I'm so sorry for the long delay in finishing this. I struggled with how best to end it, and this is what I came up with. Thank you to all who read and reviewed - it meant a lot me and helped make this my first finished work!
Sharon Raydor settled herself deeper into the couch, readjusting her grip on the book in her lap. It had been a day and a half since her show down with Jack Richter, and she was still on probation until FID cleared her OIS. She wasn't worried; she knew it was a good shooting. Probation normally meant desk duty, but she had decided to take the week off to recuperate instead. So far, that had amounted to sleeping in late, reading her book, and tidying the condo. She had ventured out to do some grocery shopping the day before, but had gotten so many stares that she had cut the trip short and asked Rusty to finish for her. She had not left the condo since.
Sharon was not usually someone who cared what others thought of her, especially when they were complete strangers. She would never have survived a career in Internal Affairs otherwise. She was used to being snubbed and having conversations stop as she entered a room, receiving distrustful stares or even outright disgust from her colleagues. What she wasn't accustomed to was being pitied. Her face was in quite a sorry state – she had a black eye in a brilliant shade of purple that was still slightly swollen, and the other side of her face sported a lesser set of bruises in varying shades of green and yellow. When a young woman had come up to her at the grocery store and offered to help her find a shelter, Sharon had decided to call it a day. She hoped that in a day or two she would be able to successfully cover the bruises with make-up, but currently, such efforts apparently made it look like a victim of domestic abuse.
Sharon resisted the urge to prod at the skin surrounding her right eye and confirm that it did indeed still hurt like the devil whenever she touched it. Instead, she reached over to the end table and picked up her mug of steaming herbal tea. Just as she was about to take a sip, her doorbell rang, cutting through the silence in the condo and causing her to start in surprise. She wasn't expecting anyone, and it was rare for a visitor to drop by unannounced in this day and age. She glanced at the clock, which told her it was just after 1:00 in the afternoon – she wondered if it was Mrs. Wilcox from next door. Her neighbor, now in her eighties, was still spry as a fox and sharp as a tack, and had gone into instant mothering mode yesterday when Sharon had run into her after returning from the ill-fated trip to the grocery store. Despite Sharon's attempts to dissuade her, Mrs. Wilcox had insisted on checking in on her to make sure that she was taking care of herself. Sharon set down her tea and pushed off the couch, making her way to the door with a small smile.
Instead of Mrs. Wilcox's wizened features, however, Sharon was greeted by the smiling face of Andy Flynn when she opened the door. Her welcoming smile froze on her lips and she hastily gathered her open-front cardigan around herself, feeling embarrassed by her current appearance. Sharon Raydor was a woman who took great care in how she dressed, but even she had comfort-wear, and that was exactly what she was wearing today. Her outfit consisted of a loose v-neck t-shirt that had seen better days over a pair of relaxed-fitting yoga pants, and she was wearing a pair of utilitarian sock slippers that were as comfortable as they were ugly. She had not showered yet, and her hair was pulled up into a haphazard bun. She wasn't exactly sure what her and Andy's relationship was, but she was sure that she didn't want him seeing her looking her worst just yet. Unfortunately, that ship had now sailed.
Andy's smile faltered and he looked decidedly uncomfortable.
"Captain, I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing," he told her in a rush. He held up a white take-out bag. "I, uh, also brought you lunch from Panetti's."
Sharon immediately softened at his apprehension, realizing how he must have interpreted her unease. She gave him an easy smile, tamping down on her own feelings of embarrassment, and stepped aside, gesturing for him to enter her abode.
"That was sweet of you, Andy," she told him warmly. "You really didn't have to do that."
Andy shrugged and looked down at the floor as he walked past her into the condo.
"It's the least I could do," he replied, before looking up to give her a calculating look. "How are you feeling?"
Sharon shut and locked the door before answering.
"Sore," she told him with a sigh. She walked past him into the kitchen to grab plates, her stomach rumbling as she caught a whiff of the food. She sat the two plates on the counter so that she could open the dishwasher in search of silverware.
"I brought this for you," Andy told her quickly. He began removing items from the take-out bag.
"Please," Sharon shot back at him. "You know I can't finish a whole sandwich from Panetti's, particularly not if you brought me a side – "
She cut herself off with a smirk as she saw him remove a small salad container from the bag. Andy returned her smirk with a wry half smile, placing each half of the sandwich on a plate. He took the silverware from her and picked up the plates, moving them to the table. Sharon snagged the salad container and a pair of paper napkins on her way to join him.
"Well," Sharon began as she unwrapped her half of the sandwich. "Since you're here, you might as well give me an update on the case. What have you learned?"
She ended her query with a large bite into her sandwich. Her eyes closed involuntarily as she chewed, a quiet but satisfied moan emanating from her closed mouth.
Andy grinned for a moment before answering, enjoying the sight of Sharon Raydor enjoying her food.
"We found a lot of interesting info on Jack Richter's computer," he told her, and she opened her eyes in interest, silently prodding him to continue as she chewed.
"Tao was able to piece most of his methods together, so we know how he was able to conveniently show up when you had car trouble." Andy paused for a moment, still feeling uneasy about what they had found. When Sharon's look of interest turned to one of mild irritation, he hurried to finish. "He hacked your car."
Sharon's eyebrows shot up at his statement.
"He hacked my car?" she repeated dumbly, sitting her sandwich down.
"Yeah," he said, warming to the subject. "Apparently cars these days are really just big computers. The computer controls everything – from the air conditioning to the engine itself. He was able to hack into your car's computer and plant code that would allow him to kill the engine with a single keystroke whenever he wanted to. According to Tao, it's a growing threat because car manufacturers haven't embedded any sort of cyber security into their vehicles, so it's actually quite easy for someone who knows how to hack. It's disturbing, really …"
"But … how?" Sharon asked him, her sandwich now forgotten on her plate.
"Umm," Andy equivocated for a moment, scratching his head. "You're gonna have to ask Tao on that one. He tried to explain it to me, but he might as well have been speaking Greek for all that I understood. All I really got was that he planted some sort of device on your car, which is how he was able to track you and send the signal to kill the engine. We found it stuck inside the left front wheel well. He had to have done it on Thursday when he walked you to your car after dinner."
Sharon's face had taken on a look of epiphany.
"He must have done it when he took my keys," she said slowly, more to herself than to Andy. "I thought it was strange. He took my keys, unlocked the door and then held it open for me. He must have done it while I was getting into the car."
Both Andy and Sharon grew quiet, lost in their own inner musings as they remembered the kiss which had preceded that moment. Sharon frowned slightly and shook herself. She still had plenty to process in regards to her part in the operation, as well as her responses to Jack. She was reminded of another aspect of the case that was troubling her.
"Why didn't he appear in any of the databases for the speed dating companies?"
Andy was brought out of his own reverie by her question.
"It's pretty crazy, but Tao was able to piece that together too. So, the guy's a hacker, right? Apparently, he would hack into the company's database after killing one of his victims and erase all of his information. The Raging Bull is not far from his house, so it's likely that he was finding the events through the bar. I guess these events often are low on male attendance so they are eager to take drop-ins."
"That seems like a lot of work on his part," Sharon said somewhat doubtfully.
Andy shrugged.
"Effective, though," he said. "It certainly threw us off. I mean, our only reason for suspecting him initially was because you and Sykes thought he was charming. Hardly a smoking gun. I never liked him, though. Something was off."
Sharon leveled a disbelieving look at Flynn.
"What? It's true!" Andy said defensively. Sharon rolled her eyes.
"Oh, please," she told him. "You thought it was Lyle like the rest of us."
Sharon picked up her sandwich and took another bite.
"Hey, I didn't like him either. And I was right – something was off about both of them," he said smugly, taking the first bite of his sandwich with fervor. Sharon regarded him through narrowed eyes as she finished chewing.
"What's happening with Lyle, anyways? Were you able to find any victims to prove rape?"
At this, Andy swallowed and scowled.
"He gave us the information for over a dozen women that he has been with over the course of the past three months. We've only been able to contact two of them so far, but other than being pissed that he didn't call them, they were both fine. Apparently Lyle is the 'love 'em and leave 'em' type – once he gets what he wants, he moves on. They both indicated that it was all consensual, even if they regret it now. There are still quite a few that we're working on reaching, so we'll just have to wait and see."
Sharon wrinkled her nose in disappointment as Andy continued.
"On the bright side," he said with a smile, "we do get to charge him with the assault of a police officer and we called his wife. She really took a piece out of him – we could hear them through the walls of the interview room. I'm pretty sure she's going to leave him. And, from what I could gather, she was the one who came from money, so he's going to be hurting on multiple fronts when all is said and done."
Sharon hummed in response to this information and opened the salad container, pouring a sparing amount of dressing over the greens. The pair ate in silence for a few minutes, enjoying one another's company without the need for words. Sharon finally broke the silence after finishing her sandwich.
"Have you been able to find any motive for the murders? Why he went on a spree, and why now?"
Andy wiped his mouth with a napkin as he finished the last bite of his sandwich.
"Well, once we knew where to look, we found out some interesting facts about Jack Richter. He went through a divorce earlier this year, and it was a doozy. So, apparently his wife went back to school three years ago to get her PhD in English Literature, of all things. However, she ended up having an affair with her advisor, and decided to leave Jack to marry him. But she didn't just leave him – she took him to the cleaners in the divorce and made all sorts of allegations regarding his maltreatment of her during their marriage. I'm guessing that was the reason for his choice in victims, but as to why he went on a spree now, I guess we'll never know. He took that with him to the grave."
Sharon hummed in response. As was often the case in murder, the ending of this story didn't tie all the pieces into a nice, tidy bow. Sharon wondered for a moment if they would be able to answer all these questions had Jack Richter lived. She quickly squelched the thought; she had no regrets over shooting him. She remembered another question she had been asking herself off and on since that fateful night.
"What ever happened to Lt. Cooper's detail? Shouldn't they have been following him?"
Andy grimaced.
"We got sloppy. After we arrested Lyle, there seemed to be no need to keep the detail on Richter, so when Cooper made the call to end the surveillance, we didn't object. He must have left right after the detail moved on – the last report we had, he was still at home. I'm sorry, Sharon. If we hadn't lifted surveillance, he never would have been able to get to you."
Sharon reached out and placed her hand on his forearm in a gesture of comfort.
"I'm okay," she reminded him. "Hindsight is, as they say, twenty-twenty. Although it might have been prudent to retain the surveillance detail, I probably would have made the same call if Lt. Cooper had asked me. We were all pretty sure that we had gotten the right guy."
Andy lowered his gaze to the table as he nodded, moving his free hand to cover Sharon's.
"Andy," Sharon started, then stopped herself. Andy lifted his eyes and gave her a questioning look. Sharon sighed and then plunged ahead. "Are you okay? You've been acting strangely all week."
Andy dropped his gaze again and quailed inwardly. Apparently he hadn't been able to hide his feelings from anyone on the team. He guessed that now was as good a time as any to discuss things with Sharon. She didn't seem to be angry with him over his behavior at the crime scene on Saturday evening.
"Yeah, I'm okay," he told her, still not looking up. He shifted his hand underneath hers and moved his other hand into his lap, leaving their hands clasped across the tabletop. "Sharon, I don't know how best to go about this, so I'm just going to come out and say it."
Andy took a deep breath and began.
"I've really been enjoying our friendship, getting to know you better and spending time with you. And I don't want anything to jeopardize that – most importantly, I want to always be your friend. So, I hope that we can keep that, regardless."
Sharon tried to interrupt, but Andy shook his head.
"Please let me just get this out. This past week, watching you go undercover, it made me realize that I want to build on that friendship. I wasn't expecting that the thought of you dating other guys would make me jealous, but it did. I want to be more than your friend, Sharon. I realize that you might not feel the same way, or that it might be too complicated given our working relationship. I can accept that. But I couldn't let it go without saying anything once I made the realization."
Andy fell silent and looked into Sharon's eyes, inclining his head slightly to indicate that he was finished. Sharon stared back at him, wide-eyed and slightly dumbfounded. The silence stretched from profound to uncomfortable and Andy's brow furrowed worriedly.
"Sharon, please say something. Anything. You're freaking me out a little bit here."
Sharon shook her head and smiled softly at him.
"I'm not sure what to say, Andy," she told him. "Thank you for telling me."
Andy blinked at her. He was prepared for her to reject him outright, though he hoped that she would be open to the possibility. He was not prepared for the total non-answer she had just given him. He was at a loss of how to proceed.
Sharon seemed to understand his lapse into stunned silence.
"I'm sorry – I know that's not much of a response. It's just that this week has opened my eyes as well. As you know, my divorce is almost final, and for the first time in a long time, I'm open to new relationships. It's been a little overwhelming. I need a little time to process everything that has just happened, both with this operation as well as in my personal life. But, I treasure our friendship, too, Andy. And I'm not opposed to exploring a new side to our relationship, complicated though that may be – I just need a little time. But I'm open. Open to new possibilities. Can you accept that?"
Andy was smiling by the time Sharon finished speaking.
"Of course I can accept that, Sharon," he told her warmly. His face took on a look of inspiration and he disengaged his hand so that he could go to the kitchen. Sharon watched him go with a bemused half smile on her face.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
He held up his finger to forestall her question, then began filling the two glasses he had pulled from the cabinet with water. Sharon settled back into her chair, clasping her hands in her lap and crossing her legs, and contented herself with watching him perform his task. Once the glasses were filled, he made his way back to the table and placed one in front of her, retaking his seat. He raised his glass.
"A toast," he told her. "To possibilities."
Sharon smiled and mirrored his action.
"And new beginnings," she added.
THE END
