Last update before the premiere! (*hyperventilates*) Thanks to everyone reading & reviewing this :) your comments always make my day.
Phantom Hazards (5)
Halfway to work, Sharon remembered the box of tea. It was sitting out on the kitchen counter. At home.
She couldn't even work up the proper energy to care about it anymore.
When so much of her emotional resources were going into worrying about more important issues, whether or not she had her tea at the office wasn't even a blip on the radar.
She made it to the murder room just before nine, to find Lt. Provenza scanning a second ME's report, a black marker in his hand as he added some new information under Farris' picture on the murder board. Everyone else was at their desks as well, just settling in, with fresh cups of coffee and the usual low-level buzz of activity as they started their day. She spent a few moments exchanging 'good morning's and taking in the new comments on the board, before turning to ask for updates.
"Dr. Morales finished Farris' autopsy, and confirmed that he couldn't have been Regina Thompson's attacker," Lt. Tao went first, looking up from the phone call he'd just ended. "The lab also analyzed the knuckle impressions that the doctor sent them. They agree with his initial conclusion that there was only one attacker."
"Which would be a lot more helpful," Provenza interjected, "if not for the fact that we still have zero suspects."
Sharon nodded. "The roommate?"
"Laura Suarez," provided the lieutenant. "She agreed to come talk to us when patrol checked up on her last night. Should be here any minute."
"She's also five-foot-two, according to her DMV record," Andy held up a thin file he was holding, "so unless she's some sort of ninja, she's not our killer."
It wasn't going to be that easy, anyway. "What about the background check into Regina's work colleagues?"
"No one tracks back to Farris, Ma'am," said Julio. "We've got a couple of minor records, some traffic violations, and her shift manager was once picked up for drunken disorderly a few years ago...but no one stands out as a potential link."
Sharon let out a slow breath. Even with the new leads to follow, they'd made less progress from the previous evening than she'd hoped. "Alright. Let's get the roommate set up in an interview room when she gets here. And I'd like the contact information for Regina's parents in Bakersfield," she added quietly. "After we talk to her roommate, I'll call and make the notification."
Regina's roommate had indeed agreed to come in voluntarily and talk to them – but from the moment she'd set foot into the police station she'd seemed to increasingly regret her decision. As she sat down across the interview table from Sharon and Provenza, she grew more agitated by the second.
"Look, what's this about? Is Reg in some sort of trouble? Wait – I don't know anything, okay? If she's involved in anything illegal, I had no idea!"
"You're not in trouble, Ms. Suarez," said Sharon. "We just need you to answer some questions about Regina."
"Do I need a lawyer?"
Sharon suppressed a sigh. That was always a loaded question. "I assure you, you're not under investigation," she hedged. "We need to look into Regina's life, and we need you to help us fill in some blanks. That's all."
The young woman just eyeballed her dubiously, and Sharon felt a pang of annoyance. She wasn't in the mood for babying recalcitrant witnesses.
But...the job was the job. She forced a slight smile. "The sooner you answer, the sooner you can go."
"Now, keep in mind..." Lt. Provenza leaned forward, "like the Captain said, you're not in trouble – but refusing to cooperate with an active investigation is a great way to change that."
She squirmed in her seat, glancing from one to the other. "Alright. Okay." She nodded, "I'll – I'll answer whatever questions I can. But...look, I'm telling you, whatever Reg did, I didn't know about it, I swear." She gave them another nervous look. "...I can go at any time, right?"
Watching the interview from electronics, Sykes arched her eyebrows as the roommate continued to hem and haw. "She's awfully cagey."
"No kidding," agreed Flynn. He frowned at the screens. "She'd hiding something, alright."
"Her background check came back clean," Amy pointed out. "So whatever it is, either it doesn't involve her, or she hasn't been caught yet."
The lieutenant gave a lopsided nod. "Eh...day's not over."
They focused their attention back on the monitors, while Buzz adjusted the sound button.
Sharon tried to keep the reassuring smile. "You're not under arrest, Ms. Suarez," she reiterated. "We just need your help."
"Okay... Wait, is Regina in trouble?" her roommate belatedly asked. "She hasn't been home..."
Sharon hummed. "In how long?"
"What?"
Dear God. "How long has it been since Regina was home? When was the last time you saw her?"
"Oh. Ah..." The woman thought for a moment. "I guess... two days ago? Wed – Wednesday, I guess. We have class together, uh, poli sci..."
"What time was that?"
"Three to four."
Sharon nodded. "Alright...and what did you and Regina do after class ended?"
"Uh, I had work at four...I have a two-hour shift at the library on Wednesday afternoons..."
Another nod. She made a mental note to have one of the detectives verify that. "And Regina?"
Laura Suarez shrugged. "I don't know. She went home, I guess."
"Did she tell you about any plans she might've had for the evening?"
"No...?" It sounded more like a question than an answer. She caught herself at Sharon's pointed look, and cleared her throat. "No. No, she didn't."
Somehow, it didn't sound that convincing. Sharon hummed again and rephrased an earlier question. "And when was the next time you saw her?"
The young woman thought for a second, then shook her head. "I told you, that was the last time, I think... yeah, she wasn't home when I got back from the library that evening."
"Is that usual, for her to be out? Would you know where she went?"
Another vague shrug "No..."
Sharon's eyes narrowed, and Provenza spoke up again:
"Ms. Suarez – if you're withholding information, I'd like to remind you that there's such a thing called 'obstruction of justice'...and we're headed in that direction at a nice brisk pace," he added. "So..."
"I don't know!" His warning seemed to have panicked the young woman. "I don't know anything, okay? Reg didn't tell me anything!"
"Obviously she told you something," Provenza disagreed, "or else you wouldn't be trying to hide it right now."
"No!" She swallowed. "No – look... I don't – I don't actually know anything, okay? I – I don't want to get Reg in trouble."
The two officers exchanged another look.
"You're not," Sharon assured her in a low tone. "You're not getting her in trouble."
The young woman's eyes widened. "Oh my god – did something happen to her? Is she okay? Where is she?"
Sharon thought for a moment, deciding how much to reveal. "That's what we're trying to figure out," she said in the end, "exactly what happened to Regina. You said you haven't seen her in a couple of days, right?"
The woman nodded, still looking half-panicked.
"We want to find out what happened," Sharon repeated. "So you're not getting your friend in trouble, Ms. Suarez. You're helping her – by helping us." She paused for a second to let the message sink in. "What did Regina tell you about her plans for Wednesday evening?"
Laura swallowed hard. Looking nervously from one to the other, she opened her mouth when Sharon nodded: "Nothing... I mean... I asked her if she wanted to get dinner, you know – after I finished my shift. We did that a lot. But...Reg said she had other plans. She didn't tell me what they were, I swear!" she defended at their unhappy looks. "Just that she couldn't make it for dinner..."
"...but you have a suspicion what the plans were," Provenza prompted.
She shook her head, "No..."
"Ms. Suarez," he growled warningly.
"No, I – I don't know, I swear. It's..."
"Ms. Suarez," the lieutenant pressed, "I assure you that everyone in this room knows that you have more information than you're giving us. Now, I suggest you come out with the rest of it, before we go back to discussing obstruction of justice instead."
The door to electronics opened, admitting an impatient-looking Assistant Chief.
"I've had the press calling me since seven a.m.," he said irritatedly, stepping into the room. "I just release the official statement calling this a murder, but it won't keep them busy for long. I need some answers to give them on how a young woman's body ended up in Farris' trunk, and I need them faster." Glancing at the screen, he frowned: "Who's that?"
"Regina Thompson's roommate," Sykes provided, "Laura Suarez."
Taylor nodded, remembering the Captain's update from the previous evening. "Is she a suspect? She doesn't look like she could've beaten Regina to death," he added without waiting for an answer. "Is she connected to Farris?"
"No," Andy grumbled with an annoyed eyeroll, "and she's not a suspect, either. Although, if we'd been allowed to interview Farris's associates," he added pointedly, "instead of sitting around waiting for FID, maybe we'd have a better idea of how he's connected to Regina – and have some actual suspects."
The Chief sent him a disgruntled glare. "I gave Captain Raydor permission yesterday to get his financial records. That should be more than enough to look into, while FID finishes up their OIS investigation. That's the best I can do for you." He looked back at the screen. "Has the roommate said anything useful?"
"She might be about to," said Amy before the lieutenant could argue further, and her timely comment directed everyone's attention back to the screens.
"Okay. Okay..." After another nervous silence, the young woman nodded slowly. "Regina... she's been a little... I don't know, kind of...weird, lately. I mean – not like, bad weird, just...she's been getting all this new stuff and talking about these weird plans, but it all came kinda...out of the blue, you know?"
Sharon was trying to follow. "What kind of plans?"
Ms. Suarez shrugged. "Nothing really clear, it's...she's been talking about buying a new car, and she's been buying all these new clothes and shoes and stuff... and – okay, this was the weirdest – a while ago she decided that she wanted to go to UCLA and then try law school...?!"
Sharon suppressed a grimace of sympathy. "And that was unusual...?" Personally, she didn't find it strange that a young woman would want to get a better education.
The roommate held up her hands. "Yeah – look, I mean, Reg is real smart, I swear, but like...we weren't even on a transfer track, and anyway, we've never been exactly honor roll kids, either of us, you know? Like, when we first met a couple of years ago, Reg wanted to get famous by going on a reality show! She's even been to a few auditions." She shook her head, "She can't decide if she wants to do her two-year degree in Journalism or Theater Arts, and then suddenly there's this weird law school thing...? That just seemed totally random."
Sharon couldn't disagree. Maybe they were onto something here. "When did she first start behaving like this?"
The younger woman frowned, trying to think. "I don't know...maybe a few months ago? I thought..." She paused, and looked away.
"...yes?" prompted Provenza, with marked impatience.
"Look, I don't know anything for sure, so don't think I'm saying anything about Reg...but it kind of sounded like she was a little … manic, you know? Like maybe she was on drugs or something... I mean I never saw anything," she hurried to clarify, "and I don't think Reg is really into that stuff. It's just – I figured that's maybe why she's been so hyper, right? Buying new stuff, talking about transferring and law school, saying she's gonna chase her dreams and... I don't know." She shrugged a little helplessly, "I guess it also just kind of sounds like normal rebound stuff, so..."
She trailed off, and Sharon frowned. After an excruciating fifteen minutes failing to get any useful information out of Regina's roommate, this was a sudden deluge of new facts. It was hard to know where to start.
"Chase her dreams?" she picked at last, and at the exact same time Provenza asked:
"Rebound?"
The lieutenant nodded to defer to her question first.
"What dreams, exactly?" pressed Sharon.
The young woman sighed, "I don't know... I guess she means the whole UCLA thing...law school, changing her image...Look, I have no idea, Reg's been really hard to talk to these last few months, okay?" Another sigh. "It's like after this break-up she had last summer, she got this giant chip on her shoulder, and now suddenly she wanted to be a whole new person." She rubbed her temple, grimacing, "I thought it was a little crazy, you know? Her planning all this stuff without the money or the grades to back it up... but Reg, well, she can be pretty determined. And she's totally convinced that it's all gonna work out anyway."
Evidently, it hadn't. Or at least, not the way that "Reg" had hoped, that much was clear. But other than that, Sharon wasn't sure what to make of the roommate's story.
"So this has been going on for a few months," she clarified, "and in all that time, Regina gave you no indication of why she was suddenly planning on all these changes? Or how she meant to pay for UCLA or law school applications...?"
"No – I mean... we all figured that the UCLA fixation was because of Gray, but...I have no idea how Reg would pay for anything. That's why – that's why I thought maybe she was involved in something... but I don't know, if she was, I never noticed anything, I swear."
Sharon frowned. "Gray...?"
"This wouldn't happen to be related to the break-up and rebound you keep mentioning?" added Provenza.
The young woman nodded.
"What do you know," said Flynn. "Big surprise – it's the ex-boyfriend."
"Ugh." Buzz groaned quietly. When they all looked at him, he shook his head despondently, "Doesn't anyone else find it depressing that so many times, it's the spouse or significant other who did it? Whatever happened to actual functional relationships? You know," he pursed his lips, "the kind where people didn't murder each other?"
"Oh there's plenty of those still out there," said Taylor, "– they're just not what keeps us in business."
"We don't know that the ex-boyfriend is actually responsible, yet," Amy pointed out. "Maybe he's innocent."
Andy scoffed. "Yeah, or maybe he was holding a grudge against his ex-girlfriend, so he killed her and paid Farris to get rid of the body."
Buzz sighed.
"Gray is Reg's jerk ex-boyfriend." Laura Suarez frowned as she provided them with more information. "He broke up with her last summer, and Reg took a while getting over it... She was really determined to get him back – she talked about him all the time, for like, months," she grimaced. "Then she kind of got over him, I guess... except that's about when the whole UCLA and law school thing started. That's why I figured it might be some sort of rebound thing, you know...? Maybe she just wanted to prove something to herself, or something...that sounds like her," she added, "she gets something in her head and she won't quit until she's done it."
Sharon nodded silently as she processed what she was hearing. "Did Regina keep seeing Gray, after they broke up?"
Laura Suarez pulled a face. "I don't know... I doubt it, since he pretty much told her he wanted nothing to do with her after the semester was over. If Reg did seem him recently, she didn't tell me. She knows that none of us really liked Gray back when they were dating, either." She frowned again. "Is this what this is about? Did that asshole Gray do something to her?"
Provenza rumbled vaguely. "Does this 'asshole Gray' happen to have a last name?" he asked.
She opened her mouth to answer, then paused. "Uh...actually... I'm not sure what his last name is. Reg and I first met him when we crashed this UCLA frat party last year, and I didn't really see him a lot after that. He never hung out with us..." She rolled her eyes. "It was always Reg who had to go hang out with him wherever he wanted. But, uh...she always just called him Gray. I don't actually know if that was a nickname or something."
"What else can you tell us about him?" asked Sharon. "Do you remember what he looks like, where he lives, what kind of car he drives...? Any details that could help identify him?"
"Uh...he's tall...I think he had light-brown hair...?" She fidgeted in her chair at their looks. "Like I said, I only saw him a few times, okay... like at a couple other parties, and maybe once or twice when he picked up Reg, but it was from a distance. I don't remember the car," she admitted, "I think it was one of those silver Sedans."
Great. That would narrow it down to about half the city. "Did he go to UCLA? Was he in one of the fraternities whose parties you crashed?"
"Uh...I think so? Yeah. Yeah, he was definitely in a frat, Reg mentioned that. I don't remember the name, though. I think he was a junior or senior when we met him... oh – I remember that he always looked like one of those cocky little trust fund frat boys to me," she added with a disgusted grimace. "Acted like one, too. Reg always had to meet him whenever he felt like it, and she was always going on about having to look good for him and whatever. She was totally in love with him, but if you ask me, he was an ass from the start. She just didn't see it."
"Looks like we've got an actual suspect," said Andy.
Taylor crossed his arms, still looking impatient. "We have to figure out who he is, first." He glanced back at the nervous young woman on the screens. "That's not exactly a lot of details to go on. Especially if the roommate isn't able to identify him."
"We've found people with less," said Sykes. "And she might remember other things before the Captain and the Lieutenant are done interviewing her."
Taylor hrm-ed doubtfully. "That's assuming that she's even remembering any of this correctly. It all happened months ago, and she admitted that they were all drunk when they first met, and that the boyfriend never spent time with her circle of friends."
Flynn rolled his eyes at the unhelpful comments. "Yeah, go figure...a witness that's not one hundred percent reliable. Never had that happen before."
Taylor cut him another annoyed glare. "Just find the boyfriend," he ordered. "The clock's ticking on this. We need a suspect."
"There are...thirteen seniors currently at UCLA with the first name "Gray" or "Graham", one "Grayer", and twenty-seven with the last name "Gray", "Grayson", "Grayer", "Graybiel" and a couple other variations..."
Lt. Tao looked up from his computer with an apologetic grimace, as he finished:
"...plus another forty-six in the previous year's graduating class."
Sharon pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I'm cross-referencing the list with records from the DMV to see which of them have a silver Sedan registered to either their own name or their parents'," Mike added. "And I'm trying to get access to the UCLA Office of Student Life records, so we can sort out the frat members. But," he sighed, "UCLA has a nearly twenty percent Greek life participation rate, so I'm expecting that between that and the car, we'll still only narrow it down to about a dozen people...if we're lucky."
"Better than a hundred," said Amy. "We can talk to each of a dozen people individually."
"The sooner you get to that, the better." The Assistant Chief had followed them to the murder room shortly after the interview, and had been hovering unhelpfully for an hour. "Chief Pope wants me to make a press statement before the evening news tonight – that's six hours away, and we still don't have a single suspect."
"If we're not careful," chimed in Provenza, "people might start to think that cases don't get solved in a day!"
Sykes turned her face away to hide her smirk. Flynn didn't bother with the turning.
Sharon wasn't feeling much like smiling, but she did privately agree with the sentiment. And she couldn't understand why the Chief insisted to hang around the murder room and get in their way – instead of, for instance, going to Robbery-Homicide or Traffic and telling them to stop calling every half an hour demanding updates.
But that wasn't a battle she'd chosen to fight that day. And since there was nothing she could do about Taylor's presence, she tried not to let it get in the way of her focus.
"Ms. Suarez seemed to think that Regina's obsession with UCLA might've been somehow connected to this "Gray"," she told Tao. "So maybe her law school plans were connected, too. Let's see if we can narrow the list down further by seeing if anyone on it is on the law track, as well as in a fraternity."
"Have you notified the victim's family?" Taylor spoke up again. He frowned, "Did we rule them out as suspects?"
Sharon managed not to cringe, but the thought of parents killing their children caused bile to rise in her throat.
Luckily, it didn't seem to be the case, here.
"I spoke to Regina's parents on the phone, earlier," she replied. "I've asked them to come in this afternoon. I'll make the notification in person, once we've talked to them." She rubbed the side of her neck, and glanced at the young woman's photo on the murder board. They'd have to make sure to cover that when the parents walked in. "We checked with the father's office, and he was working on Wednesday afternoon," she added in response to the Chief's second question. "We're still checking on the mother, but neither of them are on our suspect list at the moment."
Taylor let out a rumbling sort of hum, a mixture of acknowledgment of her answer and dissatisfaction at having no proper suspects yet.
Provenza's desk phone went off, and the lieutenant took one look at it and rolled his eyes with an exasperated groan. "For god's sake, I didn't have to talk so much to Robbery-Homicide when I was in Robbery-Homicide! Here," he shoved the phone at his partner, who'd been standing by the murder board, "Flynn, you like talking to them. See if you can get them to stop calling every five goddamned minutes."
Andy took the phone with an eyeroll of his own, and barked some sort of unpleasant greeting into it. Tao was on the phone as well, presumably trying to get the UCLA records they needed, while, at their respective desks, Amy and Julio continued reviewing the financial and phone records they'd obtained the previous evening. Sharon used the lull in conversation to look down at her notepad, and study again the notes she'd taken during the interview with Laura Suarez. The young woman had revealed a lot of information about their victim, but Sharon was still having trouble putting together how Regina's sudden ambitious plans, her previous relationship, and her death could've been connected. There was a hint of a common thread in there, yes... but it was too obscured to make out, and she had a feeling that they were still missing some vital piece of the puzzle...
"Captain Raydor."
Ugh. For about a minute, she'd almost managed to forget about the Assistant Chief's presence. Clearly he did not intend to let that happen.
She raised her gaze from the notepad and pointedly met his eyes. "Chief?"
He'd propped himself in front of her, arms on his hips. Briefly, Sharon wondered how bored he must've been, to choose hovering over them instead of going back to his office to work on reports or phone calls or polishing his nameplate.
"Since you seem to have a minute," he condescended, "let's step into your office. There's something else I've been meaning to talk to you about."
It was enough to see his meaningful look in Julio's direction, for Sharon to understand exactly what he wanted to talk about. She felt the muscles in her shoulders tense up involuntarily.
"I had a very unpleasant phone call with Gloria Lim this morning," Taylor informed her wryly, as soon as he'd closed the door. "She's not happy that we postponed the meeting with Sanchez."
Sharon kept her composed expression and tone. "Detective Sanchez has spent the morning tracking down links between Johnny Farris and Regina Thompson, and confirming alibis for everyone close to her." Her eyebrows arched fractionally. "It's LAPD policy that an ongoing murder case takes precedence over administrative issues. I'm sure City Attorney Lim is familiar with those rules."
She refrained from also pointing out that he couldn't demand faster progress on the case and ask her to take herself and one of her detectives out of the game so they can debate the city attorney for two hours.
"I told her that much," said Taylor. "But the fact that your team is in the middle of a high-profile case makes it even more important to make sure that nothing goes wrong with Sanchez. I hope you understand, Captain." He gave her a grave look that only served to irritate her. "We can't have him getting into any sort of trouble. Or, God-forbid, beating up another suspect."
"I'm aware," Sharon replied evenly, "of the concerns surrounding this situation. We haven't brought in any suspects yet – but when we do, Julio will not be in contact with them. He's working research and support on this case."
"Yeah, and that's fine," the Chief agreed, "for now, but that's not a long-term solution. You can't put this off forever," he warned her. "You've lost control of this issue with Sanchez. Something needs to be done. And if he's not taking anger management seriously..."
Sharon nodded. There was not much to say, really. He was right about her having allowed this to get out of hand – not that she appreciated having her failure pointed out quite like that, but getting angry over it wasn't going to fix anything. "I understand. But I'd like the chance to address the situation with Julio again, myself, before we meet with Sgt. Staples and the city attorney," she said. "I'm confident that it's not too late to get things resolved."
She didn't say that she had no idea how to resolve things with Julio, or even where to start. 'Confident' might've been an overstatement. But if she didn't believe that the situation could still get fixed, clearly no one else was going to, not even Julio himself, and Sharon wasn't about to allow that, either.
So she harbored a confident air and put her best 'trust me, I know what I'm doing' expression into it, and hoped that somehow, she'd be able to get through to her detective before their time ran out.
Taylor seemed to think for a moment, but finally he nodded back. "Alright. You've got until the end of next week," he told her. "Solve this case, then talk to Sanchez and get him to clean his act – or else I'm going to go with Lim's recommendation, and suspend him."
"I'll make sure Detective Sanchez is aware of that."
"Good. And Captain – keep him in line," he added sternly. "That FID warning note on his file means whatever he does while he's still on active duty will come back to us – and to you. I'm holding you personally responsible for his conduct during this investigation."
Great.
She dipped her head to acknowledge his words. Taylor continued to fix her with the same disgruntled look for a moment... then he sighed.
"Look...I'm not trying to be the bad guy here. I get that you want to do what's best for Julio. But sometimes, you just have to think about what's best for the team," he told her. "Just like I have to think about what's best for the department. We can't allow our personal sympathies to get in the way."
Sharon fixed him with a blank look. Was he seriously trying to lecture her on how to handle an internal affairs matter?
Despite her attempts at keeping a neutral expression, he must've seen some of the incredulity in her face. "Believe it or not, I understand how this works," he continued. "We all want to cover for those under our command. You're not the first person to try to do it." He paused. "You're not even the first person sitting behind that desk to try to do it."
Sharon's lips pursed a little, as she tried to decide if that comment was intended as a good thing or bad. Probably some of both. She hadn't exactly spent much time wondering about this, but she certainly hoped that she didn't need to add adopting some of Chief Johnson's more questionable methods to her growing list of things to be worried about.
A vague sort of unease churned in her stomach, as she suddenly wondered how much of what Chief Johnson had done had been the woman, and how much had been the job.
She wasn't all that sure that she wanted to know the answer.
As Taylor went on, enjoying listening to himself talk, her gaze involuntarily slid to the pile of Phillip-Stroh-related files on the far corner of her desk.
A knock on the door snapped her back into the present moment, before the familiar icy tendrils had time to fully spread inside her.
"Uh, Captain?" Lt. Tao poked his head in, wearing a cautious expression. "Chief. Sorry to interrupt, but you wanted to know as soon as we had something." He nodded toward the murder room, where everyone seemed to have been energized into action.
"We've got a name for the ex-boyfriend."
Isn't Taylor just our favorite fearless leader ever? Yes, I thought so, too ;).
Thank you for reading, and this is a friendly reminder to please feel free to flail in my direction over the fact that OH MY GOD IT IS MONDAY AGAIN AND THAT MATTERS AGAIN! Less than five hours to the premiere!