"Mrs. Thompson?" asks Andy.
"Yes, that's me," replies an elderly lady, opening the door slightly wider at the sight of Andy's badge.
"I'm Detective Flynn, and I wanted to ask you a few questions about Anna James, your neighbour almost twenty years ago." Andy rattles off his usual introductory spiel without missing a beat, then smiles kindly at the elderly woman, knowing that the best way to get information is to build rapport. And old ladies, they love the 'good young man' routine.
"There's a name I haven't heard in years," replies the woman sadly, "such a shame what happened to that poor girl."
"Would you mind if I come in to speak to you?" asks Andy.
"Of course, Detective. Please, follow me," replies the woman kindly.
"So, how well did you know Anna?" questions Andy as they reach the living room.
The elderly lady indicates for Andy to take a seat in one of the overstuffed couches bordering the coffee table. He obliges, setting her at ease as she follows suit.
"Oh, not well, I'm afraid. The poor thing kept herself to herself mostly. Though I always thought that it was because of her husband," she responds pensively.
"Her husband, ma'am?"
"Well, now, he was a piece of work. I used to have to make disturbance calls at least once a week while I was their neighbour – he'd scream and shout at his poor wife."
"That sounds terrible, Mrs. Thompson. Do you know if he ever did anything else to Anna?"
"I don't really know, to be honest. He kept her locked inside much of the time. When I did see her out, she would be wearing these huge sunglasses, but I didn't think anything of it since it is LA, and the sunglasses were very fashionable for the young people at the time."
"Did you ever see anyone else at the house?"
"Just the patrol officers when they'd come to break up the arguments, and then afterwards when they came to check in on Anna,"
"How much time would pass between the officers' responding to your calls and then returning to check on Anna?"
"Sometimes days, sometimes weeks," she replies, satisfied with the extent of her recollection.
Slipping his notepad into his breast pocket, Andy stands and thanks Mrs. Thompson for her help, insisting that she remain seated and not strain herself at her age. The comment elicits a laugh from the older woman, who seems to have taken a liking to the cheeky young detective.
Her last comment about the officers had gotten him thinking – it wasn't very often that officers would make return calls after the disturbance had been broken up. If he could find which officers had responded to the calls, he might be able to get more information. Pulling his cell phone out of its holster on his belt, he dials Raydor's desk phone, hoping that she might be able to tell him who the responding officers were.
Sat at her desk, Sharon is up to her eyeballs in Anna James' hospital records, and becoming more nauseated by the minute.
1960 – broken clavicle
1963 – broken nose
1975 – fractured wrist & jaw
Her eyes travel down the impossibly long list of injuries, noting that most of them were also accompanied by facial lacerations and contusions. Anna James wasn't just arguing with her husband; she was being repeatedly and brutally beaten by him. Sharon was also prepared to bet that there were far more injuries than reported in the hospital records – if she had to guess, knowledge of injuries that were easily hidden would have never made it to the light of day.
Shutting her eyes momentarily, Sharon presses the tips of her fingers into the corners of her eyes, rubbing them warily. Something about the husband is bothering her – maybe an addict? The pattern of the beatings seems random, yet always vicious.
The sharp and shrill ring of her phone pulls her mind from her thoughts, and she sighs as she reaches for it.
"This is Sergeant Raydor, LAPD," she states into the receiver.
"Hey, Rulebook, how's the day treating you?" greets Andy teasingly, hoping to cheer up his partner.
"Just peachy," she grouses, "was there anything you needed, or did you want to gloat that you get to go out in the sunshine and I don't?"
"A bit of both, actually," laughs Andy, "Something Mrs. Thompson said got me thinking: she mentioned that the responding officers on the DD calls would sometimes come back to check on Anna days later. Could you get me the names of the responding officers, please?"
"Sure, just give me a few minutes. I'll call you back once I've pulled up the reports."
"Thanks, Rulebook. Want anything from the outside, while I'm here?" he teases.
"Actually, I wouldn't mind coffee that doesn't taste like dirt. Would you?" she requests sincerely.
"Aren't you supposed to be off coffee until you give birth?" asks Andy, confused. He's sure that his ex-wife had said something about that when she'd been pregnant…
"Fine! Decaf then, please," she laughs, "and I'll make sure to get those names as fast as possible."
"You've got yourself a deal, Sharon," he chuckles.
Hanging up the call, Sharon returns to the mess of papers on her desk, shuffling them away from the keyboard of her computer. She hates using the damn thing, but it's much faster than trying to work her way through all of the papers on her desk.
As she waits for the machine to turn on, she starts listing the names of reporting officers that she has in the files on hand.
As soon as Flynn pulls up outside Eli Holt's house, he can sense that he has come to the home of an ex-cop. There's just something in the general upkeep of the house; an air of rigidity. The feeling relaxes slightly as he approaches the house and sees the yard littered with the toys of small children. It looks as though the gruff ex-cop he'd spoken to on the phone to arrange the meeting is less grouchy than his tone had suggested.
Ringing the doorbell once, Flynn waits patiently outside and is greeted by a small blonde person once the door is opened.
"Yes?" asks the child with an authoritative air.
'Definitely a cop's grandkid,' thinks Flynn with a smirk.
"Hey there, little man. My name is Andy, could you tell me if there's an Eli Holt, here?" asks Andy, showing the young boy his badge.
"You want my grandpa?"
"Yeah, can you get him for me, please?"
"Sure," replies the kid, before slamming the door in Andy's face. Fortunately, Andy had moved away in time to avoid being smacked in the face with the door.
Moments later, a woman opens the door and greets Andy, "I'm sorry about him – we've told the kids that they're not supposed to leave the door open and let people in without an adult, so he just shut the door," she explains apologetically.
"That's fine, ma'am. I'm Detective Flynn, LAPD, and I'm here to talk to Eli Holt? I arranged to meet with him earlier."
"Oh, well, come in; dad's just in the den with my son."
As he enters the den, Andy can hear an older man laughing with his grandson. He smiles as he thinks that someday, he might have the opportunity to retire and be with his family.
"I see you made it," remarks Eli, not looking away from his grandson to greet Andy.
"That I did," responds Andy easily, unfazed by his attitude. "I wanted to talk to you about the Anna James case."
"What do you need to know?" asks Holt.
"How'd you catch the case?"
"Patrol called it in – apparently the home was a hot spot for domestic visits," replies Eli heavily.
"Did you have any suspects other than the husband, at the time?"
"Don't see why I should've, but I did. There was a shifty neighbour, though I think he died while we were investigating the case."
"Anyone else?"
"No. But, if you want more information, I'd contact Tierney and DeLuca; they worked that part of town at the time, and Tierney was the officer to report the murder. Though I'd watch out for him, he can be a mean sonofabitch, from what I've heard."
"Grandpa said a naughty word!"
Andy had forgotten momentarily that there was a child present, and apparently so had his grandfather. Laughing softly, Eli looks at his grandson and says, "I did, but you're not to repeat it, okay?" directing his attention to Andy, he mutters, "my daughter will have my ass if she finds out I've accidentally taught him a new word again."
Chuckling softly, Andy thanks Eli for his help and takes his leave, hoping to pick up that decaf coffee for Sharon on his way back to the office.
Hi guys! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! I'd also like to thank Klara for reviewing, since I'm unable to via PM. If you did enjoy this chapter, please leave a review :)