Three days had passed since Fritz had left and Brenda was thoroughly sick of herself and her nearly sterile home. Her only outing had been to her doctor where all that Flynn and Sanchez had told her was confirmed.

She dropped in an exhausted heap onto the sofa. Her eyes were puffy and red from a combination of tears and disinfectant fumes. She had resisted the urge, just barley, to call the squad to find out what case they were working and was more than a little hurt that none of her team had called her, if for no other reason than to simply keep her informed.

The movers Fritz had hired had been there the day before to pack and ship the last of his belongings. So it was done, they were done …for now.

"Oh my goodness, how am I going to tell mama and daddy?" Brenda had a moment of panic until she remembered her brother Jimmy had escorted their parents on a trip to Europe so Clay could revisit the places he had served and reminisce about the good old days. Brenda and her three brothers had pooled their money to pay for it and she was thrilled Jimmy volunteered to go with them. Money well spent she thought. It was only temporary, but Brenda was grateful all the same.

Not yet prepared to think about the future, she ignored it. Though ignoring things had been much simpler when she had a glass of Merlo.

Her mind drifted. And as it had not for the first time it drifted to Flynn. 'Why Flynn' was the question she had been asking for some time. Flynn! Flynn? Of all the men she had worked with over the years few had exasperated her as often or as thoroughly as Andy Flynn.

With a sad sigh she had to admit that few had made her laugh as often as he did. Even when she was ready to shoot the man out of angry frustration she would find herself laughing. She even found herself laughing when it was wholly inappropriate. It was a terrible flaw in her character that.

After their rough beginning it still came as a surprise to find none were as loyal to her as Andy Flynn.

Brenda had slowly come to see that besides their shameful ability to find humor in all the wrong places, they also shared a kind of tunnel vision on closing cases. And now she could add that both had sacrificed their marriages for the job. She had been trained by the CIA to get a confession, how had rarely been a concern. More than once this had been an issue for the LAPD. It had never been an issue for Andy Flynn. He had her back.

He had her back…..the thought eased through her mind and seeped into her blood. He had her back. She could trust him to be there. Her tight muscles relaxed and she felt reassuring warmth settle around her. Flynn…..

/

"Julio where are you on finding this Robert Hurley?" Provenza asked as Sanchez walked into the murder room.

Sanchez tossed the photo of the boy on his desk; he removed his coat and draped it over his chair. "No where. In the last three days I swear I have looked at school photos of every kid in Los Angeles and nothing. No hits on the name and none of the teachers or school staff I've talked to recognize him." He dropped into his chair and glared at the picture.

"Told Taylor he didn't look like a Hurley." Flynn said to Provenza. "Does this case seem hinky to anyone else?" He walked to the murder board. "I mean Devon Reese was no choir boy, has a list of priors as long as your arm. But look at this," Flynn held up his arrest record, "Nothing here says armed robbery. It's all drugs, nothing to do with guns."

Gabriel added, "And I haven't seen anything that indicates this could be a hate crime. I agree with the Lt, there is something off here but it isn't a hate crime."

Officer Duncan entered the murder room looking for Detective Sanchez. He swallowed hard and walked to his desk. "Excuse me Detective Sanchez."

Julio looked at the officer standing nervously before him saying simply, "What?"

Duncan held up an evidence bag saying, "I don't know if this is of any value but thought you should have it." Sanchez raised a brow and waited for the officer to explain. "We got a call from a business on Flower. It was regarding a possible dead body in a dumpster. As soon as I saw this I knew there was no body."

"And how did you know that?"

"It's the shirt the boy, Robert Hurley, was wearing. The dumpster is in an ally three blocks from the jewelry store. He must have taken it off and tossed it."

Sanchez took out a form and began filling out paper work. "Thanks Duncan. You did the right thing."

Duncan handed over the bag and information on the location.

Putting on gloves Tao examined the shirt. "I think this case just took another strange turn." All eyes turned to him. "This shirt was custom made in Bahrain."

"Bahrain?" Flynn walked over to look at the shirt. "As in the Middle East, Bahrain? Who is this kid? He's twelve, alone in down town Los Angeles, has the money to buy a solid gold necklace and calmly walks away from a shooting where he was close to being killed." Looking down at the shirt he said, "Now we know why there wasn't a hysterical mother here raising hell."

Provenza swiveled his chair around to look over the murder board. "I'll let commander Taylor know…"

"What is it you are going to be letting me know detective?" Taylor asked as he walked into the room.

Provenza swiveled around to face Taylor. "We haven't turned up anything that points to a hate crime on this jewelry store heist. The gun was licensed. From what we could see on the security tape shooting Reese saved our mysterious Mr. Hurley's life." He added with a shrug, "So far the shooting looks good. But we still have a hell of a lot of unanswered questions."

Taylor nodded. "I'll pass that along." He started out of the room but stopped and added over his shoulder, "Chief Johnson will be back tomorrow." Then as if it was an afterthought he said "Good work everybody, thank you." That last comment raised a few eye brows.

/

Flynn moved to his desk and sat down. Gazing at the papers on his desk he let his visions blur. The information, passed on so casually, had the force of a hammer blow on his heart. He shook his head in an attempt to dislodge the thoughts running around in his mind. He had to find a way to stop them. Flynn still couldn't understand why after all these years' thoughts of her were suddenly popping up in nearly everything he did. After several minutes without answers he was relieved to hear his cell phone ring.

"Lt. Andrew Flynn, Major Crime. How can I help you?"

The voice on the other end brought an immediate smile to his face. "Andrew is it now?"

"Sean." And just as quickly Andy felt his stomach knot. Something was seriously wrong for Sean to call him now.

"Aye cousin. Sorry to call you at work but I need to let you know…"

"Don't worry about that just tell me who, Sean, who's hurt?"

"Not hurt Andy. Aunt Mary passed. We laid her in the ground today. I'm sorry I didn't call sooner. I know you would have made plans to come, but…"

He felt the room tilt, his aunt had died and didn't want him there. He rubbed his palm over his heart as if he could rub away the pain. "But what Sean? She was still mad that I never moved back to New York, wasn't she? I can't believe she didn't want me at her funeral. God Sean I never would have believed she hated me this much." The last statement got the attention of the rest of the squad.

"Oh boyo, she let that go a long time ago. She didn't want any fuss from any of us. The priest knew what her plans were, certainly none of the rest of the family did. You know how stubborn she could be."

"Yeah I know. Why didn't anyone call to tell me she was ill?" His voice nearly a whisper when he asked, "I would have been there. You know I would have been there don't you?" he blinked rapidly to hold back the tears.

"I do Andy. It all happened so fast. One day she was fine and them in a blink her heart just seemed to fail over night. It's what she wanted Andy. She didn't do this to hurt you. I truly believe she thought she was going to be fine. You have to know how much she loved you Andy."

He didn't respond to his cousin's last statement, he couldn't. "Did you at least hold a wake?"

"Aye, a small one."

He nodded and sat silent staring at his desk. "Andy, you there?"

Letting out a heavy sigh he said, "Yeah Sean I'm still here."

"I'm sorry I had to tell you over the phone Andy."

"Don't be Sean. I appreciate you telling me no matter how you had to do it. Give my love to the family, will you?"

"You know I will. They send their love cousin. You be safe out there. And I'll talk to you soon."

"You do the same Sean. These streets aren't any meaner than yours."

Andy dropped his phone on his desk and dragged his hand over his face. Mary was gone. He felt like shouting at someone, anyone, or hitting something. He wasn't ready to lose her. She had been there for him after his mother died. She had been his mother from the age of ten and he had been a handful no doubt about it. It's a miracle he, his brother and cousins weren't all behind bars. And an even bigger miracle that all but one grew up to be cops. Thanks in no small measure to Aunt Mary.

He didn't want to believe it. He picked up his phone and scrolled through the numbers. He wanted to dial her number and have her pick up on the other end. He desperately wanted to hear her voice, to tell her how much he loved her, to thank her for all she had sacrificed for him and she had done.

Flynn was unaware the squad was watching him, waiting for him to look up and tell them what had happened. Provenza broke the silence, getting up from his desk and walking over to Flynn's. "You all right?"

"Yeah." Flynn didn't look up. "That was my cousin Sean. My Aunt died."

"Mary?" Flynn nodded. "Sorry to hear that Andy. I know how important she was to you." He said as he squeezed Flynn shoulder. "You need any help making arrangements?"

"No, but thanks. I won't be going to New York. The funeral was earlier today."

Flynn wasn't sure how he got through the rest of the shift. It was all a bit hazy. All he could think was how badly he wanted to see Bren. He took Provenza up on his suggestion and logged out an hour early and headed to church to light a candle for Mary and then find an AA meeting.

/

An officer escorted a woman into the murder room. All but Sanchez were already logged out for the night. The officer spoke to her nodding towards Julio.

"Excuse me, Detective Sanchez?"

Julio stood, "Yes ma'am. What can I do for you?"

"I understand you are looking for a young man named Robert Hurley."