Chapter 51:

"Morning, Captain," Provenza said as he approached Sharon when she entered the murder room, and she froze on the spot. Between the two of them, she was always the first one to greet, so she knew that something was off.

"Good morning," she said slowly.

"We all wanted to thank you for the invitation. What a great idea," he said happily.

Sharon frowned in confusion. "W… what idea?"

"The idea of inviting us all for dinner tonight!" he said and she swallowed hard, trying to calm herself. "Your mother sounded very enthusiastic on the phone a few minutes ago."

Note to self: kill Mother, Sharon thought to herself while forcing herself to smile. "Great," she said quietly and started walking again toward her office. Flynn looked up and watched her as she passed by him. He didn't seem very happy, and she wished he could read her mind at that precise moment, although she wasn't sure what she would've told him.

The door to her office closed behind her after she entered it, but immediately opened again and she turned her head to see Tao on the threshold.

"Lieutenant," she muttered and he walked to her desk while she sat down on her comfortable office chair.

"The info you received from Reyes two days ago was good. I came in early and studied the documents we retrieved last night from Richard's second safe. He was very organized, I gotta give him that," he scoffed.

"What's in the documents?" she asked.

"Everything, and I mean, everything about his human trafficking operation: the way he smuggled women into the country, the names of his employees, the houses where they locked those girls… I gave the addresses to agent Howard. The FBI will probably be there soon," Tao elaborated, as always.

"Good," Sharon said shortly. "Can we link Suarez and Garcia to Richard's crimes?"

"That's the catch," he said hesitantly. "They're not mentioned anywhere in these documents. They did a great job in covering their tracks."

Sharon sighed. "We have to get something on them. The FBI has been tailing them for two years and they still have nothing that will hold in court."

"Maybe Reyes can help again?" he asked carefully.

"Maybe… but I have no way of contacting him."

"Well, didn't you say he was following you?"

"Yes."

"So… why don't you leave a note somewhere for him? Like on your car maybe."

Sharon considered the idea for a moment and decided it was good. She took a blank paper and wrote 'We need to talk'. Tao volunteered to go down to the parking floor and put it under the windshield wiper on Sharon's car.

The squad members interrogated cartel employees all day long. Some of the suspects didn't talk at all, some gave useful information and some claimed they knew nothing. By the end of the day, most of the people they interrogated couldn't be charged with anything, and frustration spread around the murder room, creeping into everyone's hearts. When it was almost time to go, everyone kept quiet. They all sat at their desks, each deep in thoughts or staring at random spots in the room with disappointment in their eyes. The heavy atmosphere was very notable, and Sharon felt the pressure to advance the investigation.

She wondered what to do next as she walked to her car from the elevator on the parking floor. The car alarm beeped twice when she pressed the little button on the remote control, announcing that the doors were now open. Sharon looked at the windshield and saw that her note was still there, untouched. She sighed as she opened the door and got inside the car. When she closed the door, the stillness inside was so dense that she could hear the blood streaming in her head. The silence was only interrupted by the sound of the engine starting, until Sharon looked in the rearview mirror and let out a scream.

Carlos Reyes was sitting in the backseat and smiling at her.

"What the hell?!" she said with panic in her voice and put her hand over her heart, feeling it pounding frantically. "Where did you come from?"

"I was curved behind you seat. You really should check your car before entering," his voice was light and casual, as if he wasn't in a police station with everyone looking for him, and as if he didn't almost scare her to death.

"Do you follow me all the time?" her voice changed back to the usual cold one.

"No, of course not. Sometimes I follow the old guy. And sometimes I follow your lover," he said in the same relaxed tone, and Sharon felt as if someone had just slapped her across the face.