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.
A/N: Thank you everyone for the reviews of this story. I'm glad you all are enjoying it!
Chapter 11
Croelick was sitting in front of Sharon and Provenza in the interview room. Both Sharon and Provenza were trying to get information from Croelick but he seemed reluctant to tell only them. "I will only tell the information to Andy" Croelick demanded. Provenza looked at Croelick and started to talk slowly. "You are not in a position to make demands, Croelick" he said to him. "I want to talk to Andy and you, Sharon" Croelick said to her. She looked over at Provenza. "It's okay Lieutenant, please could you get Andy and have him join us here" Sharon said to Provenza. "I'm not leaving you with him in here, Captain" Provenza said to her. "I'll be fine" Sharon reassured him. Provenza nodded, got up, and opened the door. She was a stubborn woman. He walked out of the interview room and saw Andy in Sharon's office. Julio walked out of electronics and headed with Provenza to Sharon's office.
"Flynn" Provenza said as he opened the door. Andy turned around and saw Provenza but didn't see Sharon. "Croelick is asking for you. Apparently he will only talk to you about the information he has" Provenza said to Andy as Andy stood up and headed out the door. "I'll watch Matthew sir" Julio said to Andy. Andy passed him up and walked with Provenza. "You left Sharon in there with him by herself!" Andy said to Provenza. Andy moved quickly down the hallway to the interview room and saw Sharon sitting in there with Croelick across from her. "Alright Croelick, I'm here so can you tell us what you know?" Andy said to him as he stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him.
"Okay. I'm assuming you found Missy Braxton's fingerprints on the dumpster at your condo, correct?" Croelick said to them as he shifted in his seat. "How do you know this?" Andy asked him. Croelick looked back at him. "Because Missy was my sort of pen pal when I was on Death Row. She wrote to me several times and I wrote back to her" Croelick started to say. "You see, things got a little crazy before I was released and she became sort of obsessed with me" he continued. Andy and Sharon both looked at him. "Well, you see, she stopped sending me letters until a week ago" Croelick said to them as he started to take out something from his jacket pocket. "Leave your hands on the table" Andy said to Croelick as he started to move out of his seat. "I want to show you something" Croelick said as he stopped his hand in midair by his jacket pocket.
"Go ahead" Sharon said to Croelick and then looked at Andy. Croelick reached into his pocket and pulled out three letters addressed to him from Missy. He then handed them to Andy. "As you can see, Missy started writing to me again, and man, I thought I hated the LAPD, she takes the cake on that one!" Croelick said to both Sharon and Andy. Andy handed the letters to Sharon as he was reading them. "You see Sharon, those letters concern you as well. That's why I told Andy here that I am trying to protect you, although he did not like that" Croelick said to Sharon as Sharon looked up at him. "As you see from the second letter to me, she didn't like the fact that you guys were questioning me again for those fires a couple of days ago" Croelick said to them. Andy was reading the last letter and was ready to punch his fist through the wall. He handed the letter to Sharon so she could read it. "She really doesn't like you very much Sharon" Croelick said. "When I received these letters I had to find her again, and make sure she didn't harm you" he added. "How did you get these letters?" Sharon asked him. "I went back home after I was done here that night and saw them sitting in my mailbox" Croelick answered.
"Why have you been following us and how do you know about our children?" Andy asked him. Croelick looked at Andy. "I was at that park, because Missy was watching you. I wanted to make sure that she didn't do anything and then when she left, I left as well" Croelick said to them. Andy was getting frustrated by the minute with Croelick. He has to have a second agenda with all of this but Andy can't figure it out. "Why were you outside the building today?" Sharon asked Croelick. She could tell Andy was getting frustrated and she placed a hand on his leg to try to calm him down. Croelick looked back at Sharon and smiled. "I wanted to let you know about Missy but I wasn't sure if you would believe me. But then when I saw Andy come out of the building and we had our chat there, I knew you already knew about her" Croelick said.
"Why should we believe you Croelick?" Andy said back to him. "I've helped you out before. That fire in Griffith Park years ago. Last week with Cora" Croelick stated to them. "Excuse us" Sharon said as she got up to leave the room. Andy got up and followed her out. Two patrol officers then came into the room to watch Croelick. Sharon walked a few steps and then stopped and leaned against the wall. Andy was right there by her side. "Are you okay, Sharon?" he said in a quiet voice to her as he placed his hand on her shoulder. Sharon closed her eyes and nodded. She then proceeded to electronics where she handed the letters over to Mike so he could run an analysis on them. "Who's watching Matthew?" she asked Provenza. "Julio is" he said back to her and she left the room and headed back to her office.
"What did the letters say?" Provenza asked Andy. "They're sick. She needs protection but I know she will refuse it" Andy said to Provenza. There was a worry look in Andy's eyes when he said that. "I can bring it up to Howard, Chief Howard, without her knowing and see what he says. He has no love loss for Croelick" Provenza said back to Andy. Andy nodded and then walked over to Sharon's office. He knocked on her door before he entered and saw Sharon looking over at Matthew who had fallen asleep on the couch. Andy walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you" Andy whispered to her. "I don't want a protection detail, Andy" Sharon said back to him. He had been right about her refusing the detail. "I'll cancel the move for Wednesday" Andy said to her. She shook her head no. "Don't, I don't want our lives interrupted by a psychopath again" Sharon said to him in a quiet voice. "I want everything to go as planned. We are closing on the condo next week, so the move has to be soon" Sharon added. Andy nodded and released her when she started to back away.
"So, as soon as Mike comes back with the analysis on those letters we can figure out what to do" Sharon said to Andy, as she got back into Captain mode again. "I spoke with Matthew earlier and he told me he was feeling better. I had asked him what happened at school and he said one of the kids made fun of him because he didn't want to complete an assignment the teacher had given everybody" Andy said back to Sharon. He didn't want to change the topic but it seemed like Sharon already did. "Once we figure out what to do with Croelick, I will talk with Matthew about what happened. Also, I was going to call Nicole and ask her if she would mine taking Matthew home with her so that he's not stuck here all night with us" Sharon said to Andy. "That's fine. I'm sure he will like that" Andy said to her. "In the meantime, I want to know where this Missy Braxton is at" Sharon said to Andy as she sat back down at her desk. "Okay, I'll get on that" Andy said to her. He hesitated for a minute before leaving her office and closing the door behind him.
"Why is she so stubborn" he said to himself as he made his way to the Murder Board. Amy was back at her desk along with Julio who was sitting across from her. They both looked up as Andy passed them. "Do you want us to do anything, Lieutenant?" Amy asked him. Andy turned around. "Yes, can you call Cooper, I would like them to find Missy and keep an eye on her" Andy said to Amy. "The Captain won't like that, sir" Julio said to him. "She told me she wants to know where Missy is at, plus if she doesn't want a protective detail on her, then I want to know exactly where this Missy is at all times" Andy said back to Julio.
Meanwhile, Provenza went to Chief Howard's office and spoke with him regarding the potential threat to the Captain. "I can't force her to take the protective detail, Lieutenant" Chief Howard said to Provenza as he sat across from him at his desk. "You and I both know that the Captain doesn't want protection" he added. Provenza was getting nowhere with the Chief. He thought that if he could somehow convince him to put a protective detail on the Captain without her knowing about it, then it would be okay. "Look Chief Howard, how about if we place a detail on her without her knowing about it, then she can't refuse it" Provenza said to him. Chief Howard looked back at Provenza and sighed. "And do you know who's ass she's going to chew when she finds out about this?" Chief Howard said to him. "Flynn's" Provenza answered without skipping a beat.
Matthew woke up and Andy took him into the break room to get something to drink. "Nothing sugary" Sharon said to them as they left. Sharon then called Nicole and asked her if she was available to stop by their work and pick up Matthew. "Of course, Sharon. We would love to have him come over" Nicole said to Sharon. "I can be there around 4 o'clock if that works with you" Nicole said to her. Sharon looked at her watch, Nicole would be there in a half hour. "That would be just fine, Thank you Nicole. We really appreciate it" Sharon said and then hung up her phone. Matthew and Andy came back with a can of ginger ale and went inside her office again. "I just spoke to Nicole and she will be here in a half hour to pick up Matthew" Sharon said to Andy. "Okay" he said back to her as he glanced at his watch.
Mike came back from the lab with the test results and immediately informed the Captain with the results. Mike knocked on her door and Andy opened it. Mike came inside her office. "Captain, here are the results of the analysis. It is her writing, they compared the letters previously sent to Croelick and this one now. Her fingerprints are also on it." Mike said as he handed the report to Sharon. "Thank you Mike" Sharon said and then turned to Andy. "Any news about finding the whereabouts of Missy?" Sharon asked Andy. "I have Amy and Julio working on that, Captain" Andy said to her. He wasn't lying to her. That was the truth, he just didn't tell her the details.
Nicole came upstairs to their office when she arrived and proceeded to Sharon's office. Andy was sitting at his desk looking over something with Provenza about the protective detail Sharon didn't know about. "Hi Dad!" Nicole said to him as she entered the room. "Hi sweetheart" Andy said to her as he stood up. She walked over and gave him a hug. "Sharon's inside with Matthew" Andy said as he pointed to her office. Andy walked with Nicole to Sharon's door and knocked. Matthew was happy to see Nicole walk in the room. "Hi Matthew, Sharon" Nicole said as she walked in. "I'm so glad you could do this Nicole" Sharon said to her. "Matthew, you are going to go with Nicole over to her house and stay there for a while until Andy and I finish up here, okay?" Sharon said to Matthew as she gathered his belongings from the couch. "Okay" Matthew said to her. "We will pick you up later tonight, okay" Andy said to him as he walked with them towards the door. "What about Moxie?" Matthew asked. Sharon and Andy both looked at each other. "If you want I could go pick him up as well, that way the boys and Moxie could play in our yard until you come pick them up" Nicole said to the two of them. "Now we really owe you Nicole" Sharon said to her. "It's really not a problem, Sharon, Dad" Nicole said to them. "Thanks sweetheart" Andy said to her and gave her a kiss on her cheek. Nicole and Matthew then left the room and headed outside.
"Alright, let's go see what Croelick wants, he's been sitting here too long" Sharon said to Andy. She walked past Amy's desk and asked her if they had made any progress locating Missy. "Julio and I are heading out to meet up with Lieutenant Cooper and SIS at her last known address to see if she is there. According to her waitressing job, she went home about an half hour ago" Amy said to Sharon. "Okay, good. Be careful" Sharon said to Amy and then proceeded towards the interview room. Her and Andy stepped back in the interview room while Provenza and Mike joined Buzz in electronics.
"Sorry to keep you waiting Croelick" Sharon said as they entered the room. "Oh, I don't mind at all, Sharon" Croelick said back to her. "Okay Croelick, we've located Missy and have a team heading over there now to bring her back here" Andy said to Croelick as he and Sharon both took a seat. "So, what do you want?" Andy asked him. "I don't understand?" Croelick said to him. "You brought this to our attention and we are now in the process of picking up Missy, so what more do you want?" Andy tried clarifying for him. Croelick was confused. "I just wanted Sharon to be safe, after all your kids and her kids need her, not to mention young Matthew" Croelick stated to them. "See now how do you know about our children, Croelick. No one here has ever mentioned them to you" Andy said to him. Croelick took a deep breath and then looked at Andy. "That's the beauty of public records, Andy. Everything is available" Croelick said to him. "Alright, if you are all done here I think you should leave before I change my mind" Sharon said to Croelick. "I'm hurt Sharon, I thought we had something. I bring this information to your attention and this is the thanks I get?" Croelick said to Sharon as he started to get mad.
"Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Now, you are free to leave" Sharon said to Croelick as she stood up from her chair. Andy stood up too, leaving Croelick still sitting in the room. "Well Sharon, it's been quite an experience here. I think I am going to go back home to Fresno now" Croelick said to them as he stood up. Just then, there was a knock on the door. "Captain, Amy just called and Missy is not at her residence. They do not know where she's at" Mike said to Sharon. Croelick started laughing out loud at what he had just heard. "Well, Captain. There might be a change of plans, looks like I won't be going back to Fresno right now" Croelick stated to Sharon. He came up close to Sharon but Andy stepped in front of Sharon, blocking her from Croelick. "Try to keep her safe Andy. I wouldn't want to see something happen to her, for your sake" Croelick said to Andy and then walked out of the interview room. Andy was ready to punch a wall at this point but he controlled himself.
TBC