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.
Chapter 12
D'Angelo sat at his desk, reading the newspaper when Mikey came in to his office. "Boss, did you hear earlier this morning, there was a car accident in the Hollywood area involving that Lieutenant and the Captain" Mikey said to D'Angelo. "It just said there was minor damage but if you are thinking about going after them, no better way than to do that than through a loved one. And we know where one is right now" Mikey said to him as he sat behind his desk. "John said that he saw them come out with a laptop and a phone, is that right?" D'Angelo asked Mikey. "Yes boss" Mikey said to him.
The team arrived back at the Murder Room with Jimmy's phone and laptop. As they walked in to the room, they saw DDA Hobbs sitting at an open desk with Linda Rothman. Provenza walked over to them. "DDA Hobbs and Ms. Rothman, what can we do for you?" Provenza said to them as Sharon and Andy followed him in to the room. "You can first tell me why you were harassing my client's mother?" Linda Rothman said to him. "Wait just a minute here, no one was harassing Jimmy Caputo's mother" Provenza said as he waved off Linda Rothman's accusation. "We had a warrant to search Jimmy's apartment for his phone and computer, so that's what we did" Provenza then stated to her. "Captain, a word please?" Linda Rothman stated to Sharon. Sharon pointed to her office and she followed Hobbs and Rothman inside. She then turned around to close the door, giving a quick look to Andy as she did so.
"Alright, let's go through his computer and phone and see what we can find" Provenza said to Mike and Buzz as he followed them to Mike's desk. Mike placed the phone on his desk and handed the laptop to Buzz. Andy looked over at Sharon's office to see what he could see. He was concerned for Sharon at that moment because she had mentioned that her head was starting to hurt again and he wanted her to take some more Tylenol, but she had left it in her office. Sharon looked at both Linda Rothman and Andrea in her office as she moved over to sit at her desk. "Excuse me while I take this. It's been a long day" Sharon said to them as she took two Tylenol pills and then drank some water with them. "Now, what can I help you with, Ms. Rothman?" Sharon said as she looked over at her.
"My client informed me that his mother was being harassed by the LAPD and that you, Captain, knocked down her door and demanded that she let you in" Linda Rothman stated to Sharon. Sharon shifted in her chair. "Really? See the way that it happened was that we had a warrant, issued by Judge Grove, to search Jimmy's apartment for his phone and his computer, because we believe that there is evidence that D'Angelo is behind that kidnapping from yesterday. So where did I knock down a door, Ms. Rothman?" Sharon stated to her, her darth mode coming out slightly. Linda Rothman sat back as she looked at the warrant that Sharon handed her, clearly stating what she just told her. "Apparently I was wrong, Captain. My client was misinformed by his mother" Linda Rothman said back to Sharon as she handed back the warrant to her. As Linda Rothman stood up she was about to leave when she stopped. "I heard you were involved in a car accident this morning, Captain. Glad to see you are alright" Linda Rothman said to Sharon and then she left.
"How did she know about the car accident?" Sharon asked Andrea as they watched Linda Rothman leave the office. "It was on the news, Sharon" Andrea said to her. "Great" Sharon said as she took out her phone and saw the missed messages she received from Nicole, Andy's daughter. 'Just heard on the news, you and Dad were involved in a car accident. Are you guys okay?' was the first message. 'Tried texting you and Dad, no answer' was the second message. 'Texted Rusty, he says you are okay. Please call me later whenever you get a chance' was the third and last message. Sharon read all of the messages and then stood up from her desk. "I'm sorry Andrea, do you need anything else at this moment?" Sharon said to her. "No, just let me know when you find something" Andrea said to Sharon and then she left.
Sharon walked out of her office and over to where Andy was standing at Provenza's desk. "Apparently your daughter was trying to get a hold of both of us today. The car accident was on the news" Sharon said to Andy as she showed him her phone. Andy pulled his phone out and saw a similar message from his daughter. 'Dad, let me know if you guys are okay. Heard about car accident' it said. "Oh geeze, how did it get on the news?" Andy asked her. "I don't know" Sharon said to Andy and then moved over to where Mike was at his desk. "Anything yet Mike?" Sharon asked him. "Well, there are some text messages between Jimmy's number and someone called 'Boss man'. I can only assume that's D'Angelo" Mike said to Sharon. "It looks like Jimmy was D'Angelo's go to guy for certain errands" Mike added as he pointed to the computer screen that listed all of the messages. Buzz was still going through the laptop. "Okay, keep me posted" Sharon said as she made her way back to her office.
Just then, Andy thought of something and rushed in to Sharon's office. "If Nicole heard about it on the news, then who else heard about the accident?" Andy said to Sharon. Sharon looked back at him and a wave of panic set across her face. "I'll call the school" Sharon said as she gathered her things and pulled out her phone. "We are heading to pick up Matthew from school, if the accident this morning was on the news" Andy said to Provenza as he walked out of the Murder Room behind Sharon. "D'Angelo probably knows about it" Provenza said as he walked with them to the elevators. "And he knows where Matthew goes to school, if he wants to get to us cause he knows we are close to tying him in" Andy said to Provenza. "Then he might get to you through Matthew" Provenza said. The elevators door opened and Sharon and Andy stepped on to it. "Go, I'll have patrol cars meet you there" Provenza said to them as the doors closed.
Sharon got off the phone with the principal. "Matthew is still at the after school care program, they have been made aware of the possibility of an unauthorized pick up. I told her we were on our way there now" Sharon said to Andy as they rode the elevator down. Andy placed his hand on her arm to calm her nervousness. "Sharon he's fine, we will get there as soon as we can" Andy said to her. They exited the elevator and headed to the new car and got in. Andy drove lights and sirens to Matthew's school. He was surprised when Sharon didn't object to them being turned on. They arrived at Matthew's school and was glad to see the patrol cars there to meet them.
They both got out of the car and walked to the front of the building to go inside. Patrol officers joined them at the front. Andy passed a familiar car. "Sharon" he said to her. "Hmm?" Sharon said back to him. "That's the same car that followed us yesterday" Andy said to her. "Are you sure" Sharon asked him. "Positive" Andy said to her as he climbed the few stairs to enter the building. As they entered, both Sharon and Andy could hear a commotion happening close by. "I'm sorry sir, but you are not on the list" a teacher was telling the man in front of her. Andy turned around and motioned for the two patrol officers to stay by the door while the other two followed Sharon and him. Andy approached the man. "Hey, is there a problem here?" Andy said to the man as he came closer. Andy glanced at Sharon. The man then turned around. "No, no problem officers" Mikey said to Andy as he looked at the patrol officers and at Sharon. Andy recognized him as one of D'Angelo's men.
Mikey then took off running down the hallway. Andy took off after him. He turned around. "One of you stay with the Captain" he shouted to one of the patrol officers as the others followed after him. Sharon informed two patrol officers to stay where they were at by the door. She then walked over to where the teacher was sitting and the Principal came forward to meet her. "Captain, we moved the children to a different room. Please follow me" she said to Sharon. Sharon and another patrol officer followed her. "After you called, Captain, we placed the children in a separate area of the school, sort of like a lockdown. Then I heard a man arguing with one of the teachers here and then saw that you arrived" Principal Gottardo stated to Sharon. "Yes, thank you so much for doing that" Sharon said to her. "Sorry about all of this police activity at your school the past two days" Sharon said to the Principal. "Nonsense, we just want our children to be safe" the Principal said to her and showed her to the room. Sharon walked in and spotted Matthew right away. Her heart skipped a beat and was thankful he was okay.
Mikey ran through some doors inside the school. He started to panic when he couldn't find the exit. He then ran up a flight of stairs. Andy was right behind him on the stairs as his adrenalin was kicking in. The patrol officers were right behind Andy. "You go down here" Andy said to the officers as Andy went straight. He thought he saw Mikey go this way. Andy pulled his gun out as he searched the floor. He looked in one room and then out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mikey run past him. He then took off again chasing him, holstering his gun as he ran. Mikey stopped when he saw a bunch of lockers and Andy caught up with him. He pushed him up against the lockers. "Why are you here?" Andy shouted at Mikey. Mikey turned around and punched Andy in the face, but Andy pushed him backwards into the lockers again and held him there. "I'm going to ask you again, why are you here? Did D'Angelo send you?" Andy asked him as he gritted his teeth. Mikey just smiled. The patrol officers met up with them as Andy turned Mikey around and searched him. He then placed cuffs on him. "You're under arrest for assaulting a police officer" he told Mikey, as he was catching his breath. He walked Mikey with another patrol officer back to where he left Sharon.
Andy and the officer approached the other officers with Mikey in their custody. "Here, book this dirt bag for assaulting a police officer" Andy said as he turned Mikey over to the other patrol officers and they walked him outside and placed him in a patrol car. Andy then looked for Sharon. He was rubbing his jaw and his adrenalin was starting to wear off. "Lieutenant, she's this way" the Principal said to Andy as she showed him to where Sharon was. The Principal opened the door to the room and Andy walked in. He saw the remaining five children gathered around Sharon and he smiled. She saw him enter and walked over to meet him. Sharon winced as she saw him close up. His lip was cut and bleeding and there was a nice bruise starting to form on his jaw. Sharon lightly touched his lip with a Kleenex from her purse to stop the lip from bleeding. Andy moved back at her gesture. "I'm fine" he said to her and smiled.
Andy turned around and saw Matthew in the room putting a book away. Matthew saw that Andy had walked in and ran over to him. Andy knelt down and gave Matthew a hug as he came to them. "I'm so glad you are okay, Matthew" Andy said to him. "I was scared earlier. The teacher said there was a bad man inside the school. But then I saw Sharon and I knew we would be okay" Matthew said. Andy closed his eyes for a second and then released the kid to Sharon. Sharon also gave him a hug as Andy stood back up. "Don't worry sweetie, we got the bad man" Sharon said to him. Sharon nodded to the Principal. "We're going to need statements from you and your staff regarding this incident" Sharon said to her. "Of course" Principal Gottardo said and then she gathered her teacher and other staff members and they each spoke to the patrol officer.
Andy, Sharon, and Matthew then walked out of the school with the other patrol officers. Andy stopped and spoke to one of them. "We are heading back to the office, make sure you book him, then bring him up to our office" Andy said to them. "Yes sir" the officer said back. Andy then walked with Sharon and Matthew over to their car. "You got a new car?" Matthew asked as he got in the back seat. "This one is on loan until my car gets fixed" Andy explained to him as he got him settled in the seat. Matthew looked at Andy and saw his lip was bleeding. Matthew held up his finger to touch it. "You're bleeding again" Matthew said to Andy. "I'm okay" Andy reassured Matthew and then closed his door.
He turned around to see Sharon standing behind him. She reached up to caress his face and then lightly gave him a kiss on his cheek. Andy smiled at her, even though his jaw hurt him. "Good thing you have your checkup tomorrow morning" she said to him. "Yeah, I almost forgot about that" Andy said back to her. "While you were chasing that guy, I texted Rusty and asked him to pick up Moxie. Told him we were getting Matthew and that we would be late getting home" Sharon said as she got in the car. "Good. How are you doing?" Andy said as he got in the driver's seat. "I'm fine Andy" Sharon said to him as he drove back to the office. Sharon called Provenza as they were driving and told him what happened. "Do we have enough to get this guy?" Andy asked Sharon as she hung up her phone. "I think so, Mike and Buzz found something interesting on the electronic devices from Jimmy" Sharon said as Andy navigated through the streets. Andy glanced over at Sharon and he saw her rubbing her head. "You okay?" he asked her. "Yes" she said as she looked out the front window.
Andy pulled into the parking garage and parked the car in the designated space. He got out and went around the other side to help Sharon and Matthew out of the car. "We're not getting Moxie?" Matthew asked them. "No, Rusty is picking him up for us. Sharon and I have a little more work to do tonight and you are staying here with us, okay?" Andy said to Matthew. Matthew nodded his head and they walked towards the elevators to head upstairs to the office. Once inside the elevator, Matthew stood in front of the buttons and pressed the floor they needed. Sharon leaned up against Andy as he placed his arm around her. They've had quite a busy day and it was about to get busier.
TBC