A Path Well Traveled

Chapter 9

Deputy Chief Winnie Davis.

Sharon had not expected that. Andy had cautioned her not to discard the woman as a possible suspect right away, but she had not wanted to consider it. The reactions of her team to the news were mixed. Provenza and Amy did not appear to be too shocked, and neither did Nolan. It was no secret that the two men had no warm feelings towards the Deputy Chief. That Amy had seriously thought about Davis as a possibility surprised Sharon a little. The young woman was painfully naïve sometimes, but other times her cynicism was startling.

Buzz stared at Commander Mason with wide eyed shock, while Julio scowled angrily, and Mike shook his head in dismay. It was never pleasant to find out that someone who was supposed to be on their side was, in fact, not. When she finally looked at Andy, he simply raised an eyebrow. His wordless I told you so could not have been clearer if he had yelled it at her. There was no satisfaction in his expression, however. He gleaned no pleasure from being right. Not this time.

"Okay," Sharon began, trying to make sense of the new information, "but the fact that Deputy Chief Davis was in the room when those emails were sent does not necessarily mean that she is guilty. We can't even tell for sure if she was in the Narcotics bullpen or in one of the offices or conference rooms in that part of the building. This is not even enough evidence to get her into an interview room."

They were not dealing with some inept criminal. Winnie Davies knew the system just as well as they did. There was no way they would be able to scare her into making a deal. The woman would know that the keypad logs alone were at best circumstantial evidence. Without a witness or something tying her, without a doubt, to the deed, she was safe.

"You're right, Captain." Mason agreed as he pulled a small stack of paper out of his folder and placed it on the table, smirking when the detectives surrounding it immediately dove into the new evidence. "That's why I took the liberty of doing some more digging. Since it is highly unlikely that this case will ever see the inside of a courtroom, these things are a little easier."

He did not go into detail about all the corners he had cut while gathering the information he needed. It would do no good to get the LAPD's walking rulebook started on all the things he was not supposed to do. Most people within the department had issues with the way Criminal Intelligence handled certain things, and Captain Raydor was most certainly one of them, even though they did have a great deal of respect for one another. It helped that it was no longer her job to investigate fellow officers' professional conduct.

Sharon frowned at the younger man's words. She had the distinct feeling that she would not like whatever he had done to make things easier. She was just about to question him on that, when he gave her a knowing smile.

"Don't worry, Captain. This time, it's all cleared with your special friends from Internal Affairs. Since this case now involves the misconduct of an LAPD officer, it's officially their case. Commander Richardson and I discussed the matter with Chief Pope this morning, and he agreed that a member of his Criminal Investigations division would take the lead, but your team would get to work with them. He suggested Lieutenant Sarah McCarthy. She has guts and wasn't around when you were head of FID, so it should be less awkward for both of you."

Quiet grumbles could be heard from some of her people, most noticeably Lieutenant Provenza. They did not want Internal Affairs sniffing around in their Murder Room, nor did they like the idea of handing over even more details of the case to people outside their division. She definitely shared the latter objection. Mason had a point, though. Davis' involvement made it an Internal Affairs case, and they were lucky that they were still allowed to be a part of it.

For Andy, the matter seemed to be settled already. He looked up from several pages of phone records he held in his hands, a frown on his face as he prodded the Commander to continue with the briefing.

"So what did you find? I assume these are Chief Davis' phone records?"

The detailed list of phone numbers he had studied a moment earlier was not very helpful without names to go with the numbers. Several calls were marked, however, and they were all to the same person. He wondered if that might be the editor of that disgusting website, but he doubted that Davis would be stupid enough to call him from her phone when she had gone to the trouble of finding another computer to send the files from. Besides, the guy had said that he had never spoken to the person who sent him the material.

The Commander nodded. "Yes, that's right. The calls that caught my interest are to the cell phone of a person you're all familiar with."

He gave Sharon a long look, his head tilting a little bit to the side. "Captain, do you have any idea what reason Deputy Chief Davis might have for communicating with your ex-husband?"

The pieces suddenly started fitting together. There were still some missing, like how did Jack and Davis know one another, but that was something they would figure out with a little more effort.

"Apart from professional reasons, I cannot think of any."

She frowned slightly as she mulled over possible connections. She was unable to recall that Jack had ever mentioned knowing Davis, but they had not talked much lately. Not since the divorce had been finalized.

Andy quickly walked over to his desk and retrieved a couple of sheets from the large stack that sat in its center before he returned to the group. He briefly tracked the writing with his eyes, searching for the information he needed.

"Okay, so our records show that Jack represented two of Davis' suspects in the last two years. The last one was six months ago. Those phone records show that they started calling each other a little after that."

He looked up at the others and back down at his list, rubbing at his upper lip as he thought about that.

"It doesn't make a lot of sense that they would be talking about a case for such a long time. I'll see if I can find out what it was about."

He nodded in thanks when Amy vacated her chair and indicated for her older colleague to use her computer so it would be easier for him to follow the conversation while he worked.

"Is anyone else wondering why they would talk on their cell phones about a case?" Buzz shrugged when everyone's eyes focused on him.

"Buzz has a point," Sharon agreed. "There is no reason to give your personal phone number to a defense attorney."

Her team and Commander Mason nodded. It simply was not done. That was what their office phones were for. Lawyers were annoying enough without having them call your cell phone at all times of the day – and night.

"It definitely indicates a more personal relationship, but it does not prove anything, yet," Mason cautioned. "We'll need more to establish a closer relationship between them. Any ideas?"

Sharon heaved a deep sigh, seeing another night of very little sleep ahead of her. If she could unearth a little more evidence before her chat with her ex-husband, it would be worth it.

"Andy, how do you feel about taking me out tonight?"

She gave her fiancé a sweet smile that widened as she waited for him to understand what she was planning.

"Sure, why not," he finally answered with a grin.

Focusing on the puzzled expressions that met their exchange, Sharon elaborated.

"Jack has a few bars that he likes to frequent. If he met with Chief Davis outside of the office, it is possible that they visited one of those places. It is worth checking if someone saw them together."

She did not mention that she was on a first name basis with quite a few of the more regular bartenders at those places and that they probably still had her number from all the times they had called her to pick up her drunk husband over the years.

They decided that Mason and Lieutenant McCarthy would continue to follow up on electronic and financial leads connecting Deputy Chief Davis and Jack while Sharon and Andy would see if some of her ex-husband's bar buddies had seen them together. The rest of the team would go home and get some sleep. The following day would be another long and exhausting one, and at least some of them should be well rested.

The first bar they hit was close to LAPD headquarters. It was one of those places crawling with all sorts of law enforcement community people. They did not expect that Jack and Davis would have met there, but they did not want to miss anything. As expected, no one had seen Jack in a while, and they escaped before anyone they knew would drag them into a lengthy conversation.

They stopped by three other bars, each of them in the vicinity of City Hall. Jack had recently been in one, but the bartender was convinced that Winnie Davis had not been among the group of people who had been with him. It was not always as easy to avoid old acquaintances as it had been at the first bar, and Sharon and Andy spent a lot more time on their mission than they had intended.

It was in an Irish pub in West Hollywood that they finally found what they were looking for. The bartender was an elderly man, who had served in Vietnam and inherited the establishment from his uncle upon his return. He had spent the years since then serving drinks and listening to the sad tales of his patrons. Sharon knew Sam from years ago, when Jack had been one of the people who had held on to the weathered bar while they talked about all the ways in which life was unfair.

Sometimes, when Jack was passed out in a corner somewhere and Sharon did not have her sleeping children in the car or at home with a babysitter who needed to be relieved, she sat down for a moment and talked to the friendly man. He had always been a little bit like a father to her. It had been Sam who had helped her realize that Jack's frequent benders were not normal, that it was not something she would be able to handle on her own. He had gently led her to realize that she deserved better than a husband who was drunk more than he was sober.

It had been a hard lesson for her to learn. She had grown up in a loving home, but her family was very traditional. It was a wife's obligation to support her husband, no matter what, to be by his side even when the going got tough. For a long time, she had seen Jack's weakness as her own failure as a wife. It was laughable from where she stood now, but back then, as a young, naïve woman with a head full of dreams and unrealistic expectations, it had been the logical conclusion.

All the women in her family had been at home, taking care of their families instead of pursuing their own careers. They had devoted all their time and energy to being good wives and mothers, and their reactions to Sharon's decision to try and have it all had been mixed. Times had already been changing when Sharon had Emily, but it was still unusual for a woman to keep working with a child at home. She had felt guilty for many years for not having tried hard enough to be what she was supposed to be. Sam had been one of the few people who had known how bad things were, and he had done his best to help her do what was best for her children and herself.

When she saw the happiness light up her old friend's weary expression as they stepped into the dimly lit bar, Sharon felt bad for not having been in touch more regularly. Sam looked older than she remembered, moving slowly around the bar to greet her with a hug. The once sturdy man was frail, and the full head of salt and pepper hair she remembered had grayed and thinned out considerably.

"Look who remembered how to get to this part of town, after all!"

He pulled out of the embrace, holding her at a slight distance to study her closely, a tender smile stretching his thin lips.

"You're looking good, kid," he added as he finally let go of her to step back around the bar to offer them drinks.

Since it was very late and they had no idea how long they would have to keep going, the two detectives gladly took him up on his offer, asking for two cups of coffee. Sharon remembered Sam's coffee to be incredibly strong, the kind of brew that stripped the lining off your stomach. It was exactly what they needed.

"I was just thinking about you the other day," Sam went on as he prepared their beverages.

"Oh? Why is that?" Sharon was a little surprised, since they had not talked in years.

When Sam hesitated a little, giving her a strange look before he answered, she suspected what, or rather who, might have prompted those thoughts.

"Jack's been by quite a bit lately."

He handed them their cups, pushing a sugar bowl closer to Sharon. He smiled when she ignored it, taking a careful sip of the strong liquid. He used to make fun of her for the amount of sugar she dumped into her coffee. She had tried to convince him that it was only because he made it too strong, but he was not sure if he believed her. Maybe she had finally grown up where her coffee drinking habits were concerned. God knew she had done her share of growing up since he had met the young, wide-eyed girl who had tried to wrestle her drunk husband into her car, stubbornly refusing help. He was proud of the woman she had become.

His words prompted an eyebrow raised in interest from both Sharon and her companion. It took a little while for her to catch on to the pointed look he gave her. When she did, she blushed a pretty shade of pink, making him laugh at her.

"I am so sorry, Sam. My only excuse for my bad manners is the late hour and the fact that we have been working all day. Allow me to introduce Andy Flynn, my fiancé. Andy, Sam Campbell."

It was still impossible for her to suppress the grin when she introduced Andy as her fiancé. It only grew bigger when she saw the surprise and happiness in Sam's eyes. He studied the younger man for a long moment and nodded in approval when Andy held his gaze, not flinching under the intense scrutiny. By now, he was probably used to it from the men in her life, and if it were any less ridiculous, she would be mad at all of them for assuming that she needed them to approve of the man she intended to marry. As it was, it made her laugh – for the most part.

"It's nice to meet you, Andy."

The two men shook hands and exchanged a few pleasantries, all the while eyeing one another in a way that indicated a completely different conversation happening silently, one that Sharon decided to ignore, because she did not feel like having a discussion about her ability to look after herself. Instead, she decided to cut to the reason for their presence.

"Andy and I also work together, which is actually why we are here tonight."

She hated to be responsible for the darkening of Sam's expression, for the sad slump of his shoulders. He had hoped that she came to visit an old friend, and she vowed to herself that she would try to stop by again soon to do just that. The past few months had made her realize how short life could be and how precious the people who shared it with her were. She had allowed her work to take away too much time for those who were important to her, and she intended to change that.

"You mentioned that you saw Jack recently. Can you tell us when that was and if he was alone?" Andy had decided to help her steer the conversation towards work.

As before, the topic seemed to make Sam uncomfortable, and he cast careful glances at Sharon as he spoke.

"Yeah. Hadn't seen the guy in years and then, a few months ago, he starts hanging out here again. He was talking a lot at first. You know the story. Life is hard, the boss is a pain in the ass." He hesitated a little before he went on, refusing to look Sharon in the eyes. "The wife divorcing him, the ex hooking up with another guy."

Andy nodded. Yes, he knew that story. All too often it had been him telling it to some underpaid bartender. He was also familiar with the way Jack spoke about Sharon when he was drunk, and he flinched as he remembered all the angry rants he had listened to over the years, back when the two men had still hung out together. It filled him with shame that he had encouraged that kind of talk, that he had never thought of objecting when Jack had called his wife a cold-hearted, frigid bitch or other, worse things that he tried hard not to remember.

"Was he alone?"

It was Sharon who asked, her voice low and her gaze fixed on the cup between her hands. Andy placed his elbow on the back of her barstool, his hand resting between her shoulder blades. Sam studied her for a while, wondering why she kept doing that to herself. The lowlife was no longer her problem. Why did she still care with whom he spent his time?

He had never wanted to be the one to tell her that her husband was sleeping around, but Sharon was not dumb. She might have been naïve all those years ago when they had first met, but she had never been stupid. She had always been able to tell when Sam had wanted to keep something like that from her, and she had usually extracted at least the basic information from him within moments. He hated to see what it did to her, how the knowledge that her husband was unfaithful broke her heart over and over. At some point, he had asked her if she kept asking about it as a way of punishing herself for something. She had not answered, but the way she had avoided his gaze had told him all he needed to know.

"At first he was. After a couple of weeks, he started showing up with a woman. Not his usual type, either."

There was no need to specify what Jack's usual type was. They all knew he liked them younger, skinny, pretty, and preferably a little on the dumb side. It was the same type of women Andy had gone for before he got to know Sharon. He still liked to look at them sometimes, but after spending more and more time with his Captain, he had figured out that it was great to have shared interests and to talk about things he actually understood and cared about. He no longer found the young ones tempting, and when he looked at his fiancée, when he watched her with their kids or working her way through a case, he did not understand what he saw in them.

Andy fished the already slightly bent photograph of Winnie Davis out of the inside pocket of his jacket and slid it over the bar, giving the other man a moment to study it.

"Is that the woman he was with?"

Sam nodded.

"Yeah, that's her. Although she looked a little more… you know… made up? She was hitting on him pretty hard. Had to wear him down a bit, but after a few drinks…" He shrugged, rolling his eyes as he thought about how often he saw that particular kind of behavior.

"They met several times over the last few months. Seemed pretty close after that first meeting. I wouldn't call it love, but they certainly were all over each other. I guess they didn't just see each other here. Looked like it was something more regular between them."

Sharon and Andy exchanged a quick glance, both shocked at what they had learned. They had hoped to find someone who had seen Jack and Winnie together, but they had not expected that the two had a relationship. The idea was pretty ridiculous. Winnie Davis was a serious, driven person. That she would consider spending her time with someone like Jack did not fit with what they knew about her. And Jack had always complained about the fact that his ex-wife was no fun at all. Andy would never dream of saying it out loud, but in many ways Sharon and Davis were very similar. Although he had a hard time picturing the other woman snort laughing at one of his bad jokes. He had no idea what Jack saw in the Deputy Chief.

They asked Sam a few follow up questions and whether or not he would be able to point them towards other patrons that might have seen them together or even overheard some of their conversations. He promised to ask around and give any possible witnesses their number. He cautioned them to not get up their hopes too much, however, since most of the regulars at his establishment came to get drunk, not to pay attention to the people around them.

After agreeing that they would get together soon to catch up with each other, Sharon and Sam shared a tight hug as they said their goodbyes. The two men shook hands, and the bartender made Andy promise to take good care of his girl.

Their drive home was spent in silence as Sharon stared out of the passenger side window. Andy sensed that something was troubling her, and it was not just the case. He wished she would talk to him right at that moment, that she would share what was on her mind, and he knew that she would eventually, but it killed him to see that dark cloud hovering over her without being able to do anything about it. He was aware, though, that whatever it was, she was working through it and would not appreciate his questions or comments.

He wanted to reach out to her, to clasp her hand in his until they were home and he would be able to tug her against him and hold her close. She had her arms crossed over her chest, however, signaling very clearly her desire to be left in peace for the time being. Her behavior did not worry him. It was her way of dealing with troubling thoughts. When she was ready, hopefully by the time they got home, she would open up to him and let him help as much as was in his power. In the meantime, he concentrated on traffic and went over the information they had gathered in his head.

When they got home, Sharon dropped her keys and bag onto the hallway table, shrugged out of her jacket, and exchanged it for the soft cashmere cardigan that was draped over the coat rack. Tugging that around her slight frame, she wordlessly wandered out onto the balcony, not even bothering to switch on the lights.

Andy let her go. He walked down the hallway towards their bedroom, pulling at his tie to loosen it. Once inside their sanctuary, he got rid of his jacket, badge, and gun. He placed his tie and jacket into the closet and proceeded to undress, hanging his dress pants up neatly and dropping the shirt onto the dry cleaning pile. He pulled down a pair of sweatpants and put them on before he shrugged into an old Dodgers sweater.

Once he was comfortable, Andy made his way to the kitchen, briefly stopping to inform Rusty that they were back. His door was slightly ajar, indicating that the boy was still awake. He was sitting in bed, his laptop on his legs, and headphones plugged into his ears. Andy's soft knock had gone unnoticed, and he jumped slightly when the door opened. Rusty barely acknowledged the older man, waving distractedly and nodding when he was informed that he was no longer alone. Andy smiled as the boy went back to whatever he was doing, admiring his determination and focus when it came to his school work.

Andy busied himself making two cups of tea, determined to give Sharon a few more minutes alone. When he finally joined her outside, two steaming cups of herbal tea in hand, he found her sitting in one of the lounge chairs, her feet on the seat and her arms hugging her legs to her chest. Her chin rested on her knees as she stared out into the night, deep in thought.

She looked up and gave him a grateful smile when he placed the tea on the table next to her. When he held out his hands, she placed hers in them and allowed him to pull her out of her chair. She stepped aside and waited for him to settle into the seat she had just vacated before she sat in his lap, leaning against his chest. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her close, and she sighed happily as his warmth seeped through her clothes, making her shiver in delight.

She loved these quietly intimate moments they shared. Although she enjoyed making love to him just as much as she had twenty years ago, if not more, what made her happiest was being able to simply sit with him like this. It was the knowledge that he understood when she needed time to herself and when she was ready to talk. It was feeling him close, not just physically, but emotionally, as well. It was knowing that he would always support her without trying to take away her independence.

She was not accustomed to that. Before they had decided to pick up their friendship almost three years ago, it had been decades since she had experienced that kind of emotional backup. Way back when their marriage was still young and untroubled, Jack had been that person for her. He had been her strength and her sounding board. Then she had been forced to learn to live without that. Even when things between her and Andy had begun all those years ago, it had been different. They were friends and they had sex. For a while, it even was a little more than that, but they had never shared everything. They had always held something back, protecting that deepest, most vulnerable part of themselves. That was no longer the case, and it made her heart and soul overflow with joy and gratitude.

They sipped their tea in silence for a long while, soaking up the peace of simply existing in the same space. When she finally began to speak, her voice was quiet and tinged with sadness, prompting Andy to pull her even closer, tucking her head under his chin as his fingers combed thought her soft curls, gently massaging her scalp.

"I did not think that I would ever have that conversation with Sam again. You have no idea how many times I had to convince him to tell me about Jack's escapades."

He knew she was fighting against the emotions their bar trips had awakened. There were many demons lurking in the dark shadows of her past, and he was not surprised that some of them were haunting her now. He did not feel threatened by her renewed grief for a marriage that no longer existed. Sometimes, these things simply had to be revisited to put them to rest again. It was with that thought in mind that he drew a deep breath, inhaling the familiar scent of her perfume, and listened to his fiancée recount a part of her past she rarely spoke about.

~TBC~