The Mayor's Office Scandal 1/?
Title: The Mayor's Office Scandal
Part: 1/?
Author: outuendo_11
Rating: M
Pairing: Sharon Raydor and Brenda Leigh Johnson
Show: The Closer
Summary: Chief Johnson finds herself in a tangled web of lies and deciet and when Captain Raydor gets pulled in to the mess they learn they can work together....and what's going on with the Captain?
A/N: There's CLEARLY not enough Sharon/Brenda at the moment, so I'm rectifying that problem by posting this. I started writing this a long time ago while watching Damages, so...perhaps I got carried away. But this is a cute little fic, so give it a chance. Please R&R! I love feedback of all kinds.
Chapter 1
“When did she go missing?” Brenda Leigh glanced down at the body, splayed out atop a queen sized mattress. Blankets and sheets were pressed up around the young blonde woman whose face was severely beaten. Had she not already known who the victim was, she most definitely wouldn’t be able to recognize her as badly beaten as she was now. “Good heavens.” She muttered under her breath, adjusting her purse on her shoulder.
“She didn’t show up to work this morning so her co-host, Tim Freeman, called the cops. She’s never missed a day of work in her life, so he found this behavior odd.” Lieutenant Tao informed, as he glanced up from his notepad. “He called her in missing at around 9:00 this morning. They finally located her body here in the apartment about noon.”
“Who’d want to beat up and kill Lexi Martin?” Brenda pursed her lips, taking in the entire room. She was surveying for any clues, anything at all that would give her some sort of lead in this case. “I loved watchin’ her on the mornin’ news. Now who am I gonna watch? Tim’s so borin’ and stiff.” She exclaimed, walking around the bed.
“Well, they have that eager new news reporter, Jenna Graham. She’s always reporting so thoroughly. I’m pretty sure they had to cut her off a time or two.” Lieutenant Flynn mused, as he stepped in to the bedroom.
“Would she want that promotion bad enough to kill for it?” Brenda glanced over her glasses and up at the entering Lieutenant.
“We can certainly bring her in for questioning.” Detective Gabriel looked up from his notepad.
“Please do,” Brenda nodded. “Were there any signs of forced entry?” She leafed through a pile of what looked like mail, but found nothing more than a few bills and some coupons.
“Not that we can see as of now. None of the electronics have been stolen from the apartment so I’m not sure we could rule this a burglary gone bad.” Lieutenant Tao matter-of-factly stated.
“None of the electronics were stolen?” Brenda glanced up again.
“No, Chief.” Tao nodded.
“Detective Sanchez,” Brenda turned an award winning smile on him, “would you mind locatin’ the victim’s laptop or computer and perhaps see if you can access anything on it that would be of interest? And Lieutenant Tao,” the man looked up at her. “Could you locate the victim’s cell phone and see if you can find anything out.”
“It’s right here,” Tao held up the device.
“Perfect. Lietenant Provenza and Lieutenant Flynn, would you mind gettin’ Ms. Graham to an interview room.”
“Certainly, Chief.” Flynn nodded at her and then both he and Provenza left the scene.
“So if this wasn’t a burglary, then are we suggestin’ this was a planned murder?” Brenda glanced around the room at her team.
“I think we could safely assume that.” Sanchez held up the computer. “I’ll take this in to the lab and see if I can’t get in to it.”
“Thank you, Detective.”
…
Brenda Leigh stepped out of her Crown Vic, her heels clicking on the cement pavement of the parking garage. Just what she needed today. A major crime, the day she was supposed to go sit down with her lawyer to sign the final papers. She would have to put it off another day. She knew Fritz would be upset with her, but she simply couldn’t do it. Not today.
And besides that, it still hurt. She wasn’t entirely sure she was ready to let go of everything they’d built together, yet she knew…they both knew it was over.
Her ears perked up as she heard heels clacking behind her. Police training overtook her need to know who was following behind her, and she stealthily glanced behind her, surprised to find a rather disheveled looking Captain Raydor, struggling with her purse and bag.
Stopping in her tracks, Brenda turned to greet the other woman politely, but realized the brunette was fighting back tears. Perhaps she shouldn’t have turned around.
“Chief Johnson,” Sharon’s voice was even; it held no emotion as she quickly caught up to the blonde.
“Afternoon, Capt’n.” Brenda nodded, uncertain as to what she should say in this situation. It was obvious the Captain was under distress, but Brenda wasn’t sure their slowly blossoming working relationship extended to asking her what was wrong or comforting her. In a strange way, Brenda almost did want to reach out to her on more than a professional level.
“Did you catch a case?” Sharon inquired, obviously trying to detract from her teary eyes.
“We did. LATV 9’s anchorwoman went missin’ this mornin’ and she ended up beaten to death in her apartment.” Brenda filled Sharon in as they stepped in to the elevator off of the parking garage. Brenda politely hit FID’s floor for Sharon without her asking.
Sharon’s eyes widened. “I wondered why she wasn’t on the news this morning. I always found her very attractive.”
Brenda nodded, then glanced over at the brunette and frowned. “She is attractive, isn’t she?” Brenda had never thought about it before, but she did suppose the once living blonde anchorwoman had been very attractive. Not so much in the sorry state Brenda had just seen her in. “Was, I suppose.” Brenda glanced down at her hands.
Sharon seemed to open her mouth to ask Brenda something, but then stopped herself. This single motion piqued Brenda’s curiosity. She wanted to know what the brunette would ask her. After some internal struggle - or so it seemed -Sharon finally opened her mouth again. “Are you doing all right, and all?” Her voice sounded small, uncharacteristic of the normally confident head of FID.
Brenda nodded. She glanced at her watch and then sighed, “I was supposed to be signin’ the papers right now, but this case came up.”
“I’m sorry.” Sharon’s voice was sympathetic.
Brenda looked over at the Captain, a bit surprised by her show of sympathy. Though she supposed it wasn’t so surprising. They’d been growing closer over the past few months. Sharon had actually been the first person Brenda had confided in about her divorce. So perhaps this was normal, it was okay. “Thanks,” she gave her a wide smile before the elevator dinged open on to FID’s floor. She immediately wished she’d asked Sharon about her afternoon - the woman had been visibly upset - but the brunette was already bidding her a good afternoon and making an escape from the elevator. Brenda felt like a coward. She made a mental note to be more attentive next time.
…
“Why am I here?” Jenna Graham, an attractive young twenty-something, with wide brown eyes and dark brown hair, demanded as Brenda stepped in to the interrogation room.
“Just routine questionin’.” Brenda moved to sit down next to Detective Gabriel. She let her purse slide off her shoulder and on to the ground while slapping a vanilla folder on to the desk. “Do you know who this is?”
Brenda opened the folder and pulled out a headshot of Lexi. Jenna’s eyes went wide. “Of course I know who she is. Is she all right?” Jenna’s eyes moved to look directly at Brenda. Confusion was etched in her features. “I know she was missing from taping this morning, but I hadn’t heard…is she sick?”
Brenda inwardly frowned. She clearly had no idea. “She was found dead this mornin’.” Brenda pulled out a crime scene photo and set it in front of Jenna, who broke down in to tears after taking in the horrific scene before her.
“Oh my…oh my God.” Jenna pushed the photo away. “Who did that to her? Who did that?!” Jenna demanded through tears.
“That’s what we’re tryin’ to figure out.” Brenda took the picture and placed it back in to the folder.
“Who would do that?” Jenna kept crying, her body rocking back and forth. “Oh my God.”
Brenda and Gabriel exchanged a quick glance at one another. She was clearly not a lead. It was obvious she had no idea. They wasted time having her come in. Brenda nodded to Gabriel and reached for her purse. “I’m sorry ‘bout all this. If you have any information that could possibly help our case, please feel free to contact me.” Brenda fished out a card from the recesses of her purse and handed it over to the broken down reporter.
“I will, I will.” Jenna nodded, still in tears.
Brenda stepped out of the room and shook her head. This was not a lead. This was a waste of time. Who would kill Lexi Martin?
The clock was ticking.
…
Sharon Raydor picked up her ringing phone, while completing her signature on a recent LAPD audit of the traffic division. “Captain Raydor.” She answered in to the phone, flipping the page of the audit.
“Sharon, I hope you’re not beating yourself up about this afternoon.”
Sharon sniffed and ceased reading the audit. She pulled off her glasses and wiped her forehead. “I’m trying not to.” She set down her pen and settled back in her seat.
“You know you were an excellent mother. I was a shit father. If anything you should blame his behavior on me.”
“I’m not going to do that, George.” Sharon let a small smile grace her features. “I just don’t know what to do with him. I can’t keep…I can’t keep covering for him like I do. I’m running out of money and I have my own mortgage to take care of and all the other bills.”
“I know,” George sighed.
“I’m fucking paying his child support.” Sharon rolled her eyes.
“You know I can probably take on some of that,” George suggested.
“We shouldn’t take it on at all. We should cut him off and make him do it.” Sharon hesitated at the end of her sentence.
“But…” George could hear it in her voice before she spoke.
Sharon sighed. “But I don’t want to lose him.”
George took a moment to consider this. “What did we do wrong?”
Sharon laughed, a wry, hurt, deflective laugh. “I have no idea.”
…
“Chief, we got in to Lexi’s computer.” Sanchez glanced up from his desk.
Brenda was busy staring at the white board, littered with all things Lexi Martin. Nothing was adding up. Turning on her heels, she stared in Sanchez’s direction. “Anything yet?”
“We’re looking.” Tao called back.
“This makes no sense.” Brenda muttered under her breath.
“Okay, her e-mail was up,” Tao spoke.
Brenda walked swiftly towards him, sliding her glasses on as she moved closer. She leaned over Tao’s shoulder. “Anything?”
“Let’s see…an e-mail from her mother,” Tao hummed under his breath. “An e-mail from her sister….one from someone at her work.”
“Click on it,” Brenda nodded.
It was simply a schedule, a plan for the next day.
“Next,” Brenda sighed, waiting for something, anything.
After thirty minutes of looking through e-mails, Brenda stood up. “Can you retrieve the deleted messages? Or maybe scan through the junk mail?”
“I will,” Tao nodded.
Brenda glanced back at the board. Lexi’s text messages had left no information either. Only a few texts between her co-workers and her family. She didn’t even have a boyfriend to ask in. A boyfriend would have been a perfect lead for this. It would have been perfect for a boyfriend to be let in, without using force, and it could simply be domestic violence turned murder. But…no boyfriend existed.
“I want to talk to everyone at the station,” Brenda announced. Obviously Lexi Martin knew her attacker. She’d let him or her in to her apartment. It had to be someone she saw every day, or at least someone she knew. She would start with work.
Part: 1/?
Author: outuendo_11
Rating: M
Pairing: Sharon Raydor and Brenda Leigh Johnson
Show: The Closer
Summary: Chief Johnson finds herself in a tangled web of lies and deciet and when Captain Raydor gets pulled in to the mess they learn they can work together....and what's going on with the Captain?
A/N: There's CLEARLY not enough Sharon/Brenda at the moment, so I'm rectifying that problem by posting this. I started writing this a long time ago while watching Damages, so...perhaps I got carried away. But this is a cute little fic, so give it a chance. Please R&R! I love feedback of all kinds.
Chapter 1
“When did she go missing?” Brenda Leigh glanced down at the body, splayed out atop a queen sized mattress. Blankets and sheets were pressed up around the young blonde woman whose face was severely beaten. Had she not already known who the victim was, she most definitely wouldn’t be able to recognize her as badly beaten as she was now. “Good heavens.” She muttered under her breath, adjusting her purse on her shoulder.
“She didn’t show up to work this morning so her co-host, Tim Freeman, called the cops. She’s never missed a day of work in her life, so he found this behavior odd.” Lieutenant Tao informed, as he glanced up from his notepad. “He called her in missing at around 9:00 this morning. They finally located her body here in the apartment about noon.”
“Who’d want to beat up and kill Lexi Martin?” Brenda pursed her lips, taking in the entire room. She was surveying for any clues, anything at all that would give her some sort of lead in this case. “I loved watchin’ her on the mornin’ news. Now who am I gonna watch? Tim’s so borin’ and stiff.” She exclaimed, walking around the bed.
“Well, they have that eager new news reporter, Jenna Graham. She’s always reporting so thoroughly. I’m pretty sure they had to cut her off a time or two.” Lieutenant Flynn mused, as he stepped in to the bedroom.
“Would she want that promotion bad enough to kill for it?” Brenda glanced over her glasses and up at the entering Lieutenant.
“We can certainly bring her in for questioning.” Detective Gabriel looked up from his notepad.
“Please do,” Brenda nodded. “Were there any signs of forced entry?” She leafed through a pile of what looked like mail, but found nothing more than a few bills and some coupons.
“Not that we can see as of now. None of the electronics have been stolen from the apartment so I’m not sure we could rule this a burglary gone bad.” Lieutenant Tao matter-of-factly stated.
“None of the electronics were stolen?” Brenda glanced up again.
“No, Chief.” Tao nodded.
“Detective Sanchez,” Brenda turned an award winning smile on him, “would you mind locatin’ the victim’s laptop or computer and perhaps see if you can access anything on it that would be of interest? And Lieutenant Tao,” the man looked up at her. “Could you locate the victim’s cell phone and see if you can find anything out.”
“It’s right here,” Tao held up the device.
“Perfect. Lietenant Provenza and Lieutenant Flynn, would you mind gettin’ Ms. Graham to an interview room.”
“Certainly, Chief.” Flynn nodded at her and then both he and Provenza left the scene.
“So if this wasn’t a burglary, then are we suggestin’ this was a planned murder?” Brenda glanced around the room at her team.
“I think we could safely assume that.” Sanchez held up the computer. “I’ll take this in to the lab and see if I can’t get in to it.”
“Thank you, Detective.”
…
Brenda Leigh stepped out of her Crown Vic, her heels clicking on the cement pavement of the parking garage. Just what she needed today. A major crime, the day she was supposed to go sit down with her lawyer to sign the final papers. She would have to put it off another day. She knew Fritz would be upset with her, but she simply couldn’t do it. Not today.
And besides that, it still hurt. She wasn’t entirely sure she was ready to let go of everything they’d built together, yet she knew…they both knew it was over.
Her ears perked up as she heard heels clacking behind her. Police training overtook her need to know who was following behind her, and she stealthily glanced behind her, surprised to find a rather disheveled looking Captain Raydor, struggling with her purse and bag.
Stopping in her tracks, Brenda turned to greet the other woman politely, but realized the brunette was fighting back tears. Perhaps she shouldn’t have turned around.
“Chief Johnson,” Sharon’s voice was even; it held no emotion as she quickly caught up to the blonde.
“Afternoon, Capt’n.” Brenda nodded, uncertain as to what she should say in this situation. It was obvious the Captain was under distress, but Brenda wasn’t sure their slowly blossoming working relationship extended to asking her what was wrong or comforting her. In a strange way, Brenda almost did want to reach out to her on more than a professional level.
“Did you catch a case?” Sharon inquired, obviously trying to detract from her teary eyes.
“We did. LATV 9’s anchorwoman went missin’ this mornin’ and she ended up beaten to death in her apartment.” Brenda filled Sharon in as they stepped in to the elevator off of the parking garage. Brenda politely hit FID’s floor for Sharon without her asking.
Sharon’s eyes widened. “I wondered why she wasn’t on the news this morning. I always found her very attractive.”
Brenda nodded, then glanced over at the brunette and frowned. “She is attractive, isn’t she?” Brenda had never thought about it before, but she did suppose the once living blonde anchorwoman had been very attractive. Not so much in the sorry state Brenda had just seen her in. “Was, I suppose.” Brenda glanced down at her hands.
Sharon seemed to open her mouth to ask Brenda something, but then stopped herself. This single motion piqued Brenda’s curiosity. She wanted to know what the brunette would ask her. After some internal struggle - or so it seemed -Sharon finally opened her mouth again. “Are you doing all right, and all?” Her voice sounded small, uncharacteristic of the normally confident head of FID.
Brenda nodded. She glanced at her watch and then sighed, “I was supposed to be signin’ the papers right now, but this case came up.”
“I’m sorry.” Sharon’s voice was sympathetic.
Brenda looked over at the Captain, a bit surprised by her show of sympathy. Though she supposed it wasn’t so surprising. They’d been growing closer over the past few months. Sharon had actually been the first person Brenda had confided in about her divorce. So perhaps this was normal, it was okay. “Thanks,” she gave her a wide smile before the elevator dinged open on to FID’s floor. She immediately wished she’d asked Sharon about her afternoon - the woman had been visibly upset - but the brunette was already bidding her a good afternoon and making an escape from the elevator. Brenda felt like a coward. She made a mental note to be more attentive next time.
…
“Why am I here?” Jenna Graham, an attractive young twenty-something, with wide brown eyes and dark brown hair, demanded as Brenda stepped in to the interrogation room.
“Just routine questionin’.” Brenda moved to sit down next to Detective Gabriel. She let her purse slide off her shoulder and on to the ground while slapping a vanilla folder on to the desk. “Do you know who this is?”
Brenda opened the folder and pulled out a headshot of Lexi. Jenna’s eyes went wide. “Of course I know who she is. Is she all right?” Jenna’s eyes moved to look directly at Brenda. Confusion was etched in her features. “I know she was missing from taping this morning, but I hadn’t heard…is she sick?”
Brenda inwardly frowned. She clearly had no idea. “She was found dead this mornin’.” Brenda pulled out a crime scene photo and set it in front of Jenna, who broke down in to tears after taking in the horrific scene before her.
“Oh my…oh my God.” Jenna pushed the photo away. “Who did that to her? Who did that?!” Jenna demanded through tears.
“That’s what we’re tryin’ to figure out.” Brenda took the picture and placed it back in to the folder.
“Who would do that?” Jenna kept crying, her body rocking back and forth. “Oh my God.”
Brenda and Gabriel exchanged a quick glance at one another. She was clearly not a lead. It was obvious she had no idea. They wasted time having her come in. Brenda nodded to Gabriel and reached for her purse. “I’m sorry ‘bout all this. If you have any information that could possibly help our case, please feel free to contact me.” Brenda fished out a card from the recesses of her purse and handed it over to the broken down reporter.
“I will, I will.” Jenna nodded, still in tears.
Brenda stepped out of the room and shook her head. This was not a lead. This was a waste of time. Who would kill Lexi Martin?
The clock was ticking.
…
Sharon Raydor picked up her ringing phone, while completing her signature on a recent LAPD audit of the traffic division. “Captain Raydor.” She answered in to the phone, flipping the page of the audit.
“Sharon, I hope you’re not beating yourself up about this afternoon.”
Sharon sniffed and ceased reading the audit. She pulled off her glasses and wiped her forehead. “I’m trying not to.” She set down her pen and settled back in her seat.
“You know you were an excellent mother. I was a shit father. If anything you should blame his behavior on me.”
“I’m not going to do that, George.” Sharon let a small smile grace her features. “I just don’t know what to do with him. I can’t keep…I can’t keep covering for him like I do. I’m running out of money and I have my own mortgage to take care of and all the other bills.”
“I know,” George sighed.
“I’m fucking paying his child support.” Sharon rolled her eyes.
“You know I can probably take on some of that,” George suggested.
“We shouldn’t take it on at all. We should cut him off and make him do it.” Sharon hesitated at the end of her sentence.
“But…” George could hear it in her voice before she spoke.
Sharon sighed. “But I don’t want to lose him.”
George took a moment to consider this. “What did we do wrong?”
Sharon laughed, a wry, hurt, deflective laugh. “I have no idea.”
…
“Chief, we got in to Lexi’s computer.” Sanchez glanced up from his desk.
Brenda was busy staring at the white board, littered with all things Lexi Martin. Nothing was adding up. Turning on her heels, she stared in Sanchez’s direction. “Anything yet?”
“We’re looking.” Tao called back.
“This makes no sense.” Brenda muttered under her breath.
“Okay, her e-mail was up,” Tao spoke.
Brenda walked swiftly towards him, sliding her glasses on as she moved closer. She leaned over Tao’s shoulder. “Anything?”
“Let’s see…an e-mail from her mother,” Tao hummed under his breath. “An e-mail from her sister….one from someone at her work.”
“Click on it,” Brenda nodded.
It was simply a schedule, a plan for the next day.
“Next,” Brenda sighed, waiting for something, anything.
After thirty minutes of looking through e-mails, Brenda stood up. “Can you retrieve the deleted messages? Or maybe scan through the junk mail?”
“I will,” Tao nodded.
Brenda glanced back at the board. Lexi’s text messages had left no information either. Only a few texts between her co-workers and her family. She didn’t even have a boyfriend to ask in. A boyfriend would have been a perfect lead for this. It would have been perfect for a boyfriend to be let in, without using force, and it could simply be domestic violence turned murder. But…no boyfriend existed.
“I want to talk to everyone at the station,” Brenda announced. Obviously Lexi Martin knew her attacker. She’d let him or her in to her apartment. It had to be someone she saw every day, or at least someone she knew. She would start with work.