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.
A/N: Thanks everyone for continuing to read this story!
Chapter 12
"What the hell are you thinking!" Provenza yelled at Andy as they stepped outside of the building. "What?" Andy looked over at him as they walked to the car. "He knows we're looking at him for this murder and gambling ring, so maybe he'll do something stupid now and we can catch him," Andy told Provenza as the three of them got into the car and Provenza drove back to the office.
Outside Rocco's construction office there was a white utility van parked on the street. Three men were inside the van watching the monitors. "Why would three LAPD detectives go in and come out of Victor Rocco's office?" one of them said as he watched Provenza, Andy, and Julio drive away with his binoculars.
"Well, like we all heard, they're investigating the murder of a hockey player, and if this is somehow connected to Victor's sports gambling ring we have been following, it could break our case wide open," another man stated as he sipped on a cup of coffee.
"Should we notify the FBI liaison to the LAPD yet?" the third guy asked. "Run a search and see just who did they arrest last night," he told him and continued to sip his coffee as the other man watched the monitors.
"Sir, they arrested Billy Genovese last night, the same prints that alerted us a couple of days beforehand," the man showed the laptop to him. He let out a puff of air before he picked up his cell phone and dialed a number. "Agent Morris, yeah this is Agent Walters," the man said over the phone.
Back at the cold storage facility, they were all wearing winter jackets. Mike and Amy were searching the cold locker when one of the patrol officers discovered something. "Lieutenant!" she called out to Mike and he walked over to where she was kneeling down. "I think this might be blood, sir," she pointed to the location.
"Hmm," Mike said and pulled out his bag of tricks, spraying some Luminal on the area. "Stand by people!" he shouted and nodded at Amy to switch the lights off. He took his black light out and shined it over the spot, immediately glowing with signs of blood.
"Okay Amy!" he shouted again and Amy turned the lights back on. Mike then swabbed some blood on a q-tip and placed it inside a small canister with some liquid. It was a field test for human blood, something that he had gotten from SID in exchange for kalua bottles.
"Call SID, get them down here, asap!" Mike informed Amy and turned to Buzz. "I want you to start filming everything, Buzz," he told him and then walked over to the side of the room and pulled out his phone.
Provenza's phone was ringing and Andy picked it up from the cup holder. "It's Mike," he stated as he answered the phone. "What's up Mike?" he asked. "We found blood here at the storage facility in the area where Billy rented the locker. I had Amy notify SID already, what does Provenza want to do?" Mike asked Andy.
Andy relayed what Mike had just told him and Provenza nodded as he drove. "Tell Mike we're on our way over to them now," Provenza told Andy and Andy told Mike, hanging up the phone when he was done. "How many crime scenes are we going to have?" Andy thought out loud as they changed directions and drove towards the warehouse district.
When they arrived, Mike had met them outside the facility and brought them in. Andy looked at the man in the front office as they passed him. "He cooperated with us," Mike stated almost reading Andy's mind. "Oh yeah? Too bad his boss didn't really have anything to say," Andy muttered as they made their way down the corridor to the storage area.
"Geeze Tao, it's freezing here!" Provenza yelled as he got closer to the area. "Oh come on Provenza, it's not that cold!" Andy quipped at him and moved passed him to get a better look at the area. "The area where the blood was discovered was in the far corner over there," Mike pointed to the location as Provenza looked on.
"It field tested positive for human blood, but we'll know more later when SID takes a sample to the lab and tests it against our hockey player's," Mike added as he moved to the side. "Alright, secure this area Tao," Provenza started to say but was interrupted by his telephone ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw that Chief Mason was calling him. "Ye gods," he muttered and then moved to a warmer area and answered the call.
"Yes Chief Mason," he stated. "Lieutenant where is your team?" Chief Mason stated as he stood in his office with FBI Special Agent Morris and Special Agent Walters. "Well, if you must know we are standing at another crime scene where our victim was frozen," Provenza told him as he watched the SID officers come and go from the scene.
"I need you and the rest of your team back at the office asap!" Chief Mason told him. "But sir, we still need to," but before Provenza could finish, Chief Mason interrupted him. "Asap Lieutenant!" he informed him again. "Yes sir," Provenza mumbled and hung up his phone. He walked back over to where everyone was standing.
"Alright, listen up everyone. Chief Mason wants us back at the office asap so, I guess we need to pack this up," Provenza waved his hand and then headed back to the car. Andy and Mike both looked at each other and Andy followed Provenza while the rest of the team gathered their things to leave.
"Hey! What did the Chief actually say?" Andy caught up with Provenza as he was leaving the facility. "Not much, just that he needed us back at the office as soon as possible," Provenza told him and then looked at their surroundings. "This can't be good, whatever it is," Andy stated and squinted as the sun started to shine down on Los Angeles.
Back at the house, Sharon was taking a pain pill when Emily walked into the kitchen. "I think I finished the portfolio for them, Mom," Emily interrupted her mother and Sharon turned around with a glass in one hand and held up her finger to tell Emily to wait a second as she took her pill. Sharon drank some water from her glass and then smiled at Emily.
"Good to hear that!" she told her as she dumped the rest of the water in the sink and put her pill bottle away in the cabinet. "I was hoping that you and I could spend the morning out together, you know, maybe go shopping, out to lunch?" Sharon suggested as her eyes perked up. "Are you sure you're up to that, Mom?" Emily asked her, not wanting to push it too much.
"I'm perfectly fine," Sharon smiled. "No, you're not, Mom, but I'm not going to argue with you anymore," Emily told her and then sat down at the kitchen table. "What time did you want to go?" she asked her and Sharon glanced at the clock. "How about in ten minutes?" she suggested and then went to the powder room on the first floor to freshen up.
Emily pulled out her phone and texted Andy to let him know what they were doing. As Andy, Provenza, and Julio were driving back to the office, Andy's phone alerted him to a message. "Is that Mason, wondering where we are again?" Provenza asked him as he drove.
"No, it's Emily," Andy muttered as he read her message. Provenza glanced at his best friend. "Everything okay at home?" he asked Andy. "Uh, yeah," he answered as he replied to Emily's text message.
'Is she up for that? I don't want her to push too much,' he typed to Emily and hit the send button. He knew she deserved a little mother-daughter time outside of the house and hoped that Sharon wasn't pushing herself too hard to return to normal duties. 'She says she is' was Emily's response and Andy placed his phone back in his jacket pocket.
They pulled into the parking garage of the PAB and parked the car. Andy got out and waited for Provenza and Mike to join him before they headed up to their floor. "What do you think the Chief wants calling us all back here?" Amy asked as they stood in the elevator. "I don't know Sykes, but this can't be good," Andy sighed.
The doors opened on the ninth floor and Chief Mason was standing in the waiting area. "No, not good at all," Mike muttered under his breath as they all stepped out of the elevator. "Lieutenant Provenza, will you and your team join me in the Murder Room," Chief Mason stated and then started to walk towards the office. Provenza glanced at Andy and Mike and followed him.
"Look, Chief Mason, do you mind telling us why you called us back?" Provenza asked as he walked through the door to the Murder Room. He saw FBI Special Agent Morris standing by the Murder Board along with some other man he never saw before. "Ye gods!" Provenza mumbled as he made his way towards his desk.
Andy followed him inside the Murder Room and as soon as he saw Agent Morris, he stopped and folded his arms. "Oh geeze, this ought to be good," he muttered. Everyone else came into the room and gathered around the Murder Board.
"Lieutenant, everyone, you know Special Agent Morris with the FBI," Chief Mason stated as he pointed to Morris. "Oh yes, how can we forget you Special Agent Morris?" Provenza rolled his eyes as he took his seat at his desk. "Nice to see you too, Lieutenant Provenza," Special Agent Morris smiled sarcastically at him.
"This is Special Agent Walters with the organized crime division of the FBI," Morris introduced Walters to everyone. "We've been watching Victor Rocco ever since he took over his uncle's business, and we discovered the separate sports gambling ring about 5 months ago," Agent Walters started to brief everyone.
"Oh yeah? Why haven't you arrested Victor yet?" Andy asked him. "Because, Lieutenant Flynn, we didn't have enough evidence to tie him into interstate commerce violations," Agent Walters stated as he looked at Andy. Andy was surprised that the agent knew his name and figured either Chief Mason or Agent Morris told him who everyone was.
"Sports gambling and betting is a federal crime outside of Nevada. We had an undercover agent at their latest gambling meeting down at the warehouse district a couple of nights ago. He was able to get viable information for our case," Agent Walters continued. "Hold on a second, what do you mean your case?" Provenza interrupted him. Both Agent Morris and Agent Walters looked over at Chief Mason.
"Lieutenant, you and your team are to turn over all information you have gathered regarding this case to the FBI," Chief Mason informed Provenza and the whole Murder Room went into uproar. "Now you wait just a damn minute!" Provenza pointed at Chief Mason with his finger. "We are investigating a murder here!" he continued as he looked at Mason and then the FBI.
"Turn everything over, now. The FBI will be taking over the investigation into the murder as well as everything tying Victor Rocco and his workers, including Billy Genovese, whom you arrested last night," Chief Mason told Provenza again.
"Really? We're giving everything to the FBI now, I mean what, are we now their lackeys all of a sudden?" Andy angrily stated to them and Chief Mason. Provenza turned to Andy and glared at him. "A hockey player was murdered, Chief, and now we can't investigate that because we're stepping on the FBI's toes?" Andy continued, not caring that Provenza and the rest of the team was now looking at him.
Chief Mason turned to Provenza. "Lieutenant, you have your orders, I expect them to be done," he stated to him and then left the room. Everyone gathered their current notes about the case and one by one, handed over the information to Agent Morris and Agent Walters. Andy walked over to his desk and grabbed the file folder that was on top and walked back over to Agent Morris.
"Sorry Lieutenant Flynn," Agent Morris shrugged his shoulders as Andy handed him the folder. "Yeah, I bet you are," Andy gritted his teeth and then walked out of the office. "Hey Flynn! Flynn!" Provenza called after him but Andy just kept walking. Provenza ran his hands through his hair and watched everyone turn over their files.
"Want me to go after him?" Julio asked Provenza as he glanced in the direction of where Andy had walked out. "No, I'll go find him in a couple of minutes, let him cool off a little," Provenza told Julio and then watched Amy take everything off the Murder Board and placed the items in a box.
Fifteen minutes later, Provenza found Andy on the roof in their usual spot where they would go if something wasn't going right. "Have you calmed down yet?" Provenza asked Andy as he came up behind him. Andy was sitting on one of the steps where an access door was located. "Whatever," mumbled Andy. Provenza raised his eyebrows and shook his head.
"Do you think I like turning everything over to the FBI?" Provenza asked Andy as he took a seat next him. The sun was shining bright down on them and that had Provenza wishing he had brought his white bucket hat. Andy had put his sunglasses on when he had come up there, so the sun wasn't bothering him.
"It's just I feel like we can't get justice for Michael because we have to turn over the person who participated in his murder, over to the FBI for some interstate commerce charge instead," Andy gruffed as he spoke with his hands. "Flynn, did it ever occur to you that Michael wasn't as innocent as he seemed to be? I mean he was involved in throwing several hockey games, and who knows who else on the team was in on it as well?" Provenza explained to him as they sat there.
"Still, he was murdered, and we were charged with investigating his murder," Andy tried to make his point. "This is the second case in a row that the feds have taken over," he argued and paused as Provenza listened to him. "I mean, if we keep turning things over to them, what's the point?" he placed his head in his hands and looked down.
"First of all, Flynn, turning over our robbery case to the FBI was a good thing, I think, because it spared you and the commander from dealing with the case after she got shot," Provenza told him and Andy huffed. "Yeah, it really spared us," he mumbled and Provenza continued. "Do I like it that we turned everything over that we discovered in this case to them, no. But, I'm sure there will be another case out there that we won't be stumbling on the FBI," Provenza wanted to be positive.
The two sat there in silence for a while before Provenza started talking. "How's Matthew doing with Doctor Joe?" he asked Andy, trying to change the subject. "Sharon said he opened up to her a little bit last night. Said he was afraid that she was going to die and leave him, just like his birth mother did," Andy told him.
Provenza looked away and sighed. "Well, you all have been through a lot lately, that's a lot to ask for a kid who's nine, almost ten in two months," he told Andy. "Yeah, I'm sure he didn't think he'd be getting into a cop's family when his birth mom was killed," Andy muttered and shook his head.
"Do you ever feel like you just can't get ahead no matter what you do?" Andy asked Provenza as he stood up and started to walk towards the glass edge. Provenza looked and then followed him. "You're not thinking of doing something stupid, are you?" he questioned him. "What? No, of course not!" Andy glanced at Provenza and turned around.
"Well, come on Flynn! Snap out of this funk you're in!" Provenza patted him on his back. "Why, if this was the old you and me, I would take you to a bar where we would pick up some pretty little blond chicks and show you a good time," Provenza continued but Andy shook his head. "I'm a happily married man, thank you very much," Andy grumbled.
"I know, I know Flynn, so am I for that matter," Provenza back tracked. "You need a vacation my friend," he told Andy. "I need Sharon to get better," Andy muttered as he looked up at the sky. "She will," Provenza stated and they stood on the roof for a couple of more minutes before they finally retreated back into the building.
It was lunch time and Sharon and Emily were at the outdoor mall, browsing through the different stores when Andy called Sharon's phone. "Hello?" Sharon answered her phone as she was standing by a dressing room, waiting for Emily to come out. "Hey, how's the shopping going?" he asked her. "Oh, it's going fine," she smiled as she looked down at some of the bags that were on the floor next to her.
"Is our credit card getting a workout?" he chuckled and Sharon smiled again. "Hmm, somewhat honey," she told him. "I bought you something," she said, seductively over the phone. "Me? What did you buy me?" he asked her, curious to know. "Hmm, well, I'm hoping for a full release this Monday from the doctor so, you'll just have to wait and see that night," Sharon flirted.
Andy groaned into the phone. "Sharon," he said her name and pictured anything that would come to mind to ease his frustration. "So, how are things with the case?" Sharon asked, changing the subject to get Andy's mind off of what they were just talking about.
"Huh, funny you should mention that. You see, apparently, the FBI already had Victor Rocco and his sports gambling ring in their sights long before this murder happened, and this morning, they showed up at the PAB and Chief Mason turned all of our information over to them," Andy was getting frustrated again just thinking about that.
"Hmm, they seem to be popping up lately," Sharon stated and then watched Emily come out of the dressing room wearing something new. "Oh, I like this one!" she said to her daughter. "Sharon?" Andy said, wondering what she was talking about. "I'm sorry honey, Emily is trying on some new clothes and I was commenting on her new outfit," Sharon moved away from the dressing room and listened to him.
"So they took over everything in the investigation, including our suspect in our murder case!" Andy was frustrated again. "Honey, look, it happens, so they took over your case, now that frees you and the rest of the team up this weekend," Sharon said showing the possible bright side of this happening.
"Could you show me what you bought me this weekend?" he asked her in a flirty tone. "Oh, well I wouldn't be cleared from the doctor yet, and I do think I should be cleared first, before I, you know, show you," Sharon flirted right back at him and she only heard Andy groan again. "Fine," he let out in a huff.
"Are you doing okay, otherwise?" he asked her, clearing his throat and shaking his thoughts out of his head. "Yes, I'm doing okay," she smiled. "Alright, then I'll let you go. See you later this afternoon," he told her. "Hmm, okay. I love you," she told him. "I love you too," he said and they hung up their phones.
TBC
