DiscIaimer: I do not own the characters of Major Crimes – I am only borrowing them – and will not be financially benefitting from the story in anyway. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author Notes: A huge thanks to Mellow_Mel for the beta – I took your advice mate…Andy now has 'layers' LOL!
Thank you also to everyone who has reviewed, favourited or followed this story so far – it means a lot
You'll Get Yours Chapter 3
"Please take a seat, Miss Moore." Lieutenant Flynn led the scantily clad soap actress towards a plush, red fabric couch - littered with black scatter cushions. "Can we get you anything? A glass of water perhaps?"
"No, thank you…" Amber More pushed a shaking hand through her immaculately coiffed blonde locks as she lowered herself to perch on the designer sofa; her glittery boob-tube mini dress creeping up her toned thighs as she sat. "Maybe something stronger," she added with a weak smile.
"I'm on it," Sykes nodded and moved swiftly to the glass fronted drinks cabinet that stood centrally to a small bar.
"This must be difficult…" Andy placed his hands on his hips and began the all-too-familiar dance of putting the bereft at ease; empathising enough to earn their trust, yet surreptitiously feeding them with questions to determine whether or not they were in fact, a suspect.
"I can't believe it…" Amber shook her head; her golden waves brushing against her naked shoulders. "I just spoke with Jess last night; she was in the kitchen getting a snack and…" The actress gestured to the kitchen and then behind her to the body covered with a white sheet. "… I just came in this morning and…..and she was…" The rest of the sentence was muffled by the hand that Amber raised to her mouth – to catch the sobs that shook her slight frame.
Sykes returned with a drink and sat on the couch; draping a comforting arm around the smaller woman's trembling shoulders as she handed the glass to Flynn. The Lieutenant accepted the beverage from the detective's fingers and crouching at the feet of the weeping woman, he offered her the glass tumbler. "I understand how upsetting this is; but if there is anything that you can think of that might help our investigation…"
Amber readily took the proffered alcohol – sipping the dark liquid and grimacing as the scotch burnt her parched throat. "I…I…don't know…I…like what?"
"Did Jess have any enemies? Had she had any arguments with family members, or friends? A boyfriend perhaps?"
"No," this time Amber shook her head firmly. "No, Jess was from back east – she didn't really know anyone in LA…She hadn't worked with me for very long…Oh God! Has anyone told her mother?" The young woman burst into tears once more; twisting towards Sykes and pressing her heavily made-up face into the detectives shoulder.
A voiceless exchange occurred between the two detectives; as Flynn got to his feet and backed away from the two women, he heard Sykes pick up the line of questioning.
"It's okay Amber," She soothed, "How long had Jess worked for you, exactly?"
As the Lieutenant turned and walked towards the kitchen, he looked at his watch; they'd been at the scene for almost an hour. As he raised his gaze, Lieutenant Provenza caught his eye; they were both wondering the same thing…
'Where the hell is Captain Raydor?'
xXx
"Damn it!" Sharon fumed; slamming the phone onto its cradle.
It wasn't him; Ian Banston was still a patient at Ridgewater Psychiatric – and according to his doctor - still very much insane.
The revelation that her life wasn't in immediate danger should have been a comfort to Sharon – yet now, her mind was filled with a different form of unease.
'If it isn't Ian Banston…Then who is it?'
Something else occurred to Sharon in that moment - something that she desperately tried to push to the back of her mind…
Sharon Raydor; former head of FID, decorated Captain of the LAPD and self-acknowledged goody two shoes – had removed evidence from a crime scene.
She shifted her gaze from the phone on the desk to the adjacent chair where her handbag lay; the vessel for said evidence. She nibbled her lower lip; since her involvement with the Banston case, Sharon's rank and responsibility within the LAPD had increased – as had the need to maintain her spotless reputation.
The Banston case was messy; and what followed - was the first time and the very last time that Sharon Raydor failed to exactly follow the rules.
"Until now." She spoke aloud as she eyed the red envelope poking out of the top of her purse.
Old timers such as Provenza and Flynn would certainly remember the case – but probably not the particulars. Relatively speaking, Sharon Raydor was 'a nobody' in the LAPD back then; her involvement wouldn't have turned heads, the way it most certainly would now.
It wasn't as if she was hiding anything; information on the Banston case was right there in her file…if anyone ever bothered to read it...
Sharon sat up straighter in her chair; 'Maybe someone has read it.'
It made perfect sense; someone within the LAPD had read her file and was trying to rattle her.
Working in internal affairs, Captain Raydor had made her fair share of enemies - though she wondered if this had more to do with her 'promotion' to the head of Major Crimes than an investigation into a rouge officer. As Taylor had so frankly informed her; 'every captain in the department would leap at the chance to replace her' - many of which, Sharon suspected, didn't think that she deserved the position in the first place.
Anyone who read her file would know just how difficult a case it had been for her; how she had spent the best part of two months in fear for her life – of her children's lives.
Determinedly, Sharon got to her feet and straightened out her suit; she knew exactly what she had to do.
"Absolutely nothing." She voiced to the empty room, as she purposefully strode around her desk and hoisted her purse onto the shoulder.
Whether they were an officer pissed at being investigated, or a petty Captain that felt they had been overlooked for promotion – a reaction from 'the ice queen' was exactly what they would want. Privately, Sharon may have been affect by the message in the card - but Captain Raydor would remain, as always - unflappable.
xXx
"Captain Raydor, " Provenza greeted his superior – his tone dripping with sarcasm. "Thank you for finally gracing us with your presence."
"I had an appointment, Lieutenant," Sharon lied as she approached him. "Was I wrong to assume that a Lieutenant of your calibre could handle running a crime scene without me?"
Provenza narrowed his eyes and somebody in the room sniggered – Sharon was unsure who, as she focussed squarely on her Lieutenant.
"You were not." After a few beats, Provenza was the first to look away - pulling a note pad from the inside of his jacket pocket ad flipping it open. "In fact – we're almost done."
"Excellent." Sharon stood tall and her lips curled at the corners in an almost-smile. "Can somebody please bring me up to speed?"
"Sanchez," Provenza barked.
"Ma'am," Detective Sanchez stepped forward and addressed Sharon with a nod of his head. "From what we can gather, the victim's throat was slashed from behind as she moved towards the door. She's not wearing shoes or carrying car keys or a purse – the TV was on - so it's fair to assume that she was going to answer the door."
"Thank you Detective Sanchez," Sharon crossed her arms at her chest and dropped her hip, "Luitenant Tao, is the blood spatter conducive to that chain of events?"
"Yes Captain. The blood spatter trajectory suggests that her throat was cut from left to right, probably from behind. My guess is that bruising will form across her upper chest or jaw from where she would have been grabbed and held in place."
Tao lifted the white sheet and Sharon grimaced – tilting her head to one side as she took in the sight before her. The young woman's body was face down on the marble entrance way – blood had pooled around her head and a smear led from underneath blonde matted locks and along the pale arm that was stretched out ahead of her.
"She tried to crawl away?"
"Possibly...But I think that this blood-smear here," Tao crouched next to the body and pointed with his pen to the woman's outstretched arm, "suggests that she dropped to her knees, grabbing her throat, before she collapsed forwards and stretched the same arm out to soften her fall."
Sharon nodded, absorbing the evidence as Tao performed the victim's perceived movements.
"And Amber Moore," Sharon turned her attention to Flynn, "Did she return to the house alone?"
"She did, Captain," Andy nodded, and looked down at his notepad. "Amber arrived home at a quarter after 6; the door was unlocked which was in her words 'the first sign that something was wrong'. She found Jessica in the hallway and called the police right away."
"Alright. Good work gentlemen. Where is Miss Moore now?"
"Sykes is with her through there," Flynn gestured with his arm. "She seems pretty shook up."
Provenza huffed behind them and all four detectives turned to face the wise Luitenant; "Either that, or she's a fine actress."
xXx
"Amber Moore?" Andy watched as Sharon strode over to the young woman being comforted by Detective Sykes on the expensive couch. "I'm Captain Sharon Raydor…I'm so sorry for your loss."
It appeared to the Lieutenant, that his Captain was more focussed than earlier that morning - yet she still carried a tenseness in her shoulders; a tenseness that was visible, even through her tailored suit jacket.
Something was definitely wrong.
'Should I ask her if she's okay?
Truthfully, Andy wasn't sure how she would react if he did. Sharon Raydor wasn't his friend; they were colleagues – he was her subordinate.
'You would have asked Chief Johnson.'
But Sharon Raydor wasn't Brenda Leigh Johnson; she was more reserved with her emotions...more private.
Andy wasn't entirely sure when he'd started to catalogue Sharon's behavioural traits…
'It's only natural – we spend so much time together at work.'
He didn't know when he'd started caring so much about how she was feeling – it had just happened.
'I don't spend as much time analysing Skyes behaviour…'
As Sharon bent at the waist in front of the actress, resting her hands on her own knees - Andy realised there was something else that he had been doing more of recently; his gaze had zoned in on the Captains shapely behind.
'Look away, man…'
Of course, he had appreciated her physique in the past; Sharon Rayor's legs, for example, had been the topic of many a conversation amongst male detectives over the years. Andy always thought that the Captain's aloof personality actually fuelled those 'locker-room' type conversations.
But back then, Captain Raydor was just their nemesis; she was nothing but The Wicked Witch or 'that bitch from FID. But now…
'Now it's different…'
Andy found himself still staring at the Captain when he was also presented with a barely clothed, Hollywood, 20-something starlet.
'Snap out of it!' He mentally shook himself, 'she's your boss!'
He closed his eyes tightly and took a cleansing breath.
'Keep your eyes on the actress and your mind on the job.' Thankfully, Amber Moore's next words allowed him to do just that.
"I've seen you before."
Sharon was taken aback and to Andy's relief, stood up straight; "I'm sorry, have we met?"
"No Ma'am," Amber shook her head, "No, I saw you on TV. You were doing some kind of press interview or something about a gang shooting?"
"Oh that," Even though the Captain had her back to him, Andy knew that she was cringing. In Taylor's absence (food poisoning, apparently) Chief Pope had pushed Sharon into speaking with the press about a case they had solved.
"That was months ago! I'm surprised you even recognise me!"
Amber shrugged, weakly; "I've got a thing for faces."
"Miss Moore," Sharon pressed on with business. "Would you be comfortable with joining us at the station - to record your version of events?"
"Of course," Amber sniffed, "Anything I can do to help." She got to her feet and looked down – as if only now realising her attire, "is it okay if I get changed first?"
"Absolutely,"
"I'll go with her," Sykes offered, and followed the young actress up the stairs.
Sharon turned on her heel and strode towards the rest of the team who had gathered by the entrance to the kitchen – Flynn followed closely behind.
"Lieutenant Provenza," Sharon rested her hands on her hips as she addressed him. "I trust you and Detective Tao can finish up here?"
"Yes Ma'am," Provenza agreed, "But keep a lid on the science, alright Mike?"
"Buzz," Sharon continued, "have you got everything you need?"
"Yes, Captain." He answered, affectionately tapping his video recorder.
"Great, let's get back to headquarters and interview Miss Moore. Lieutenant Flynn?"
Sharon spun to face him; the fruity smell of her shampoo filling his nostrils.
"Yes, Captain?" Andy choked, clearing his throat – the bizarre reaction raising a frown from Provenza.
"Miss Moore can ride with Sykes and Sanchez. Will you accompany me back to the station?"
"Yes Captain," Andy swallowed hard; his gaze flicking from Sharon's eyes, to her lips, then back to her eyes again. "Not a problem,"
'What the hell is wrong with me today?'
xXx
From a distance, someone watched.
They saw Captain Sharon Raydor, dressed in her perfect little skirt-suit - pretending not to care that her past was back to haunt her.
Apparently, the card wasn't enough of a reminder…
TBC
Phew – that was hard. Writing detectivey type stuff hurts my brain!