Thank you so, so much for all of your support! I appreciate it more than words can express. Here's the penultimate chapter. As always, I welcome your feedback.
I do not own Major Crimes or any of the fabulous characters.
Chapter Five
A Little Over an Hour Earlier...
Sharon watched as the elevator doors closed and the sergeant filed in next to her. She waited a moment for him to begin filling her in, but he remained silent.
"Sergeant?" She pried, and he seemed to startle briefly.
"Oh, right. I was looking over the Lerner files. That case really gave us a difficult time, didn't it?" He asked, eyeing her from his position next to her. She nodded, but she couldn't help the uneasy feeling that was beginning to settle inside her.
"Like I said, I worked very hard to put it all behind me," she replied as she watched the numbers on the display descend.
"Yeah, I can understand why," he said quietly. "That was the first time I ever saw you emotionally effected by an investigation. And then when he took his life..." He trailed off.
"The whole thing was a mess," she stated quickly. The elevator stopped and the doors opened revealing the deserted parking garage. She stepped out and began walking briskly towards her car. "I'll let you know when I'm back and you can show me what you found, Sergeant," she called over her shoulder, but she was surprised to find him following closely behind. Ever since he had stepped into the elevator with her, she felt the hair on the back of neck standing up. Her instincts were telling her to get away from the sergeant and fast. Suddenly, he grabbed her arm and spun her around just as she was arriving at her car.
"I'll never forget the way he spoke to you. He said awful things. You didn't deserve that. None of it was your fault," he said sympathetically. She smiled kindly, hoping her hesitation wasn't showing on her face.
"It wasn't his fault. He was angry and I was an easy target," she assured him as she attempted to free her arm from his grip. Gilroy studied her a moment.
"You're right. It wasn't his fault. The whole thing was Sinclair's fault. The LAPD goes out of its way to protect that rat bastard and he turns on one of our own," he spat out. Sharon nodded in agreement. She needed to deescalate the situation and get the hell out of there. And then suddenly, he let go of her arm. She continued towards her car and opened the door to get in when he shoved her into the car. She could feel the cold metal of his gun digging into her back. He pushed her into the passenger seat, and she used the chaotic moment to quickly pull her phone out of her purse before she shoved the bag under the seat. She only hoped he hadn't noticed.
He got in the driver's seat and picked up the keys she had dropped in the commotion. He started the car and drove towards the exit of the parking garage. Sharon discreetly watched her phone for service. She knew the parking garage was a dead zone and anxiously awaited their exit. She just needed to get one text off. Just one. Gilroy noticed her continued glances towards the space between the other side of her seat and the door. He suddenly pointed his weapon at her with the his right hand while his left continued to drive the car.
"Give it to me," he said quietly, voice shaking. She complied. He quickly turned it off and she briefly closed her eyes in disappointment.
"Where are we going?" She asked suddenly before glancing over at him. He looked a bit frantic.
"I don't know. This wasn't part of my plan," he said dismissively.
"You had a plan?" She asked. He scoffed.
"I just mean I didn't plan on kidnapping you. I could tell you were onto me in the elevator, though," he explained. "God! I spent all that time trying to protect you. Even when I knew you were screwing that loser! And then he leaves you when you needed him the most. I didn't leave you. I was there for you through the worst of it," he said, voice thick with emotion.
A memory flashed into Sharon's head. They were at a bar downtown after Lerner's funeral. She was feeling the effects of a couple glasses of wine. She was tipsy, but definitely not drunk. The entire squad from IA was commiserating together, except for her. She sat alone up at the bar. As the head of the investigation that found Lerner violated policy, she felt duly responsible for the events that transpired after that decision. She felt the weight of his death on her shoulders.
She had been enjoying the solitude of her own little pity party when Gilroy joined her. In a rare moment of weakness, she had allowed everything she was feeling on the inside to manifest itself on the outside. Gilroy didn't say anything. He just reached over and pulled her into his arms. He held her while she quietly cried. He rubbed her back soothingly, whispered comfort in her ear, and allowed her to breakdown in her own way without judgement. When they finally broke apart, she had thanked him.
I'll never forget what it was like to hold her for the short time that she was mine
The words echoed through her as Gilroy's incessant tapping on the steering wheel pulled her back to the present. He had held her for a short time, as literal as it had been. How could she have forgotten, she wondered. At the time, she had seen the gesture as friendly, one co-worker comforting another. It was common place in their line of work. How had she missed that it meant something more to Gilroy? How did she not know how he felt? Still feels? She replayed the other words in that note:
Tell Sharon Raydor that I will always love her
She looked over at the man in the seat next to her. He had always seemed so kind. How could he have done all of this? He seemed to be reading her mind.
"What Sinclair did never sat well with me. The way it affected Lerner and then to see you so broken up about it," he said calmly, breaking the silence. "You know he ended up getting arrested a few times after that?" He asked. She nodded.
"I've seen his file," she replied.
"Oh, I didn't need to see his file. I kept up with him. Flagged his name. Every time he got arrested, I knew about it," he explained. "That bastard caused a good cop to take his life and emotionally scarred another one. One who meant - means - a lot to me," he added. Sharon wasn't sure she would describe herself as "emotionally scarred" by it, but she wasn't going to correct him. "And then he throws his worthless life away!" He added, voice angry. He shook his head.
"So you ended it?" She asked. He briefly turned to look at her before returning his attention to the road.
"He came up to me. Can you believe that? Acted like we were old friends. I didn't even want to talk to him, but the longer he ran his mouth, the more it became clear. He thought we were buddies, like he did me a favor ratting out the cop who was protecting him. He just wouldn't shut up, so I asked him if he wanted to get a drink. Of course, the slimy bastard chose that college bar. Said he liked the 'scenery'," Gilroy explained. So they had been at one of those hole in wall bars her team had canvassed. Sharon mentally shook her head at the failure of eye witnesses. No one had recognized or remembered their victim. She studied Gilroy as she mentally ran through her options. It was becoming more and more clear that he had snapped. He was unpredictable and she needed to take control of the situation.
"Was that when you decided you were going to kill him?" She asked to keep him talking. He shook his head erratically. He was irritated.
"I, I... didn't plan. I didn't plan on killing him, Sharon! What do you think I am?" He said suddenly. "I wanted to sit him down and tell him every detail about every ounce of hurt and pain his callousness caused. So as he sat there and took sip after sip of his stupid beer, I filled him in," he explained. Sharon could see the anger rising as he recalled the memory.
"He didn't care, did he?" Sharon asked.
"Huh! I wish that was all it was. No, that son-of-a-bitch laughed. LAUGHED! He never cared about anyone but himself and his own needs, so I showed him what a bad decision that was. I waited until he stumbled out of the bar and then strangled him with my own shoelace. Asshole never saw it coming," he added with a satisfied grin. Sharon briefly closed her eyes at the confession.
"And the note?" She asked quietly.
"I scribbled it quickly with paper and pen I had in my briefcase. I was sure to keep my LAPD-issued latex gloves on," he explained. "Those were the words on my mind the entire time that bastard blabbed on and on. I just needed to get them out. Put some meaning to his death," he said quietly. "And I wanted you to know that I did this for you". Sharon shuddered at the thought.
Just then, he pulled the car off the road into a deserted park. Sharon looked around plotting her next move.
"Where are we?" She asked.
"Just somewhere where I can think for a few minutes. I don't want to hurt you, but I don't see any other way out".
"Andy!" Tao shouted from across the room. Andy looked up from his desk where he was frantically searching through the old Lerner case files that Sharon had had splayed out on her desk. He was looking for something - anything - to indicate who was responsible for her disappearance. When Tao indicated for him to come over, he flew out of his chair and rushed over to the other lieutenant's desk
"Yeah, Mike. What is it?" He asked, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.
"I found the captain's car on one of the city's traffic cams. I've been able to follow it pretty consistently, and from what I can tell, it's headed north," he informed him. Andy nodded. They had already poured over the footage from the parking garage, but it had only provided the back of their suspect's head. The disturbing images of their captain being shoved into the car had only served to heighten everyone's concern, but none more than Andy.
"Who's driving it?" He asked, worry evident.
"I'm not sure, but it's definitely not the captain. The quality isn't great, but I'm running the pixelated image through our face recognition software anyway," Mike explained. Andy ran a hand over his face.
"Anything on her phone yet?" Andy asked hesitantly. Mike shook his head sadly. "Ok, let me know," he added before heading back to his desk.
"Oh, wait," Mike called out, and Andy quickly returned to his desk. "I've lost her car," he added, but it was an optimistic tone.
"That's a good thing?" Provenza asked confused.
"In this case, yes. See, her car is clearly seen here at this intersection, but it never makes it to this intersection here," Mike explained while pointing to his screen. Both Andy and Provenza looked concerned, so Mike continued. "It means, wherever he took her, is somewhere between the two. It significantly reduces the search area," he added.
"Ok, so what the hell is between those two intersections?" Andy asked urgently. Mike continued to scan some images on his screen.
"Bingo," he said suddenly. "This park!" He added, pointing to the map on his screen.
"Let's go! Lights and sirens!" Provenza called out.
Gilroy opened his door and started to get out of the car. Sharon watched as he shoved his gun into his suit jacket right pocket and put her phone in his other.
"Don't even think about doing anything stupid," he said leaning back into the car. She watched as he closed his door and started to walk around to her side. She quickly reached under her seat and plunged her hand into her bag searching for her gun. She felt around blindly, but couldn't find it. Gilroy was getting closer and closer to her door. She urgently dug around until she felt the cool metal scrape her fingers. Grabbing the weapon as fast as she could, she shoved it into the back of her skirt under her jacket. If she had been able to find it faster, she could have planned on surprising him with it, but time wasn't on her side, so she decided to bide it until the next opportunity presented itself.
Gilroy pulled her door open with great force and grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the car. She said a silent prayer that he wouldn't feel her hidden gun. He pulled her along the path into the quiet park. The sun was setting and dusk quickly approaching, making Sharon brutally aware of the darkness that would soon make her situation even more dire. Gilroy kept her on his right side so she could feel the hard barrel of his gun in his pocket. His hand was on the weapon, finger near the trigger, she was sure. She inwardly thanked herself for keeping her gun on her during this investigation.
"I know about you and Flynn," he said quietly. She ignored his biting tone. "I figured you were just screwing him like that other loser, but I followed him this morning from your house," he spat out. She cringed at the thought of Gilroy stalking Andy and probably her as well. "What is it with you and your horrible taste in men?"
"Andy - Lieutenant Flynn - isn't the same man he used to be," she said calmly. He scoffed.
"Why because he has decided to play house with you instead of just screwing you? I bet he likes you on your knees the best. Right there on the floor while he stands back and enjoys the feel of your mouth on him. It's a power trip. You know that, right? He's the one who brought the FID queen to her knees and got her to finally spread her legs-" he ranted on before Sharon caught him off guard. While he was busy focusing on degrading her relationship with Andy, she stealthily used her right hand to reach behind her and pull her gun out of its hiding place. She had brought it around to its current location: pointed directly at his face.
"Put your hands up! Now!" She said with cool confidence. He didn't move.
"I should have known better," he said shaking his head. "You keep the assholes in your life and throw away the ones who treat you right," he added.
"Put your hands up or I will shoot you," she said, voice cold and strong. He studied her. "Unlike you, Sergeant, I'm not against hurting you," she warned. He finally relented and slowly raised both of his hands. She leaned over and removed the gun from his pocket, dropping it to the ground and kicking it out of reach. "Turn around," she ordered, and he complied. She pulled her cuffs out of the waistband of her skirt and threw them on him before walking him back to her car.
As they approached the parking lot, she saw the rest of her squad and a whole bunch of other LAPD vehicles pulling in. She wasn't surprised, she had heard the sirens in the distance. Everything happened all at once. Someone took Gilroy from her, members of her squad went to fetch Gilroy's weapon when she told them its location, and despite her protests and assurance that she was unharmed, she found herself sitting on the back bumper of an ambulance. A paramedic was asking her questions while conducting a cursory exam.
Once he cleared her, she stood up and noticed Andy across the parking lot. He stood with his hands in his pockets, his focus clearly on her. She let out a sigh. She couldn't imagine what the last couple of hours must have been like for him. She inwardly scolded herself for not suspecting Gilroy sooner. She walked in his direction and he met her halfway, eagerly pulling her into his arms. He held her tightly, squeezing her hard. It was a quiet display of affection, one that went unnoticed by others, and she figured after everything that had happened, she could allow this small gesture.
When he finally let her go, he looked in her eyes, intensity burning.
"I'm so glad you're okay," he said quietly, but Sharon could hear all of the worry and emotion in it. She nodded, too many emotions swirling inside herself to speak. He pulled her to him again and she allowed her eyes to slip closed as she lost herself in his strong arms and warm breath. The "what ifs" finally playing out in her mind. In the heat of the moment, she had only been focused on getting out of her situation. She hadn't allowed herself to think about any outcome other than a positive one.
"I love you," she whispered in his ear. The words moved through him like fire, spreading to every fiber of his being. He absorbed them and allowed them to push out the dark thoughts about never hearing those words from her again or being able to return them.
"I love you, too," he rasped as he held her a little tighter. They stayed like that for a few heavy moments until Andy's voice rumbled through the air and landed on her sensitive skin. "Let's get out of here," he said. As he put an arm around her and pulled her into his side, he thought about everything they still had to do to wrap up this case before they could go home. But when it was all done, he planned to do nothing but wrap her up in his arms and never let go.
TBC
