"I thought," Sharon slams a mug of coffee in front of her partner, who starts to consciousness at the sound, "that you were going to sleep last night?"

"I did," replies Andy, glaring balefully at his partner before tentatively sipping at the coffee she'd brought him.

"You were supposed to sleep at home, Andy, not at your desk again!"

"I came in early and dozed when I found the number in the lawyer's records," explains Andy, partially ignoring the anger in his partner's tone so as to avoid dealing with her fully.

"I came in early at seven; you slept here overnight," she replies disapprovingly

"Doesn't that technically make me an overachiever?" grins Andy charmingly.

Sharon's expression softens marginally before she asks, "is there something going on at home right now?"

"Nothing unusual – the divorce went through a few weeks ago, and my place just feels empty. I figured I might as well do something useful – which I did. I found a number in the lawyer's records that was placed from a payphone."

"Pass me the number, I'll trace it," sighs Sharon, frustrated with her partner for not talking to her.

"Thanks. And thank you for the coffee, you're a life saver, Rulebook," smiles Andy.

Sharon snorts softly, recognising her partner's attempt at charming himself back into her good books.

For a few moments nothing can be heard but the steady tapping of keys as Sharon attempts to locate the payphone from which the call was placed. In the meantime, Andy finishes his coffee, grateful to his partner for thinking of him even while upset with him. He's not sure how he'll take to working with a new partner in a few months, when Sharon will have to go on maternity leave, but he doesn't really like to think about that while it's a way off, yet.

"Got it," grins Sharon triumphantly. "If this is really DeLuca, he might be somewhere in the vicinity of this payphone," she informs Andy as she hands him a scrap of paper with a neatly printed address noted across it.

"Thanks, Sharon. I'll head out now and see if anyone around there knows DeLuca."

"Call me if anything comes up," instructs Sharon, waving off his thanks.

Sweating and tired, Andy makes his way to the last major location around the payphone, hoping that this one will pay off. He's been showing a picture of DeLuca around all day, but the fact that the latest photo he has is twenty years old isn't helping much. The lights of the diner's sign flicker in the darkening daylight, drawing Andy in with the promise of AC in the LA heat.

A bell tinkles gently as he pushes the door open, alerting the counter staff to his arrival. Heading towards one of the waiting staff, Andy pulls out his badge and the photo of DeLuca peremptorily.

"Ma'am, I'm Detective Flynn with the LAPD. Do you recognise this man?" He asks, passing the waitress the photo of DeLuca.

"You bet I have – though he's a damn sight older now. That's him, over there," she replies, nodding towards an older man sitting alone at a booth.

"Thank you," replies Flynn, eternally grateful that his day-long canvas had finally yielded results.

Moving quietly towards DeLuca, Andy sits down silently in front of the man.

"Can I help you?" he asks, intending on intimidating Andy.

"I believe you can," he replies with a smile.

Sharon continues to search for information on Frank DeLuca, becoming ever more frustrated by the fact that she's been hitting dead-ends all day. Apparently, the guy knows how to hide.

Intent on her work, she is startled by the sight of her boss, Captain Nichols, standing over her.

"Captain Nichols, was there something you needed?" asks Sharon, her eyes meeting her superior's confidently.

"I wanted to ask what your plans are, once the baby's born," replies Nichols, sitting across from Sharon and demanding her full attention.

"I figured I'd take my maternity leave and come back here," she responds uneasily, "though I've been considering looking for a position that would allow me to be home for both of my kids more often."

"Have you applied for anything, yet?" asks Nichols.

"No," mumbles Sharon.

"Why not?"

"I like working Homicide and I like working with Flynn – he's a good partner and he's always got my back. I wasn't sure that I'd be able to do that to him."

"Sounds to me that you've had his back more often – made sure that he hasn't gotten into too many scrapes with IA by exploiting the loopholes in the rulebook you hold so dear," chuckles Nichols, her eyes gleaming with mirth.

Sharon snorts softly, "While that might be true, we support each other, really."

Pausing slightly, Nichols reaches out for Sharon's arm, "right now, you need to think about what you need to do for yourself. If you want to stay, I'd be happy to have you – God knows our closure rate's improved since you joined Homicide. But you need to consider what would be best for your family, too."

"I've been looking at my options, but I'm not completely sure about transferring out."

"Well, that's why I wanted to talk to you. I've had an internal memo – IA's looking at you for a transfer. If you work your way through the Lieutenant's exam like I know you can, you'd make Lieutenant earlier than most, and probably be a Captain yourself someday soon. I know it's a big move to think about – IA's not exactly the most attractive option to most cops – but it is worth thinking about."

"Thanks, Captain," murmured Sharon, her eyes fixed on her hands.

"I'll let you think about it, but I'll need an answer pretty soon."

"Of course," replies Sharon wearily.

"If it's any consolation, Sharon, I think he'd understand," remarks Nichols perceptively before making her way back to her own office.

Sharon sits mutely, staring at her computer screen dumbfounded. She has no idea what she wants to do, or what to think, but she has to make the decision soon.

"How'd you find me?" asks DeLuca, shaking his head.

"I canvassed the neighbourhood around the payphone," replies Andy, "How did you know Anna James?"

"I didn't," responds DeLuca nonchalantly.

"Try another answer," prods Andy, narrowing his eyes, "you and Tierney were the responding officers on a number of domestic disturbance calls preceding her murder."

"You've spoken to Tierney?" asks DeLuca uneasily.

"Yeah. He said that you'd fallen off the grid, but didn't mention anything about the after-hours visits the pair of you made to the James' house."

Whistling through his teeth, DeLuca sighs heavily before replying, "It was me. I sent the video to the lawyer."

"Why?"

"An innocent – well, not innocent, but anyway – a man has spent twenty years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. It took me twenty years to figure out that Fenton James had nothing to do with his wife's murder, and that it was my partner who'd set him up for it."

"Tierney was sleeping with Anna?"

"You didn't get that from the CCTV tape?"

"We couldn't get a face on the guy, and we assumed that his body had changed somewhat in twenty years," replies Andy dryly.

"Well, yeah. Tierney and Anna were lovers – I used to sit outside in the patrol car as a lookout for the husband."

"You didn't think that what Tierney was doing was wrong?" asks Andy.

"She had other lovers, detective. I figured if my partner was gettin' some and not hurting her like her husband did, what was the harm?" he pauses heavily, "but then the murder happened and we were both in hot water. I never thought that it could be Jimmy – the guy was my partner for years."

Nodding sympathetically, Andy asks him gently, "what made you suspect your partner?"

"Twenty years later, the murder still haunts me. That crime scene was brutal – I had to leave for air for the first time since being a rookie. But Tierney – it was like he'd seen it all before. And then it occurred to me: maybe he had. So I did some digging, and found out that on the night of the murder, Fenton James' car had been in the impound lot with an unpaid parking violation. At the time, the detectives said that he'd probably hidden the murder weapon after the murder and then stashed it in the car, but it made me suspicious."

"So you started looking into your partner?" prompts Andy.

"I did. Felt like an IA rat the entire time, but I figured the right man should go to prison for the murder. I'm not saying the husband didn't deserve to do time – he did some awful things to that wife of his – but he didn't deserve to serve time for her murder."

"Would you be willing to testify against your partner, if we manage to charge him?"

"I don't care if he was my partner, detective. If he's a murderer, I'll testify," replies DeLuca resolutely.

Slightly nauseated by the evening's events, Andy thanks DeLuca and takes his contact details. Turning away from the older man, he leaves the diner to return to his partner.

Hi guys! Thanks for reading this chapter. If you enjoyed it, please leave a review! Just one chapter left, now :)