Quinn Jacobs did not like it when people took the law into their own hands. She found such people to be even worse than ordinary criminals because they encourage vigilantism. They try and make themselves appear sympathetic and they humanize the felons that Jacobs deems to be animals that deserve to be caged. She immediately assumed that Flynn killed Richards and maybe he did, but there were other possibilities. Richards had been hired to kill; what if the man who hired him killed him to cover up his tracks? What if he had a deal with the State Department that went wrong? Instead of starting with the facts first and walking her way back until she got to a killer; she started with her killer and needed to find her facts.

It wasn't a surprise that Flynn lawyered up as soon as possible, so he was a dead end. She needed someone to put him there, and to escape this alibi that she found Provenza had concocted. She would need a lot of proof to take down a Lieutenant with so much experience, so she needed to strike once and for it to be a kill strike.

In her mind, it was all clear. Brenda had a history of vigilantism, but she never pulled the trigger herself. Goldman uncovered how Brenda always got others to do it for her, just enough to escape the cloud of suspicion. She somehow got the drop on Richards, got Flynn the information and then didn't tell him to do anything, knowing Flynn would just kill the bastard. Normally, this wasn't criminal, but if Jacobs could get in the evidence of Brenda's past actions into court, she could argue that there's proof of intent or an absence of mistake. Brenda knew that Flynn would kill him and she gave him the information so that he could.

Two Weeks Ago

As pissed as she was with Brenda, she wanted Flynn to go down. She was ready to offer Brenda a lenient deal if Brenda would admit that she gave up the information. Her meeting with Brenda was at 2PM. Brenda was coming to her. She didn't Brenda to feel comfortable in her own playpen. At precisely 2PM, she heard a knock on her door. "Come in."

Brenda wore a black and white suite with black heels, unlike the typical flowery shit she was known to wear, her demeanor firm and cold. She had her game face on. Let's play ball.

"You requested to see me," Brenda said, acting like she didn't know why.

"Yes. Ms. Johnson. As I am sure you know, I am the special prosecutor for the Richards case, and I have a few questions about your relationship with one Andrew Flynn, a former subordinate of yours."

Brenda remained silent.

Jacobs continued. "From what I understand, you two stayed in contact after you left Major Crimes."

"I stayed in contact with all of my former team members, Flynn included."

"Yes, and from what I understand shortly before Richards was murdered Flynn came to see you about him."

Brenda didn't speak on the matter.

"Is that true?"

"Is what true?"

"Did he come to see you about Richards?"

"I don't know. When did he allegedly come?"

"Monday, March 18th 2013 around 10AM."

"I had a meeting with the DA."

"So he didn't come to see you."

"He might have come, but I was at a meeting. We had no plans to meet, so I wouldn't have known to wait for him."

"So you didn't tell him where to find Richards?"

"I did not tell him anything about Richards. I was at a meeting."

"And I take it the DA will confirm this meeting."

"He will," Brenda said coldly. She wasn't breaking, maybe a bit of fire would help.

vigilantism

"From what I understand, you have a history of vigilantism and if I find that you repeated history to off Richards…."

"I have no such history. There were allegations made by a hack job lawyer who should have been disbarred, and the Chief made a judgement call to end the lawsuit against me, not that I agreed with the terms of the settlement. I never agreed to the settlement or to the alleged facts that it was predicated upon and it can only be used as evidence against the city, not against me personally as I am not a party to it. If that will be all, I am quite busy."

Brenda saw herself out.

Jacobs took Brenda's hasty exit as something to hide. She called the DA, who to her surprise did confirm that they did have a meeting at about 10AM that day, he wasn't sure exactly when it got started, but she was there before it started and he did not see her with Flynn or any of her other former team members, other than Gabriel as he is her liaison with the LAPD.

He would be next. She arranged for a meeting with him the following morning, hoping to catch him before he spoke with Chief Johnson about this case.

She dug up everything she could find on him. Apparently, he was, unwittingly of course, the source for Goldman, which means he does disagree with Brenda's tactics and perhaps he can now be persuaded to give evidence against her.

He arrived, seeming a little bit nervous.

"Do I intimidate you, Sergeant, Gabriel?"

"No Ma'am. I am just unsure as to why I am here."

"Well let me explain that to you, do sit down. I am the special prosecutor for the Richards case and I need to get some background information on Lieutenant Andrew Flynn and I was hoping you could help with that."

"I could, but wouldn't his current boss be better. She would have access to his files and everything."

"I already have that information, Gabriel. I am looking to speak with those who know him well."

"I can't say we've talked much since I left Major Crimes."

"From what I understand, that wasn't on good terms."

"They could have been better. They also could have been worse." It wasn't as bad as Sanchez.

"Do you want to explain why they weren't good?"

"I'd rather not."

She pursed her lips. "We can return to that later if it's relevant. Now, you know that Flynn has a daughter who is currently hospitalized."

"Of course. That was such a tragedy, losing her husband like that."

"And you understand that Richards was believed to be the shooter."

"That's the rumor. I don't know why he wasn't jailed immediately."

"Well, I am not sure of why he wasn't, but I need to find out who took him out before he was jailed and I need to know if anyone said anything to you that would shed light on why he was killed."

"Nope."

"No one at all."

"Like who?"

"Like your boss for example?"

"Chief Taylor?"

"No. I thought Chief Johnson was your boss."

"I am a liaison officer so I work with her, but I don't report to her."

"And she didn't say anything about the case."

"No."

"Isn't that odd to you?"

"No. It wasn't her case."

"So she stayed out of the investigation?"

"Yes. I work along side her and I would have known if she were working on the case."

"So she knows nothing about Richards."

"Nothing about those murders. We have investigated him before. He was a criminal."

"But not for murder."

"No, for wire fraud."

"One more question, did Flynn come to see Chief Johnson on the morning of Monday, March 18th 2013?"

"I have no idea."

"So he didn't."

"I can't tell you. I had a meeting with Chief Taylor that morning, so I wasn't at the office."

"And she didn't mention meeting with him."

"No. She didn't, and I don't think it was on her calendar, although I'm not positive."

"Thank you, that will be all, and if you do recall anything else, please feel free. She handed him her card." He saw himself out.

Gabriel knew it couldn't be good that Jacobs was trying to link Flynn to Johnson. Surely, Flynn was a person of interest. He tried not to reveal anything that wouldn't have been easily obtainable otherwise. He wanted to call the Chief but Jacobs might be expecting him to do that. He needed to talk to someone though. Did he get a lawyer? He's not a party to the case. Someone came to mind. Someone who would look out for both Flynn and the Chief.