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: Thank you everyone for the reviews on this story so far. I love reading your comments and what you think is going to happen next!
Chapter 7
"Dad? Why are you calling at 5:30 in the morning on a Saturday? Is everything alright?" Nicole answered her cell phone as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Nicole, listen to me. There's going to be a LAPD patrol car outside your house. It's just a precaution but we just need to make sure that you, Dean, and the boys are safe that's all" Andy said to his daughter over the phone. "Dad, what's going on?" Nicole said to him as she sat up in bed. "Uh, sweetheart, look, it's a long story and" Andy took a deep sigh before he continued "just promise me that you'll be safe and call me if anything strange happens, okay?" Andy said to his daughter. "Uh, sure Dad. We will" Nicole said and then hung up. She shook her head and went back to sleep. "Who was that?" Dean asked her. "My Dad, something came up with one of their cases and they are sending a patrol car to sit outside our house for a precaution" Nicole explained to him. "What?" Dean said as he sat up in bed.
"Emily?" Sharon said to her daughter over the phone. "Mom, what is it?" Emily said back to her. "Oh thank God you're alright" Sharon said to her as she looked over at where Andy was standing. "Listen, this case we caught has made a huge turn and just as a precaution we are sending a patrol car to your hotel this morning and Detective Sanchez is going to be there to bring you back here with us" Sharon said to her. "Mom, I have a performance this afternoon, I can't just miss it" Emily said to her. "I know, don't worry, you're not going to" Sharon said to her. There was a long pause. "Just please come back here with Julio, okay?" Sharon said to Emily. "Fine" Emily said and then hung up her phone.
Sharon then dialed another number. "Mom? What's going on" Ricky said as he answered his phone. "Ricky, is everything okay up by you?" Sharon said to him. "Yeah, Mom. Everything is fine. Why do you ask? You do know it's like early still right?" Ricky said to her. "Ricky, look something has come up here with one of our cases and I just want to make sure that you are okay" Sharon said to him. "I'm fine Mom" he said as he looked at his phone. "Why is Emily texting me saying that Mom is freaking out?" Ricky asked her. "It's good to hear your voice. What are your plans for the rest of the day?" Sharon asked him trying to change the subject. "Later today I am going to Fisherman's Wharf to hang out with some of my friends there. Mom, is everything okay?" Ricky said to Sharon. Sharon looked up and didn't see Andy anymore in the kitchen.
There was a loud banging on the door and Rusty awoke to answer it. "Geeze Andy! What that heck is going on?" Rusty said as he opened the door for him. "Sorry to wake you and Gus up" he said as he glanced over at Gus who was standing. "Look, you have ten minutes to get dressed and meet at the house" Andy said to them. "Wait a minute! What's going on here?" Rusty asked Andy again. "We are just making sure you stay safe" Andy said as he turned around and headed back to the house. Rusty looked outside the door at Andy walking away and then he saw all of the cars parked in the driveway and street and that gave him his answer.
Andy walked back in to the house and met Sharon in the kitchen. "Rusty and Gus are on their way down here" Andy said to her as he pulled her in for a hug. "Good" she mumbled into his chest. "I also got a hold of Charlie, he's fine. Did you call Ricky?" Andy asked her. "Yes, he's fine too" Sharon said to him. Just then, Rusty and Gus came in the back door of the house. "Hey, do you mind telling me what the hell is going on here?" Rusty asked them in a loud voice. "Rusty! You will not take that tone with us, and watch your language!" Sharon scolded him. "Sorry" he said quietly back to Sharon as he stood in front of them. "Something's come up in our latest case and we want to make sure our children are safe, that's all" Sharon said to Rusty as Gus moved to grab a cup of coffee. "Now, Matthew is in the family room with Buzz, feel free to join them both" Sharon said to Rusty and she walked away with Andy and headed to the dining room.
About a half hour later, Emily showed up with Julio and they entered the house. "Mom, what is going on?" Emily said to her as she walked in to the house. "Emily, thank goodness your safe" Sharon said as she hugged Emily. "Mom, do you mind telling me what's going on here because I have to get back to the theater by 1pm for my 3 o'clock show today" Emily said to Sharon. "Someone will drive you back to the theater, don't worry. Everyone is in the family room, why don't you join them. Feel free to help yourself with coffee or anything else you would like in the kitchen, okay?" Sharon said to her, avoiding Emily's question and then headed back to the dining room.
Provenza's phone rang. It was now 6:30 and patrol called him with the discovery of another body. This time, Sharon rolled out with the team to the crime scene but before she did, she spoke to Lieutenant Cooper. "Don't worry Captain, we got your family covered" Chuck said to her as she sat in Andy's car. When they arrived at the crime scene, they didn't know what to expect. The press had already set up outside the crime scene tape and patrol officers were trying to keep them at bay. "Julio, Amy check out our press friends" Sharon said as she made her way towards the crime scene. Andy followed her and helped her walk across the grassy area of the park. Provenza stood over the body as Kendall did his examination. "Same M.O. Captain, 12 inch serrated blade, multiple stab wounds, looks like the victim fought the killer as well" Kendall said as he held up the victim's fingers. Sharon bent down to take a closer look. The victim was blond as well, and next to her body was another note from the killer. Sharon put gloves on before handling the letter handed to her by the evidence technician. Andy placed gloves on as well. Sharon read the note and then scanned the area for where the press was standing. Buzz interrupted her. "Captain, there's security footage I pulled from the cameras here, we have a better picture of our guy" Buzz said to her. She looked over at Andy and nodded her head.
"Andy, I don't think you are ready to play. You're not taking me seriously enough, that's why I had to kill another one. Here name was Nicole, such a nice name. She was pretty, don't you think? Liked the alcohol a little too much, though. Too bad she couldn't stop like you did, did Sharon help change you Andy? I made my counter move, you're up now. Tick, tock" Andy read the letter and then locked eyes with Sharon. "Son of a bitch" he said out loud.
Sharon's phone rang while she was standing with Buzz and she saw it was Sergeant Elliot calling her. "Captain Flynn" she answered walking away from where Buzz was standing. "Captain, I just wanted to let you know about the thing we discussed earlier" Sergeant Elliot said to her. "Sergeant I'm currently at a crime scene, how'd you know I'd be up?" Sharon said. "Yes, I know. I heard the roll out. I've run into a road block here with Staples but I should find out something for you Monday morning" Sergeant Elliot said to her. "Okay, thank you Sergeant" Sharon said as she looked up at where Andy was standing. "No problem Captain" Sergeant Elliot said and then Sharon hung up her phone. Sharon then walked back towards Andy. She hated keeping her phone call with Sergeant Elliot a secret, but she wanted to know why FID was at the first crime scene. "I want Nicole, Dean and the boys to come over and stay at our house" he said to her as he walked away. Sharon nodded in agreement and pulled her phone out again. "Nicole, hi it's me. Look your father wanted me to call you" Sharon started to say to Nicole.
Andy looked over at Provenza who joined him underneath a tree Andy was leaning on. "This sick bastard thinks this is a game. That killing these innocent women, is a game!" Andy said, gritting his teeth, to Provenza. "What did I ever do to this sicko, huh?" Andy continued to vent as he started to pace now. Provenza just watched as Andy walked in circles. "I didn't give him the story, or the time of day, what?" Andy flailed his arms up in the air. "Calm down! Just calm down Flynn!" Provenza said to him having seen enough.
"Ma'am, we checked with the names of the press who checked in. Only one name didn't match the list that patrol had when the press first arrived" Julio said to Sharon as he showed her the list of names. "So where is this person now?" Sharon asked him. "We don't know ma'am" Julio said and then Sharon glanced over to where Andy and Provenza were standing by a tree. "Alright, let's regroup and head into the office. Buzz found some new footage and I want to see it on a bigger screen. Meanwhile, let's get the whereabouts of our missing press" Sharon said to Julio as she walked over to Andy and Provenza. She texted Rusty to see how everyone was. He replied back with an 'okay' and she closed her phone.
"Andy?" she whispered to him to get his attention as he was bent down besides the tree. She looked up at Provenza and he shook his head. "Andy?" she said a little louder and grabbed his hand in hers. "Come on. We are heading back to the office. Buzz found some new footage and we may have a possible name for our mystery killer" Sharon said to him as he walked with her back to their car. "What about Nicole?" Andy asked her as he got in to the car. "I called Nicole. Her, Dean, and the boys will be heading over to our house with a patrol escort in an hour" Sharon said as she sat in the driver's seat and drove them back to the office.
"You read the letter right?" Andy said to Sharon as she drove back to the office. "Yes, I did" she said as she pulled in to the parking garage. "What did I do to this person that he thinks he's going to get away with killing these innocent people?" Andy asked her. "I don't know, Andy" Sharon said as she parked the car and turned the engine off. "I'm going to nail this son of a bitch" Andy muttered as he shook his head and exited the car. Sharon got out and followed him. "Andy! Andy!" she called after him but he kept on walking towards the elevators. "Lieutenant!" she finally yelled out to him and he stopped to turn around. She walked up to him. "The last thing this case needs right now is you going rogue because of this killer" Sharon said to him as she looked him in the eye. He was staring back at her but it wasn't Andy staring back, the Andy that she knows and loves with all of her heart. No, the look in his eyes was old and familiar, back in the day where she was the head of IA and FID and they would butt heads all the time. "You don't have to worry about me going rogue, Captain. I'm going to protect the one's that I love by getting this guy. If he wants to play a game, then let's play" he sneered back at Sharon and then hit the elevator button.
The elevator doors opened and both of them stepped on. Andy walked to the back of the car and leaned at the back wall, eyes closed. Sharon stood opposite him and held on to the side rail. She hoped no one else would step inside the elevator with them. She knew Andy was very passionate about his work as a police detective, Lieutenant, father, and husband. She knew that he would do anything for the one's he loved and cared about. She was worried about how far this was going to take him. She knew that he would worry about his health last. His main focus was this killer. Andy stood there with his eyes closed, wishing he could take back what he had just said to Sharon. The look on her face when he said that spoke volumes to him. He just hoped it wasn't too late to apologize to her.
The elevators door opened to their floor and Sharon walked out first and headed in to the Murder Room. Andy followed a couple of steps behind her. 'Yep, might be too late' he thought to himself as the door closed in front of him. He opened the door to the Murder Room and saw everyone gathered around Provenza's desk. "Is Buzz ready with the video footage?" Sharon said as she came around and headed towards Provenza. "Yes Captain, all ready to go. We were just waiting for you and Flynn" Provenza said to her as he glanced over at Andy. "Good then. Let's go" Sharon said to them and they made their way over to the RACR room to view the new surveillance footage. Andy followed Provenza towards the room and Provenza stopped them before they entered. "Did you say something stupid?" Provenza asked and Andy didn't answer him, he just entered the room and sat down next to Sharon. "That's what I thought" Provenza said as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.
TBC
