The week went on pretty normally. Both the accountant and his client went to jail, the accountant for embezzlement, and the client for aggravated assault. The media was having a field day. Lots of celebrities were making support statements for the defendants. Taylor was exhausted. Sharon stopped caring what the media had to say about it.

Sharon was ready to go home. She did not want to stay for this mess.

Provenza was reading the paper. Flynn was just waiting until 5. He was having dinner with his daughter. She wanted to introduce him and Andrea to her new beau. Hopefully, he was better than the last one. He had to write a warrant for him when he refused to give her back her dog. Little did he know, the warrant was fake.

Tao was taking his wife to the theatre.

Sanchez and Mendoza were volunteering at the youth center. They both liked taking time to show kids a world free from gangs. They also liked ribbing each other.

Buzz had a date.

Sykes was going to visit her brother in San Antonio. Everyone was wishing for 5:00.

ADA Baldwin came in. "We made a deal with the client. The accountant is still denying any wrong doing."

"Who cares? His mistress told us where he hid the money, and we found it." Provenza was done with this mess.

"His assistant also rolled on him. Can we go now?" Flynn saw no reason to be here.

"Gentlemen, we have a job to do. Until we get that confession, hell what am I saying? I don't even want to be here."

"You Captain!" Provenza was surprised.

"You got a date?" Flynn inquired.

"Not that it is any of your concern, yes, I have dinner plans for tonight."

"Ooooh!" The squad went.

"Is he dreamy?" Provenza asked.

She shook her head. "Why do I bother? I'll tell you what, get me a confession, and I'll show you a photo. You can judge."

Provenza was on it. "I got this."

Sykes was laughing. "This is going to be great." The squad went to watch the interview.

Provenza walked in to interview room 1 where a beat up man was in a prison suit with his lawyer. "I am innocent."

"I know. You did your best for your clients, and now that they're in trouble, they're coming after you."

"I know right. I didn't do anything wrong."

"You were just helping your clients optimize their accounts. It wasn't your fault some of them got greedy."

"Exactly. This all started when my client, that savage, got greedy on his tax returns. The IRS caught him and he came after me."

"Could you explain that to me?"

"He was claiming fake deductions and the IRS caught him."

"He was pretending to donate to UNICEF is that right."

"Yes. Exactly."

"You see, that's where we have a problem."

"What do you mean?"

"He didn't get in trouble with the IRS."

"He didn't?"

"No. He went to UNICEF and was offended to find he wasn't listed as one of their donors when he had been giving them money for years. They had no record of his donations."

"What?"

"He found out that his manager was taking money out of his account, telling his it was going to UNICEF and then pocketing the dough."

"But why would he attack me? I had no control of his accounts."

"I thought that was weird, too, but then I found the IRS paperwork he did submit and it all included receipts from UNICEF, forgeries of course."

"His manager forged receipts too. What a bastard!"

"I know, but the problem is, you didn't stop him."

"I had no idea."

"But you did. You have been an accountant for years. You're the best. You know what real documents look like. These are clearly fakes, and you never said anything. I wondered why, but then the manager confessed. He said you two were splitting the cash, but you got greedy. You wanted too much, so he told him before you all got caught and that's why he attacked you. You didn't just steal from him, you stole from needy children."

"He's lying. He told me at first that he did give the money. He just lost the receipt. The second time, I got suspicious. He told me not to worry about it. He said that there really was money going to UNICEF, just not as much as he was reporting. He never said he stole the money from his client."

"So you knowingly committed tax fraud."

"I was just trying to keep a client happy. What they do with their own taxes is their business."

"How much did the manager pay you for your part?"

"Hardly anything. He just gave me 5k to shut up."

"I wish I could believe you."

"You don't believe me?"

"My problem is that this manager, and you go way back. You have lots of clients together, and if I look at all of their finances, I'm afraid I'm going to find the same scam over and over again."

"You won't. We only took the money from this client, and only a couple of times. We just needed enough money to get out of here. I hate LA, and I hate my greedy clients. They're all thieves anyway and drug abusers. I just wanted to get away."

"I think we're done here."

Provenza actually got a confession. He went back to the squad room. They applauded him.

"So can we go now," Flynn asked.

"Not yet. I want to see lover-boy." Provenza wanted to see her prize.

Sharon sighed and pulled up a picture on her phone. "Now don't go through the rest of them," she told him.

"I'll spare my eyes."

The whole squad huddled to see him. "Not bad," for the Captain. "You like younger men?"

"Hush!"

"Can't say I blame you. I'll never date a woman my own age."

Sharon rolled her eyes.

"Will he be at your garden party?"

"Of Course."

"Garden party?"

"It's a BBQ. I sent you invitations."

"I saw a letter from you and I didn't open it. I assumed it was an order to go to sensitivity training."

Everyone laughed at that.

Middle School

They had a short practice today, really just a walk through for tomorrow's game. Marcus would be starting the second quarter.

After practice, Marcus was tying his shoes. A kid stopped next to him in the hallway. It was Brian.

"What's up?"

"Don't think you're taking my starting spot. It's not going to happen. Not now, not ever." Brian was gone. Marcus wasn't concerned. Brian had been with the team a lot longer, but he was a little out of shape, too many chocolate and not enough time running.

He headed outside where his father was waiting.

"Ready to get bikes."

"Let's do it, Dad."

Prosecutors Office

Jackie and Tommy were hitting a club with Jackie's college roommate, Rachel. She had just moved back from Germany.

"You're welcome to come Chief."

"Maybe I will."

"What about you King David?"

"I'll see if Eliza wants to come. She needs to get out of the house. She's been fretting about her collection. It opens in a week."

"Are they throwing a party?" Tommy loved parties.

"I dunno. I'll ask." Gabriel hadn't actually thought about what opening a collection entailed. He just knew she was calm until her agent would call and then she'd spaz and then he'd calm her down and she'd do some work and then the agent would call and the cycle would repeat.

Sharon's House

Bobby had been brining the meat overnight. It gave the meat better seasoning, and it kept it juicier by boosting the water content. After brining, he let the meat air dry in the fridge and then he smoked it. The menu for tomorrow was pulled pork, brisket, and ribs. He was smoking a duck for dinner tonight, and he was going to smoke the meat overnight for tomorrow. He and Sharon were going to make a bunch of side dishes tomorrow.

"Need any help," Rusty came outside.

"Wanna learn how to make a spice rub?"

"Sure."

They went into the kitchen. Bobby showed him what he used. "I need to make a new batch." Bobby pulled out an array of spices, paprika, chili powder, cumin, dry mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, ground expresso beans and ancho chili powder. He mixed them all together and put them into a glass jar.

"Now, can you get some brown sugar and the mustard?"

Rusty went to the fridge and the cupboard. "We're going to put grapeseed oil, brown sugar and mustard in this bowl and whisk it."

They mixed the ingredients.

"Now, we're going to rub the meat in this mixture."

"Why not add the spices to it?"

"The oil mixture serves two roles. It will help protect the meat from drying out and it will make it easier for the spices to bind. We add the spices right before cooking, so the salt doesn't dry out the meat."

They rubbed the meat in the oil and stuck the meat back in the fridge.

"Now lets get the sides ready for dinner."

They washed their hands and put some rice on the stove. Then,, they chopped up some broccoli rabe, mushrooms, and onions. They put them all in a roasting pan, added a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and stuck the vegetables in the oven. Now it was time to get the duck off the smoker. Bobby brought the duck inside, rubbed some butter on the outside of it and stick it in the vented the smoker to lower the temperature for the meat.

Sharon just came home. "Hey boys."

"Just in time. Dinner's just about done."

Sharon kissed him and then went to wash her hands.

Rusty set the table.

Bobby took the veggies out and carved the duck. The rice was done. They sat down and ate.

"How was your day, Sharon?"

"Provenza got a confession."

"Really. Did the killer have an old man fetish?"

"Rusty. No. And there was no murder, it was a fraud case."

"Anyway, they're all excited about the barbeque."

"It's going to be great."

"We bought so much meat."

"And beer!"

Sharon smiled. How did she end up with a beer-guzzling southerner, a Johnson no less. If you told her this three years ago, she would have pissed herself laughing.

"Where's Kyle?"

"He's babysitting."

"Really. Someone take his man-card."

Rusty laughed.

"There's nothing wrong with men taking care of children."

Rusty and Bobby looked at each other. Yeah right.

"It's his cousin. She's 6 and apparently a spoiled brat. Kyle wanted to spare me the drama."

After dinner, Bobby and Rusty added more wood chips to the smoker. They rubbed the meat in the spice mixture and then they stuck the meat on the smoker. Bobby closed the lid. "I'll rotate it tomorrow."

"It won't burn overnight?"

"Nope. See the temperature gauge. It's only at 190. I'll raise it in the morning. Tonight, it will cook real slow."

"What else do you do to it tomorrow?"

"I'm going to make my barbeque sauce for the ribs, brush them and then cook the sauce on it for the last hour. I don't sauce the brisket and I don't add sauce to the pork until after I pull it apart."

"You make your own sauces too. That's awesome."

"I love BBQ."

"Me too."