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.

Chapter 4

Sharon arrived on the scene of the stake-out and parked her car on the street one over from Randall's house on Somerset Drive. She pulled out her phone and texted Andy that she had arrived but was stopping at the van for some information. She stepped out of the car and walked down the street towards the surveillance van. She made sure no one was watching as she stepped inside. "Evening Buzz," she said as she stepped inside the van. "Commander," Buzz stated and she sat down next to him.

"It looks like he is in the basement of the house doing something," Buzz informed her. "Yeah, he's been down there for at least an hour," Cooper added as he glanced at his watch. "I have Julio and Mike on the back side of the house, one block away in case he makes a run for it," Cooper added and Sharon nodded. "Do you think he will?" Sharon asked him. "No, but better to have all the bases covered, Commander," Cooper smiled.

She turned around in the makeshift chair she was sitting in and stood up, hunched over due to the low ceiling in the van. "I'll be with the Lieutenants for a bit, if anything happens, please let me know," it was more of a request than an order she gave Buzz and he nodded. "Will do, Commander," he answered and looked at the TV monitors.

When they had arrived to set up the surveillance, Buzz had installed two cameras on the light pole in front of Randall's house; they were small and unnoticeable but provided Buzz with a great view of the house, the surrounding area, and a little bit of the windows.

Sharon stepped out of the van and casually walked over to where Andy and Provenza were sitting in Andy's car. Andy smiled to himself when he saw Sharon was carrying a small bag and unlocked the doors to the car. Sharon slipped in the back seat and closed the door. "Gentlemen, how's your evening?" she asked as she leaned towards the front seats.

"Fine," mumbled Andy as he turned around in his seat to look at her. She gave him a smile and that seemed to make his world a little better at the moment. She glanced at Provenza who was still working on his crossword puzzle. "Lieutenant Provenza, is this what you do when I send you out on a surveillance mission?" she asked him and he immediately dropped his crossword puzzle book into his lap. "Sorry Commander," Provenza started to apologize.

"I heard you were hungry, Lieutenant. Seems like Patrice forgot to pack a meal for you?" Sharon opened the bag she had brought with her and pulled out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She handed it to Provenza and he was grateful. "Oh, thank you Commander. Flynn wouldn't share his sandwich with me earlier," he grumbled as he took the sandwich and pulled it out of the Ziploc bag.

"Yes, I heard about that and how you didn't like what Patrice had sent with you," Sharon amused herself. "Well, it's not that I didn't like it, it's just," Provenza started to explain to her. "Too healthy?" Andy chuckled as he finished his sentence for him. "Don't worry, Lieutenant, I think we have a bigger problem on our hands besides your healthy food you refuse to eat," Sharon told him as she looked out the back seat window towards Randall's house.

"About that, Commander," Provenza chewed his sandwich. "How long do you want us to keep an eye on this guy?" he asked her as he continued to eat. "Once he leaves tomorrow morning for work, we are going to search his house and look for the evidence that would suggest starting a fire," Sharon explained. "When he's not there?" Provenza asked as he turned in his seat to look at her. "I don't want to spook him just yet. Besides, watching him isn't going to take long. If he's already planning something," Sharon started. "It's just a matter of him carrying it out," Andy finished for her.

Hours passed and they were still watching his house. The lights in the basement turned off a while ago and there were still a couple of lights still on the first floor of the house. "I think he's gone to bed," Andy said to Sharon as it was just the two of them currently awake. He handed the binoculars back to Sharon and she took a look herself but she didn't see anything.

"How was Matthew when you dropped him off at Nicole's house?" Andy asked Sharon as he tried to get more comfortable in the driver's seat. "He was fine. Eager to spend the night there," she told him as she placed the binoculars on the seat next to her. "You know, you could take a nap Sharon, it's okay. I'll stay awake for a while and then I'll wake up Mister Hungry over here," Andy stated as he pointed to Provenza.

Sharon smiled at his comment. "I'm fine, Andy, really," she said quietly. Seeing Croelick by their house tonight as she was leaving with Matthew still bothered her. She didn't know if it was a fact that he knew where they lived or his stoic approach as he stood there on the sidewalk. Whichever it was, it scared Sharon a lot. The fact that she didn't tell Andy about it was also bothering her. She was keeping too many secrets from her team and now from Andy.

"I have to tell you something," she whispered but loud enough that Andy heard her. "What is it?" he said as he looked at her sitting in the back seat. She looked at his face and she knew she had to tell him about Croelick's appearance this evening. She paused for a minute but then chickened out. "I told Rusty if he encounters any problems to call one of us, or if there's an emergency to call 911," she said and as she said it she knew it sounded stupid.

Andy gave her a quizzical look and wondered why Sharon would tell him that information. "Okay," he slowly said to her. She felt horrible and closed her eyes as Andy turned in his seat to face the front of the car. Something was bothering her and he could tell. He just hoped that she would have enough courage to tell him. 'Maybe because Provenza was in the car, that's why she didn't want to say what she wanted to say,' he thought to himself.

Dawn was breaking as Sharon shifted in the back seat of the car. She slowly opened her eyes and wondered about the dream she had. She reached over to grab Andy and realized she was in the back seat of their car. She then rubbed the back of her neck as she sat more upright. She heard Provenza and Andy talking. "What time is it?" she asked them. "6:30," Andy mumbled as he shifted his seat.

Sharon rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. All three of them received a text message stating that there was fresh coffee and doughnuts in the van, courtesy of SIS. "Andy, do you still have the search warrant?" she asked him as she tried to quickly fix her hair. "Yeah, it's right here," he said as he reached into his suit pocket and pulled out the paper. He handed it to her and she quickly read it over.

"Lieutenants, let's wait until he leaves before we head to the van for refreshments," she stated as Provenza was about to step out of the car. "Hey, we got movement," they all heard over the radios and watched Randall pull out of his driveway and headed east down the street. They then saw a SIS car follow him, followed by Mike and Julio in their car. "Lieutenant Tao, let me know your progress," Sharon said over the radio. "Will do, Commander," Mike responded.

"Okay, let's meet in the van and conduct our search of his home," Sharon stated to Provenza and Andy and all three of them exited the car. The van door opened as they approached it and Buzz handed Sharon a cup of coffee. "Here you go Commander," she heard him say as she took the cup in her hands. "Thank you," she responded as she took a sip. "There's decaf sir, don't worry," Buzz informed Andy as he looked a little disappointed that he wouldn't be able to participate in the fresh coffee. He then handed Andy a cup of decaf coffee and Andy appreciated it.

"Alright, Lieutenant Cooper, I'll need you to let us in the back door of Randall's house. If he spent some time in the basement, like you guys said he did, then we should concentrate on that area, however, I don't want to rule anything out just yet," she briefed everyone and then minutes later, they were all headed towards the house.

They walked around the house to the back door and Cooper pulled out his lock pick kit. He stuck the pieces of the tool inside the lock of the door and two seconds later, they were walking inside the house. "Remember, once we find the evidence linking him, then we can make an arrest," Sharon reminded everyone as they searched the house. They all nodded and placed gloves on their hands before they touched anything inside.

Andy went down the basement and turned the light switch on. What he saw was a room with a map of LA County on the wall. He walked over and glanced at the map, but there were no markings to indicate if Randall was going to hit something. He then walked further in the room and saw typical basement items: washer, dryer, work bench. He searched the work bench area for anything that Randall had purchased recently.

Meanwhile, Amy, Cooper, and Provenza were on the main floor of the house and they didn't find anything unusual. Buzz was recording everything. Sharon was searching the kitchen when Provenza joined her. "Commander, there's nothing here that would suggest a fire starter," he told her. She stood there with her arms crossed. "Maybe Andy is having better luck?" she started to make her way to the basement when her phone alerted her to a message. It was from Julio and she read it. "They are at the fire station now," she stated as she started to walk down the stairs.

Andy heard Sharon walking down the stairs to join him in the basement. "Anything?" she asked him and he shook his head 'no'. "There's a map of LA County on the wall, but nothing's marked that I can tell," he informed her as they both stood there. "Maybe Provenza is right. Croelick is playing with us," he added. She sighed and walked over to the map.

As she stared at the map, she thought she saw a faint yellowish circle around Griffith Park. "Andy, look for a black light somewhere here," she turned and pointed to the area of a shelving unit. Andy walked over and began looking for a black light in the boxes on the shelves. "Here," he handed one to her that he found in a box. "Turn the lights off," she asked and he did. Sharon turned the black light on and waved it in front of the map. A circle around Griffith Park lit up underneath the light.

"He's going to hit Griffith Park," Andy stated and looked at Sharon. "Buzz!" she called out and heard footsteps coming down the stairs. "Commander?" Buzz asked. "Over here, I want you to film this," she said as Andy turned his flashlight on and Buzz was able to see the way. She then shone the black light against the map again and Buzz filmed it.

Sharon turned the light off and Andy walked over to the light switch on the wall and turned the lights back on in the basement. "There's no other evidence here?" she asked him as she walked around. "No, nothing, no gas cans, nothing that he purchased," Andy sighed as he was frustrated with this case already.

"They didn't find anything upstairs either," she made her way to the stairs to head up. "Let's search the garage," she suggested as Andy followed her up the stairs. "Anything?" Provenza asked them as they joined him in the kitchen. "There's a map of LA County with Griffith Park circled on it, but nothing else. No other evidence," Andy rubbed his head.

"I want to search the garage, and then we're done here," Sharon stated as she walked out of the house. Andy glanced at Provenza and then followed Sharon towards the garage that was not attached to the house.

Buzz, Amy, and Cooper met them outside by the garage after Cooper had locked the back door once again. He walked over to Sharon and glanced at her before he placed his tools into the lock on the garage door. He opened it slowly and turned the light switch on inside. The garage was filled with boxes and boxes of items. Cooper walked in followed by everyone else. Buzz filmed the garage and all of the contents. "What are all these boxes filled with?" Provenza asked as Andy sorted through one.

"Looks like mementos," he said as he held up children's clothing and toys. Provenza rolled his eyes as he walked around the garage. "Oh come on Provenza, like you never kept anything from your previous marriages?" Andy shouted to him. "Oh, I have things, they're just not in multiple boxes like this guy," he responded as he looked around. "Remember what we are looking for," Sharon reminded everyone as they searched the garage. "There's nothing here, except old memories, Commander," Provenza stated as he looked back at Sharon.

Sharon stood there thinking about their next move. "Okay, everyone head back to the office, but I still want Mike, Julio, and the rest of SIS to stay on our guy, for now," she stated and everyone nodded as she walked outside. Provenza walked over to where Andy was standing. "Playing you two," he reminded him of what he said earlier about Croelick and then walked outside to join Sharon. Andy watched him and sighed as he placed everything back in the box. Maybe he was right.

Cooper locked the garage and met everyone at the front of the house. "Commander, I'll leave one car of my guys here, just in case," Cooper told Sharon and she nodded. She then watched Andy and Provenza walk towards her on the other side of the street. "I don't want to hear anything from you two," Sharon started and Provenza was shocked as he glanced at Andy. "We know he's targeting Griffith Park, we just don't know when," she added.

"You still think that this is our guy?" Provenza asked her as they stood there by the car. "Yes Lieutenant I do," she replied and Provenza wasn't going to argue with her. "I'll see you back at the office then," she told Andy and he nodded. He watched her walk away from them and get into her car, which was still parked around the corner. "Flynn!" he heard Provenza call him and he turned around to get into the car. They drove back to the PAB wondering how this case was going to pan out.

When they arrived in the parking garage, Andy waited until he saw Sharon pull into her spot. He walked over to her and held her door open. She smiled as she stepped out and he closed her door. They walked together and joined Provenza, Amy, and Buzz who were waiting at the elevator. They all rode up in silence and when the elevator opened at the ninth floor, they all stepped off.

"I'm going to put these doughnuts in the breakroom," Amy said as she started walking down to the hallway. Sharon, Andy, and Provenza started to walk towards the office while Buzz went the other way towards the RACR room. Andy held the door open for Sharon and Provenza and all three of them walked in. Provenza went towards his desk and didn't notice another person in the room.

"Well, you guys certainly look weary and tired. Long night?" Croelick stated as he sat at Andy's desk. Provenza was startled to see Croelick there. Sharon held her breath as Andy looked up and saw him sitting there. He immediately jogged over to him and grabbed him by his collar. "You son of a bitch!" Andy gritted his teeth as he stood him up and began to pat him down. "Andy!" Sharon shouted at him but he didn't care at this point. Andy reached into the jacket pocket of Croelick and pulled out a piece of paper.

"What's this?" he asked him as he held it in front of him. Sharon and Provenza walked over to where Andy was holding Croelick. Andy handed the paper to Provenza and he took a look at it. Listed on the paper was two street names. "What the hell is this?" Provenza asked Croelick. "The location of where Randall keeps his supplies," Croelick smiled.

Andy immediately grabbed Croelick and led him to an interview room with Provenza and Sharon following them. Buzz walked in and saw them leading Croelick to the interview room. He immediately went into electronics and texted Amy to join him in there. He turned on the monitors and saw Andy shove Croelick down into one of the chairs in the room. "Sit!" Andy told Croelick and then he watched him closely as Sharon and Provenza sat down across from Croelick.

TBC