A Parent's Prerogative

by MoxiesdenLovesShandy

It's the new year for Sharon, Andy, and the rest of the team. After celebrating the holidays, the team gets dealt a new case that involves a critical missing of a young boy. The team races against the clock to find him and return him to his mother. Meanwhile, the case may have ties to a local mob boss which could bring problems to our favorite foster parents.

3. Chapter 3

DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews! It is much appreciated. I hope everyone is enjoying this story so far. Will Sharon be taking on the mob, let's find out...

Chapter 3

Sharon walked out of the electronics room and headed over to where Amanda Miller was sitting still in the conference room. Andy followed her inside. "Amanda?" Sharon said to the woman as she sat down. "We have reason to believe that someone by the name of Ricky D'Angelo took your son, does that name mean anything to you?" Sharon asked her. Amanda looked at her and then at Andy. "No" she shook her head. "Amanda, when you were married to your husband, Dan, did he have any side jobs besides working at the Construction company?" Andy asked her. "Not that I remember" she said and paused for a moment. "Wait, there was this one time, a man came to our house a couple of years ago. Dan and him went to a separate room to talk, but I didn't know what that was about and when I asked Dan, he told me to stay out of it" Amanda said to the two of them. Andy looked at Sharon and then stood up and walked over to the door and waved to Amy to bring something to him. "Amanda, if we show you a picture of a man, could you tell us if it is the same man that came to your house that time?" Sharon asked her. "I can try" Amanda said. Amy brought the picture to Andy and then Andy closed the door and handed the picture to Sharon. "Amanda, is this the person that was at your house back then?" Sharon asked her as she showed the picture of Ricky D'Angelo. Amanda took one look at the picture and shook her head. "Yes, that's him" she said to Sharon. "Thank you Amanda, do you need us to call anyone for you?" Sharon said to her. "My mother and sister are on their way here, if that's okay" Amanda said to her. "Sure, we will direct them to you once they're here" Sharon said as her and Andy left the conference room.

"What do you think?" Andy asked Sharon as they left the conference room. "I think she is telling us the truth, but we are running out of time with finding Tommy" Sharon said as they walked over to the Murder Board. "Anything yet?" Sharon asked her team. "Ma'am, Ricky D'Angelo owns many properties in the Los Angeles area, but it looks like his main building is here" Julio said as he pointed to a map up on the board. "What about Jimmy Caputo?" Sharon asked. "His last known address was located in the Lawndale area of LA" Amy answered and handed Sharon a piece of paper. "Amy, I want you, Julio, and Mike along with members of SIS to go to Jimmy's last known address and see what you can find out" Sharon said to her. "Yes Captain" they all said and got up from their desks and left the Murder Room. "Lieutenant Provenza, I want you and Andy to go pay a visit to Ricky D'Angelo. Let's find out what he knows about the missing child" Sharon said and then she walked over to where Buzz was sitting. "Buzz, I want you to go with them and film whatever you can" Sharon said to him. "Will do, Captain" Buzz replied to her and then stood up from his desk and grabbed his camera equipment. "I'm going to call St. Anne's school and speak with the principal there" Sharon told Andy as he gathered his jacket from his chair. Sharon smoothed down the sides of his jacket as he put it on. "Be safe" she whispered to him. "I will" he said back to her. He then left with Buzz and Provenza.

Sharon went in to her office and sat down behind her desk. She then opened her drawer and pulled out the phone number to St. Anne's school. "Uh, hello this is Captain Sharon Flynn with the LAPD, is Mrs. Gottardo, the principal, there?" Sharon asked the secretary who answered the phone. "Hello Captain Flynn, is there something wrong with Matthew?" Mrs. Gottardo said over the phone. "Oh, everything is going well with Matthew but I'm not calling about Matthew. I'm actually calling about another child, Tommy Miller" Sharon said to the principal. "Oh, Tommy Miller, he's in the same grade as Matthew, but he's out sick today" the principal said to her. "I don't mean to alarm you, Mrs. Gottardo but have you noticed anything or anyone hanging around the school property before Christmas break?" Sharon asked her. "Um, no I can't say that I have. I can gather the teachers to see if they had noticed anything unusual before we went on break" the principal said. "Why? Did something happen to Tommy?" she asked Sharon.

Meanwhile, Amy, Julio, and Mike along with members of SIS, gathered at the last known address of Jimmy Caputo. Amy knocked on the front door of his apartment several times but no one answered. Julio peeked inside to see if he could see anything. "Uh, sir, I think I see a body" he said to Mike who looked back at Julio and then at Amy. "Do you think you see a body or you know you see a body, Julio?" Mike said as they needed to be careful about entering the apartment without a warrant. "We're here for a well-being check right? It's a critical missing, Tao, we don't have time for semantics" Julio said to Mike before they broke down the front door. They entered the apartment and they looked around all of the rooms, clearing them one by one. "There's no one here" Amy said to the rest of them as the holstered their weapons and began searching for clues. Just then, Jimmy Caputo drove up to his apartment and started to walk up the stairs. "Hello" Cooper said to Jimmy as he was standing outside by his door. Jimmy took one look and started to run down the stairs and Cooper and Julio started chasing him. Jimmy ran through some bushes but was eventually tackled by Cooper. "Why'd you run, Jimmy?" Cooper said to him as he placed him in handcuffs and brought him to his feet. Cooper and Julio then brought him back to a squad car, while Amy and Mike continued searching the apartment.

Provenza, Andy, and Buzz arrived at the main office where Ricky D'Angelo's organization was located. As they arrived at the front of the building, Buzz noticed all of the video cameras and the security guards at the front. "Gee, do you think they are trying to protect something here?" Andy said to Provenza as they walked in. "Can I help you?" said one of the guards at the front desk. "Yes, LAPD, we are here to ask a couple of questions to Ricky D'Angelo" Provenza said as he flashed his badge to the guards. Andy and Buzz looked around the lobby and then focused on who Provenza was speaking to. "Gentlemen, right this way" the other guard said to Provenza, Andy, and Buzz and they followed him through a set of doors. Andy looked back at Provenza who glanced at Andy and then proceeded to the conference room where the guard showed them to wait. "Mr. D'Angelo will be right with you" the guard said and then he closed the door. "Who is this guy?" Andy said to Provenza. "I don't know but I feel like we are in the middle of The Godfather movie!" Provenza said in a quiet voice. Buzz looked at both of the Lieutenants before turning around to see the door open.

"Ah, sorry to keep the LAPD waiting, but I was on a call that I needed to take" Ricky D'Angelo said as he walked in to the room. "Please have a seat" he gestured to them as he took a seat at the table. Buzz noticed two other guys who came in with D'Angelo and they stayed at the door. "Mr. D'Angelo, I am Lieutenant Provenza, this is Lieutenant Flynn. We are here investigating the kidnapping of a young boy this morning" Provenza said to D'Angelo as he had a seat. "Sorry to hear that, but I didn't have anything to do with a kidnapping of a young boy, Lieutenant" D'Angelo said to Provenza. "Oh, but we think you did. You see, this young boy that was taken this morning is the son of a book keeper that you know. Does Dan Miller mean anything to you?" Provenza said back to him. D'Angelo thought for a second. "No. Is that name supposed to mean something to me?" D'Angelo asked Provenza. Provenza looked back at D'Angelo.

"Look, we have it on good authority that one of your goons took the kid this morning from a Rite-Aid pharmacy parking lot. He held the mom at gunpoint and took the car with the kid inside" Andy said to D'Angelo. D'Angelo looked back at Andy. "I do not have any goons, Lieutenant" D'Angelo chuckled back to Andy. D'Angelo was trying Andy's patience but Andy kept his cool. "Listen, we have it all on tape. A person by the name of Jimmy Caputo is employed by you. He was seen this morning taking the car and the kid inside of it" Andy said back to him. "Okay, Lieutenants, why didn't you ask me about Jimmy in the first place" D'Angelo said to them. "Mikey, can you go get Jimmy for me, please?" D'Angelo said to one of the guards at the door. The guard then left. "You see, gentlemen, I am in the business of making money. And if something threatens that business, it becomes my priority to have it fixed. If Jimmy screwed up, then I will help you" D'Angelo said to Provenza and Andy. Buzz tapped the shoulder of Andy just then. "Sir" Buzz said to Andy as the guard walked back in the room.

"We can't find Jimmy, sir" Mikey said to Ricky as he came in to the room and walked around the table. D'Angelo looked at the Lieutenants. "It seems as if Jimmy is not here at the moment, Lieutenants" D'Angelo said to them. "Okay, well we know you are somehow involved with what happened this morning, D'Angelo and we will find out the truth" Provenza said back to him. "Lieutenant, I was here all morning long, in business meetings, you can ask anybody here" D'Angelo said as he shrugged his shoulders. At this point, Andy about had enough and stood up. "Alright, listen, we had about enough of these games you are playing!" Andy said to them as everyone stood up. D'Angelo waved off the guards at the door. "Lieutenant Flynn, correct?" D'Angelo said to Andy. "That's right" Andy said back to him. "If you have evidence that a crime has been committed here, then I suggest you make an arrest, otherwise I am a very busy man" D'Angelo said back to Andy as he started to walk towards the door. "Good day, Lieutenants" D'Angelo added and then left.

"Are you crazy?" Provenza said to Andy as he slapped his arm. "What, we know he's involved?" Andy asked Provenza as he looked back at him. "Yes, Flynn, but if we are going to take down D'Angelo at his business, we are going to need a little more backup than just Buzz" Provenza said as they walked out of the room and headed back out to their vehicle. "Hey" Buzz said in protest. They made it to their vehicle and then Provenza received a text message from Julio saying that they got Jimmy Caputo and they are bringing him in. Provenza got in the car. "Well, maybe this will lead to something more concrete on D'Angelo" Provenza said back to Andy as Andy got in the driver's side and Buzz got in the back seat. "They found Jimmy and they are bringing him in" Provenza said to them. They headed back to the PAB.

Meanwhile, back in Sharon's office, she was still on the phone speaking with the principal. "Captain Flynn, thanks for holding. I just spoke to my teachers as the kids are at lunch now and they said that they haven't noticed anyone before we went on break, but one of my teachers did say that she saw a man yesterday hanging around the after school care program" the Principal said to Sharon over the phone. "Mrs. Gottardo, I am going to send a patrol car to your school just as a precaution, is that alright?" Sharon said to the principal. "Yes, that's fine. I don't think that will alarm anyone" she said back to Sharon. "Do you have a fax machine, Principal Gottardo?" Sharon asked her. Sharon then sent a picture of Jimmy Caputo to the school via fax and waited for a response from the principal. She then looked out her window and saw Cooper and Julio escorting Jimmy Caputo in to the Murder Room in handcuffs. She exited her office and met them halfway. "Are you guys okay?" Sharon said to them as she noticed the grass stain on Julio's white dress shirt. "Yes ma'am, we're fine. Jimmy here decided to run on us" Julio said to Sharon. "Okay, bring him to interview room three" Sharon said to the two of them and they escorted Jimmy to the interview room. Sharon took a deep breath and then looked back at the conference room and saw Amanda in there with her mother and sister. Just then her phone alerted to a text message from Mike. It said 'found Amanda's car keys inside Jimmy's apartment'. 'Good work' Sharon texted back and then saw Provenza, Andy, and Buzz return to the Murder Room. "Lieutenants, let's regroup in my office" Sharon said to Andy and Provenza and they joined her as she walked in to her office.

In the meantime, back at Ricky D'Angelo's business. Ricky was on the phone with someone when Mikey came in to the room. "Ricky, Jimmy has been arrested by the LAPD outside his apartment" Mikey said to D'Angelo as he hung up his phone. "Okay, then Jimmy is on his own. Make sure there is no evidence found linking us to the kidnapping through Jimmy. Oh and find me any information you can get about Lieutenant Flynn from the LAPD" D'Angelo said to Mikey. D'Angelo sat back in his chair and looked outside his windows in his office. "He'll think twice about raising his voice at me again" D'Angelo said. "Sure thing boss" Mikey said and then left the room.

TBC