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 10
Monday morning came early in the Flynn household. Matthew woke up from a bad dream and made his way to Sharon and Andy's bedroom. Moxie followed him there. He opened the door slightly and saw them sleeping so he quietly entered their room. He walked over to the side of the bed where Andy was sleeping and tapped him on the shoulder. "Dad? Daddy?" Matthew whispered as he kept tapping Andy's shoulder. Andy woke up and saw Sharon still sleeping as he turned to see Matthew standing next to their bed. "Hey, what's the matter?" Andy asked Matthew in a quiet voice. "I had a bad dream" Matthew said. Andy moved over to make room for Matthew on his side of the bed. As Andy scooted over, Sharon stirred and woke up to the movement in their bed. "Andy?" she said to him as she noticed he was sitting up. She sat up as well and saw Matthew climbing into their bed.
"Matthew had a bad dream" Andy said to Sharon as he settled back down on his back. Sharon scooted over and watched Matthew get settled next to Andy. She then laid back down on her side, curled into Andy's body as Andy wrapped his right arm around her and his left arm around Matthew. All three of them fell back asleep. Moxie laid down at the foot of their bed.
Their alarm was the next thing that woke them up. Sharon rolled over to turn the annoying beeping off and then she got up and made her way to their closet. Andy started to move as well and was able to slip out from Matthew, without disturbing his sleeping. He then made his way to their closet to join Sharon in picking out their clothes for the day. "Remember we have that meeting at Matthew's school tonight, 7pm, regarding bullying" Sharon said to Andy as she made her way behind him and headed towards their bathroom. "Yes, we are also going to have to notify the Principal about what happened to Dominick, since he attended St. Anne's" Andy said as he walked behind Sharon in the bathroom.
Sharon and Andy both got ready for work and while Andy was shaving his face, Sharon walked over to their bed to wake Matthew up. Moxie followed her over to the bed. "Matthew, sweetie, you need to get up now" Sharon said to Matthew as she gently shook his shoulder. Matthew rolled over. "I don't want to get up" he said as he yawned and stretched. "Come on, you need to get ready for school" Sharon said as she helped him get up and out of bed. Matthew then walked back in to his room, carrying his stuffed animal with him. Sharon followed behind to make sure that he didn't climb back in his bed. Matthew grabbed his clothes for school and then made his way to his bathroom to get ready.
Sharon, satisfied that Matthew was getting ready for school, made her way back in to their room to finish getting ready for work. Andy came out of the bathroom, all set and clean shaven. As he passed Sharon in their room, Sharon reached up to his face and gently caressed it. "Hmm, good morning" she said to him as she leaned up for a kiss. "Good morning" he said to her as they broke apart. "Matthew is changing in his bathroom" she told him as she walked into their closet. She opened their safe and took her gun out, placing it in her holster on her hip and then threw her suit jacket on over it. Andy waited until she was finished before he went into their closet to do the same thing. He took his gun out of the safe and placed it in his holster. When he walked out of the closet, Sharon was holding his suit jacket for him and he put it on. She ran her hands down the lapels of his jacket and smiled at him. He smiled back and they made their way out to the hallway and Sharon headed downstairs while Andy waited for Matthew.
Matthew came out of his bedroom all set and ready to go. "You have everything from up here?" Andy asked him as Matthew carried his backpack downstairs. "Yep" Matthew said as he jumped down the stairs. Andy and Matthew joined Sharon in the kitchen for breakfast. Moxie was laying down on his bed in the kitchen as they walked past him. A bowl of fresh fruit was at the middle of the table and Sharon was bringing the cereal boxes from the pantry to the table when Matthew and Andy sat down at the table. Matthew grabbed the Cheerios box and poured the cereal in his bowl. Sharon then handed him the milk and he poured the milk in his bowl, spilling a little over the sides. Andy started to grab the box of Lucky Charms, but Sharon took the box away and gave him the Raisin Bran instead. Andy shook his head. "I was just going to move that out of the way, Sharon" Andy said to her. "Sure you were" Sharon replied as Andy sat there staring at his bowl.
"Matthew, Daddy and I have a meeting at your school at 7 tonight. We will pick you up from the after school care program and probably go out to dinner before we attend the meeting" Sharon said to Matthew as he grabbed his lunch and placed it in his backpack. "Am I going to this meeting too?" Matthew asked her as she was putting away the bread. "I think it's for the students as well, so yes, you will be going too" Sharon said as Andy came back inside the house with Moxie from the back yard. "Is everybody ready?" he asked them as he grabbed Sharon's trench coat and held it for her. Matthew put his jacket on and grabbed Moxie's leash. "Ready!" he said to them and they walked out of the house.
They decided to drop Moxie off first this time and then they headed over to Matthew's school. Andy saw the news van outside of the school and wondered what they were doing there. They had purposefully not informed the press about their current case, because they didn't want to cause uproar at the school. "What's that news van doing here?" Andy said to Sharon. "I'm not sure" Sharon said to him as they got out of the car. Sharon and Andy both walked in with Matthew. Sharon bent down to Matthew. "Okay, have a good day today" Sharon said to him. "I will" Matthew replied and headed towards his classroom. Sharon and Andy then made their way down the hall towards the Principal's office. "Hello, is Principal Gottardo in?" Sharon asked the secretary. "I'll go get her for you" the secretary said to them as they waited in the office.
"Captain Flynn, Lieutenant, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Principal Gottardo said to them as she entered the office. "Um, I think we should speak privately in your office" Sharon said as she followed the Principal inside her office. "Please have a seat" Principal Gottardo said to them as she sat behind her desk. "Is this about the bullying incident on Friday? I just want to let you know that Matthew wasn't the child that was bullied" Principal Gottardo stated to them. "Oh, uh we know that" Andy said as he glanced at Sharon and then back at the Principal. "You are both coming to the meeting tonight?" she asked them. "Yes, we are. Principal Gottardo, we have some information regarding the bullying incident that occurred Friday" Sharon said to her. "What is it that you have?" Principal Gottardo asked. "Well" Sharon said as she cleared her voice. "The child that was involved in the incident, a Dominick Herrera, in the 8th grade class, he was found in the LA river on Saturday morning" Sharon informed her.
The Principal was shocked hearing the news of one of her students. "Oh my goodness" she said to them. "Did you or the teachers here ever notice bruises on Dominick's body?" Andy asked her. "No, I never noticed anything. I could ask the 8th grade teacher to come in here, you can ask her" Principal Gottardo said and then stepped out of her office to notify the 8th grade teacher. Kathy Ryan stepped in to the office and joined the Principal with Sharon and Andy. "Oh, hello again" Kathy said as she sat down in the office. "Mrs. Ryan, Dominick Herrera was in your class, is that right?" Sharon said to her. "Yes, that's right" she answered her. "Did you ever notice any bruises on Dominick's body when he came to school?" Andy asked her. "No, never noticed any bruising on him, why?" Kathy asked them as she glanced at the Principal.
"We sorry to have to inform you of this but Dominick Herrera was found in the LA river Saturday morning. He was beaten when his body was discovered" Sharon said to Kathy. "Oh my gosh!" Kathy said in shock. "We arrested his father Saturday night, after we found evidence suggesting that he assaulted him. We also found a notebook, kept by Dominick. We just wanted to know if the school knew about any of this" Andy said to them. "No, no if I knew that he was getting beat up at home, I would have notified the authorities" Kathy said to them. "Principal Gottardo, however you want to notify the rest of the school is up to you" Sharon said to her. "I think we will notify everybody tonight at the meeting" Principal Gottardo stated. "Also, you have a news van parked out front of the school. I wouldn't speak with them about any of this yet" Sharon said to her and she acknowledged.
"We're very sorry about this" Sharon said as she stood up from her chair in the office and made her way to the door to join Andy who was already standing there. "Thank you for notifying us, Captain, Lieutenant" Principal Gottardo stated to them and then they left the school. Sharon took a deep breath as they made their way to their car. The news van was still parked there, like they knew a story would be breaking soon. They climbed into their car and Andy started the engine. He glanced over at Sharon before he put the car into drive. He drove them to the PAB where they were going to find out the details behind this case.
When they arrived at the parking garage, after Andy parked their car, he stepped out and walked over to hold Sharon's door for her, something he did every day. It just so happened that today, when he did that, Winnie Davis saw them as she was walking towards the elevators from her car. "Ah, Captain. I was glad to see that your team didn't go into the red over the weekend" she said to Sharon and Andy as they just happened to be walking to the same area at the same time. "Chief, kind of hard to investigate a crime with your hands tied behind your back" Sharon said back to her. Winnie Davis stood there waiting for an elevator with them. "You know, if you have something to say about the way I'm running things why don't you just come out and say it, Captain?" Winnie Davis said to Sharon. Sharon wasn't going to back down and moved closer to Winnie. "I'd just like to know what the Chief of Operations is doing sticking her nose in an investigation by Major Crimes, that doesn't fall under your jurisdiction within the department" Sharon said to her.
Before Winnie could answer Sharon the elevator doors opened and Andy stepped inside, holding the door for Sharon as she followed him. The doors then closed as they left Winnie Davis down in the parking garage. Sharon closed her eyes and let out a long sigh as they rode in the elevator up to the 9th floor. Andy glanced over at her. "Do you feel better?" he asked her as he placed his arm around her shoulder. "I do, a little" she said as she smiled. The elevator doors opened on their floor and they walked towards the Murder Room.
They made their way in to the Murder Room and Provenza greeted her. "Ah, Captain, good morning" Provenza said to Sharon as she entered the office. "Good morning, Lieutenant" Sharon said. "Julio and Mike are back at the crime scene this morning, trying to see if there are any more clues that were left before our untimely departure Saturday morning" Provenza said to Sharon as she looked around the room. "Good" Sharon said to him.
"Mr. Herrera is being brought up to our offices as we speak, along with his court appointed lawyer" Provenza said to Sharon. "Okay, do we know who his lawyer is?" Sharon asked. "Uh, no, we do not Captain" Provenza said and then Sharon went into her office and closed the door behind her. Provenza looked at Andy. "Everything okay with the Captain this morning?" Provenza asked him as he walked over to his desk. "Everything's fine, although we did run into Winnie Davis downstairs in the parking garage" Andy said to Provenza as he sat down at his desk.
Sharon sat down behind her desk and looked over the case file. She gathered the information that they took Saturday night when they arrested Mr. Herrera and placed it inside the file folder. She wanted to have as much information with her as possible when they interviewed him with his lawyer. She also grabbed the revised and latest medical report from Dr. Morales. She re-read it again and the words 'suffered a concussion from continuous blows to the head' stood out along with 'victim may have been disoriented and not aware of surroundings' and 'accidental drowning'. She shook her head and could not wait to interview the father.
Sharon then stepped out of her office holding the file folder and proceeded over to where Buzz was sitting down at his desk. "Buzz, is everything ready for the interview this morning?" Sharon asked him. "Uh, yes Captain" he said as he stood up and walked over with her to electronics. "Interview room 1 is all set up and ready to go for you" Buzz said as he showed her on the monitor. "Thank you Buzz" Sharon said to him.
Just then, Andy walked over to electronics and stepped inside the room. "Um, Sharon?" Andy said to her and she turned around. "Mr. Herrera was just brought up with his lawyer" Andy said but the tone in his voice was a little off. Sharon picked up on it right away and walked over to him. "Who's his lawyer?" Sharon asked him. "Jack" Andy said to her and she sighed. Sharon left electronics and walked out to the Murder Room where she saw Jack Raydor standing next to his client, Mr. Herrera, as two officers were holding him. "Hello Sharon" Jack said to her as she stepped out and saw him.
"Amy, please show Mr. Herrera to Interview Room 1 while I speak to his attorney for a moment" Sharon said to Amy as she walked towards her office. "Jack, a word please?" Sharon said as she pointed to her office for Jack to join her. "Don't say anything until I'm back" Jack said to Mr. Herrera and then walked into Sharon's office. Sharon stepped inside with Andy and Provenza as Jack took a seat in front of her desk. "What do you want to discuss, Sharon?" Jack said to Sharon as she sat down at her desk. "First of all, since when are you on the court appointed defense attorneys list?" Sharon asked him. "Well, I decided to do a little side work, besides working at the firm and I thought I could make a little extra money doing this. I like to give my petite amie pretty things" Jack said to Sharon as he glanced over at Andy and then Provenza. Andy started to move forward but Provenza held him back. Jack turned around in his seat. Andy stared back at Jack which made Jack a little uncomfortable as he fidgeted in his seat.
"Anything else Sharon because I'd like to get started with my client" Jack said to her. "Only you would defend a piece of shit like him" Andy said to Jack. Jack stood up and looked at Andy, as he shook his head. "Now, now, Andy, I'd be careful what you say to Mr. Herrera's attorney" Jack said to him as he walked right up to where Andy was standing in Sharon's office. Andy really wanted to punch Jack but knew now was not the place nor the time to do so. Jack then smiled and left Sharon's office. He headed towards Interview Room 1 where his client was currently waiting.
"What's he up to?" Provenza asked the two of them as they watched Jack leave the office. "I don't know" Sharon said to them as she stood up and walked over to the door. "Lieutenant Flynn, please join me in Interview room 1" Sharon said as she left her office. "Do you think that's wise, Captain? Bringing Flynn in with you. They hate each other" Provenza said as Andy glanced at him. Sharon turned around. "Exactly why I'm bringing Andy in with me, Lieutenant" Sharon said and then nodded to Andy and the two of them walked to Interview room 1. Provenza just stood there and ran his hand through his hair. He then joined Amy and Buzz in the electronics room. Andy opened the door to the interview room and Sharon stepped inside. Andy then closed the door behind them.
TBC