mason quickly glanced around the office, wondering if she was in there speaking with a colleague or someone else, or if she was in there by herself. His hesitation prompted Provenza to respond.

"She's in there by herself," Provenza told him and he nodded, making his way towards her office door, quickly knocking before he entered the room. "Commander," he said as he made his way in. Sharon looked up at Mason as he entered and placed the file folder she was looking at on her desk.

"Chief, what can I do for you?" she asked him in a tired voice. "Well, I'm thinking we need to make a press statement, that way it may help with some of the leads you have that are stalled," Mason suggested and Sharon sat up in her chair.

"I'm not sure if that is a good idea. We don't even know if this was a random murder, or if ADA O'Malley was targeted, or if the District Attorney's office is targeted," Sharon quickly stated as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Has the District Attorney's office received any threats recently?" Mason asked her, knowing one of her reasons for the protest. "We haven't found anything credible to believe that the office is targeted, no," Sharon sighed. "So, tell me what you do have so far," Mason encouraged her to inform him on the latest findings in the case.

"O'Malley met with someone named T.J. last night and a couple of times in the past month or so," she informed him as she showed him O'Malley's appointment book. "We're not sure if those were friendly meetings or business, and I'm having Mike dump O'Malley's phone records right now to see if a T.J. shows up on his phone," Sharon added.

"If we gave a statement to the press, which might bring out whoever this T.J. person is, and then we could find out if it was a friendly meeting or strictly just business," Mason stated to her. She was reluctant to go to the press, but, on the other hand, it might bring forth this T.J. person. "I thought you already had someone of interest in your custody?" Mason asked.

"Yes, well, I don't think that person is involved in the murder of ADA O'Malley, but we are still holding him on a concealable carry charge because I'm not ready to set him loose just yet," Sharon told Mason and he nodded in response.

"So, the press statement then?" Mason asked, not really a question but more like a reminder to her. She thought about it as she sat there at her desk again and nodded her head yes. "Good, what do you want the statement to say besides the standard verbiage?" he asked her.

"Just the simple if anyone has anything to help the investigation; it can be treated anonymously if you choose. We can start there and see where it goes," Sharon came to an agreement with Mason and he left her office and the Murder Room. She stood up from her desk and exited into the Murder Room, walking past Andy's desk as she ran her fingers across his back to get his attention.

"Everyone, Chief Mason is going to put out a press release on O'Malley's murder, maybe it will help bring out any other witnesses from the scene, or our mystery meeting person T.J.," Sharon informed the team as she stood in between the desks.

"And it just might lure the killer out again if this is a hit against the DA's office," Amy stated and Sharon nodded, biting her lower lip as she didn't want to think about Andrea or Rusty in danger again. The team spent the rest of the morning at their desks going over the case files.

Meanwhile, across town, Emily was with her new dance company rehearsing for their Friday night performance of The Nutcracker. She had secured the part of the Clara and Friday was opening night for the company. She had been rehearsing every day for the past three weeks and, even though she had performed in New York countless of times, she was still a little nervous here standing on the stage of the Dolby Theater.

She had hoped that her mom and Andy would be able to attend Friday's night performance after catching a new case this morning. She knew they would try their hardest to see her perform so close to home now. She had also reserved seats for Nicole, Dean, their two boys, Rusty, and Matthew. She smiled at the thought of everyone, except Ricky, being there to see her perform. She thought about her father, and figured she should reach out to him and see if he would also like to attend. However, she thought it would be best to get him a ticket, if he said yes to going, away from her mom and Andy.

At the DA's office back in downtown LA, Andrea sat with Rusty going over one of her current cases. She was prepping for possible trial tomorrow and wanted to go over some case notes. "So how long are those two going to be staying here?" Rusty asked her as he pointed briefly to the two police officers outside of Andrea's office door.

"That was one of the stipulations I had to agree on with your mother," Andrea said to him without looking up from her notes. "Yeah, but I mean, they've been with us the whole morning. You would think by now, there would be some notice of a threat to the DA's office. By having them stand here waiting on us, it's a waste of time," Rusty said.

"Well, your mother doesn't think so, and Andy agreed so I just figure I would go along to appease them, mostly your mom, since you are working with me, that way she knows you are protected too," Andrea told him as she looked up and then went back to reading over her notes. Rusty shook his head at Andrea's last comment and continued writing down his notes.

That afternoon, back in the Murder Room, Chief Mason had released a press statement on the murder of ADA O'Malley and the team had been working at their desks when Buzz stepped out of Electronics and walked over to where Sharon was standing with Provenza and Andy.

"Commander, Lieutenants, sorry to interrupt but you may want to see some of the footage I've been reviewing from the scene," Buzz informed the three of them and they followed Buzz towards the RACR room instead.

As they entered the room, Andy held out a chair for Sharon and then he sat down next to her with Provenza on the other side of Sharon. Buzz pulled up the footage he was speaking about. "So, what you are about to see was about two hours before the shooting occurred," Buzz explained to the three, setting a timeline for them.

All three of them nodded as they turned their attention to the screen in front of them. It was footage from outside of the Hamilton building. "There's a street view which shows the cars passing the building and there's also a view from the front of the building facing the entry doors," Buzz explained as he pulled up both camera views.

They watch as a car pulls up and parks in front of the building. A man steps out of the car and walks around to the other side, opening a door and a woman steps out. The man is holding the hand of the woman and as they turn around, Buzz pauses the video screen. "That's O'Malley," Andy states and Sharon nods her head. "And who is he with?" she asks in wonder.

"What time did it say he had a meeting with T.J. on his calendar?" Andy asked out loud. "8:15," Sharon responded. Everyone looked at the date stamp on the corner of the screen. "So, T.J. is a woman?" Provenza questioned. "Buzz, what is located inside the Hamilton building?" Sharon asked him as she turned around in her chair to face him.

"There's a restaurant on the top floor of the building," Buzz replied as he searched the internet for the information. "Anything else?" Sharon asked. "There's some residences and a couple of stores on the bottom floor of the building," Buzz replied. "So, let's assume that they had dinner there last night," Sharon said to them.

"I'll call the restaurant and see what I can find out about our mystery woman," Andy said. "Buzz, let's see what happens later on," Sharon said and Buzz played the rest of the video. He had fast forward until they saw O'Malley and the woman walk out of the building. The time stamp was two hours before he was shot and killed. "So, they get done with dinner and head back to his car, then why did he return to that building?" Provenza asked.

As they were watching the footage continue to play out, Mike opened the door to the room and stepped inside. "Sorry to interrupt, but I may have something here on O'Malley's phone," Mike stated as he held the phone in his hand. Sharon nodded for him to continue as Buzz paused the video again. "He received a call around midnight from someone with an area code of 323, he answers the phone call, and talks to whoever this is for a total of 3 minutes," Mike explains as he shows Sharon on the phone screen.

"Buzz, fast forward the video to around 12:30ish," Sharon instructed Buzz and he did just that. The video shows a car pull up and O'Malley gets out of the car and is seen walking inside the building by himself. "So who does he meet for roughly an hour?" Provenza asked. "That's the question, Lieutenant," Sharon stated as they watched O'Malley enter the building.

TBC