"How is she? What did the doctor say? Where's Andy?" As grumpy as the lieutenant was, the old curmudgeon was quite the softy, Rusty mused. Obviously, Provenza was now friends with his mom, mostly because of Andy, but it still warmed his heart to hear him so concerned about Sharon. They all had been on edge the last week since she was first diagnosed with her heart condition. Both he and Andy were beside themselves when she collapsed in her office. Andy refused to leave his mom's side, so Rusty did everything he could to help Andy stay as healthy as possible. He brought him healthy food and made sure he'd get a bit of rest by taking over the vigil at Sharon's beside.
Rusty had only just laid down in his bed when Andy called his cell to tell him that Sharon had finally woken up. They'd been waiting five long days, and it was so hard trying to go through his day to day worrying about his mom. While Andrea gave him time off from his interning duties, she too was worried about Sharon, he still had to deal with his last two classes of his final semester at UCLA.
"She's asleep. We are still waiting for the doctor to get here, and Andy is sitting with her. Just sit here, Lieutenant. We don't have any news yet other than she woke up. I think Andy wanted to speak with you. I'll go in and send him out." Rusty made sure Provenza would remain seated and went into his mom's room to switch places with Andy. He wasn't exactly sure what Andy wanted to talk with the lieutenant about, but it must be important if he's leaving Sharon's side to do it.
"Andy.." The room was so quiet even Rusty's whisper sounded loud to his own ears. Andy looked up at the sound of Rusty's voice as if he had fallen asleep, but Rusty knew better. "Lt. Provenza is here. I sit with my mom while you talk with him."
"Thanks kid." Rusty grinned. What was once a moniker of disdain had become a term of endearment between the two of them. He wasn't sure if he'd ever get used to Andy as his, well his stepdad, but he had come to appreciate him. Almost to reinforce that point, Andy squeezed Rusty's shoulder as he walked past.
*
As Andy walked out of his wife's hospital room, he gave a quick sniff to the fabric of his sweatshirt under his arm and grimaced. He would need to go home soon to shower and change. He refused to leave Sharon's side since she was moved to the ICU, even pulling rank when the nurses tried to usher him out.
Walking toward the chairs where Provenza was sitting, he was unsure where to even start. Sharon woke up saying Phillip Stroh, a serial killer who escaped custody almost three years ago, was back in LA. How the hell she knew or even thought that was crazy, but it was too damn risky to not look into it.
"I need you to do me a favor. Sharon woke up saying Stroh was in LA. I don't know how that could even be true since we last heard he was in the Midwest, but I owe it to Sharon to check it out. Would you do that for me?"
"Egods, Phillip Stroh? Jesus, just what I need. I'll have Amy and Mike look into it. What exactly did she say?"
"She woke up. She said Stroh was in LA, asked me to keep Rusty safe and said that he killed him." It sounded crazy to Andy even now, but he knew better than to break a promise to his captain and wife.
"Killed him?! Who killed who? What the hell am I supposed to do with that?" Provenza shouted.
"Shhhh! I don't want the kid to hear. Sharon hasn't even told him that Stroh was back in the country. Just check it out. If that asshole is back in LA, we need to know." Even though Provenza was his immediate supervisor, he wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"Yes sir. I'm going now. You call me the minute you hear anything about the captain, Sharon. I meant it Andy, the minute you hear from her doctor. Capish? And don't you let Rusty leave this hospital. I'll send some uniforms to keep watch on this floor."
"Yeah. I will. Louie, thanks." Provenza just nodded in reply.
*
The whiteboard was conspicuously bare this morning. In the five days since the captain collapsed, they hadn't caught a murder and the idle time was not helping their anxiety over the captain's health. It seemed weeks had passed since they all sat helplessly as she cried out and then slumped limply over her desk. Julio moved so quickly and was in her office in a flash. It took him a second to realize what exactly was happening, but he followed Julio and began giving his captain mouth to mouth while Julio did compressions. Paramedics arrived fairly quickly, and when she was taken away, he remained on his knees and wept right in her office before he got himself together and followed the rest of the team to the hospital.
Mike Tau shook the memories away and turned in his chair toward the very room of his musings still seeing the ghosts of just five days ago. The phone rang loudly in the quiet room and startled him.
"Major crimes, this is Tau." While was listening, he saw Lt. Provenza walk into the office with Amy and Wes a few steps behind out of the corner of his eye. A familiar name immediately grabbed his attention. "I'm sorry, what was the name?"
"Emma Rios. She was found dead by a neighbor this morning. Apparent drowning, but somewhat suspicious. We were told to call you because she was a from Assistant District Attorney. The Medical Examiner's office is on their way too."
"Hollleee Shit! We just caught a murder!" Mike shouted so they all could hear him.
"We have bigger things to deal with. Send it downstairs to robbery/ homicide we -" Provenza didn't even get to finish his sentence before Mike cut him off.
"It's Emma Rios. She was found dead at the bottom of her pool this morning." The room became dead silent, and Wes, Amy, and Provenza all looked at each other knowingly. "What? What am I missing?"
It was Amy who responded. "The lieutenant just told us on the way up that when the captain woke up, she said Phillip Stroh was back in LA."
Mike jumped out of his seat, grabbed his gun, and didn't look back as the rest followed.
*
"Amy, call Fritz Howard and tell him Stroh is back. Wes, call Cami and Julio tell them to meet us at the crime scene. You get to the hospital and don't let Rusty out of your site. You hear me?" With that last bark of orders, he got into the passenger seat of Mike's car. Truth be told, he was shaken by the news of Emma Rios's death. Although he couldn't stand the woman, she didn't deserve to die. "Sonofabitch! We need to get this asshole, Mike."
Emma lived In the Hollywood Hills having left the DA's office for a criminal defense firm that specializes in white collar crimes with clients who paid big bucks. Clearly, her priorities had shifted.
They pulled into the small driveway and parked next to Kendall's ME van. As they walked to the front door, a patrol officer uniform lifted the yellow tape to let them pass. They walked through the house to the backyard where Rios was still floating in the turquoise water of the oval-shaped pool.
Amy was already there taking notes. As he and Mike were standing there, Kendall and a member of SID also in blue overalls were entering the pool to collect the body. Provenza need a report and quickly.
"Who's in charge here?" A young man of about 35 came over to stand next to Provenza.
"I am, sir. Sergeant Clifton, sir. We got dispatched at about 6:30. The neighbor called it in. Saw her from his second story window. I radioed for SID and the ME's office. When she was identified by the neighbor, I recognized the name. Phone it into my LT, and he advised us to call in Major Crimes, sir."
"Yes. Good work, Sergeant. Where is the neighbor?"
"Right this way,sir."
*
