Here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it! Thanks to our wonderful guest reviewers!
Sharon walks back into her office to get her purse and her sunglasses before her and the rest of the team get in their cars to drive over to Yasmine's apartment. She slides her sunglasses back onto her face and is glad for the darkened light. Walking back out into the main murder room, she says to Provenza, "May I ride with you?"
"Oh great, our hung-over Captain is riding with me!" He sends a glare in her direction and she grins back.
As they all walk out to their cars, Sharon turns to face Provenza and says, "You know, maybe if you ever went out with friends and got drunk once in a while you wouldn't be so grumpy all the time. Also, what happened to us being friends and you being nice to me?"
"Maybe it would make me less grumpy, but we'll never know. And in regards to being friends, I'm nice to you most of the time but sometimes I like to still play the role of the grumpy old man."
Sharon smiles at this and says, "Oh okay, good. Because dealing with the grumpy old man is incredibly enjoyable." She lifts her eyebrow at him and then turns back away from him, grimacing at the bright light.
They get into the car and make their way over to Yasmine's apartment. They are almost there when they pass Griffith Park. Sharon says, "If she lives this close to the park, then she may not have been killed at the park after all. She may have been killed in her apartment and then hidden in the park."
"Yes, that is what I'm thinking now. I wonder what they found in her apartment. I'm starting to think that they found the actual crime scene there."
"They may have. And now we're going to find out," Sharon says as they arrive at the apartment building. She takes a swig of water out of the water bottle that she is holding and then swings her purse over her shoulder. "Alright, let's go." They both climb out of the car, meeting up with Sanchez at his car and then meeting Flynn at the front of the building.
Before they go up the stairs, Flynn turns toward Sharon and says, "Are you sure you're up to seeing this, Captain? Sykes' stomach was bothering her from the hangover and when she saw it she threw-up."
"Thanks for the concern, but I'll be fine. My stomach hasn't been bothering me," Sharon says. She begins to walk up the stairs and after Provenza shrugs his shoulder at Flynn, they both follow her.
They make it up to the second floor and then turn the corner into the hallway. Once they reach the apartment, Sharon takes a deep breath and then steps in to the room.
"Back in the bedroom," Flynn states.
They all walk into the bedroom and Sharon says, "Oh…" There is a large pool of blood in front of the closet with blood splatters on the white comforter on the bed. A Swiss Army Knife is lying on the bed near all the blood. For some reason, her stomach churns at this. She had not been having problems all day, but at the sight of blood… She puts her hand to her mouth and turns her head away from all the blood. "Whose blood is that? Our victim was strangled, not stabbed."
"Well, my guess is that it is the murderer's. I guess Yasmine put up a fight before she was strangled," Flynn says.
"That's a lot of blood for one person. Whoever killed her had to have required medical attention last night. When we get back to the office someone needs to call all of the hospitals in the area."
"Okay. I'm sure the killer wasn't expecting her to fight back," Sanchez states.
"No, I'm sure he wasn't. Was the door unlocked when you got here?" Sharon says.
"No, it wasn't. We had to get someone to unlock it for us," Tao says.
"So either the killer has her key or they have their own key," Sharon says. "But the blood is near the closet, so my guess is that they were already hiding in the closet by the time she got home, which means they probably have their own key which means it was probably someone close to her. I don't know how they would have gotten her out though while being seriously injured. And there was no blood in the hall, so he must have covered his injury up with something that was fairly thick. And her father never mentioned anything this morning about her having a boyfriend or an ex-boyfriend."
"Well, some people are very good at keeping secrets and want things to remain very private."
"I guess, it just seems odd. Alright, let's call this in and head back to the office."
Once they called it in, they waited until the other officers got there before leaving. They checked around her apartment for any signs of a boyfriend and found none. The other officers got there and they left, heading back to their office.
Once they get back into the murder room, Sharon says, "Tao, call the hospitals in the area and see if anyone came in last night with stabbing injuries. Sanchez, I know you have her phone but get her phone records. She may have deleted the texts off her phone if she had an ex-boyfriend that nobody knows about." She pauses to rub her temples and then starts up again saying, "Sykes and Flynn, could you contact her friends and see if they know anything."
"We're on it," Flynn says.
Sharon walks back into her office and joins Andrea, telling her all about what they found. She then groans when she takes off her sunglasses and starts rubbing her temples. "My headache is just getting worse and worse."
"Yep, that's what a hangover does. Here, take these," Andrea says as she takes a couple aspirin out of her purse.
"Thank you." Sharon opens her bottle of water and takes the painkillers. "It is just getting harder and harder to concentrate as the day wares on."
"I know, it's happening to me too. At least we don't have to do as much work, I feel bad for Amy. She actually has to do work while we sit in here."
"Oh yes, that's right. Shit, I just made her to do even more work! I'll be right back, give me a minute." Sharon stands up from her chair with a groan and walks back out of her office. She catches Flynn and Sykes just before they are getting ready to leave to talk to the friends. "Sykes, switch out with Provenza. Why don't you stay here for this outing? You can make sure the boys are getting their work done."
"Thank you, Captain," Sykes says as she looks over at Provenza, who is glaring at her.
"Provenza, head out with Flynn," Sharon says, catching the look between him and Sykes.
"Yes, boss," Provenza says, this time directing his glare at Sharon.
Sharon walks back into her office, looks over at Andrea, and says, "Now that that's fixed, I need to sit down for a little bit."
"I would imagine so."
Just as Sharon sits down in her chair and rests her head in her hands, her door opens. "Yes?" she says without looking up.
"It's just me, Captain," Sykes says.
"Oh, well why don't you come on in to the dark room of hangovers?" Andrea says.
Sykes and Sharon both chuckle at this but Sykes obeys and sits down in the other chair on the opposite side of the desk from Sharon. "Well, this was a terrible day for a murder to happen," Sykes says.
"Yes it was," Sharon agrees. "Unfortunately, murderers never wait for a good time."
"Well, we wouldn't have a job if it was like that," Andrea says.
"That's very true," Sharon says.
As she says this, Tao opens the door to her office. "Captain, I got a hit by calling the hospitals. I just called UCLA Medical Center and they said they had a man by the name of Andrew Charles that came in to the ER last night with knife wounds. Apparently he said that he was roughed up by a gang and so they thought he was telling the truth."
"Alright, call Flynn and Provenza and tell them to ask the friends about that name. We need to build up some evidence against him. Have you guys run his name yet?"
"Yes, we have and we already called Flynn and let them know. He has no priors, which explains why he isn't very good at hiding evidence. But the hospital did say he is 25 years old and they gave us his address that he put down on the paperwork. He left the hospital early this morning."
Sharon, Andrea, and Sykes all stand up from their chairs and follow Tao out of Sharon's office. Sharon speaks, "Tao, can you and Sanchez go to his address and pick him up. Hopefully, Provenza and Flynn are finding out something by using that name." Just as she says this, she receives a call from Flynn. "Yes, Flynn?"
"Two of Yasmine's friends recognize the name. They had heard her talk about him. Apparently he is an ex-boyfriend."
"Thank you. Bring them down to the station. Tao and Sanchez just left to go pick him up."
"Will do! Bye."
Sharon hangs up the phone and turns to Andrea. "Well, we may end up solving this case fairly quickly and have an early night after all."
Hope you enjoyed it! As always, reviews are appreciated. Suggestions for storylines for the chapters are also appreciated.
