Sharon looks up as her husband stalks into her office, shutting the door slowly behind himself. He doesn't slump into a chair he simply stands in front of her with his fists stuffed into his pockets and his eyes trained on the ground.
"Andy?" Sharon prods after a couple minutes of silence.
"Croelick is getting out," Andy mumbles, looking up at her finally with less than concealed rage in his eyes. She could tell his body was tense with anger.
"Croelick? On what grounds?" Sharon asks as she stands up and walks around her desk, she pulls the blinds closed before standing closer to Andy and leaning back against her desk with her arms crossed.
"Lisa Barnes just showed up dead," Andy growls, "We have less than 24 hours to prove that Croelick committed the murder of who we thought was Lisa Barnes...Well Priority Homicide does."
"Son of a bitch," Sharon murmurs with a shake of her head, "I'm sorry...is there anything I can do for help?"
"No," Andy shakes his head, "I just...needed two minutes before we started this back up again."
"Of course," Sharon nods and reaches out to grab him by the tie and pulls him closer. She wraps her arms around him in a hug and squeezes him tight as she murmurs in his ear, "You know Croelick is good for something, I know you'll work it out."
"At least one of us has a little faith," Andy sighs as he squeezes her closer as well. The two step apart a few moments later before Andy grabs the door handle and pulls it open, "Don't wait up tonight."
"I won't," Sharon sighs as she watches him go.
"I just think that Internal Affairs should investigate this whole situation," Taylor comments before taking a seat. Andy's eyes stay on him as Pope asks Brenda if she agrees on the situation. He's surprised when she says that she doesn't necessarily, and wants to have a private conversation with him. The two end up in an open office after a few minutes and Andy feels his anger bubbling below the surface as he leans against the table in front of the blonde.
"You must be so happy right now," Andy grumbles as he crosses his arms, "Can't wait like to see me get ripped apart, God…"
"You know what in the general scheme of things you matter to me about as much as a Junebug in July. But if you aren't interested in keeping your job and your rank you better answer my questions Lieutenant and without all the usual crap I have to take from you." Andy sheepishly shrugs and nods before letting her continue.
"Four years ago Samantha Jones, a rape victim was murdered. In the same way that Croelick kills his victims." "Looks that way," Andy tentatively agrees.
"Another coincidence, Samantha was the same height, weight, coloring as another missing girl - Lisa Barnes, a drug addict, living on the streets."
"They do look a lot alike," Andy agrees, "Hey, I don't know if someone wanted to frame Bill Croelick or if someone wanted us to think that Lisa Barnes was dead or if someone wanted us to misidentify Samantha Jones."
"Someone planted Lisa's drivers license on the scene. Did you do that, Lieutenant?" Brenda questions, "Did you tamper with the evidence because you saw a promotion in your future?"
Andy stands from his spot, towering his height over Brenda as he answers in one simple word, "No."
He turns to grab a cup of water before Brenda starts asking him about the print packages and why H didn't show up to the courthouse.
"It was late, the case was over," Andy tells her, "Look, the last package didn't help anyway, they were partials and palm prints."
"You mean they didn't match Bill Croelick's."
"So? The car was stolen, the partials could have belonged to anyone."
"The prints were on the car? There were palm prints other than Croelick's on the car? Where were they on the car?"
"Over the tail light," Andy remembers starting to get heated as he recounts everything to Brenda, "SID got to it late. They weren't material…look, there was no palm print database back then. And you can't find a criminal with it you can only match it to someone you already have in custody. What did I do wrong? You tell me!"
"Get me the tail light off that car," Brenda demands as she starts slamming her things back together, continuing with her request, "…And you keep this information completely to yourself. Do you understand me? Because that is a direct order."
"Yes ma'am," Andy agrees, "Uh…you're not going to move to have me investigated?"
"No," Brenda shakes her head slightly, "Now get me the print packages for that car."
Sharon jumps as she hears a crash and muffled yelling. She looks up at the empty office and sees everything in pristine condition before looking down at the floor and sighing. Priority Homicide was right underneath her office. And that kind of volume could only be mustered by her husband. She resists the urge to heavily stomp like she sometimes did to get the kids' attention at home before packing up her things into her purse and getting ready to go. She'd stayed late enough as it was.
At the elevator she debates going downstairs to see what was going on before pressing the button for the parking garage. She'd text Andy once she got to her car. She wades through the dozens and dozens of cruisers parked before she finds her way to the Land Cruiser. She unlocks the doors and tosses her bag into the passenger seat before climbing up and digging out her phone. She sends a short text to Andy letting him know that she was heading home and if he was going to be home in the next couple hours to pick up some Chinese on his way.
Sharon finds her keys and deposits her phone back in her purse before turning the car on and backing out of her parking space. She makes her way home, humming along quietly to the radio, frowning when she approaches the house and sees someone sitting at their doorstep. She can see the lights on in the living room, so at least someone was up. She cruises by the house intent on making a lap of the neighborhood before she comes back. Her hand reaches over and digs her phone out again before pressing the speed dial number for the house.
"Flynn Residence," Emily answers a moment later.
"Call your dad and tell him someone is outside the house."
"What?"
"There's someone sitting outside on the front stoop. Call your dad and tell him. I'm just turning the corner again and I'm going to park. Take whoever is still awake downstairs okay?"
"Okay," Emily hangs up and picks the phone back up a moment later to dial her dad's cellphone, "Dad!"
"Hey Em, what's up?" Andy greets at his daughter's worried tone.
"Mom said someone's sitting outside in front of the house," Emily practically whispers into the phone.
"Who?"
"I don't know, I think she did a lap of the block while she called..."
"Alright, take everyone you can downstairs, I'm calling dispatch and I'll be on my way," Andy tells her as he waves his hand to get Provenza's attention, "Stay on the phone with me okay?"
"Okay," Emily nods before gesturing her brother down the stairs along with Sam, "Go."
"What's up?" Provenza asks as he walks over to Andy. Andy holds the phone to his shoulder as he explains the situation to his friend, "I'll call patrol and have them send a couple close by cars over, you go."
"Thank you," Andy mouths as he puts his phone back to his ear and starts making his way downstairs with a quick step. He rushes home, his fingers itching to turn on the lights. Eventually he does flip the switch to make his way through the thick evening traffic. He turns them off just as he comes up their street, finding two patrol cars there and Sharon sitting on the small bench they had talking to an officer with her gun sitting next to her. He parks the car on the street and jumps out, hanging up his phone before rushing up the walk, "What happened?"
"Your friend Bill decided to show up and camp outside our house," Sharon tells him, indicating the other officer who was talking to Bill by the patrol car.
"That son of a bitch," Andy seethes under his breath.
"It's fine, the kids are fine..." Sharon assures him, "These officers are going to help him back to his car, unless of course Mr. Croelick is too drunk to drive safely, they'll give him a ride home. Go inside, I'll finish dealing with this."
"Sharon..."
"Go," Sharon says pointedly, nodding towards the door, "The kids should..."
"Be downstairs," Andy finishes before walking into the house, trying to restrain himself from slamming the door behind himself.
"Mom? Dad?" Emily calls up from downstairs.
"You guys can come up," Andy tells them as he puts his gun into the safe and drops his badge on the entry table. He pulls his tie loose and undoes the first button of his shirt, sighing as he gives his neck a good scratch.
"Who was that guy?" Emily asks as she pulls up the rear behind Ricky and Sam.
"Just..." Just what? What was Bill Croelick? Right now he wasn't anything besides a wronged citizen, "Just someone trying to spook me."
"Well can we not have people doing that? It scared the crap out of me."
"I know," Andy nods and wraps his arm around his daughter, hugging her close.
"I thought our address was supposed to be on lock down or something," Ricky points out, "Because of yours and mom's jobs."
"It is, but some people are good at finding a way around that," Andy shrugs. He'd been married to Sharon for 13 years at that point, people knew they were married. He wouldn't be surprised if Croelick followed her home the past night if only to prepare himself for a little more direct of a message that evening. He just wished they didn't have to worry about something happening to the kids because of who they were.
Sharon comes in a few minutes later after seeing the officers and Croelick off. Andy had sent the kids to bed and was currently standing in front of the fridge with his hands on both of the doors. She easily walks up behind him and wraps her arms around his waist.
"I'm sorry that all of this happened."
"Me too," Andy sighs and rests his hand over hers, squeezing. The two stand in silence for a moment before he speaks again, "I'm applying for transfer to Priority Homicide."
"What? Why? I thought you hated it?"
"Better than Taylor," is all Andy replies with before pulling out a frozen pizza and going to turn on the oven.
"What happened?"
"Nothing," Andy shakes his head, "Just stupid bureaucratic bullshit. You'd think he was gunning for the Pope's job with how he's learning to play politics."
"Oh of that, I have no idea. He was just as jaded as I was that he wasn't given a chance at that position. He just bitched about it more," Sharon laughs as she takes a seat on one of the stools. She unclips her hair and takes off her glasses as she kicks off her shoes, letting out a soft sigh.
"Better?"
"Much," Sharon smiles and tips her head up for a kiss. She hums as Andy presses his lips against hers and responds gently before pulling back, "Just remember to keep that fine backside of yours in line even with Miss Atlanta."
"Yes, Ma'am."
[TBC]
