DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 2

Sharon sat down behind her desk and Andy and Provenza sat across from her. "Okay gentlemen, now can you please tell me who Bill Croelick is?" Sharon said to them. Andy took a deep breath and started to talk. "Alright, back in 2000, I arrested Croelick for the killing of his girlfriend, Anna Tandy. She was burned to death by Croelick. I didn't have any leads in the case until a friend of Anna's told me that Croelick had talked about killing Tandy while he was drunk. Unfortunately, four days into his trial, the witness dies of a drug overdose, and Croelick gets acquitted." Andy stated to Sharon who looked on with concern. "A couple of years later, I arrested Croelick again for another girl who was burned and murdered the same way as Tandy, he gets convicted and sent to jail" Andy said. "Only to get released when the person who was murdered turns up in the medical examiner's office again 3 years later" Provenza added. Sharon looked at Provenza and then looked back at Andy. Andy was now looking down at his feet. "So what happened after that?" Sharon asked them. "That dirt bag sued the LAPD for 4 million dollars and won for wrongful imprisonment" Andy sighed as he sat back in to the chair. "Do we know if Bill Croelick is still living in LA?" Sharon asked. "No Captain, we don't. He helped then Deputy Chief Johnson and us solve an arson fire in Griffith Park back in 2008 and that was the last we saw of him" Provenza said to her.

"Okay, Lieutenant Provenza, would you excuse us for a minute?" Sharon says to Provenza. "Of course Captain" Provenza says as he gets up from the chair and starts to head out the door. "This isn't going to be a problem, is it Andy?" Sharon asked softly to him. "What problem would there be?" Andy hesitantly asked her. "This is not his MO Sharon, so I think we could rule him out anyways" Andy said to her as he gestured with his hand. She rolled her neck as it was starting to stiffen up and glanced at the clock. 10:45 it said. "I know Andy, but until we know where he is for certain, I would like to leave him on our list" Sharon said to him. "I also don't want this team, especially you given your history with Croelick, to single out anyone that may appear on our list of potential suspects" Sharon added, and tried to be as calm as she could be. Andy sat there in silence as he looked at Sharon. He couldn't believe that she would think he would go after Croelick, after all these years. "Yes Captain" Andy said back in a muttered voice. He got up and left her office to go sit at his desk.

Sharon noticed a hint of disappointment in his voice; she hoped he did not take it personally. They had to make sure that the person involved in this crime was the correct one. And, until Mike and Buzz came back with that partial fingerprint, they had to have a list of potential suspects, which unfortunately for Andy, included Croelick's name now. She silently hoped that Provenza could verify Croelick's whereabouts as she wanted him off of their list of suspects right away, for the team's sake and especially for Andy's sake most of all. They discussed past cases before, but he had never once mentioned Bill Croelick's name to her. She now knew why, bad case bringing up bad memories. She just hoped that Andy's head could stay in the game as she would hate to pull him off this case due to a conflict.

Andy stood up and walked over to where Provenza was sitting at his desk. "Why did you even mention his name to her?" Andy asked him. Provenza looked up from what he was reading. "She asked a question, and I gave her an answer" he said back to Andy as he shrugged his shoulders. Andy shook his head and walked out of the office. He needed to cool himself down before something bad happened. Provenza got up and went after him. "Hey Flynn!" he yelled at Andy but Andy just ignored him. Sharon saw the little exchange between the partners but didn't want to interfere. Provenza finally caught up with him outside the breakroom. "Hey, what's the problem?" Provenza asked Andy. "Sharon doesn't want having his name on our list of potential suspects being a problem for me" he snickered at him as a Patrol Officer past them up. "Since you told her his name, even though we both know this is not his MO, she's keeping his name on our list" Andy continued. He then turned and walked in to the break room and sat down at one of the tables. He was glad that no one else was in there.

Provenza waited a second before going in to the breakroom and joining Andy. Andy was sitting at the table twisting his sobriety ring on his finger and staring at it. Provenza joined him at the table and sat down. "Alright Flynn, get your head out of your ass!" Provenza stated to him. Andy looked up and glanced over at him. "Big deal if the Captain keeps his name on our short list of suspects. I am waiting to verify where he currently lives and then, hopefully, we can take him off of our list" Provenza said. Andy didn't say anything and kept staring and twisting his ring. "Okay, what's really bothering you?" Provenza asked his friend.

Andy looked up at him and sighed as he looked back down at his wedding ring. "It just seems like everything has gone in disarray since the Dwight Darnell case" Andy started to tell his friend. "Darnell shot and killed Taylor, Sharon shot and killed Darnell, and then when we solve that case I end up in the hospital with my heart scare. I get released from the hospital and propose to Sharon that night. We go up to Monterey, and then run into Stroh. I kill him protecting her. We come back to LA and get married, as she didn't want to wait. I'm glad she didn't wait because I love her so much" Andy said to Provenza. Provenza just rolled his eyes. "We've caught a few cases since then, purchased a new house, and start to foster Matthew. And now, this arson case brings up Bill Croelick!" Andy concluded. "The Captain doesn't want him to be a problem for me. She doesn't want me to single him out" Andy huffed at Provenza. "Can you believe her saying that?!" he added. Provenza just looked at his friend. "No" Provenza said sarcastically.

"I don't want Sharon to be disappointed in me" Andy quietly said back to Provenza. "The Captain would not be disappointed in you Andy" Provenza looked at him. "You love her, right?" Provenza asked Andy. "Yes, of course I love her" Andy said. "I would do anything for her, she knows that" Andy added. "So what's the problem?" Provenza said back to him. "Look, Matthew is very lucky to have two loving foster parents. I know both you and the Captain got attached to him pretty much right away, otherwise Sharon would not have insisted that you take him in emergency foster care" Provenza said to his friend. He placed his hand on Andy's shoulder. "You are not going to mess that up or your marriage up for anything" he added sincerely. "You and I have both been down the road of a bad marriage and we both know how to not do things" Provenza said as he laughed. Andy had a slight smile on his face. "Now come on Flynn, you need to snap out of this or else your health is really going to take a tumble, and then she will blame me, and I don't need to be blamed by the Captain" Provenza said as he pointed his finger at Andy. Provenza's phone went off alerting to a text message from Mike. "Now, come on, Mike and Buzz are on their way back with the fingerprint" Provenza said to Andy as he started get up from the table.

Provenza and Andy walked back in to the Murder Room just as Mike and Buzz arrived back from the Fire Department. Sharon came out of the office as all four of them came back and looked at Provenza, who nodded to her and continued to walk to his desk. Andy made his way around the desks to his desk. Sharon took a step towards him at his desk and lightly touched his hand. That was their sign for reassuring the other person and Andy gave her a smirk as she did that. It was quick so that no one else in the room would notice except the two of them. She then walked over to Mike's desk where he was trying to run their partial fingerprint in their system. Andy followed her over there and stood next to her.

"This may take a while Captain" Mike said to her as he entered the fingerprint in the database. Sharon nodded and went over to Provenza's desk. Andy watched her walk over there. "Anything on our location, Lieutenant?" Sharon asked him. Provenza glanced up at her and shook his head no. "I contacted a place of last known employment for him, located in Fresno but the person on the phone could not verify anything" Provenza said to her. "Couldn't or wouldn't?" Andy stated. "Okay, while the fingerprint runs and we are waiting to hear back on a location of one of our potential suspects, let's see what else we can come up with regarding this case" Sharon told her team.

"Do we have a pattern on when this person lights up a house?" Andy asked as he looked at the pictures and the map of the houses on the Murder Board. "It looks random so far" Mike said. Amy's desk phone range and she answered it. "Thank you" Amy said and she hung up. Doctor Morales got an ID on our victim. His name is Jordan Richards, with a date of birth of January 16, 1981" Amy said as she wrote the information up on the board. Julio looked up his information on the Department of Motor Vehicles website and pulled up his picture. He placed a quarter in the jar on Provenza's desk and placed the picture on the board as well.

"Did our victim reside at the house where he was discovered?" Sharon asked Julio. "No ma'am, he listed a P.O. Box as an address on his license" Julio stated. "I'll run his records and see what we can get" Andy said as he walked back to his desk. Sharon walked back in to her office and sat down at her desk. Her phone alerted to a text message from Rusty. Rusty had sent a picture of the dog with them at a local park. 'Don't worry, I'm fine' it said. She was glad that Moxie was being taken care of while they were at work. One less worry Sharon would have today. She still worried about Andy but he seemed to be over what was bothering him before. She wondered how Matthew was doing at school. She was lost in thought and didn't hear the knock on her door until the third time. "Come in" she said, clearing her voice.

Andy walked in with some papers in his hands. He closed the door behind him and began to sit down across from Sharon. "Here is the report on Jordan Richards" Andy said as he handed her a copy of the report he ran. Sharon looked it over as Andy waited patiently. "Um, Captain, eh Sharon, I just wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier" Andy said in a low voice to her. Sharon looked up at him and gave a slight smile. "Andy, you don't need to apologize, I totally understand" Sharon said to him. She continued to read the report. "Are we okay then?" Andy asked and he motioned with his hand going back and forth between her and him. "Yes Andy, we are fine" Sharon reassured him and smiled. He smiled back at her. He took a deep breath as he sat back in the chair. "Are you still going to your meeting tonight?" Sharon asked him quietly. "Oh, uh yes, I was planning on it, unless we get a break in this case somehow" Andy said hesitantly. Sharon shook her head. "I think you should go to the meeting Andy, regardless of this case. That is more important" Sharon said to him as she looked him in the eyes. Andy nodded and sighed.

"The boys sent me a picture of Moxie, I guess they took him to a local park" Sharon said as she showed Andy her phone. "It's nice to know that they are taking care of him, I'm sure he will be tuckered out when he gets home" Andy said smiling to Sharon as he handed her phone back to her. Just then, there was a knock on her door. Mike opened the door to her office. "Captain, we have a match in our database to the fingerprint" Mike said as he handed the picture to Andy. Andy looked at the picture as his blood began to boil. "Who is it?" Sharon asked as Andy handed the picture over to her. "It's Croelick" Andy said in a huff and left her office.

Sharon looked at the picture in front of her. So this was Bill Croelick, Andy's nemesis if you would call him that. Sharon looked out the window to see where Andy was and saw him sitting at his desk. He was busy at his computer. "We need to know why his fingerprint was at that house" Sharon said to Mike. Mike looked back at Andy at his desk and then turned back to Sharon. "Right away Captain" Mike said and then left her office. Sharon stared at the picture before her and silently wished that they were done with this case.

About a half hour later Andy got up from his desk. "Captain!" Andy said to Sharon as he walked over to the printer to pick up something that he had just printed. Sharon came out to see what Andy had discovered. "What is it Lieutenant?" Sharon asked him. "It looks like our pyro friend Croelick had previously owned the house that was set on fire" Andy started to say as he wrote something up on the Murder Board. "But he sold that house back in 2010 to a Cora Richards" Andy continued. "Why would they lift his fingerprint from the house after 6 years?" Julio asked. "Maybe he was recently there?" Mike stated. "Who's Cora Richards?" Provenza asked. "She is the sister to Jordan Richards, our victim" Andy stated to him and placed her picture on the board as well. "Cora was the owner of the house when it burned down" Andy continued to read from the report as he handed it over to Sharon. "Do we know where she is now?" Sharon asked the team. Mike was typing something on his computer and brought up her current information. "She lives up in Fairfax" Mike said to them. "Go pay her a visit" Sharon told Julio, Amy and Mike. She then went back to her office.

Meanwhile, in the city of Fresno, Bill Croelick returns to work at the local cable company. "Hey, Bill, can you come in to my office?" Harry Corben stated who is the boss of the company. Bill looks around, "Okay" he says and follows him in. "Is there a reason why a detective from the LAPD is inquiring about your whereabouts?" Harry asks Bill. Bill shakes his head. "Did you get a name of the detective?" Bill asks. Harry looks at the piece of paper in front of him. "Yes, a Lieutenant Provenza called" Harry said and looked at Bill. "Are you in some sort of trouble?" he asked him. Bill looked back at his boss. "No, he's an old friend of mine from when I used to live in LA" Bill said back to him. "Anything else?" Bill asked him. Harry shook his head no. "Okay then, I'm done for the day" Bill says to Harry as he walks out of his office. He turns around. "Thank you" Bill says and then heads to his truck and leaves. He wonders if he should pay a visit to his old friends at the LAPD.

Sharon read over the rest of the information that Andy had printed out on Bill Croelick. They needed to find out where he was at so that they could rule him out as a suspect in this case. She would have to agree with Andy, that this was not his MO from what she had read about him so far. He liked to dismember his victim, well his girlfriend and then set them on fire. As if she didn't have enough worries on her mind, now that they confirmed the fingerprint to match a known arsonist, it had to be the one person from Andy's past that had gotten away. So now, she had to worry about Andy's behavior regarding Croelick. She knew he could be very professional, and given the circumstances around this case, she hoped she could count on him to do so.

Andy knocked on Sharon's door and stepped inside. "Did you want to have lunch before the rest of the team comes back?" Andy asked her as he stepped inside. "Yes, I would like that" Sharon said to him. "Where's Provenza?" she said to Andy as they walked out of the Murder Room. "He's in the breakroom, deciding what to eat from the meal that Patrice made for him" Andy laughed. They made their way into the breakroom as well and sat down to have some lunch that Sharon had made. After they were done with lunch, they all headed back into the office and waited for the rest of the team to come back from their assignment.

Mike, Julio, Amy, and Buzz return from interviewing and searching the house of Cora Richards. Sharon walks out of her office to join the group assembling at Provenza's desk. "So, what did you find out?" Provenza asks them. "Well, she did not know about her brother being killed and she didn't reside at the house that burned down since 2015" Mike stated to the group. "But she is the owner of that house, right Mike?" Andy asked him. "Oh yes, she freely admitted to being the owner of that house, but she didn't know who was living there at the time of the fire" Mike answered. "And you searched the house?" Sharon asked them. "Yes ma'am, we did not come up with anything concrete" Julio answered. "So, she's off our list of suspects then" Provenza stated. "Not so fast Lieutenant, I think we still need to keep her up there for now" Sharon stated. "How was she when you broke the news to her about her brother?" Sharon asked them. "She seemed genuine, not overdramatic at all" Amy stated.

"Any connection between Cora Richards and Bill Croelick?" Sharon asked her team. "You mean besides him selling the house to her?" Mike shook his head no. "There's got to be some connection here, we are just not seeing it yet" Sharon said to the team and then stared at the Murder Board going over all of the information they had. "Amy, did you mention the name Bill Croelick to Cora?" Sharon asked her. "Um, no Captain" Amy answered. "What did Jordan do for a living?" Sharon asked. "According to his file, he was self-employed" Andy stated and looked at Sharon. "So, no one misses him, not even his sister?" Sharon states. "I find that very hard to believe" Provenza added. "What are we missing?" Sharon whispered as she looked back at the board.

Two hours had passed since they came back from Cora Richards's house and they were nowhere near solving this case anytime soon. Chief Howard made his way into the Murder Room, wanting to know the progress the team was making on the new case he assigned them. He knocked on Sharon's door. "Come in" Sharon said and was surprised to see Chief Howard when he opened the door. "Chief" Sharon said as she sat behind her desk. "Captain, I just wanted to know how your team's progress was going on this arson-murder case" Chief Howard said to her as he sat down in one of the chairs in front of her desk. "We seem to be at a dead end right now. There are two potential suspects, a Cora Richards, the sister of the victim and Bill Croelick, who's fingerprint was lifted from the house of Cora Richards that was burned down" Sharon stated to him. "Wait a minute, did you say Croelick?" Chief Howard asked her. Sharon looked at him and sighed. "Yes, I know the history he has with the LAPD, especially with Lieutenant Flynn" Sharon said to him. "Have you been able to find him?" he asked her. "No, Provenza is currently working on that" Sharon said. "Be careful with Croelick, Sharon. He is dangerous" Chief Howard stated and then left her office.

Sharon looked at her watch and Matthew needed to be picked up soon as she didn't want him in the after school care for a long time, considering this was his first day there. She walked over to Andy's desk and settled her hand on his back. He turned his chair around to look at her. "Matthew needs to be picked up" Sharon said to him. "I can go get him and bring him back here if you want" Andy said back to her as he glanced at his watch. It was now 4 o'clock. She thought about it. She was debating to let her team go and then come back tomorrow morning with a fresh start on this case. "Okay" she said back to him and smiled. Andy got up and grabbed his suit jacket and then headed out the door to go pick up Matthew.

Sharon informed Provenza about what she was thinking regarding getting a fresh start tomorrow morning on this case as they weren't getting anywhere today. "We are all good for another hour Captain, besides I have a feeling something is going to pop up" Provenza said back to her. She went back into her office. She then texted Rusty just to let him know that they would be a little late coming home.

Andy pulled up at the school and parked his car. He went inside the school and found where the kids go for the after school care. He introduced himself to the teacher that was in charge there. "Hi, I'm Andy Flynn, Matthew Gomez's foster parent and I am here to pick him up" Andy said to her and he shook her hand. "Nice to meet you Mr. Flynn, can I see some ID?" the teacher asked him. "Sure" Andy said as he showed her his ID. She then looked at the chart she had and found his name. "I will go get Matthew for you, please wait right here" the teacher told him. Despite all of the doubts that he had been pondering the past day or so, Andy forgot all of them as soon as he picked Matthew up. Two minutes later, Matthew came running up to Andy. "Hi Andy" Matthew said to him. "Hey, how was school?" Andy said as they walked out of the school and back to his car. "It was a lot of fun, I learned all about snakes" Matthew said as he climbed into the car. "That's great" Andy said back to him as he made sure Matthew had his seatbelt on. Andy then climbed into the driver's seat and started the car. He texted Sharon that he and Matthew were on their way back.

"Are we going home now?" Matthew asked Andy as Andy drove back to the PAB. "No, I am taking you back to our office because Sharon is still there and then we will go home" Andy said as he explained to Matthew. Matthew wanted to see his dog, but he guessed he could wait a little while longer. "Okay!" Matthew said as he unzipped his backpack to look at the book his teacher had given him. Andy smiled to himself as he looked back in the rear-view mirror at Matthew. Maybe there was a reason for everything that had happened in the past couple of months he thought as he pulled in to the parking garage at the PAB. He helped Matthew out of the car and they walked into the building.

As they passed through the lobby, one of the officers stopped Andy. "Hey Lieutenant, a man was asking earlier about you and Lieutenant Provenza" the officer said to him. Andy looked at him and wondered who he was speaking about. "What did this guy want?" Andy asked him. "He said that Lieutenant Provenza was wondering where he had been and he just wanted to stop by and talk" the officer said. "Where did this man go?" Andy asked as he grabbed Matthew's hand. "He hung around for a little bit and then left, maybe five minutes before you came in?" the officer said to Andy. "Thanks!" Andy said as he looked around but didn't see anyone. He then walked with Matthew towards the elevators and headed up to Sharon and the rest of the team.

TBC