What is Not Understood

By Kadi

Rated T

Disclaimer: This is not my sandbox, but it is my favorite place to play.

A/N: Serious spoilers through Episode 511: White Lies Part 1. If you haven't seen it yet, you don't want to read this. For the rest of you, once our suspicions were confirmed, I had to rewrite a good portion of the beginning, thus the delay. My apologies!

Chapter 3

In the week that followed, Sharon turned the misconduct of the Detectives that had harassed her team over to their division head. How it would be handled following that action was entirely out of her hands, and once it was done, she turned her attention to other matters. Major Crimes caught a case early in the week and spent several days tracking down the suspects responsible for the deaths of two high school cheerleaders. They had all but wrapped up their case when Sharon was summoned to the Assistant Chief's office.

When Sharon entered she found Chief Howard present with Captain Patrick of Robbery Homicide and Sergeant Staples from Internal Affairs. Sharon's brows lifted as a carefully curious expression settled over her features. She moved into the office to join the three men; her gaze swept over the file that Captain Patrick was holding before it settled on Howard.

It was odd, even now, to see him standing in that office. This was not a future that Sharon had ever envisioned for any of them. She had questioned who would retire first, Russell Taylor or herself, and if a promotion would be forthcoming at that point or not. That idea had been effectively shattered with the Chief's death several weeks earlier. His things were long removed but Sharon could still easily recall the shine of his model planes as sunlight danced off their gleaming wings. She could picture, quite easily, the arrangement of each one on the shelves behind the desk; shelves that now held books and LAPD policy manuals. There were a few personal items on those shelves, a couple of pictures and decorative items, but the office had less of an occupied feel to it than it had before.

Chief Howard always said that he was not a bureaucrat or an administrator. Yes, there was a good deal of his former job as Deputy Chief of Special Operations that did require him to act in an administrative capacity, but Fritz Howard preferred to be active. He could quite easily play the politics within the LAPD, and did so, but he liked to be in on the action too.

Sharon's chin lifted as their gazes met. He had not wanted to accept this position. He planned to only fill the position temporarily. Early on Chief Pope made noises about promoting Sharon into the position. He wanted the transition to be as seamless as possible, but the moment that Sharon's name had been placed into the running, questions were raised. It was not her ethics that were called into question, but the ethical conundrum that her replacement might face. She was romantically involved with a subordinate. She had adhered to every regulation surrounding such a fraternization and Chief Taylor had never noted a moment of professional misconduct on either her part or Lieutenant Flynn's, but there was a greater question at play. While Captain Raydor was incredibly capable of maintaining a professional distance from her significant other, would his next commanding officer be able to do the same?

There was some debate about whether or not Lieutenant Provenza would be offered Major Crimes if Sharon was promoted out of the division, or if he would even want it if offered the job. The Lieutenant would not be an obstacle. He had worked with Raydor and Flynn throughout the start and progress of that relationship. That had not stopped the LAPD brass from raising the bigger question, however. What would happen if Lieutenant Flynn's next commanding officer was put into a position to discipline him and had to report to Raydor about the matter? Would that officer be able to handle the situation? Or would certain actions and behaviors be overlooked out of a sense of intimidation or concern for retaliation.

They were not breaking any rules, but apparently they had provided a management conundrum. It appeared that having Andy as her direct subordinate was much simpler than putting a buffer between them.

Sharon had not allowed a decision to be made, however. There had been a time when she was ambitious enough to welcome a promotion and she would have worked toward that end. When she considered everything that she had in her life at present, personally and professionally, she realized that she would be happier to have things remain as they were. She thought about trading the finer points of investigative work for the administrative duties of Assistant Chief of Operations and decided that she would much rather remain with her team.

Her team.

She had walked into Major Crimes as a much disliked outsider and made the division her own. After five years of some very hard work she was not prepared to walk away just yet. She felt as though they were still just beginning to hit their stride. There was much that they could still accomplish together.

There was also the fact that Lieutenant Provenza had told her, in no uncertain terms, that if she left him with her paperwork and her Flynn that he would make her life miserable. There was no one else that he would prefer to see in the office down the hall, except perhaps himself, and they both knew that would never happen. There was also no one else that he wanted to see in her office, but therein lay the problem. She would end up leaving him with all of her problems, and if he had to put up with Flynn moping about not getting to see her all day, every day, his first order of business would be to have him transferred to Traffic.

That memory played out in the back of Sharon's mind as she stood before the three officers.

"I thought that he was your Flynn," she had responded, with some amount of humor.

"Oh no!" Provenza pointed a finger at her. "I have handed over sole custody. You corrupted him. He is now entirely your problem." With that he had gestured grandly to the desk on the other side of the glass. "I have been paroled. Thank you, very much, Warden Raydor."

Sharon rolled her eyes at his dramatics, but as her arms folded across her chest, the Lieutenant took a step forward. "Listen, Captain, we all know our jobs. That isn't the question here. The question is whether or not you really want to move up."

He had given her a knowing look, and told her to think about it before exiting her office. Sharon realized that he was right. She didn't want it. If she had, she would have put the questions raised by others to rest and suggested the most obvious course of action, which would be the promotion of Lieutenant Provenza to lead Major Crimes. With her team was where she belonged, so Sharon had declined consideration and convinced Chief Howard to remain in the post. He would set the tone for the operations that he managed. It would be, as Russell Taylor had once told her, a reflection of his leadership abilities.

Sharon continued to return the Chief's gaze. Her head tilted after another moment and she considered the other two officers. "Gentlemen, to what do I have the honor?"

"Captain," Howard nodded once. "I'm sorry to pull you away right now, I know your division has had some strict time constraints with your latest case." The deal had been made and the suspects were going to be spending the rest of their lives behind bars. All that remained were the reports and evidence logs, which Fritz knew that her people were currently working on. "This couldn't wait any longer, I'm afraid." He waved at the officer to Sharon's immediate right. "Captain Patrick."

The officer turned. He had regarded Raydor carefully during the silent exchange with the Chief. He held the file in his hand out to her now. "Captain, my team picked up a case the other night and it seems to be overlapping with a situation that Major Crimes was involved in. Our victim," he continued, watching as she opened the file and began to read through the case notes and look over the crime scene photos, "is a thirty-four year old prostitute by the name of Trina Shiloh. Her body was found in an alley in the warehouse district between downtown and Venice Beach."

"I remember seeing the case alert," Sharon stated. She frowned as she looked at the crime scene photos. The victim was a young, slender blonde woman that she did not recognize. "Robbery Homicide rolled out when the body was found, it wasn't a Major Crime, so we didn't pick it up. What has changed?"

"My timeline." Patrick sighed. "Captain, the victim was killed Friday night between nine and eleven. Her body was dumped in the alley; the original crime took place somewhere else. When we tracked her whereabouts that evening we discovered that she was last scene at a bar a few blocks from here that we are all familiar with."

Sharon felt a chill settle over her. She looked up at the Captain. She glanced behind him at Sergeant Staples before closing the file in her hand. "Joe's," she stated, voice now devoid of emotion. "That is what you are going to tell me, isn't it? Your victim was last seen alive at a bar named Joe's where several members of my team were celebrating on Friday evening."

"Lieutenant Flynn in particular," Sergeant Staples stated. "No one saw the victim alive after the Lieutenant told the victim to…" he paused to look at his notes to get the exact witness statement correct.

"Get off him and leave him the hell alone," Sharon stated for him. Andy had detailed the encounter for her before he turned in his statement on the incident. "That is the quote that you are looking for." She held the file out for Captain Patrick to reclaim. "Can I assume then that this is official notification that you need to rule out the members of my team as suspects? I suppose you will need to question them?"

"That's correct." It was Howard that answered. "Sergeant Staples is here to observe, just to make sure that nothing gets missed. Robbery Homicide is going to be maintaining control of the investigation. As we speak," he continued, his tone growing contrite that he had gone behind her back, "the detectives heading the investigation are pulling your people aside for questioning."

"Excuse me?" In an instant her attention was focused entirely upon the Chief. A chill settled over the room as her tone dropped and her back straightened. "Are you telling me that you have walked into my division, disrupted the work of my officers, and pulled them into questioning without informing their division head or allowing them the opportunity of speaking with their union representatives?"

Howard suppressed the urge to sigh. He knew this would be her response and he honestly couldn't blame her. He would feel the same way. The Chief folded his arms across his chest. "That is exactly what I am saying, Captain."

"Your boyfriend is the primary suspect in the murder of a prostitute," Patrick shot at her, "you didn't think we would give you the opportunity to warn him. Did you?"

Sharon's head turned slowly. Her eyes had gone a lighter shade, like ice, and her lips pressed together in a thin line. "Captain Patrick," she enunciated every word perfectly as the full force of her ire was rested upon the man. "I sincerely hope that you are not invoking a personal relationship that has nothing to do my professional responsibility to the members of my division." Before he could respond, her brow arched. "All of the members of my division, including the Lieutenant that I believe that you just named as a suspect in a murder investigation; a status that, as far as I am aware, is based in large part by a very short encounter that was precipitated by officers that have been recommended for disciplinary action." He opened his mouth to speak and she held up a hand. "I would go even further to question whether or not, in making that statement, you are prepared to back up your allegations with facts. That is what you are doing, is it not? You are alleging that I have, in some way, acted wholly inappropriately and unprofessionally toward Lieutenant Flynn since my personal relationship with him was reported to my superior officer, as per the regulations on the matter."

The Captain did not like what she was implying, nor did he like that he was receiving a reprimand in front of other officers for doing his job. His stance widened, growing defensive. He scowled at her. "What I am saying, Captain, is that this is a murder investigation and a Lieutenant under your immediate supervision is a prime suspect." His eyes glinted darkly. "I am also saying that you are a secondary suspect. If Flynn didn't kill the prostitute, maybe you did. What's the matter, jealous?"

"Okay, that's going to be enough." Chief Howard had reached his limit for this fiasco. He scowled darkly at the Captain from Robbery Homicide. "You're crossing a line, Captain."

"Am I?" He challenged. "I've got a dead woman, Chief. The last person that saw her alive was Lieutenant Flynn. According to Doctor Morales's notes, she had sexual intercourse right before she died." He cast a superior look at the Captain beside him. "So we'll be needing a DNA sample from your Lieutenant too."

She bristled at the implication. It was meant to be an insult and she took it as such. Her eyes narrowed. "Sergeant Staples," she began, without looking away from Captain Patrick, "are you here to observe my interrogation?"

He shifted uncomfortably, but he took a step forward. "Yes, Captain. We will of course understand if you would like to wait until representation is present." When she did finally look at him the Sergeant offered her a sympathetic look. He was doing his job… just as she had taught him.

Sharon's gaze moved back to Captain Patrick. Her smile was slow and calculating. It would serve him right if she called a union rep, or even a lawyer. Instead she chose to call his bluff. "No, that won't be necessary." She shifted and waved a hand toward the door. "There is an interrogation room down the hall, gentlemen. Shall we?"

"That won't be necessary," Chief Howard interrupted. He cast a pointed look at Captain Patrick. "I'm sure that we can handle this here. Sergeant Staples?"

The Sergeant nodded. "I will record the interview. An audio record of this meeting will suffice." To his knowledge this meeting was meant to be less formal.

"Very well." Sharon took a single step to the side and sat slowly, gracefully, in one of the chairs in front of Chief Howard's desk. "Proceed with your questions, Captain."

Captain Patrick stared back at her for several long moments. Finally he took out a notepad and flipped it open. He clicked on a pen and sent his opening salvo. "Captain would you agree, for the sake of this interview, that you are aware of your rights, or would you prefer that we go through the Miranda warning?"

Sharon cast an almost impenetrable stare back at him. "Yes, Captain, I am aware of my rights, and as we have previously agreed that this is an informal interview, I have waved the option to have counsel present. However, I also understand that I reserve the right to revoke that waver."

"Very well," Captain Patrick stated. He took a breath and then he returned her gaze. "Where were you on Friday evening?"

Her brow arched. He did not specify a time. Her lips pursed for just a moment. She could toy with him, but she decided that she wanted to get this done just as quickly as possible. "I was here until almost seven. Chief Howard and I had a meeting at six that lasted approximately half an hour. Afterward I was in my office completing paperwork. Cameras on this floor and the lobby will confirm exactly what time I left." Her head inclined. "I made two stops on my way home. The first was at the super market, I used my card to purchase groceries. The second stop that I made was at a bakery near my former home in Los Feliz. I paid with cash, but there is a bank across the street. Altogether, both stops, with traffic, I must have arrived home at close to eight-thirty. I was there for the remainder of the evening."

The Captain made note of the times that she gave him, and behind him, Sergeant Staples was doing the same thing. "The stops can be easily corroborated," he agreed. They would have the Captain sign a release so that they could pull her financial records to confirm the purchase that she mentioned at the grocery store. "Is there anyone that can verify that you were home for the rest of the evening?"

"Yes." Sharon stated simply. "I called my son," she paused for a moment before adding, "my elder son, Richard. We spoke for a while, and then I settled in for a quiet evening. I was downstairs reading when Andy got home at around ten. He and I discussed his evening, and the incident with Detectives Davidson and Mitchell, and the young woman, although he did not know her name. That was the sum of our evening. "

"I see." Captain Patrick was making notes. He was silent for a moment before he looked up. He cast a hard look at the other Captain. "Lieutenant Flynn lives with you, is that correct?"

Sharon's eyes narrowed. Had she not just indicated that? "Yes, Captain. The Lieutenant and I share a home, one that we purchased together a couple of months ago, and that is another fact that was reported to my superior officer prior to and at the time of occurrence."

"That must be stressful though," Patrick said. "Moving into a new house. All of the financial juggling, remodeling, decorating… maybe there's even a little bit of buyer's remorse?"

"Make your point, Captain." It was Chief Howard who had interrupted. He wasn't entirely sure that he liked the innuendo. Actually, he was damned sure that he didn't like it, but he couldn't prove that the Captain was going where he thought he might.

"I'm just wondering if with all the stress of the move, if the Captain's personal relationship didn't take a little hit. Maybe Flynn wasn't all that happy at home. Is it possible that he was having a little more fun at Joe's on Friday night than he let on?"

"Are you asking me if Andy likes looking at attractive women? The answer is yes. Am I threatened by that? No." Sharon tilted her head at him. She had taken her partner to task for his more blatant sexist remarks in the past, but he was so adorably oblivious to his behavior that she had easily forgiven him. Her recent insecurities aside, Sharon knew how Andy felt about her. More to the point, she trusted him completely.

Patrick's brow rose. He regarded her carefully. She seemed sure of that, but not overly cocky. "You sound confident, Captain. How do you know what Flynn does when he's not with you? I mean, you've heard the rumors right? I think anyone in the LAPD that has heard about Flynn knows what kind of fun that he likes to get up to when he's not on the clock."

A slow, serene smile curved her lips. She had already had time to examine the other Captain's left hand. He wore a gleaming gold band. "Tell me something, Captain, how often do you spend time with someone other than a member of your family outside of work? I am simply curious. I think I understand exactly the point that you are trying to make, but I have one of my own. Between the crime scenes, court appearances, and the paperwork, how often are you able to go out with friends or persons that are not your wife?" He scowled at her but did not immediately answer. "For the purpose of the audio recording, I am going to go on record and state that Captain Patrick is currently at a loss for how often that can happen. Which is perfectly okay, I think any one of us in this room understands completely. We try to make time for the friends that we have, but we all have very demanding careers. When we have any free time, we would much rather spend it with members of our families. To that end, Captain, I know exactly what Andy is doing when he is not on the clock, as you put it. If he is not with me, Lieutenant Provenza, or his children, there is only one place that he can be found. It is a standing appointment that he keeps every Thursday evening. Furthermore, because we are all aware of what kind of groundwork you were trying to lay, I had absolutely no reason to feel jealous of the victim." That was true enough, in spite of the argument that had ensued because of her. "When Andy left Joe's on Friday evening he came home to me. Next question, please."

Captain Patrick's jaw clenched. This was exactly what he was worried about when he realized that Raydor would have to be questioned. It was why he was doing it and not a member of his division. Damn but the woman was intimidating as hell. "You stated earlier that you thought the Lieutenant got home at around ten o'clock Friday evening. Are you sure of the time?"

"Relatively." Sharon shrugged. "I don't recall glancing at the clock. I do remember considering whether or not I wanted to watch the evening news. My book was far more interesting. Andy came home a few minutes later and I remember thinking that he was home earlier than I expected. Usually when he is out with Lieutenant Provenza I can expect him much later."

He nodded as he made notes. Patrick had nothing to say on that matter. Flynn and Provenza were pretty notorious. "Once he was home, are you sure that the Lieutenant remained there? He didn't leave again during the night?"

"No, he did not." It was all that Sharon said. That was the night that he asked her to marry him. She was absolutely certain that he had not left. Her thumb swept instinctively over the ring on her left hand. The weight of it was not quite familiar yet. They hadn't made any announcements, but they weren't hiding the news either. They just wanted to tell their other kids first.

Captain Patrick sighed. That was all that he had for her. "We will run down some of the answers that you gave us, corroborate the details. We are going to need you to sign a release to pull your financials and phone records so that we can verify your answers."

"I think we both know, Captain, that the reason that you need me to do that is because you do not have the evidence to get a warrant." Sharon pushed out of the chair that she had been sitting in. "For the sake of getting this over with quickly, I will sign the release." Her eyes narrowed and she fixed him with a hard look. "But if I find out that private details have been passed around the LAPD as gossip because members of your division could not act professionally, a full complaint will be filed with Internal Affairs."

"And said officers will be recommended for disciplinary action immediately," Chief Howard stated, backing her up. "Make sure that your division is aware of the fact that this is a murder investigation and not an opportunity for nosing around. I would also like it made clear that we are ruling out our fellow officers and not actively investigating them. Am I clear?"

"Understood, Chief." Patrick closed his notepad and put it away. "That will be all, Captain. You can go now."

"Thank you." Sharon left the office, but not without casting another displeased, almost withering look in Chief Howard's direction.

The minute that she was gone Captain Patrick collapsed into the nearest chair. "Good god." He ran a hand over his face. He slumped into the chair and wondered how hard it would be to get the floor to open up and swallow him whole. "We knew that wasn't going to be easy, but…"

"You didn't completely blow it." Howard walked around his desk and took a seat. "I think you might have crossed the line a time or two, but we can effectively rule Captain Raydor out as a suspect." He held up a hand before Sergeant Staples could intervene, "once we have corroborating evidence from the Captain's financial and phone records."

"Well I couldn't go easy on her just because she scares the hell out of me," Patrick pointed out, "and my entire division."

"You've got an even bigger problem," Fritz told him. "You have about thirty seconds remaining before Captain Raydor finds out that Detectives Lawrence and McNeil took Lieutenant Flynn down to Robbery Homicide for interrogation while Oderno stayed behind to get witness statements from the others."

"This would be a lot easier if we already had the DNA back," Patrick sighed as he stood up. Officers within the LAPD had samples on file and they had already pulled Flynn's for the cross match, but DNA did not come back overnight. They were still waiting for those results. They were hoping they would be able to rule Flynn out before that happened. "Because I've got an even bigger problem than that." He cast a grave look at Howard. "Flynn left that bar at eight, but he didn't get home until ten. It fits my timeline."

"Then you better go find a lot more evidence than you've got right now," Howard told him. "Because right now, Captain, you've got a whole lot of nothing. We're talking about a case that no DDA will touch and the ruined reputation of a damned good cop, and all because a couple of idiots thought it would be funny to toss a prostitute at him for the sake of embarrassing his girlfriend." He picked up a file off of his desk and tossed it toward the corner, near where Patrick was standing. "While you're at it, I suggest that you take a long look at Davidson and Mitchell. The disciplinary report that I received noted that they offered to pay your victim any price she named if she could get Flynn to engage her. Whether he did or not is up to you to find out, but I would start with pulling their financials too and finding out if either of them paid her off."

Patrick picked up the report and added it to the case file that was already in his hand. "We'll look in to it, Chief. No one is looking to ruin any reputations with this. We're trying to handle it as quietly as we can, but something is going to get out. We don't work in a vacuum here."

"Then I suggest you find one to put your team into," Howard warned him. He would not tolerate that kind of gossip. "Keep me updated gentlemen."

It was a dismissal and they took it as such. Patrick headed to the elevator with Staples on his heels. He only hoped he got back to Robbery Homicide before this investigation got ugly.

-TBC-