Chapter 10
Sharon ran into Rusty in the kitchen that morning and was greeted by the smell of fresh toast and tea. He turned around when he heard her come in and smiled. When he handed her her favourite cup, she knew that he remembered last night too. She looked at him for a moment and contemplated saying something, anything, but when Rusty carried on pouring himself a glass of orange juice, Sharon decided against it.
This was what they did. When the nightmares came and Rusty found her screaming or crying in the middle of the night, they wouldn't speak about it the next morning. Sharon had tried after the first time it had happened but Rusty had brushed it off. It had left her feeling a little embarrassed and uncertain but a few nights later, when she woke up crying again, he was right there on her bed again to hold her hand. The next morning he had made her tea and now it had just become something they did.
"Are you in court today?" Rusty wanted to know.
"I am," Sharon answered.
Rusty turned around. "Looking like this?"
Sharon had considered this too. "I'm afraid so," she replied. "Sometimes things just can't be changed."
Rusty just nodded and carried on preparing his own breakfast. Sharon watched him, struck by just how mature and grown up he had suddenly become. She felt burdened by the knowledge that he had come to her last night, that there were times where she needed him as much as he needed her, but it seemed that Rusty didn't consider this as troublesome as she did.
"What time does class finish today?" Sharon asked after Rusty had downed the entire glass of juice at once.
"Around three, I think. I might meet up with Gus though so I probably won't be home till dinner."
"So I'll see you when I get home then."
They finished off their breakfast and Sharon put the plates, cups and glasses in the dishwasher as Rusty went to brush his teeth. When he came back out of the bathroom she was already at the door with her keys in her hand, ready to go downstairs and wait for Andy to come by and pick her up. She turned to look at Rusty before she opened the door and their gazes locked. The look they shared was one of quiet understanding.
"Bye," she said before kissing him on his cheek. "Have a nice day."
"You too, mom," Rusty said as he watched her leave. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Going into court with her face bruised and swollen was something Sharon had not expected and after checking with Andrea on her way to the courthouse to see if there was any way they could get a continuance, and being told that she would have to testify that morning anyway, Sharon reluctantly climbed the few steps leading to the court house's main entrance. She was aware that people were watching her and even with her badge and gun clipped to her waist, she wondered if they were making the wrong assumptions.
She was fifteen minutes early and made her way effortlessly to courtroom two. She had been here plenty of times before and knew her way around the courthouse. Andrea was waiting for her outside the double doors and the blonde DDA looked up when she heard the sound of Sharon's heels.
"Sharon, I tried to get a…." Andrea's eyes widened when she laid eyes on Sharon. This was the first time she had seen the Captain since the incident. "Shit, Sharon! I didn't know it was this bad!"
Sharon shrugged. "Nothing I can do about it now, I suppose." Her eyes briefly darted to the double doors. They were still closed but would open soon. "What are you going to tell Natasha's family?"
Natasha Connor was the young aspiring actress found dead in her bath tub two months earlier. She'd drowned and a tox-screen had shown a high level of prescription painkillers in her blood. At first they'd assumed suicide but after a couple of days they discovered Natasha's director husband was having an affair with another woman. Suspicion had landed on him but eventually it had turned out that the other woman, Janie McKenzie, was responsible for Natasha's death.
The case had gone to trial last week and today was the day Sharon was supposed to be giving her testimony. She had been the incident commander and had conducted most of the interviews, having quickly established a good relationship with both Natasha's parents and the girl responsible for her death. Today she would sit across from Janie McKenzie again. Sharon wasn't sure she'd ever forgot the ice cold look in the young woman's eyes when she eventually confessed to killing Natasha. All because Janie had wanted Natasha's husband Rick all to herself.
"I'll explain that you were involved in an accident," Andrea said softly and then she smiled. "You looking like this might actually help us. The jury will feel sympathy towards you."
Sharon shot Andrea a dark look but smirked anyway. "Anything to help you win your case."
The doors behind them opened and the two women turned around to see a court officer standing in the open doorway. He summoned for them to come inside and then propped the door open. Soon the gallery would be full of people following the trial. Natasha's parents and brother, her friends and complete strangers who had some kind of interest in following trials.
Sharon followed Andrea to the front of the court room and sat down in the chair on the left side of the desk. Andrea opened her briefcase and took out a small stash of paperwork, placed it on the desk and rummaged around to find a pen before putting the briefcase down on the floor. She then sat down next to Sharon just as a man in his late forties in an expensive suit and a slick haircut also walked into the room. He greeted Andrea with just a look before sitting down at the desk on the other side of the room. He was Janie's defence attorney and Sharon knew from experience he was a piece of work.
The court room filled up rapidly in the next ten minutes and then the doors were closed. On the other side of the room a small side door opened and Janie McKenzie was brought into the courtroom escorted by two police officers. She wasn't wearing her orange jumpsuit anymore and looked smart and sophisticated in the pantsuit. Her brown hair was pulled back into a neat braid. Sharon constantly sensed that this was an act to play the jury and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up when she briefly met Janie's cold eyes.
The twelve members of the jury took their seats. No one spoke. The courtroom was silent. It was as if everyone seemed to understand why they were here; that between these four walls they would discuss the tragic loss of a human life.
"All rise!" the court officer who had opened the doors called and everyone in the room rose to their feet.
Judge Wallace walked in from his chambers and sat down. He looked around the courtroom and made a small gesture. Everyone sat down and he rustled some papers before readjusting his glasses and looking around.
"In the case of the state of California vs Janie Samantha McKenzie," he began and his gaze fixed on Andrea. "DDA Hobbs, call your first witness please."
Andrea stood up, straightened her blazer and with a steel expression said, "The prosecution calls Captain Sharon Raydor of the LAPD."
Sharon stood up, buttoned her blazer and circled around the desk to approach the witness stand. Before she got into the box, one of the court officers came up to her with a Bible in her hand and Sharon heard the oath she'd taken so many times before repeated to her once again.
"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"
Sharon's green eyes darted in the direction of Janie McKenzie. The girl's face was expressionless and Sharon felt a cold shiver shoot down her spine.
With confidence she answered, "I do."
An hour and fifteen minutes. That was how long she'd been on the stand for.
An hour and fifteen minutes of answering all of Andrea's questions before also facing the prosecution. As expected, Janie's lawyer had tried to discredit Sharon and had even made light of her injuries, insinuating that maybe she'd hit her head and couldn't remember events clearly. It was only when she gave a detailed description of the crime scene without needing to see the pictures that Sharon noticed the uncomfortable twitch below the lawyer's eye and she knew she had him.
When she finally exited the courtroom she felt dirty and in desperate need of a shower but it would have to wait until she got home tonight. She made her way down the corridor in the direction of the exit and it was only when she heard someone call her name that she looked up. She smiled in surprise when she saw Brenda walk towards her.
"Hi," Brenda said when she reached Sharon. Brown eyes immediately scanned the injuries on Sharon's face. She couldn't hide her shock when she realised how much they had changed since seeing Sharon last. "Wow."
"It's shades of blue and purple I didn't even know existed," Sharon grinned. She took in Brenda's appearance. Dark blue pencil skirt, matching blazer and a white blouse. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and Sharon narrowed her eyes. This was definitely something Brenda wouldn't wear in her day to day life.
"What are you doing here?" she curiously inquired.
"Job interview. The DA's office called this morning but the guy I'm supposed to meet is in court all day so we just talked outside for a little while. I just came to get some coffee before heading home," Brenda answered. She swallowed, suddenly aware of the butterflies that danced around in her stomach. Her eyes found Sharon's. "Is that cute little coffee shop still here?"
"The one across from the elevator?" Sharon asked and Brenda nodded. Sharon had had plenty of coffees there herself over the years. The food was awful but the coffee wasn't bad. "Yeah, it's still there."
Brenda nervously tucked a stray curl behind her ear. She knew she shouldn't have any expectations but she just couldn't help herself. "Join me?" she asked and watched as Sharon's eyebrow moved upwards a little. Sharon was clearly surprised by the request and quickly Brenda added, "Or do you need to get back?"
Sharon glanced at her watch. She had a meeting with Taylor but not until that afternoon. Unless they caught a case, all that awaited her was more paperwork and she most definitely wasn't in the mood for that. She nodded and unbuttoned her blazer. "I've got time."
Ten minutes later they had managed to find a table near the coffee shop's entrance and there were two cups standing in front of them. Sharon had ordered a skinny latte, Brenda a coffee mocha and she had insisted she'd pay for their drinks. The blonde now fumbled with the wrapper of the biscuit that came with her drink and Sharon couldn't suppress a smile at the sight of Brenda's impatience.
"What?" Brenda asked when she saw the way Sharon looked at her. She arched an eyebrow.
"Nothing. Some things never change, that's all."
Brenda didn't respond to Sharon's little joke and gave up trying to tear open the wrapper, dropping the biscuit back down on the table. "Is it healing well?" she wanted to know. She pointed at Sharon's face.
"Not as fast as I would like but I'll live," Sharon replied. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and folded her hands around the warm coffee mug. The heat she felt against her fingers was comforting. "Thank you again for helping me out like that."
"Don't mention it. But the next time I need a favour, I know where to go."
They both smiled.
"How's Rusty?" Brenda then wanted to know. She took a small sip from her drink. It tasted both bitter and sweet.
"He's fine," Sharon answered. "He tries not to let me see that he's bothered by… Well, this. But he's handling it well and he's doing well in class."
"He's come a very long way from that angry teenager in my kitchen," Brenda said. "And that's a credit to you, Sharon."
Sharon didn't look at Brenda but stared into her drink instead. "It's been a combined effort."
Brenda watched as Sharon stirred her coffee, momentarily struck by just how almost surreal this situation felt. This time last week, nobody knew she was back in Los Angeles and now she was having coffee with Sharon, the one person she had tried to run away from for so long. Time had passed but some things just hadn't changed and the way she felt now that she looked at Sharon sitting across the table from her, was still the same as how she'd felt when she looked at her from across the Murder Room. She would have to live with it somehow. It was all that she could do.
Brenda's phone beeped with a text message. It lay next to her cup and both women looked up at the same time. Gavin's name popped up on the screen and Brenda quickly grabbed the phone before casting Sharon an apologetic glance. She then opened the message, heart pounding in the back of her throat.
I have sent the papers to Fritz's lawyer by courier half an hour ago. This will all be over soon.
"Good news?" Sharon asked when she saw the relief spread across Brenda's face.
"You could say that."
Brenda didn't know why she didn't mention her divorce, or Fritz. She knew Sharon worked with him sometimes, he was leading SOB after all. He used to mention Sharon to her from time to time before Brenda moved to Washington, unaware of just how hearing Sharon's name caused her to hurt inside. These days she couldn't even remember how she had carried on living that lie for so long before finally fleeing to the other side of the country.
Brenda's fingers moved from her messages to her contacts and hovered for a second over Fritz's name before clicking on it. The message screen popped up and she typed a few quick words.
Papers are on their way.
She hit send and dropped the phone back on the table. When she looked up she found Sharon still looking at her and Brenda felt the blood rush to her cheeks. She needed a few seconds to compose herself and then said, "I bet you'll be glad to have your glasses back."
"You have no idea!" Sharon exclaimed as she reached for the spectacles she wore on her face. Brenda was once again struck by the intense shade of green of Sharon's eyes. The brunette looked down at the glasses in her hand. "These are awful. I can't read through them." Sharon rubbed the spot where the glasses had dug into her nose. "But I suppose I ought to be glad I kept them."
Brenda watched as Sharon put her glasses back on and let her finger run along the rim of her cup. This was only the second time she'd seen Sharon since the disastrous dinner the other night and although they had texted and spoken on the phone, what had happened that night was a subject they had not discussed. But it had continued to pop up in Brenda's mind.
"About the other night," she began and Sharon looked up. "About the dinner…"
"Oh," Sharon said softly. "Brenda, I am sorry. I didn't handle it well and…"
Brenda waved off the older woman's apologies. "It's OK, Sharon. Don't apologise. I just…" She nervously picked at her fingernails. "I know that's not how things were supposed to go and I was wondering if maybe you'd like to, you know, try again?"
"What? Dinner?" Sharon blinked in surprise. She thought that Brenda wouldn't even want to entertain the thought of having dinner again.
"Somewhere else this time maybe," Brenda suggested. "You can pick the place. Or Rusty, if he wants to come. Maybe going out makes it…." She smiled. "A little less stressful."
Sharon considered Brenda's suggestion for a moment. She knew she had to make up for what had happened the other night and so she nodded. "Ok. Are you free Monday night?"
"Monday's fine," Brenda answered.
At that moment Sharon's phone rang and the Captain answered it. "Yes, Lieutenant?" She listened for a moment before saying, "I'll be back in half an hour. Can you tell Chief Taylor to hold on until I get there?"
Brenda watched as Sharon began to organise herself. "Caught a murder?"
"Not yet but by the time I get there, that may have changed. Taylor's having some kind of standoff with someone from FID and I have no idea why." Sharon stood up and then cursed softly under her breath. "Damnit."
"Something wrong?"
"Andy dropped me off this morning and…"
"My car is parked around the corner," Brenda interjected, causing Sharon to look in her direction. "I can give you a lift."
"Parker Centre is in the opposite direction. Even at this time of day it's going to take you forty-five minutes to get home once you've dropped me off."
"I have a few errands to run so it's not a problem," Brenda insisted. Sharron still seemed hesitant to accept her offer. "Really, Sharon, it's fine. Do you really want to find out if Taylor will murder that FID officer? Imagine the paperwork!"
Sharon flashed a smile and watched as Brenda stood and picked up her purse. Together they walked out of the little coffee shop and towards the courthouse exit.