Killing Game
By Kadi
Rated T
Disclaimer: This is only a sandbox that I like to play in. Sadly, it is not mine.
Chapter 9
They rode the elevator in silence. It was not until they were in the Lieutenant's car and headed across downtown to the complex where Professional Standards was housed that either Flynn or Buzz bothered to speak. It was the man in the passenger seat that finally voiced his concerns. He slanted a carefully curious look at the Lieutenant before his eyes narrowed speculatively. "How is she doing?"
Some part of him expected the question. He knew that the team was wondering about it, and it was only himself or maybe Provenza that would bother cornering the Captain for an answer. Although, it wasn't as if either of them really had to ask her either; they knew her well enough. Andy didn't miss a beat and his eyes never left the road, although they squinted behind his dark shades. "The Captain is fine." His hands shifted and his right slid down to hold the bottom of the steering wheel. Andy could feel Buzz still staring at him. His answer, while still true in some small sense, was not being fully accepted. Andy sighed. He slanted a look out of the corner of his eye and found the younger man's blue gaze unwavering. "She's dealing," he amended. "The case was already hard enough. Nobody thought she'd be doing this kind of work again, and on top of that, one of our suspects is her mentor. It's rough. She'll be okay."
Buzz allowed his gaze to turn back to the city streets in front of them. He sat silent for a moment while he considered that. There was something about this case that had been bugging him from the start. "If the Sergeant thought that he was on to something this big," he voiced finally, "why wouldn't he involve the Captain sooner? He obviously trusted her enough. Why did he wait?"
"Maybe he didn't want to believe it?" Andy shrugged. "Who the hell knows, Buzz. I wondered about that too. The thing is, he probably knew what the scope of all of this was going to be. On top of that, we're not just talking about a couple of dirty cops. Yeah, okay, we've got that with Lewis and Fiess, and Garring is right in the middle of all of it. Finding out that Michaelson might be involved had to be a hell of a blow. Elliot knew what that was going to do to Professional Standards, and he had to know what it would mean for Sharon too. We're not just talking about someone she worked for. Michaelson was her mentor. He brought her up." Andy shook his head. He continued to drive, but gestured as he maneuvered the car through downtown traffic. "A few years ago when the rumors that Michaelson might be retiring first started going around, no one had to question who was going to be taking his place. We all knew it was going to be Raydor. On one hand, the Dragon Lady was going to be in charge of the guys that made our jobs hell, but on the other, it meant we wouldn't have her in our faces in the field as much. Even with it not being such a bad thing for all of us, it still wasn't a new idea. We'd have been shocked if it wasn't the Captain. But about the time that we were expecting her to get promoted and slide into Michaelson's office, she got the lateral transfer to Major Crimes instead. Turns out his holiness thought she was more valuable keeping an eye on all of us instead of keeping an eye on everyone." The Lieutenant shrugged. "That might have worked out for all of us, and Sharon too, in a lot of ways… but it took her out of the loop. Elliot had to wonder if handing any of his case over to Sharon was going to do more damage than good. He knew her as well as we do, but you gotta ask yourself, if you were in Elliot's shoes, what would you do? Ask your mentor to investigate her mentor, or try to figure out as much of it on your own as you can first? In the end, he knew he had to bring her into it. He just ran out of time."
That was something that Buzz could understand. It couldn't have been an easy decision to make. He had not really thought much about the fact that the Captain might have had other plans for her career before she came to them. They all seemed to think of things in terms of then and now, one day she was FID and the next she belonged to them. Well, perhaps it hadn't gone down quite that easily. There had been a transition period and one that they all had to work through. The fact remained that most of them didn't really think of her career before in terms of what it might have been. His eyes squinted when the Lieutenant took a turn and the afternoon sun glared through the front windshield, bright even against the shades covering his eyes. His lips pursed and he shook his head. "Whoever killed Sergeant Elliot knew his routine. The suspect knew that he would go to the gym before going home; knew where it was, and…"
"Where the cameras on that street were located." They stopped at a red light and Andy swept a hand over his face. "Yeah, Buzz, I know. It could be that Lewis or Fiess knew that Elliot was on to them and were watching him, like he thought. Or someone in PSB got wind of what he was digging in to. Worse still, one of those two yahoos told their contact in PSB and that is who we're looking for." He sighed again. "Let's just scope out the Sergeant's locker, find the nothing that is there, and get back to the Murder Room." He wanted to be there when they brought Lewis and Fiess in for questioning. Andy didn't want to miss a second of that; especially with the chance that it could go south for Michaelson.
They made the rest of the trip in silence. They were only crossing downtown, but in afternoon traffic it took the better part of an hour. When they arrived, the Lieutenant led the way inside. Several years had passed since the last time that Andy stepped foot inside this building. Any other day, on any other occasion, he might have smiled at those memories. It was a rather humorous story, one among several like it, but this one stuck out as his favorite. Andy made a mental note to tell Buzz about it sometime since it was a little before he had come over to work for Priority Homicide.
On that particular trip to PSB he had been in quite a fit of temper. He had gotten a write-up on a tussle that he had gotten into with a suspect along with a recommendation that he spend three weeks in Anger Management classes. Andy didn't let his mind drift over the memories for more than just a second, but it was long enough for him to recall having gone nose to nose with the officer handling his case. It was the sort of argument that legends were made of, particularly given the fact that he found out about three seconds after calling her a play-doh puppet for the senior brass that she had just been promoted to Captain. Andy had left PSB with five weeks of Anger Management instead of the originally recommended three. A corner of his mouth twitched, but the smile did not appear. Sharon was mean when she was riled. He would keep that in mind.
The Lieutenant pushed the memories aside as they made their way to the third floor gym and locker area. Sergeant Davis met them outside the entrance to the locker room with an empty box. Andy arched a brow at the Sergeant as he approached.
"The Captain called a few minutes ago," Davis explained. "She knew that you'd need to know which locker was Matt's. I thought…" He held up the box and shrugged. "You know, after you look through everything, we could box up what you don't need for Lisa and the kids."
Andy eyed the younger officer for a long moment. They had no way of knowing who in PSB was involved in the cover up with the guys from Robbery-Homicide and Narcotics. Andy frowned as he studied him. A couple of minutes would have given him enough time to get down there to meet them, but hardly enough time to go through the locker himself if that was his plan. Sharon would have known that. Andy finally nodded and gestured toward the door behind the Sergeant. "Yeah," he said, "we can do that. Come on, we'll try to make it quick."
Buzz lifted his camera and trailed behind them as they entered the locker room. Davis led them through a maze of lockers, moving through the rows with ease and familiarity. Along the back wall he finally came to a stop. He continued to hold the box in his hands and nodded to third locker from the end. "Matt's was 402."
Andy moved alongside it and was careful to not block the camera. He tugged on a pair of sterile, black, latex gloves while his eyes moved over the metal structure. His brows drew together as his gaze traced the seams of the door. Scratch marks near the lock had his eyes squinting. "Hey Buzz, get a close up of this." He waited for Buzz to take a step closer and heard the familiar click and whir of the lens adjusting itself for a close up. The Lieutenant pointed at the markings near the lock. He waited for Buzz to get several moments of good footage before he placed his hand against the door. Pressure made it give way. It swung outward. "It looks like someone forced the lock and busted the latch in the process."
Davis moved in closer and stared at the inside of the locker. Most of what he expected to find was there, but in complete disarray. A shaving kit and other toiletries were no longer on the single shelf at the top of the locker. Instead they were strewn inside with a now empty duffel and the change of clothes that were once inside it.
The locker had been gone through, and with little care to the contents inside. Andy held out a hand and ushered Davis further aside. "Buzz get in here. Film it all." He pulled out his phone as he stepped back. "Don't touch anything. We'll have to get SID down here to print the whole damned thing." He pointed a finger at Davis. "Don't go anywhere." The other man straightened and seemed to bristle at his tone. Flynn didn't care. They didn't know who they could trust, if anyone, and at this point, almost anyone could be a suspect. One thing he did know, there was going to be nothing at all quick about this visit to PSB.
MCMCMCMCMCMC
When Taylor returned to the Murder Room after his briefing with the Chief it was to find most of the division returned and the two officers they had picked up being held in separate interview rooms. The assistant chief held his arms out as he moved to the center of the room. "What is the hold up? Why aren't we questioning these guys?"
The Captain was seated at the juncture between Amy and Julio's desks. She did not bother looking up from the files that were laid out between them. The three of them were comparing case logs from PSB to the case history filed by their suspects. "We are waiting for Lieutenant Flynn to return with Buzz," Sharon explained. "I sent them to Professional Standards to investigate whether or not Sergeant Elliot stored any further evidence in his personal property." She looked up finally and gazed at the chief over the rims of her glasses. "While they were there, they discovered that the Sergeant's locker was broken into and that his personal items had been disturbed. The Lieutenant requested SID to join him and is in the process of having the locker and everything inside of it printed. Buzz is filming the process. In the meantime," Sharon held up a hand and gestured toward Lieutenant Tao, "we are having the security footage from the hall outside of the locker room sent over."
Tao turned in his chair and pushed his glasses up onto his head. "We will be scanning the footage backward from the time that it was pulled. The good news is, each of the security systems set up at LAPD precincts and annex facilities are linked to a centralized system that is housed in this building. Access is limited, but the system itself is firewalled in such a way that if a user were to attempt to-"
Taylor held up a hand. "I get it." He looked at the Captain again. "So we haven't questioned either of the two officers and we are waiting."
"That is correct." Sharon tilted her head at him. "We can hold them for seventy-two hours without charging them, which should give us plenty of time finish investigating the Sergeant's locker, which is now part of our crime scene and review the download from the security cameras. While we are here doing that our suspects are left to sit and wonder exactly how much information we have. When we do finally begin our questioning we will, with any luck, have far more answers than we currently possess."
Lieutenant Provenza sat forward in his chair and leaned against his desk. He shot a triumphant looking smirk in the Assistant Chief's direction. "Anything else that you would like to know, or can we get back to work now? I assume that you are dropping by to tell us that his holiness would like for us to wrap this up quickly." He made a big show of checking his watch. "Our time is the Department's money, you know." He was aware of the Captain shooting a warning look in his direction but ignored it. They had two dead cops, any number of others implicated and the possibility of dozens of convictions being overturned in the near future; he was not in the mood to be told to hurry up. If ever there was a case in which they needed to make sure that they were doing everything by the book, this was it.
Taylor turned and fixed the Lieutenant with a bland look of his own. "As a matter of fact that is exactly what the Chief, and myself, would like for you to do." He held up a finger before the older man could respond, "not because of the many hours of overtime that I am sure will be involved with the remainder of this case - all of which has already been approved, but because we are facing a critical situation of having to report this issue to the Mayor and the state. We need to be armed with as much information as possible before we begin making those calls, but there is a small window of opportunity that allows us to discover our current circumstances and report it to the appropriate parties. We need to make sure that we are precisely..."
Sharon exchanged a look with Julio as the chief continued speaking. "...following the law," the detective mouthed in time with Taylor's speech. It was something that they had all heard before and from someone else. The detective's dark eyes were sparkling as he stared back at her. When her brow arched, but the corners of her mouth twitched, he just shrugged. Sharon had to look away from him to keep from smiling out right and found the chief staring at them. They both sobered quickly and stared back at him, their expressions now impassive.
"Chief I can assure you that we are all aware of the time constraints that we are facing, we are also fully cognizant of the seriousness of this situation. We are going to take this case step by step and when we do provide those answers to the appropriate parties, there will be no doubt that we have fully closed every loop." She sat back in her chair and folded her hands in her lap. "When we begin questioning the detectives I will make sure that you are notified so that you can be present. Until then we are doing everything that we can to maintain the integrity of this case while closing it as quickly as possible."
When her head tilted in such a way as to ask him if there would be anything else, Taylor felt like rolling his eyes. "Thank you, Captain. That is all that I am trying to confirm." He began to turn but stopped. He pointed a finger at her and then waved it at the others. "I don't know who has been the worse influence here. You or them."
"Us." Provenza smirked at him. "Definitely us."
"Definitely," Tao replied, attention already back on his computer, he didn't bother to turn around again."
"It took a few years," Julio was back to making notes on a legal pad. Since the Captain had effectively dismissed the Chief, he saw no reason to not get back to work. "But we finally got her trained."
Sharon waited for Taylor to leave, which he did without further delay, and managing to look just a tad disturbed. She slanted a look at Julio as she leaned forward again to dive back in to the files that they were reviewing. "Trained?"
"Oh yeah." He tapped the end of his pen against his notepad and glanced at her. "He can't complain about it now. He gave you to us. He should have been more careful."
She had to fight the urge to both laugh and roll her eyes. Instead she allowed a small smile and pushed the file they were previously working on back toward him. "Let's continue, Detective."
"Yes ma'am." Julio smirked, but turned his attention back to the case logs.
They did not manage to get much farther before Hobbs arrived. Sharon had managed to speak to her earlier and gave her a brief synopsis of their case. Now that she was able to join them, the Captain waved her into her office and had Lieutenant Provenza join them. While the DDA was being brought up to speed, Flynn returned with Buzz. The box that Sergeant Davis had greeted them with was now filled with contents from Sergeant Elliot's locker, only now it had been bagged, tagged, and printed. Andy handed the box off to Sykes and stepped over to knock quietly on the Captain's door. He pushed it open at her summons and poked his head inside.
"SID has the prints," he reported. "They're running them through our system first. If there was anything in the locker, it was cleared out before we got there."
Sharon nodded slowly. "Mike is still working on the security camera footage. Get Buzz to help him. I want to review it before we question Detectives Lewis and Fiess."
"We need to be very careful in how we approach these interviews," Hobbs stated. "As of now, neither of these two officers have asked for an attorney or their Union reps. The moment they do that, we are done. It will become even more difficult to offer them a deal. I would like to have all the information that we can get before we approach either of them."
"I agree." Sharon folded her arms across her chest. "Right now we have them separated with uniformed officers on the doors to the rooms that they are occupying, but neither man has made any requests..." Her lips pursed and she gave a small shrug. "Of course, none of my detectives have been by to see if they need anything either... and while Buzz was busy elsewhere, we haven't been able to monitor the cameras in those rooms as carefully as we normally would."
Andrea arched a brow at her. "Well, Captain, this case has a lot of moving parts. I am sure that we all understand that your team is stretched very thin."
"It has been practically unbearable," Provenza deadpanned.
"With nowhere to go but down from here," Sharon reminded him. "We should be able to start questioning the detectives very soon. Andrea, we will circle back with you in an hour. Will that give you enough time to review the notes we currently have?"
"It will have to," The DDA replied. "I will bring my boss up to speed and then I can dig in here. Once I see what we have, we can discuss deals." Like the others she wasn't keen on the idea, but if it secured their case, she was willing to make the offer.
"Then we will reconvene in an hour," the Captain stated. "Lieutenant," she turned her gaze on Provenza, "see if you can help inspire Lieutenant Tao to work faster."
"Ah." He grinned. "Shorter explanations. That I can most definitely do."
"Try to not enjoy it so much this time, hm?" she cautioned.
The Lieutenant feigned a look of pure innocence. "Captain, would I ever do something like that?"
"Many times, and in many ways," Andy drawled. "Come on, I'll help."
Provenza snorted. "He's the one that will enjoy it…"
Andrea shook her head as the two Lieutenants left them. "If you need more time, just let me know." She turned on her heel to follow.
Once she was alone in her office Sharon gazed through the open blinds into the Murder Room. She lingered there for just a moment while she watched the flurry of activity on the other side of the glass walls. She counted off only a few seconds while her mind pieced together what they knew and what still remained in front of them. Finally she moved to join them, a sigh at her lips. Until their case was closed there would be no rest for the wicked… or the righteous.
-TBC-