More Than Luck

By: Kadi

Rated: M

Chapter 13

Jack's visit had closed one door and opened another, bringing a much needed closure and causing a shift in the air. The only darkness looming over them now was the trial, and the letters. Not that there had been anymore. Life was steamrolling on, and the trial was actually getting closer. That thing which Rusty believed would never happen was actually taking shape. There was actually an end in sight, light at shining at the end of a still very long tunnel, but foreseeable now at least.

With only a single, tiny problem.

The letters kept coming. It was becoming more evident than ever that they were being watched. Their writer had eyes on them. There had been no more personal deliveries, though, but that was a small comfort. It left everyone on edge.

Sharon allowed the department to put Rusty back on the street, and witnessed his brave facade. Her boy was terrified, but would never admit it. He went out day, after day, surrounded by undercover SIS officers, wearing a vest, and returned each evening emotionally drained but no closer to a break through.

For two weeks Sharon watched that go on before she called a halt. Rusty needed a break. It was chipping away at him, leaving him frayed. He saw her worry. He saw the team's worry. He wanted to help, them, as much as himself. He was going to make a mistake, potentially a fatal one. He needed to not be a tool, he needed to be a boy again.

Andy was almost afraid to let Sharon out of his sight, but life needed to be lived. They had both been threatened before and they knew that if they succumbed to that fear, their scumbag won. They maintained the status quo, normalcy was the key to making it through each day. He continued to spend only two or three nights a week at the Condo. They were no where near ready for any lofty commitments, they were comfortable. And Sharon was free.

Twenty years of legal separation had made the no-contest divorce a lot simpler than anticipated. Gavin tied it into a neat little bow for her and delivered the final papers along with a hearing date for the adoption.

In a moment of rare levity, Sharon turned to Andy after reading Gavin's news, delivered by e-mail. "If he wasn't gay I'd leave you for him."

He was sitting at her dining table, reading a file he brought home with him on their latest case. "That's okay babe. If I was, I'd leave you for him."

Rusty groaned when she kissed him. "Oh come on. You guys promised." He smirked when they sprang apart. "You're too easy."

It was seldom that Sharon saw anything resembling a smile on Rusty anymore, so she let it go. She would let him have his fun at her expense, just this once. Sharon kept him off the street for three days before she let SIS have him again, this time with stipulations that she got Doctor Joe to back her up on. SIS could have him, but only for a week at a time. He would get two, full days off operational status.

How he spent those days, Sharon left up to Rusty. She only asked that he do something besides hide away at the apartment or the police station. That meant going to a movie with Buzz, out for burgers with Provenza. Sanchez took him to a basketball game. Flynn took him out to watch the first day of Dodgers spring training.

Letters or no, life kept going.

Or it didn't. Which was why their cases kept coming. The current case involved the son of a city council member murdered in an apparent drug deal gone wrong, along with three other individuals. Narcotics division had been keeping an eye on this particular dealer, who shuffled product in from south of the border.

"So tell me how it is, exactly," Provenza was trying to wrap his head around the sequence of events. "That you people were keeping an eye on this guy," he waved his hand at once of the sheet draped bodies. "But he still managed to end up dead, as the same time as these two," he indicated the other two bodies. "Maybe you can explain to me, if you were watching him, how they all ended up dead!"

Two Narcotics detectives sighed. One of them rubbed his forehead. It was always like this. Every time Major Crimes showed up at one of their scenes to take over, they got read the riot act. "Look, Lieutenant, it all happened pretty fast… We were watching the guy, but by the time we got over here, it was all over and the perp was gone."

"Now see, it's the perp being gone part that we have such a problem with, Stevens," Flynn shook his head. "Now we have to go find him. Then there's paperwork, interrogations, the possibility of overtime."

"Simple surveillance, that's all you had to do." Provenza shook his head. "What happened to the art of simple surveillance."

Sykes strolled up carrying two bags of product. "Looks like a delivery issue." She held up the two bags. "Our data says this gang usually has more smack on hand. This has already been cut, bagged, and ready for sale." The detective dropped it into a waiting brown, paper, evidence bag.

"Delivery issue?" Flynn watched the her log the drugs in, then walk around and kneel down near their dealer's body. Sykes was scanning the scene, looking for something. "Enlighten us, please." He looked at Provenza, "This I gotta hear." He folded his arms over his chest and waited.

"Hmph. I'm on pins and needles." The old man huffed, but turned his attention toward the kid. The line between Major Crimes and Narcotics was long and distinguished. More than once they butted heads.

"We've got three guys down, the dealer, the councilman's son, and the store clerk." The murders had taken place outside a small corner grocery in Boyle Heights. "The drugs were found inside the store, behind the counter. Notes on Tomas Herrera indicate that he's been distributing out of this store for a while, the division hadn't moved on him yet because they wanted his supplier. Herrera was a middleman, small game." Sykes stood up and walked over to check out the other two bodies. "David Ramirez, now, that's the dealer. He set up shop in Boyle Heights about a year ago, from what the other detectives told me, he's been slowly taking over all the game, and they know he's got ties in East LA. He's the guy dealing this stuff all over the neighborhood, but he's got suppliers too. Still, what was he doing here? There's only a few hundred dollars in the register, time lock safe, and a few pounds of goods. Why was Ramirez here? What was he dropping off or picking up, and where is it?" Sykes shrugged, surveyed the scene again. "That's what I would be asking."

"Here that Provenza," Flynn nudged him. "I think you're finally starting to rub off on her."

They shared amused looks before they turned their attention back to the youngest member of their team, who was proving that she could be taught. "Okay Sykes, Provenza stated. "What about the other guy? Explain to us how the Councilman's kid fits in to all of this."

"Potential buyer." She shrugged. "What else would Joey Lawson be doing down here? At least, that's the inference that seems the most logical, considering the two, two ounce bags, that were found near his body. Councilman Lawson probably isn't going to like that. Has probably already heard about it." She looked beyond the detectives and shrugged. "I say that because the Captain just got here and wow… She looks mad."

The two Lieutenants turned, both of them grimaced. Sharon was striding toward them looking not at all pleased. "Does someone want to explain to me why my boss got a call from his boss, who received a call from the Mayor, upset on behalf of his friend Councilman Lawson, due to the LAPD treating the murder of his son as a drug deal gone wrong?"

Provenza looked at Flynn. Flynn pursed his lips and stared back. Both men shrugged then turned to the two senior Narcotics detectives on the scene. "Someone want to answer the Captain," Flynn stated.

"We have him, on film, walking out of the store ma'am," Stevens answered. "Bags of narcotics were found near his body."

"Jonas Lawson doesn't have any priors," Sanchez stated. "There's nothing in the system to indicate that he has ever been picked up on a drug related charge."

"Just means he's never been caught," Matthew Anderson was the second detective working the narcotics case. The other detectives from their division were on rollout for back up and scene processing.

Provenza and Flynn stepped back. Sanchez turned away. Sykes bowed her head and decided that her shoes were looking very interesting. "Let's see if I understand." Sharon's tone had taken on the softer quality it usually did right before turning to steel. "A young man killed outside a grocery, with no prior arrests, no other narcotics on his person, no weapons or indication of prior drug use… just happens to die near said narcotics, and you want me to tell his father that he just simply… never got caught before? Is that what I am hearing detectives?"

"Look." Stevens had dealt with Raydor before, back when she was still FID. "I get what you're saying, but this is what we do. Why else would a kid with an apartment in Santa Monica be walking out of a store in Boyle Heights."

"That's a very good question," Sharon stated. "Since he could have purchased the drugs found near his body anywhere between here and Santa Monica, and gotten it cheaper in Venice beach. What I'm still a little confused on, is if he bought the drugs that were found near his body, and was experienced enough at the act to not have been caught previously… why were they on the ground and not in his pocket?"

"I was wondering that myself," Flynn told his partner.

"The thought had occurred to me too. I mean, who walks around town actually carrying their recently purchased narcotics in their hands?" Provenza held up his own hands. "I mean, really. That seems awfully strange to me. What do you think?"

"Damned irregular," he agreed.

Sanchez coughed to cover his snort. "It is a little unusual."

"Hm." Sharon tilted her head. "So, the general consensus from my team," she continued to speak to Stevens, and her voice shifted, taking on the steely edge that made the hairs on the backs of the two detectives necks stand on end. "Is that Jonas Lawson having the narcotics he just purchases still in his hand, rather than otherwise secured on his person, is…." She ticked them off. "Awfully strange, a little unusual and…" She glanced at Flynn, brow raised. "Damned irregular?"

He grinned crookedly at her. "Yes ma'am." She had that supremely irritated air on, he decided she was also damned hot. Flynn tilted his head. "Very damned irregular."

"Ah." Sharon turned back to Stevens and Anderson, whom she inwardly always thought of as frick and frack. They were fast triggers and slow thinkers. She and dealt with them both before on other occasions. "Very damned irregular. Kendall…" She turned to the coroner's assistant, who was still writing up his notes. The bodies would be moved just as soon as he was finished. "Was there anything found on Jonas Lawson's body?"

Kendall flipped the pages of his clipboard and scanned his notes. "Yes ma'am, he had a package of gum and a pack of cigarettes inside his jacket pocket, there was a receipt in his pocket."

"Detective Sykes, do we have that evidence?" Sharon held out her hand for the bag.

"Right here, Captain." Sykes handed her all three, the ones containing the gum and cigarettes along with the receipt.

Sharon turned over the clear plastic holding the receipt. "Ah. Okay, so we have the purchase of the gum and the cigarettes from the store, in front of which he died. Why am I still confused?"

"Because Jonas Lawson wasn't here buying drugs, ma'am," Sanchez stated. "That we know of. It looks like he was buying gum and cigarettes."

"So he put the gum and the cigarettes in his pocket, but had the drugs in his hand?" She turned back to the narcotics team and held up the bags. "Do I have your inference correct?"

Stevens rolled his eyes. "Alright fine, there's no proof the kid was buying the drugs. Someone had those drugs."

"Someone killed our victims." She turned to her team. "We are, obviously, taking over. Narcotics can work their drug angle, the murders are ours. I'm going to need an update soon." She looked almost apologetic about that. The cases moved as fast as they moved. "I need to update my irritated boss, so that he can calm down his boss, so forth and so on, and then your boss can stop being annoyed by irresponsible blunders."

"We're going to need someone from Narcotics to work this with us," Provenza pointed out. "Bring us up to speed on their investigation up to now."

Sharon glanced back toward Stevens and Anderson. She sighed. "If you must." She looked at her watch and straightened. "I have a meeting with the SIS supervisor handling Rusty's case, DDA Rios, and Assistant Chief Taylor. I'll be needing that update afterward."

"Go on," Provenza told her. "We're quite accustomed with dealing with the blunders of our fellow departments."

"Comes from years of dealing with our own blunders," Flynn smirked at him. "Get out of here, Captain. You're making the kids nervous."

She glanced around them at several nervous looking detectives and SIS officers. Sharon smirked. "Still got it." She turned and strode away from them, back toward her car. "I'm on my cell, gentlemen."

"Interesting how she still strikes fear into the hearts of grown men all over the LAPD," Provenza observed.

"Yeah," Flynn grinned. "We'll keep her. Come on guys, let's get this wrapped up. Captain wants an update PDQ."

The squad scattered, moving back to their previous tasks, and with more haste than they used before. The Captain was mildly annoyed, they didn't want her irritated.

Which was unavoidable, Sharon was plenty irritated after the meeting with Taylor and the others. It was a progress report, and there was no progress to report. Several weeks of putting Rusty on the street had turned up nothing. All of the investigation into the letters had gotten them nowhere. Hours spent going over traffic camera footage revealed equal parts of nothing.

On top of that, Emma now knew that Sharon was trying to adopt her witness. It was not an action that she could stop, but she realized how limited her options would become when it was final. It would be final. Gavin had assured her of that. They had one hearing behind them already, DCFS was not protesting the action, and the minor was not opposed. The questions was whether or not it would be final before Rusty's eighteenth birthday, or before he was forced into Witness Protection.

She would not turn his life upside down even more to satisfy Emma Rios. But to save his life, that she would do. The threats in the letters were becoming less oblique. The comments were now pointed, they were directed. There were several overtures that he would go through Sharon to get to Rusty, but in the end, Rusty was the target.

Witness protection was still off the table, however. Emma was smart enough to realize that she could put Rusty in a boarding school, but he was turning eighteen soon. He could leave. He could disappear, and then she would have lost her witness. Without him the case would unravel, and Phillip Stroh could walk. It was the only reason she was letting him stay where he was.

The SIS operation was being called off. They were pulling Rusty off the street. There was too little progress to justify continuing to fund the action, or to put him at risk. They had tried, and in the end, that was all that Rusty had wanted. A chance to try.

Sharon returned to her office and was given the full report on the Narcotics investigation and how it tied into their murders. They still had to wait for Morales to finish his autopsies, but until then they were bringing in known associates. The investigation was progressing as Sharon would have expected it to so early in the case.

Despite the ongoing case, it was still one of Rusty's scheduled activity nights. It was Sanchez's turn in the rotation again. He was taking the kid to a movie, and then for food. The team had followed up on all of the leads they had, and there were a few more for them to touch on but would wait for the following day. They were still pending the results of the autopsies and tox-screens. With little else that they could do, Sharon sent everyone home.

It was a rare occasion that she had the Condo to herself. With Rusty out for the night and it being a meeting night for Flynn, Sharon realized that she would be alone for the biggest part of the night. Rusty would be in late, and depending on how he felt after the meeting, Flynn may or may not be by. He had a key, that was one of the not so minor changes which had taken place since her divorce was final. He might not be there every night, but he could slip in without waking Rusty on the nights that he did stay with her. Whether he joined her or not, he always sent a text. In any event, it would be late before she heard from him.

In years past Sharon would have curled up with a book and a glass of wine. Now it was a cup of tea and a case file. She pulled a throw blanket around her and settled down on the sofa to flip through the file. She was looking for any holes in their current case, anything that they might have missed or not considered. Sharon jotted notes on a legal pad as she read through it, ideas to go over with the team in the morning. There was a large possibility that much of it had already been considered and discarded by her team, but Sharon made the notes anyway.

She read through the case file twice before she finally put it aside and lay back on the sofa. It was still too early in their investigation to really have any concrete ideas on what had taken place on that street corner. Sharon leaned back and closed her eyes. The fingers of her left hand gently massaged the ache in her temples. She forced her thoughts away from the case, away from the letters. It was difficult, but she concentrated on thoughts of nonsensical things. She was considering another cup of tea, but felt entirely too heavy to bother getting up for it. Sharon pulled the blanket closer and wriggled into the cushions of the sofa. She hummed quietly as she lay there, enjoying the quiet. Even as much as she loved both of the guys in her life, it was nice to have an evening to herself.

Sharon realized that she must have dozed, when the soft chiming of her phone jolted her awake again. She reached for it, laying on the coffee table, and blinked at how bright the display seemed. She swept her thumb across the display and found two texts, Rusty checking in, the other from Andy. Sharon smiled. They had missed the first showing of the movie, so they'd gone for dinner. Sanchez was taking him to the later viewing, so he would be a little later than planned. It was only a forty-five minute difference, but he didn't want her to worry. Sharon still marveled at times like this just how far Rusty had come in the last two years. She keyed back a quick reply, telling him to have fun. Then she moved on to Andy. His was the text that woke her. He'd be by in two hours. Sharon glanced at her watch and smiled. It wasn't too late. She told him to bring dinner and rolled off the sofa.

After her work was packed away she walked down the hall and decided there was time enough left for her to enjoy the rest of her quiet evening. She ran a bath. While it was filling, Sharon turned on music, low strains of classical piano to filter through her room to the master bath. She checked the tub while she pinned her hair up. The large, round tub had been the selling fact on the condo when she bought it. Her children were grown, and the house that she raised them in was just too large for her alone, and Jackson's name was on the note. Selling it had further separated their finances, and she felt less lonely in the condo with Katie so recently off to New York. That was a few years ago, and now, even with Rusty she still didn't regret the action. That big 'ol house would have still been too much for just the two of them, and as an added bonus she didn't have to miss her bathroom.

Sharon bent down to check the water in the tub, she needed her robe she thought, straightening. She reached to pull her sweater over her head, but noise in the outer room drew her attention and she stopped. Sharon reached down and turned the water off, then she inclined her head, straining to hear over the music. "Andy?" She straightened and strode toward the living room. "I thought you said two hours…" Sharon stepped out of her bedroom and face to face with the barrel of a gun. Her stomach clenched tightly. Air rushed out of her lungs.

"I'm not Andy. Hello, Sharon. I told you I was coming…"