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
"Jeffrey Donovan, age 47, and resides at 995 East 51st Street in LA," Mike stated as Julio wrote the information on the board. Amy had picked up the driver's license photo from the printer and placed that on the board as well. They were all staring at Jeffrey's face now.
"Does he have a criminal record?" Sharon asked Mike as she walked over to stand next to Andy. "I'll run him in our database and we'll see what we can get," Mike sounding optimistic as he punched in a few key strokes on his computer.
Sharon glanced at Andy who was staring intently at Jeffrey's picture. "This is the janitor I saw at Matthew's school," he told her, pointing his finger at the picture. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Oh, yeah. I knew I had seen him before, that sketch was a little off, but now that I've seen his photo, that's him," Andy said with confidence.
"I'll call the school office and see if anyone is there," she touched Andy's arm as she turned around. "In the meantime, I would like financials and anything else you have on this Jeffrey Donovan," she told the team and they nodded as Provenza and Andy followed her into her office.
She sat behind her desk as Andy and Provenza took the seats across from her. She pulled out the school's phone number and placed her office phone on speaker as she dialed. She glanced over at Andy, who had the look of determination on his face, as they listened to the phone ring.
Sharon waited for the secretary to go through her greeting before speaking. "Hello, this is Sharon Flynn, Matthew Flynn's mother," she started to say over the speaker. "Oh, hello Mrs. Flynn, how are you doing?" the secretary recognized her calling.
"I'm fine, thank you for asking. Uh, the reason I was calling was I was hoping to speak to Principal Gottardo for a moment, is she there by any chance?" Sharon asked and the secretary told her to hold one moment. Sharon sat back in her chair and looked across her desk at her two Lieutenants.
Andy looked like he was ready to throttle someone and Provenza sat eagerly in his chair, waiting for the principal to come on the phone.
"Hello Mrs. Flynn, it's Principal Gottardo, how are you?" another voice came over the phone and Sharon moved closer to speak. "Hello Principal Gottardo, I'm doing fine, how are you?" Sharon was being polite. "I'm doing good, glad to be on break," she laughed. "Is everything okay with Matthew? I know we've been having an issue with some boys in his class," she continued but Sharon interrupted her.
"Oh, Matthew is fine, but the reason I was calling was to ask you a question about your staff. You see, I have you on speaker phone with two of my Lieutenants and myself. We have a few questions I was hoping you could answer," Sharon informed her.
"Oh, okay, how can I help you?" Principal Gottardo asked. "Well, did you recently change custodial staff?" Sharon asked. "Huh, that's an odd question, but we did have a new janitor come onto our staff towards the beginning of this school year," she informed Sharon, Andy, and Provenza.
"And could you tell us his name, by any chance?" Sharon asked. "Sure, his name is Jeffrey Kaminski, he's a great worker, always willing to clean anything from the messes the kids make during the day to fixing plumbing issues we have here, he's been a great addition," the Principal went on.
Sharon looked at Andy and he had the same look, they were both hoping that the Principal would say Jeffrey Donovan instead of Jeffrey Kaminski. "Um, Principal Gottardo, this may seem as an odd request but you don't by any chance have a picture of this Jeffrey Kaminski, do you?" Sharon asked her.
"Uh, no I do not. I've been meaning to update the staff pictures on our website but with this new school year and stuff, we haven't had a chance to update the site," she told Sharon. "Is this Jeffrey Kaminski at the school right now?" Sharon wondered.
"Oh, no he is not. He was here yesterday morning, but I'm assuming he finished his work here," she answered and then became suspicious. "Is everything okay with Jeffrey?" she worried and Sharon picked up on that in her voice.
"Yes, everything is fine. My team and I just had some questions that's all," Sharon tried to sound convincing. "Is he a suspect or something?" the Principal wondered. Sharon glanced up at Andy and Provenza.
"He may be, but we don't want him alerted or anything like that," Sharon told her and then took her off speaker and held the phone up to her ear. "Look, Principal Gottardo, do you have an address for Jeffrey?" she asked her and could hear her shuffling through some desk drawers.
"Uh, let me look at our directory, give me a moment," she heard her say and Sharon waited for her to tell her the address. Sharon wrote it down on some paper on her desk and thanked the Principal for her cooperation. She hung up the phone and passed the paper to Andy.
"That's the same address," he looked up at Sharon and gave the paper to Provenza. "We'll need a search warrant," Provenza told her. Sharon agreed. "I also want to know why he is using a false last name," she added.
All three of them stood up from their chairs and proceeded to walk out of Sharon's office. "Sanchez, we need to call for a search warrant to that address," Provenza barked out that order as he pointed to the board. Julio nodded and started to pick up his desk phone.
"Does it matter which Judge's office I call?" Julio asked. Provenza glanced at Sharon and deferred to her for a preference. "Call Judge Richwood's office," she answered and Julio dialed that number. "He said he would be glad to give us whatever we needed," she glanced at Andy and he nodded, knowing exactly when Judge Richwood had mentioned that.
It had been a few minutes later after the court room had been cleared and after Sharon had spoken to FID after the shooting of Dwight Darnell. Judge Richwood had gone into his chambers and had notified Sharon that he wanted to speak to her. Andy had gone with her and as the two of them were sitting, waiting for the Judge to come out, Andy had grabbed Sharon's hand.
"How are you doing?" he asked her, concerned that she was hiding everything inside still. "I'm fine, Andy," she muttered to him, without showing any emotion. Andy was about to say something else but Judge Richwood had walked into the room and greeted the both of them.
"Sharon, thank you for coming back here," he had told her and nodded to Andy as he sat down behind his desk. "I just wanted to tell you in person, how grateful I am for what you did this morning," he began after clearing his throat. Sharon shook her head and Andy gently squeezed her hand that he was still holding.
"No, Sharon, please don't dismiss my gratitude for you, for your squad. Whatever you need, please don't hesitate to call my office, search warrants, whatever it is," he had told them. When Sharon didn't respond, Andy spoke and thanked Judge Richwood.
"You all saved my life, there's no need to thank me Lieutenant," Judge Richwood said.
Andy came back to the present as Sharon touched his arm. She looked at him, concerned. "Everything okay?" she asked. "Yeah," he muttered, not wanting to worry her. She nodded at his response. "I'd like you to find out why he goes by two different last names," she told him and he went back to his desk.
A half hour later, Julio was pulling the search warrant from the printer and deposited 5 cents into the jar on Provenza's desk. "We have the warrant, ma'am," he held it up to show Sharon as she was standing next to Andy's desk.
Andy had been doing research on Jeffrey and had discovered that Jeffrey's mother's maiden name had been Kaminsky. "He's using his mother's maiden name," Andy blurted out and Sharon turned her attention to his computer screen that showed the information.
"Okay, so, let's pay a visit to Mr. Donovan or Kaminsky or whatever name he wants to use and find out if this is truly our guy, Commander," Provenza stated as the rest of the team looked at each other.
Sharon knew that would be the next step in solving this case. She was worried about her team going to the house of a potential serial killer. "Okay, but everyone wears their vest and be careful!" she told them and they all stood up and grabbed their things to get ready.
Sharon walked into her office and grabbed her gun from her purse, placing it on her hip. She went into one of the drawers in her office and pulled out her bullet-proof vest. She then grabbed her LAPD jacket and closed her office door behind her as she stepped out.
Andy was there waiting for her, along with Provenza and Buzz. "I just want to be clear, Commander on what the game plan is going to be once we arrive at this miserable excuse for a person's address," Provenza told her as they all walked together down the hall towards the elevators.
"Sure, Lieutenant," she stated as Andy pressed the elevator call button. "Once we arrive, I don't think we should be busting down his door, too many variables with that," Provenza stated. "I agree. I think we should knock first, before we enter, if it's warranted," Sharon added as the doors to the elevator opened and all four of them stepped inside.
"Geeze Flynn, sometimes I think you're rubbing off on her but then she throws in the rules," Provenza muttered to Andy as Sharon gave a pointed look to Provenza. Buzz smiled at the Lieutenant's remark.
Sharon smiled and giggled as well. Andy was holding her vest for her as they rode down. Provenza and Buzz were the first ones to exit followed by Sharon and Andy. They went to their respected vehicles and as Andy opened the trunk, Sharon stopped next to him and he handed her vest to her.
He tightened the Velcro straps on her vest after she placed it on. "Please be safe," he whispered to her as he looked her over, making sure she was good. "I think I should be the one telling you that, mister," she smirked and he released a nervous laugh. She made sure his vest was secured as well.
He watched her as she did that, running her hand on his vest, like she always did before an operation. She gave him a smile as she looked up at his face. He couldn't hide the fact that he was worried.
He didn't need to be reminded of the last time she wore her vest and what exactly happened to the both of them. "Good?" she asked and he nodded. Sharon placed her jacket over her vest and then proceeded to the front passenger seat of their SUV.
Andy took a deep breath and sighed. Closing the trunk, he made his way to the driver's side and got in. Sharon turned on the radio and did a radio check with the rest of the team before they headed out.
Meanwhile, back at the Flynn house, Matthew was dressed and ready to go when Emily came down to the kitchen. "Hey, glad to see you decided to grace us with your presence before we left," Ricky said, sarcastically to her. She gave him a face as she made her way towards the coffee maker.
She started to make herself a cup and turned around to look at her brothers. "Where are you two going today?" she asked. "The Zoo!" Matthew smiled and Emily chuckled. "Oh, good. Ricky can show you his favorite animal there," Emily teased.
Matthew looked at Ricky who was making a face at Emily. "What animal is your favorite?" he asked, innocently enough. Ricky squinted at Emily before turning to Matthew. "The rhinoceros," he told him with a straight face.
"I don't get it, that's a great animal, why would you tease him about that?" he asked Emily as he thought it was odd that Emily was teasing Ricky about his favorite animal. "Oh Matthew, it's something from back when we were kids," she placed her coffee mug down on the counter.
"Don't worry Matthew, I'm sure the oldest will tease you about your favorite animal as well," Ricky directed that more towards Emily than Matthew. Ricky glanced at his watch, and saw that it was almost time to leave for the zoo.
"Come on Matthew, let's leave our sister and go join the animals that are waiting for us," Ricky stood up from the table and grabbed his car keys. Matthew got up from the table as well and looked at his older brother.
"Oh, Mom wanted you to bring a sweatshirt with you, in case you get cold, which I don't think you will," Ricky shrugged his shoulders. "I'll bring one and leave it in the car," Matthew said as he ran upstairs to his room to get a sweatshirt.
"Did you ever figure out who your mystery man is that sent you those flowers?" Ricky turned to Emily, who was now making breakfast for herself. "I think it might be one of the guys that I dance with," she placed the bagel on her dish and moved towards the kitchen table.
Ricky nodded and Matthew came back from his room with a sweatshirt in tow. He petted Moxie on his head as he sat in the kitchen. "Be good," he told the dog. "Bye Emily!" both Ricky and Matthew said in unison and she laughed at her brothers. "Bye!" she chuckled and then shook her head.
Emily sat back in the kitchen chair and glanced over at Moxie, who had now laid down on his bed. She decided to get dressed and do a little Christmas shopping before she had to get ready to go to the theater for tonight's performance.
Meanwhile, in the Central Alameda area of Los Angeles, the Major Crimes team pulled up to the address listed on Jeffrey's driver's license. "I want us to park, discreetly. We don't need to alert him of our presence," Sharon conveyed over the radio as she looked out the passenger window.
Andy had just pulled over on the street a couple of houses down from Jeffrey's house and parked their vehicle. He noticed Provenza parked across the street and Mike had parked on the cross street, a few houses from them. He then glanced over at Sharon, who was still staring out her window.
"Before you step out of the car and become Commander again," Andy started to say to her as he touched her left hand with his right hand. "I know Andy, be careful too," she smiled and he winked. They stepped out of their car and met Provenza, Julio, and Buzz.
Amy and Mike were walking down the sidewalk and all of them went towards the house. "Mike, you and Amy head around to the back, see if you can see anything there," Provenza directed them as the rest proceeded to the front of the house.
"How do you want to do this, Commander?" he asked Sharon as they walked up the walkway to the steps of the bungalow. "Ring the doorbell and see if he's home," Sharon answered which threw Provenza off a little bit.
"Buzz, stay behind us," Provenza grunted as he directed him. Julio and Andy made their way up the two stairs first and stood on either side of the front door. Julio tried peeking into the windows on his side but he couldn't see anything. Andy did the same but shook his head to Sharon as she approached.
"Well, here goes nothing Commander," Provenza grumbled as he rang the doorbell and they waited. A minute went by and Provenza rang the doorbell again, but no answer. "Maybe he isn't home," Julio muttered as he grew impatient.
Mike and Amy made their way towards the back of the house. There was a blood trail from the end of the driveway to the front of the garage door. As Mike turned the garage door handle, it was open and the door opened slightly.
Sharon's phone rang startling all of them. She pulled it out of her jacket pocket and saw that it was Mike calling her. "Yes, Lieutenant Tao?" she answered. "I think we got probable cause to enter the house," Mike said as he was staring at a set of butcher knives that were hanging in the garage. Amy was looking over a table that had blood stains on it as he called Sharon.
"What do you have Lieutenant?" she asked him as she stood at the front door. Both Julio and Andy were ready to break down the door at her command. "Looks like the murder weapons and a lot of blood," Mike informed her as he looked at the knives and the table.
"I'm sending Buzz to you now," she told him as she waved for Buzz to go in the back of the house. "And we're going in the front," she added and nodded to both Andy and Julio.
All four of them drew their weapons and made their way to the front door. Sharon nodded to Andy and he signaled Julio to move. Julio opened the screen door and Andy kicked the front door by the door handle, cracking the frame and busting the door open.
TBC