A/N:Guys, I'm sorry about all the stupid small typos and things... I swear I proofread each chapter a dozen times, both before and after posting, but my brain sometimes just reads what I think should be there as opposed to what is actually there on the page... I'm mostly literate I swear! :P
Thanks so much to all of you reading this story, and special thanks to those of you who consistently review!
No Such Thing as a Perfect Family (6)
The squad room was completely silent, the previously heated conversation abruptly cut off by Flynn's admonishment. The two lieutenants, Rusty, and Buzz now stared toward the Captain's office with varying degrees of apprehension. There was a gravity to the air as Sharon continued to rest her forehead against her joined hands, no further indication as to her state of mind.
"Thompson's lawyer says he's ready to talk." Detective Sanchez had stopped in the doorway to make the announcement. "Can you let the Captain know we're waiting in electronics?" Only then did he notice the unusually sober atmosphere, and took another step inside the room. "What's going on?"
His eyes automatically followed theirs to the glass walls of the Captain's office, but he caught only a glimpse of her contemplative stance before her head turned abruptly to the desk phone once more. She reached out slowly, with a completely blank expression, and picked up. Within a few seconds, however, she shook her head, her business face slipping on as she made a brisk answer into the receiver, and reached for a file in the pile on her desk. The conversation carried on for another few seconds in a perfectly unremarkable manner, prompting Sanchez to give the others another questioning look.
Flynn, Provenza and Buzz exchanged a glance, and Provenza shrugged. He didn't know what to make of it, either. Maybe it was nothing. His eyes flickered briefly to Rusty, whose wary gaze was still glued to the Captain's office.
Maybe it was something.
Either way, they weren't going to find out by standing around gaping. "Better not keep our stabby tax accountant waiting, then," he said decisively, and walked off toward the office. "I'll let the Captain know we're ready for her."
Lt. Provenza hadn't known exactly what he was expecting to happen when he knocked on Raydor's door, but what he got was a big fat nothing and a lot of bad feelings. The woman looked up at his entrance, and maybe her complexion was a note paler than usual, and maybe her eyes were just a little brighter, but that was where the story ended. She certainly didn't volunteer any information, not even when he tried to ask her if everything was okay by means of his most effortful overtures consisting of a meaningful look and a grunt.
The next few minutes shed no further light on the issue, as the Captain proceeded in the most business-like manner to the electronics room, and efficiently squared away the last details with DDA Rios before watching Sanchez and Sykes get the confession and close the deal. Her professional detachment hadn't slipped even a little throughout the process, not even when she'd passed the wound-up Rusty in the squad room and spared him only a restrained sort of smile.
If her brushing off the kid wasn't fishy, Provenza didn't know what was.
With the confession obtained and recorded and the suspect officially in custody for the unusually violent murder of one of his bosses, their role in the case was more or less over. They left Rios to finish dealing with the lawyer and sign the necessary documents on behalf of the DA, and regrouped in the squad room. Provenza and Flynn were still sneaking the occasional furtive glance at the Captain, but she seemed content to listen quietly to the team's commentary on the highlights of the now-closed case. Her input was sparse, though, and her thoughts seemed elsewhere for most of it.
She did refocus long enough to congratulate the two detectives who had obtained the confession unassisted by any of their superiors : "That was a well done interview, Det. Sanchez, Det. Sykes." And of course Sykes immediately began to radiate at the praise, enough to set off Geiger counters. "Good job."
And damn it, yes, her eyes did look a little more watery, and her voice sounded just a tad lower and softer than usual, but again if he hadn't been looking for it, Provenza would have been hard pressed to find anything off about her. Still, he hadn't been a police investigator for nearly forty years without learning how to look past appearances. Something was up.
Or maybe she was just tired. God knew the last few days had been a nightmare all around, the woman needed a break and a goddamn glass of wine, by the looks of it. Of course in his experience, life rarely gave breaks exactly when needed – especially not on crazy Mondays like the one they were having.
As if to confirm that belief, Chief Taylor appeared in the doorway. "Captain Raydor, I have news stations calling my secretary every ten minutes over the public statement regarding the North case…" He sounded irritated, and she returned a professional nod:
"FID has cleared our division of any wrongdoing, I have their report on my desk. And I just heard from SIS, they'll fax their own report over to our office by four p.m. and we can prepare a statement, maybe in time for the six o'clock news."
The brisk report seemed to reassure the Chief: "Good." He paused to glance at the murder board. "Any news on this?"
"Detectives Sanchez and Sykes have just gotten Mr. Thompson to fully confess to stabbing our victim fourteen times." She sounded only slightly out of breath. "He's been officially arrested and DDA Rios is finishing up with his lawyer as we speak."
"That was quick." At Taylor's impressed tone, Sykes looked like she might melt. "Good, because I just heard from Captain Hudson in Robbery-Homicide, and they have a case they think is more our jurisdiction. One of their detectives is bringing up the details..."
Raydor returned a tight smile. "We can hardly wait. Chief," she called softly as he turned to leave, "may I have a moment of your time, please?"
Flynn and Provenza exchanged a sombre glance: this was far from a usual request. It caught Tao's attention too, his brow creasing ever so slightly in a questioning look.
Taylor's eyebrows arched impatiently. "Captain, I've got –"
"This will only take a minute."
Taylor opened his mouth to argue again, but catching her expression he paused; his eyes stared her up and down for a moment and finally he nodded. "Why don't you come to my office."
"Thank –"
"Chief Taylor," DDA Rios walked into the room to the general displeasure. "It's good to catch you – I have a few questions on behalf of the DA's office regarding the North case, just to make sure everything's wrapped up properly."
He returned his characteristic, pleasant impersonal smile. "Well what a fortunate coincidence, in that case. Captain Raydor and I were just about to talk, you can join us and she'll be able to explain better than –"
"Actually. " Sharon interrupted quietly. "I was hoping for a private conversation, if you don't mind, Chief."
The rest of the squad was picking up on it by now, as well; her tone was too subdued, her manner too reserved. Meanwhile, Emma looked somewhat taken aback, as though she wasn't in the know, either; her inquisitive gaze almost automatically sought out Rusty in the Captain's office and she looked about ready to roll her eyes, but managed to contain it.
Taylor closed his mouth, his lips pursing slightly. "Why don't you give us a minute, DDA Rios," he said in his saccharine tone. "My secretary will let you know when we're ready." With that, he marched toward his office with some irritation, Captain Raydor following him in silence.
Thus deferred, DDA Rios suddenly found herself a little uncomfortable in the middle of the squad room, with everyone's eyes on her.
Provenza leaned back in his seat. "Does anyone else smell sulfur?"
It was only a few minutes later that Captain Raydor walked back into the squad room, her demeanor as impenetrable as before; passing by DDA Rios she paused and motioned toward the Chief's office.
"I believe Chief Taylor can see you now." Her voice was still lower, breathier than usual.
Emma started to walk over, almost relieved to leave the room, but after a few steps she stopped and turned, a somewhat confused expression on her face. "I thought you were joining us."
"That won't be necessary," Sharon assured. "Chief Taylor will give you the information you need on the North case."
"Oh…kay…" once more Rios looked slightly taken aback, "there's also the issue of the sentencing hearing for Thompson, so after I'm done talking to Taylor –"
"Detectives Sanchez and Sykes will be available to discuss the details on that with you," Raydor said evenly, after which she simply stared at the younger woman with a neutral look, until DDA Rios had nothing left to do but resume her path to Taylor's office.
As soon as the echo of Emma's heels had faded down the corridor, Sharon turned back to the rest of the team, encompassing them all with a long, silent look. There was still a vaguely detached air about her, as though her thoughts weren't fully on the present moment. Tao, Sanchez and Sykes stared back a little uncertainly, while Flynn and Provenza waited tensely for whatever news she had to share.
The Captain turned to the older man. "Lieutenant Provenza."
He straightened in his seat with a serious expression.
"When the detectives from Robbery - Homicide arrive with the details of the case Chief Taylor mentioned, please take point on that," she requested tiredly. "Make sure we have all the information we need…and a clear understanding of what level of involvement they're expecting," she sighed in an afterthought. "We don't want this to degenerate into a turf war."
Provenza bit back a snide comment about inter-division jurisdiction woes. "Yes, Captain."
She looked like she wanted to say something else, but changed her mind. "Thank you." Then with a slight dip of her head, she said "Excuse me", and headed toward her office, Flynn and Provenza following her with uneasy gazes.
The Captain exchanged a brief greeting with Rusty, the boy looking at her with apprehensive expectancy. He seemed to brace himself when she pulled over a chair and sat down right by him so she could face him without any obstacles between them.
It didn't take long to tell that everyone in the squad room was in some way or another keeping an eye on the Captain's office, no matter whether they tried to do it subtly (Tao, craning his neck a little from his badly-positioned desk, and Provenza, gaze flickering over above a report), gravely (Flynn, not even bothering to hide it), painfully obviously (Sykes, who even asked the rest of them what was going on), or tried very hard not to look at all (Sanchez, his gaze resolutely fixed on a paper in front of him with a frown, and Buzz, who watched the rest of them warily, instead).
Oh they all knew very well that they should mind their own business ; observing the Captain's private conversations through her glass office walls was just one small step above snooping, and she'd definitely have been displeased had she noticed the entire squad staring like a bunch of nosy housewives. Then again, it was a small workplace and they were all in each other's business anyway, and as the division leader she was twice as exposed. And ultimately they were mostly only nosy because they'd come to genuinely like the woman, so really she shouldn't complain.
Granted, Raydor might not have seen it that way, but at the moment she wasn't likely to notice anything anyway.
They couldn't see her face anymore from the way she'd positioned herself, or hear anything of course, but Rusty's expressions were a story onto themselves. His anxious recalcitrance as he listened to her gave way to a gloomy, resentful sort of bitterness as he made a reply…but then things changed abruptly. Whatever the Captain said next made the boy grow briefly uncertain, then his eyes widened and his expression dissolved into some sort of horrified alarm. From the dark glare he went to a series of frantic nods, his hands waving unsurely in the space between them, until he was finally quiet and stared at her with a tentative, nervous expression.
Less than a minute later the Captain had resumed her usual seat at her desk, and Rusty walked out of her office, with one last glance behind before closing the door. There was no way to miss the questioning looks from the rest of the division as he walked through the murder room, and Flynn, having had enough of the heavy tension already, was halfway out of his chair to cut him off.
"What happened, kid? What's wrong?"
Rusty looked conflicted for a moment, glancing back toward Sharon's office again; he fidgeted uncomfortably before making his decision. It wasn't his business to say, true enough, but then they'd have found out anyway and this way at least she didn't have to tell them. Hands shoved nervously in his pockets, he looked up at Lt. Flynn with a still-unsettled expression, and swallowed. "Sharon's dad died."
A grim silence descended over the room. Provenza lowered the report he'd been fake-reading and sighed.
Andy didn't really know whether his, or anyone's, presence was welcome, but after Rusty's reveal it didn't feel right not to say something. So when the Captain left her office about a minute later, he glanced at his partner for one extra sanity check, and when Provenza's head had twitched almost imperceptibly toward her, he got up to intercept her as she crossed the murder room.
Sharon noticed his abrupt movement and must have read something of his intentions, and though she didn't stop her beeline for the door, she did slow down the slightest bit, which wasn't exactly an invitation but at least it wasn't telling him to stay away, either.
Unfortunately, before he managed to fall into step with her, Emma Rios once more appeared in the doorway, her timing having apparently become as horrendous as her general manner. The Captain made a slight move to go around the woman…
"Chief Taylor told me about what happened," Rios launched without preamble, her expression a little uncomfortable. "Captain Raydor, I'm sorry for your –"
"Thank you, DDA Rios," Sharon softly but pointedly cut her off, "I appreciate that." She looked toward the door again, meaningfully. "If you don't mind, I have several things to attend to…"
But Emma didn't back off, even as she acknowledged the not-so-subtle hint. "Of course, but … I'm going to need a few minutes of your time before you leave, to discuss what we're going to do about Rusty now."
The Captain's expression turned chilly. "What we're going to do about Rusty…?" she repeated, her tone a muted warning.
"Well – yes," Rios seemed almost surprised that the other woman would even need to ask. "Since you can't take him with you and obviously he can't stay here alone, so there are a few formalities to…" She trailed off, her eyebrows flying up in disbelief. "You… weren't actually thinking to take him with you, right?" She shook her head, almost perplexed. "Oh my god…"
A/N: Okay so now we know what the new crisis is - but if you're thinking you know how the "Rusty meets Sharon's family"prompt will go, let me just tease that this might have to be a case of the mountain coming to Muhammad, because DDA Rios is not letting Sharon take her star witness anywhere out of her sight. :P
Also, we'll be seeing Rusty's actual conversation with Sharon from the other side of her office door in the next chapter.
Thank you for reading! I'd love to hear your thoughts, forecasts and general ideas:)