Chapter 36:

"Hello, everyone," Sharon heard a voice behind her and turned around.

"Agent Howard, thank you for coming," she gave him a little smile and he nodded.

"This is Agent Blackburn," he introduced the man who came with him.

"Ah, yes," Provenza got up and stood next to Sharon. "I remember you."

"That's right. We worked on a case together several years ago," Blackburn said uncomfortably. "I hope this time we can work better together."

"I hope this time you won't stand between us and finding a murderer," Provenza said irritably.

"Okay. Let's go into my office," Sharon said quickly, trying to prevent an argument between her squad and the FBI. She started walking and the two agents followed her. Flynn glanced at her as she passed by his desk but she didn't notice.

They entered the office and Fritz closed the door behind him and sat across the table from Sharon, next to Blackburn.

"Captain Raydor," Blackburn started, "are you married?"

Sharon froze for a second. "Excuse me?"

"Are you?"

"Separated. Why?"

"Recently?"

"Two decades ago. Why?" she asked again, emphasizing the last word. Those questions gave her a bad feeling.

"How close are you with your husband?"

"Okay, what is this?" she asked, glaring at the men in front of her. Fritz shifted in his chair uncomfortably but didn't talk.

"Just answer the question, please," Blackburn said coldly.

Sharon hesitated for a moment, but then decided to play along. "I can't say we're… close."

Blackburn nodded and pulled a brown envelope from the inside pocket of his jacket. He turned it upside down over the table and a few pictures fell from it. Sharon watched him silently as he slid the pictures towards her.

"We've been tailing him since his first day in LA, based on information we got from a source," he said and waited for Sharon to finish looking at all the pictures.

"Who are the three men with him?" she asked and looked up at him.

"The heads of the Cartel we're investigating."

Sharon's eyes widened in horror for a second, but she immediately regained her composure. "So he's not just their lawyer, he's one of them?"

"Yes. He was the last one to join, a few months ago. I guess they wanted an attorney on their side. You didn't know?" Blackburn looked at her, frowning. He was clearly suspecting her.

"Okay, I think we've established that Captain Raydor is not involved in her husband's business," Fritz said, somewhat irritated, as the conversation with his wife from this morning popped in his mind, and he could almost hear her again, asking him to do whatever he can to help Sharon.

"We know you've talked to him on several occasions. We've got pictures to prove it," Blackburn insisted.

"Yes, he either insulted or threatened me during those conversations. Or both," Sharon said serenely and Blackburn cleared his throat, embarrassed.

"Threatened you? Why?"

"That's private. Family matters."

"Fine, well, if you're not close to him, you wouldn't have a problem with wearing a wire and getting him to talk, right?" he asked, and Sharon could hear he was irritated. She immediately thought about Flynn, and how his name would surely come up in a conversation with Richard.

"Regardless of the fact that he'll never tell me anything, no, I am not going to do that," she said slowly in her monotonic voice.

"You will have back up…"

"I said, no."

Fritz looked with interest from Sharon to Blackburn, back and forth, as if he was watching a tennis match.

"Are you unwilling to cooperate?" Blackburn moved to the edge of his seat and his ears turned red in anger.

"Wait, both of you," Fritz said loudly, before a war broke out. "If Captain Raydor refuses to wear a wire, you can't make her. But, maybe, she can talk to Richard and see what she can find out? Be like another source of ours," he looked at her, waiting for a response. Sharon looked at him while he was speaking, but then turned her gaze to Blackburn and squinted.