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: Listen to Doctor Morales's warning if you don't want to read about the bodies discovered. It is pretty gruesome.
Chapter 2
Jeffery sat in the basement of his house, tinkering with a sawdering iron and some sheet metal on his work bench. The small TV was on and he was distracted by it. The news was covering the fire and discovery of the five bodies inside the house. They did not mention anything about the bodies being dismembered or what the status was. The news reporter just stated that the LAPD Major Crimes Division was looking into the investigation.
Jeffery looked up at the TV when the reporter stated that and saw members of the LAPD walking at the crime scene. "Wow Jeffery, your handiwork has gotten the attention of the Major Crimes detectives," he said to himself out loud and smiled. The camera showed a brief picture of Sharon, which had caught the eye of Jeffrey and he paused the TV and looked at her.
"Hmm, I wonder who she is?" he said to no one because he was alone in the basement. He turned off the TV and unplug the sawdering iron from his work bench. He wiped his hands with a rag and proceeded upstairs. The sun was just starting to peek through his windows in his house. He walked into the kitchen and sat down in front of his laptop at the table. "Let's see what Google tells us about the Major Crimes division of the LAPD," he smirked as he typed away on his computer.
Meanwhile, the sun was rising above the horizon and shining on the buildings downtown. Sharon was staring at her computer, still working on the budget for next year while her team gathers more information on their victims and the type of person they could potentially be dealing with.
A knock on her door drew her attention away from her computer. "Come in," she cleared her throat and the door opened. Provenza walked through towards her desk. "Doctor Morales called, he said to give him another hour and he will be ready for us," he told her and she nodded.
"Okay, good," she simply replied and then glanced out of her office at the rest of her team. "We were finally able to confirm with the building department that the Millers do own that house where the fire and bodies were located," Provenza stated. "A Howard Miller is listed as the owner of the house, along with his wife, Patrice Miller," he added.
"Flynn looked up their vehicle records and is currently putting their pictures up on the board," he gestured behind him and she saw Andy standing by the board. "Good, did Mike ever get the report from the Fire Department?" she asked him.
"Ah, yes and no. He's been on the phone going back and forth between the fire investigator and the fire chief's office," Provenza told her. Sharon glanced towards Mike's desk but he wasn't there. "Okay, have we checked with ViCAP to see if there are any murders mimicking the one that was discovered," Sharon asked.
"I have Julio running that, hopefully it comes back to something soon," Provenza answered her. She hummed in agreement and leaned back in her chair. Her and her team thought they would have an easy week before Christmas, they had just finished up the one case and now they were thrown into another. This case seemed to be one of the worst yet, at least since Sharon had taken over command of the team.
Meanwhile, at the Flynn house, Matthew was just starting to get up. He looked around the room and found Moxie sleeping on the floor. Matthew got out of bed and he didn't want to disturb Moxie but as soon as he got up, Moxie got up and followed him.
They walked into the hallway and Matthew saw that his parent's room was open. He walked further towards and stepped inside the room but didn't see his mom or dad there. "Maybe they're downstairs?" he said to Moxie and they both went towards the stairs and made their way down.
Matthew made his way towards the kitchen and noticed the light over the table was on. He walked over to the table and sat down. Moxie sat next to him. Matthew stayed sitting there for a couple of minutes. He wondered where they could be. He looked down at the table and saw a note. He picked it up and read it.
"Matthew, Daddy and I were called very early this morning to work. Emily will watch you until she has to leave for the ballet this afternoon. Please behave, Love, Mom," he read out loud. He looked down at Moxie who was looking up at him. "Are you hungry?" he asked the dog and he started to wag his tail as he sat there.
Matthew went into the mud room area where they kept Moxie's food and filled his bowl. He brought the bowl into the kitchen and placed it on the counter. He got out a bowl for himself and grabbed the cereal box, pouring Fruit Loops into the bowl, a little too high to the rim. He went to the refrigerator and got out the milk, pouring it into the bowl and some cereal overflowed.
He walked back to the kitchen table with both bowls of food and placed Moxie's bowl on the floor. Moxie ate his food right away. Matthew sat back down at the kitchen table and ate his bowl of cereal.
After they were both done eating, Matthew and Moxie walked into the family room and Matthew turned on the TV. Flipping through the channels on the TV, he found a cartoon that he liked and started watching it. He sat on the couch and Moxie sat next to him. Matthew didn't have the TV on too loud because he didn't want to disturb Emily, who was still sleeping upstairs.
Back at the PAB, Buzz returned with a box of bagels and cream cheese and placed it on the empty desk next to Andy's desk. "Did you get my blueberry muffin, Buzz?" Provenza asked him as he sat at his desk. "Yes, Lieutenant I got your muffin," Buzz rolled his eyes which made Andy chuckle.
Sharon came out of her office and saw that Buzz had returned. She ran her hand along Andy's shoulders as she made her way to the center of the office. "Thank you Buzz," she told him and he nodded, grabbing a bagel and heading towards his desk.
One by one, Julio walked over to get a bagel followed by Amy and Mike. "Where are we so far?" Sharon inquired as she looked at the Murder Board.
"I finally heard back from the fire department, it's not their final report but it does show there was no accelerant used to start the fire, and the fire was most likely caused by the stove being left on, with the faulty "O" ring the natural gas escaped, and all that was needed was a spark," Mike stated as he gestured with his hands the movement of an explosion.
"Was there an actual explosion?" Sharon asked him. "Hard to say, I'm sure that will be in their final report," Mike shrugged his shoulders and returned to his computer screen. "It is not ruled accidental, Commander," he added as he read the report off of his screen.
Sharon nodded and turned back to the board. "Do we have a background on our homeowners yet?" she looked at the Millers' pictures on the board. Provenza's phone rang and he answered it and then hung up. "No not yet, Commander. And, Doctor Morales is ready for us," he somberly stated.
"Andy, Lieutenant Provenza, join me in the Morgue, Amy, please run financials on our couple, let's see if anything stands out. Julio, call Chief Howard and see if he can maybe speed up ViCAP's response to us," Sharon told them and then walked out into the hallway with Provenza and Andy.
Sharon pulled out her phone and sent a text message to Rusty, explaining that they had been called out and asking him to stay with Matthew when Emily leaves for the theater. She was surprised she got a response from him right away. She put her phone back in her pocket of her jeans.
"Everything okay?" Andy asked her as Provenza pushed the button for the elevator. "Yes, Rusty said he can watch Matthew when Emily goes to the theater," she smiled and he nodded. All three stepped into the elevator.
When they arrived at the morgue, Andy handed Sharon a gown and she placed it over her clothes. He did the same and so did Provenza. They waited out in the hallway until Doctor Morales opened the door to the exam room.
"Just want to warn you all, this is not for the faint of heart," Doctor Morales informed them before they stepped inside. One of the bodies discovered was on the main table as they walked in. Another body was on the second table in the room.
"The other three bodies are in the other room next door," Doctor Morales said as he walked back to the main table. "I was able to identify this body from his fingerprints. Meet Howard Miller," Doctor Morales pointed to the body on the table and Sharon sighed.
"Damn," muttered Provenza as he allowed Sharon to move closer to the body. "As you can see from his wounds, he died from being stabbed twenty-five times, causing rapid blood loss to his body," Doctor Morales stated as he pointed to the knife wounds.
"Do we know what type of knife did this?" Sharon asked the Doctor. "Well, from what I can tell from measuring the wounds, and how deep they went, the knife used is a 6-inch blade, with a jagged edge," he answered her and grabbed a fake knife from the counter. "Kind of like this one," he added, handing the fake knife to Andy.
"Judging from the knife wounds and the location, I would say your perpetrator knew Mister Miller here," Doctor Morales then positioned Provenza and Andy. "Lieutenants, step over here and I'll show you," he asked them and they cooperated.
"More than likely, this was the first knife puncture wound that was done," Doctor Morales said and then told Andy to thrust the knife towards Provenza's stomach. "As he thrusted the knife into the stomach, he twisted the knife to make the wound bigger, there by more blood loss than a typical knife wound to the area," he explained as Sharon watched.
"And judging by the angle of insertion, I would say your killer was at least 6-foot tall," the doctor added as Andy returned the knife to the counter and moved around the table to be on the same side as Sharon.
"You said you ran his fingerprints, is he in the system?" Sharon asked. "Yes, but he's never been arrested if that's what you're alleging to," Doctor Morales answered as he moved to the counter to pick up a clipboard. He flipped over a page. "The reason he's in the system is because he was in the military, Navy, and retired from them," he added.
"Great, that means we're going to have to deal with the military's criminal investigative service on this one," mumbled Provenza. "Not necessarily Lieutenant," Sharon told him. "How did our killer know the victim?" she asked and they moved on to the second body in the room.
"Moving on, meet Howard's wife, Patrice Miller. I was able to identify her through dental records," Doctor Morales explained. "Ah geeze," muttered Andy as he crossed his arms over his chest. "She wasn't so lucky with how she died," Doctor Morales explained as he showed them her body.
"Her fingers were cut off by the same knife and then she was stabbed repeatedly," he explained. "More than likely, she was the first one killed between the two of them," Doctor Morales then walked over to the other door and opened it. "The other three bodies are in here," he informed them and Provenza followed the Doctor, leaving Andy and Sharon behind for a moment.
Sharon stared at the body. It wasn't until Andy placed his hand on the small of her back that her gaze ceased. "You okay?" he asked her, quietly as she looked up at him. "Whoever did this is a monster, Andy," she told him and she started to walk into the other room. Andy sighed and followed her.
"Now, these three bodies I do not believe were killed on the same day as the Millers," Doctor Morales explained when they were all in the room. "Why is that, Doctor?" Sharon cleared her throat as she spoke.
"Because, these bodies were frozen after they were killed," Doctor Morales stated. "Frozen! Are you sure Doctor?" Provenza asked. "Yes, Lieutenant, if you look here, that's frostbite on the fingertips," Doctor Morales pointed to the redness on the body's fingers.
"So, these bodies were all stabbed by your same knife in the same way, the only thing different is they were all frozen afterwards, and I couldn't get an id on them either. The fingerprints were not good ones and there are no dental records on them," Doctor Morales explained, looking at Sharon as she looked over the one victim.
"Doctor, this looks like a child," she stated. "I believe you are correct, but the other two are adults," Doctor Morales mentioned and Andy shook his head. "Bastered," Andy gritted his teeth as he looked over the bodies on the tables.
"I hope you do catch them," Doctor Morales added as he walked all three of them out of the room. "Here is a set of pictures I had Kendall take of the bodies for your board and other pictures to help your investigation," he handed a file folder to Sharon.
"Oh, Doctor, one more thing before we leave. Any similarities between these bodies and others that may have crossed your path or other coroners?" Sharon asked him. "I'm not sure but I will look in our system and get back to you," Doctor Morales stated and then walked down the hallway to his office.
They all removed their gowns that they had worn and placed them in the trash bin. "Lieutenant Provenza please find out more information on our two victims, next of kin, you know," Sharon told him as they walked towards the elevator.
"Andy, please find out if anyone has bought an ice chest or freezer, something where you can store bodies in," Sharon told him. "I'll figure out a search for that," he told her as they stepped back inside the elevator and the doors closed.
Meanwhile, back at Jeffrey's house, he was still sitting in front of his computer, reading about the Major Crimes division. "So, that lovely lady must be Commander Sharon Flynn," he said as he looked at her picture online of the hierarchy of the LAPD.
He ate some potato chips as he kept scrolling through his search. He decided he had enough information for one now and decided to go back downstairs to continue his work. He made his way down the basement and over to his workbench. Plugging in the sawdering iron and placing the goggles over his eyes, he continued to work on his metal box. A hobby that he tinkered with when he wasn't at work or looking for a new victim or victims as the case was yesterday.
TBC