Major Crimes Mysteries

The Family McCoy

Chapter 17

Andy and Sharon drove up to the church where the McCoy family funeral was being held. They could already see the mobile unit there and ready to go. Andy found a parking spot in the packed parking lot and pulled into the spot. Andy turned the key off and both leaned in for a kiss. "Love you." They said in unison. They laughed and got out of the car. It was game time.

As Sharon and Andy stepped into the van, Mike and Myra were there looking at camera angles and testing earpieces and microphones. Andy waved to Mike before making a motion of stepping out. "Hey Andy." Mike called out to him. "Before you leave, let me get you miked up. Yours is ready to go." Andy stepped back into the van and Mike walked over with his equipment. Just as he was getting ready to walk out and surveille the parking lot for anything that looked suspicious, the rest of the crew stepped into the van.

"Andy, can you please wait a minute before you leave?" Sharon asked him. Andy stepped back into the van. Sharon proceeded to give the group a pep talk and they discussed things they would be looking for during the funeral. It was common knowledge that murderers show up at the funerals of their victims almost as a last hurrah. Sharon wanted to ensure they were all together to ensure if the murderer did show up, they were on the same page. As they were leaving the mobile unit, Sharon gave each team member a smile and a short grasp of their hand before sending them off.

The team broke out with each pairing up as they normally did. Mike, Myra and Sharon stayed behind. Unless it was necessary, Mike tended to stay with Sharon in the van to become a second set of eyes for her and ensure they didn't miss anything. Sharon appreciated Mike's attention to detail even though the rest of the team gently ribbed him on it. Sharon never partook in the teasing. It was one of the traits she found most endearing and helpful of Lt. Michael Tao.

Sharon and Mike were talking about the Dodgers game the night before when something came into Mike's view. He zoomed in on a young man getting ready to walk up to the church. The guy was tall, lanky, and blonde, but definitely looked like he worked out. He could fit the profile Jason Walkmire gave them. Sharon put her hand on Mike's arm. Mike turned to look at her with a huge grin on his face. "Hey team, we have a possible person of interest walking into the church right now. He gave the team the guy's description and continued to try to follow him.

Unfortunately, the guy moved into the crowd at the church and the team had lost him. Sharon was now irked the church would not allow them to put cameras up in the vestibules and in the church itself. The priest told her that the church was a house of God, and no one should have to worry about being filmed by the police when entering it. Despite Sharon's arguments, the priest would not budge, and Sharon was forced to settle for the cameras worn by the detectives. As small of a win that it was. Originally, the priest had fought even that, but Sharon's perseverance won out.

The signal was made for attendees to take their seats. Even with that, attendees were forced to stand in every corner of the church. The team doubted all these people knew the McCoys and wondered how many were coming out to be lookie-loos.

Andy and Provenza found a seat and sat down. Wes and Cami chose to plant themselves in the vestibule where it was easier for them to move. Buzz and Amy hung out in the back of the church slowly working their way through the crowd. All of a sudden, Amy's voice came over the earpieces. "Buzz and I have eyes on the POI. Again, Buzz and I have eyes on the POI."

Buzz and Amy watched the young man dressed in all black standing in the shadows between the back of the church and the vestibule. As the funeral progressed, Buzz and Amy didn't let their eyes off him, but were careful not to tip their hats that they had spotted him. "Cami and Wes, can you please move to the northwest exit, so we don't lose him in case he goes to leave?" Amy said over the earpiece. "Copy. Cami said. Wes and Cami started to move as requested.

"POI on move. POI on move." Buzz said.

As the POI was moving towards the exit, Wes and Cami caught sight of him. "Excuse me." Wes called out to him. "Sir, please wait." He said again. The young man kept moving speeding up his pace. Wes finally caught up to him and put his hand on the guy's shoulder. Wes quickly turned the guy around and came face to face with who he thought was probably David Roberts, Katey's boyfriend at the time of her death. "Hey man, we've been calling you to stop. Why didn't you stop." Wes said to him.

The guy looked shocked. "Oh sorry. I didn't think you were talking to me. I really don't know anyone here and the one person I do know, I didn't want her to see me." He said.

Buzz and Amy caught up with them.

Provenza and Andy walked past the group and decided they had it covered. "Come on, Flynn. Let's get back to the air conditioning. We'll let the young ones of the group deal with the heat out here." Buzz overheard him and gave Provenza the side glance with smirk he often gave him when Provenza would make his sarcastic comments.

Buzz turned back to the group. He heard Wes say, "What's your name, man?"

The young man responded "David Roberts. What's going on here?" Wes was correct. It was Katey's boyfriend at the time of her death. The detectives introduced themselves.

"How did you know the victims?" Wes continued.

"I really didn't. I only knew Katey and that was for a really short time. I never met the rest of the family." David responded.

"Why did you take off before the funeral ended?" Buzz asked.

David responded, "I said my prayers for the victims and got out. Katey had a friend that I didn't want to make contact with again and she is here today. Katey's friend, Skye, can be a bit, um, overwhelming." He said trying to be polite, but Wes got the meaning exactly of what he was saying. "I just wanted to say goodbye to Katey though. She was a sweet kid." David informed the group.

"Why would you do that to a girlfriend, David? Someone you allegedly care about. Just leave her funeral because you are uncomfortable with one of her friends. Does her friend know something about you that we don't know? Maybe she knows you killed the entire family. Maybe she knows Katey had done something to piss you off. Maybe that is why you don't want to see her friend." Cami said.

"Wait! Killed her? No way man. Second, Katey wasn't my girlfriend. She was fifteen. I am twenty-two. You know how much trouble I could get into, man. I am sure as cops you do, and I have a pretty bright future ahead of me. I am not going to get labeled as a pedophile man. I don't need a girlfriend that bad." David said.

"Why would you even talk to Katey if you knew she was that young?" Amy asked him.

"I didn't know she was that young when we met. When we first started talking, Katey told me she was nineteen. She looked nineteen to me too, so I didn't think twice about it. We just talked though for a good two weeks. I felt this was a relationship that could get serious, so I showed my brother who is sixteen a picture of her. Thank God, I did! My brother told me that she wasn't nineteen. He told me that she was a sophomore at the school he attends. I told him that it couldn't be that Katey had an ID. He just laughed at me. He then pulled out his yearbook to prove to me that it was her. I confronted Katey on it and everything. She copped to lying about her age and having a fake ID. I told her we couldn't hang out, but to look me up when she turned eighteen. Trust me, I would've changed my number by then. Oh, and by the way officers, no way I killed her. I would have no reason to. Not to mention, my brother and I headed up to Yosemite earlier that week to do some camping to celebrate my acceptance into law school. David pulled out a receipt from the campgrounds that had his name on them for the day the McCoys were killed. He then pulled out his phone and showed the detectives some photos that were timestamped for the day of the murders.

Yosemite, on a good day was five hours from the LA area, and that was on a really, really good day where everyone stayed home, and the speed limit could be exceeded. It was very quickly looking like David was not their killer.

"Do you mind if we get a DNA sample?" Cami asked him. Wes handed her the buckle swab he had in his coat pocket.

David looked at her incredulously. "Do you have a warrant?"

"Well, no, but we could definitely rule you out as a suspect and never have to talk to you again." Cami responded.

"Look, detectives. I was prelaw and have my entrance into law school. Unless you have a warrant, I don't need to give you a sample. I'd like to keep it that way. I just gave you all the reasons why I couldn't have killed the family. You can check out all my alibis and rule me out that way." David said. He gave the detectives his driver's license and let them know how to contact his brother.

"Great, a junior lawyer." Provenza said out loud. "The only thing worse than a full-grown adult one." Flynn rolled his eyes and smiled knowing Provenza was right. Andy looked over at Sharon who was giggling under her breath.

After the funeral ended, the rest of the team returned to the mobile unit and looked dejected. "Of course, we will check his alibi and such, but I don't think he is it, Commander." Buzz told Sharon.

"No, Buzz. I think you are right. There is no way to be two places at once. We will do our due diligence though." Sharon told him and he just shook his head in agreement.

The driver for the mobile unit knocked on the door to drive the unit back to the police barn it was kept in. The team exited the unit and returned to PAB.

When they got back to the department, Dr. Joe sat there waiting for them. He zeroed his eyes on Sharon the second she walked in the door. Little did she know that not only did Rusty speak with Sharon the night he visited, but reached out to Dr. Joe, as well.

EOC