Fic: Between Friends - Act One [The Closer]
Title: Between Friends - Act One [The Closer]
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, never was.
Summary: Raydor and Johnson clash over the murder of an officer on his beat. Each woman has something to lose, but what if they also discover something they can gain?
Previous Chapters: [ Teaser] [ Cold Open]
A/N: After three helpings of cheesecake; an Easter Creme Egg brownie [ah gah, so decadent]; an ill-advised jog; a Who [Doctor]; and a most unsatisfying ending to the most unsatisfying revival of 'Upstairs Downstairs' [which is NO Downton Abbey] this was the best I could do - which I've re-worked a few times but still can't seem to get right...
---
What had she been thinking last night?
Brenda looked around the squad room and began to rethink her benevolence to the Captain at the crime scene. She clearly wasn't in the right mind, letting Raydor take over like that. She hadn't done anything wrong... it just made it difficult now that she was here and ready to lead her team and Captain Raydor was nowhere to be found. She supposed she could just start without h-
"Sorry, Chief." Raydor apologized as she entered the room, a large shopping bag and a cardboard box in her hand.
"Hit a cow on the freeway, Captain?" Provenza asked, taking in her outfit.
"Oh, I'm sorry Lieutenant..." The brunette looked down at her clothes. An ivory blouse tucked into a black leather skirt. "Was she family?"
"Nice of you to show up to the party Captain." Brenda responded, rolling her eyes at the outfit choice, though she didn't quite know why. It was fitted, but not tight, above the knee but not inappropriate. In fact, it was tasteful - but there was something about the way it sat on the other woman that made it look just a little... "I was rather hopin' you'd have your report ready but -"
"I'm sorry Chief." Raydor set down her bag on the empty desk along the wall - Brenda noticed a cup of coffee and Raydor's laptop already set up. "I'd have it sooner but you're out of toner. I've asked I.T. to send more up." From the cardboard box she pulled out the report and began passing it around.
"Well Captain," Brenda responded tersely, "Why don't walk us through it?" She stepped aside to let the other woman come up to the white board.
She ran a firm hand over her brow hoping to ease the tension that had built up all morning but found it didn't help. Surely the demise of EVERYTHING she'd known justified a nibble of the good stuff? She lowered her hand into her pocket and grasped the bag of Skittles she'd stuffed in there. It was like her safety blanket these last few weeks - every morning she'd shove it into the pocket of whatever she'd wear that day, furtive and guilty that she needed it. She didn't - at least that's what she'd tell herself every morning, but still couldn't help herself. She found that since Fritz's departure, she'd turn to this bag of candy nibbles, not to eat, but to clutch at nervously. Lately she'd taken to shifting them like worry beads, pushing each one with her thumb from one end of the packet to the other - much like she was doing now. She forced herself to focus on Raydor's recap in front of her.
"I'd like to go in and question her. Officer Welles has an appointment to see me this afternoon and if I can finish up with Samantha, I'll be able to file the report by tonight, well within my deadline."
"Well Captain if you'll be *well* within your deadline, maybe you'll let us question Samantha first? Let us get the real crime out of the way. You can then file your report tomorrow morning." Brenda didn't know why she was being difficult, she just knew Raydor was going to be the focus of it - at least until someone better came along. She wondered what Will was doing for lunch.
"Why?"
"Excuse me Captain Raydor? Did you just ask me why?"
"I did Chief. There's plenty of other work that can be done with your case, mine simply needs the -"
"If there's plenty of other work that can be done on *my* case, I think you see why we need to go first when it comes to questioning Samantha before...well before she lawyers up." Brenda threw in a decisive little nod, proud of how she finished her argument. She was damned if she was going to lose something this petty to Raydor. If she gave in on the small stuff, it would just be a hop, skip and a jump to just turning her team over to the arrogant woman.
"I still don't see why this matters - she hasn't asked for so much as a hair tie, let alone a lawyer. She won't - she seems hellbent on penance for something -"
"Yeah, Captain - it's called killin' her husband? You remember, the dead cop in the morgue downstairs?" Flynn called out, slumping over his arms on his desk. Watching these two go at it was like watching those damned cat videos Provenza was always sending him - fun at first, but just really boring after a while. There was only so many times you could watch small, fluffy things scratch and hiss at each other and be entertained.
"I do remember, Lt. Flynn. Thank you. The sooner we can close the case on *how* the man died, we can focus on *why* he died. Right now there's a lot of rumours floating around about that 'dead cop' downstairs - I can't think of a better way to honour a fallen officer than clearing them up, can you?"
"No ma'am." He responded. He hated when she was right. And she tended to be right more times then he liked to think about.
"Alright - here's what we're gonna do..." Brenda moved her hand to her brow again, feeling the pressure continue to build. "The Captain and I are goin' to question Ms. Reese in an as yet to be determined order. Lt. Tao, since Buzz is out visitin' his Nana -" She paused while the team made their requisite snickers, "You'll be filmin' for us. Lt.s Provenza and Flynn, I'd like for you to go to the Reese house and poke around, see if you can find -" She put her hand up to cut off Raydor before she could speak "-you're going to investigate the victim, not the suspect, that'll get you by without a warrant. Detectives Gabriel & Sanchez, I want you two to hang around and see what comes up from the interview. Let's go Captain." Brenda quickly turned on her heel and headed out towards the interview room, knowing Raydor had to jog to catch up to her.
"Chief -" Captain Raydor called out after her as she rounded the corner and waited at the door to the interrogation room, "Just a moment?"
"Yes Captain, what can I do for you?"
"I just wanted to talk, make sure we're on the same page before we begin."
"I didn't realize we weren't on the same page. I assumed that when a superior officer gives an order, her subordinates get onto the page she wants them to."
"Yes ma'am. It's just -"
"Did you not hear me, Captain? You will get on whatever damned page I'm on - be it 'It was a dark and stormy night' to 'and they lived happily ever after'."
"And just what page are we on, Chief Johnson?" Raydor asked her, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"Well, ah. I don't know just yet." Brenda stood there for a moment before pushing the door open to their side of the room. She could feel the headache grow stronger - she just needed some time away from this woman, and maybe this office. Just a nice day curled up in her bathrobe watching some awful, awful television and eating as many Robin's Eggs and Twizzlers her body could take. Just the thought of it, her perfect day, left her with a tranquil feeling. "Ok, here it is -" She watched as a uniformed officer lead in Samantha Reese. "You will go first. You will complete your report. You will turn it in. It will be spectacular. You will leave Major Crimes and we will all celebrate like they did when the house crushed your sister back in Oz, do you understand me?" Brenda pretended she didn't hear Tao's muffled laugh as he walked into the room mid-diatribe followed by Detectives Gabriel and Sanchez.
"Yes Chief. Absolutely." Sharon's eyes narrowed some more. Brenda wondered how the other woman could see anything with them so tightly drawn together. She did that when she was angry - you could tell a lot about the older woman's mood by her eyes - open wide meant something was going on, narrowed was thinly concealed rage. There was a third look, one that she hadn't seen many times, just out of the corner of her eye now and then, that she didn't understand, couldn't quite read.
"Well, what are you waitin' for? Get in there." Brenda cocked her head towards their suspect and stepped closer to the other woman to lead her towards the door. "Go get 'em, or nab 'em, or do whatever it is your department does. Steal her candy - I don't care. Just...shoo!"
The two women stood there for a moment, sizing the other up. Brenda noticed the brunette cocked her head to the side as if to gain a new perspective. Let her try - she almost laughed - she'd love to see someone make sense of her, Lord knows Fritz couldn't. After an all but imperceptible nod, Captain Raydor turned on her heel and walked out. "Well," Brenda clasped her hands together and smiled nervously, turning towards Tao, "Let's see how long it takes her to screw this up, shall we?"
Sharon entered the room after a minute or two of waiting and Brenda watched as she quietly introduced herself to the other woman, then sat down across from her - taking her time as she set down her file folder, her note pad, her pen - until they were all just so. She wasn't sure if it was a delaying tactic, or a power trip, or just her precise personality coming out - whatever it was, it wasn't working. Samantha Reese was indifferent to the performance. Brenda took this time to look at the other woman. Her limp blond hair was hanging around her face, under her brown eyes were deep lines and bags - more than could be explained from a single sleepless night in lock up. "You know Chief," Tao murmured as he watched the screen in front of him, "She kinda looks like you - you know, if you just shot a man."
"Yes, thank you for that observation, Lt." She huffed, pretending she hadn't just been thinking the same thing. "Can you just get the sound louder?" The tinny sound from the other side of the mirror grew louder as Sharon's session began in ernest:
Sharon Raydor: And so on the evening of April 18th, 2011 you -
Samantha Reese: Killed my husband.
Sharon Raydor: You do you know you're well within your rights to request a lawyer, correct?
Samantha Reese: Yes.
Sharon Raydor: And you're choosing to waive that right?
Samantha Reese: Yes. Are we done here?
Sharon Raydor: Not quite. Can you tell me how you killed your husband, Nicholas Reese? Can you walk me through it?
Samantha Reese: I drove up to where he and Paul, Officer Welles were, I parked my car, I got out of it, I walked up towards him, asked to see his gun, he said no, I grabbed it from him, then shot him.
Sharon Raydor: How did you get his gun?
Samantha Reese: He doesn't keep it snapped in. He has a nervous habit or playing with things like snaps, he likes to flick them.
Sharon Raydor: I see. I have to ask, Mrs. Reese, why did you do it?
Samantha Reese: For Michael.
Sharon Raydor: Care to elaborate?
Samantha Reese: Nick killed Michael.
Brenda looked on, eyes widening - she knew this moment all too well, she'd faced it countless times, sitting across the cold, metal table as you watched the witness before you shut down. It was like a switch being flicked - turning off the lights, shutting the flow of water. There was often little warning - even she would be blindsided time to time.
It was too late. The interview had stalled. Damn.
"What's she doing in there?" Brenda waved a hand behind her to silence the intrusion of Will Pope.
Sharon Raydor: Who's Michael and how did he kill him?
Samantha Reese: ...
Sharon Raydor: Samantha, who's Michael?
Samantha Reese: I'd like to go back to my cell now.
-TBC
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, never was.
Summary: Raydor and Johnson clash over the murder of an officer on his beat. Each woman has something to lose, but what if they also discover something they can gain?
Previous Chapters: [ Teaser] [ Cold Open]
A/N: After three helpings of cheesecake; an Easter Creme Egg brownie [ah gah, so decadent]; an ill-advised jog; a Who [Doctor]; and a most unsatisfying ending to the most unsatisfying revival of 'Upstairs Downstairs' [which is NO Downton Abbey] this was the best I could do - which I've re-worked a few times but still can't seem to get right...
---
What had she been thinking last night?
Brenda looked around the squad room and began to rethink her benevolence to the Captain at the crime scene. She clearly wasn't in the right mind, letting Raydor take over like that. She hadn't done anything wrong... it just made it difficult now that she was here and ready to lead her team and Captain Raydor was nowhere to be found. She supposed she could just start without h-
"Sorry, Chief." Raydor apologized as she entered the room, a large shopping bag and a cardboard box in her hand.
"Hit a cow on the freeway, Captain?" Provenza asked, taking in her outfit.
"Oh, I'm sorry Lieutenant..." The brunette looked down at her clothes. An ivory blouse tucked into a black leather skirt. "Was she family?"
"Nice of you to show up to the party Captain." Brenda responded, rolling her eyes at the outfit choice, though she didn't quite know why. It was fitted, but not tight, above the knee but not inappropriate. In fact, it was tasteful - but there was something about the way it sat on the other woman that made it look just a little... "I was rather hopin' you'd have your report ready but -"
"I'm sorry Chief." Raydor set down her bag on the empty desk along the wall - Brenda noticed a cup of coffee and Raydor's laptop already set up. "I'd have it sooner but you're out of toner. I've asked I.T. to send more up." From the cardboard box she pulled out the report and began passing it around.
"Well Captain," Brenda responded tersely, "Why don't walk us through it?" She stepped aside to let the other woman come up to the white board.
She ran a firm hand over her brow hoping to ease the tension that had built up all morning but found it didn't help. Surely the demise of EVERYTHING she'd known justified a nibble of the good stuff? She lowered her hand into her pocket and grasped the bag of Skittles she'd stuffed in there. It was like her safety blanket these last few weeks - every morning she'd shove it into the pocket of whatever she'd wear that day, furtive and guilty that she needed it. She didn't - at least that's what she'd tell herself every morning, but still couldn't help herself. She found that since Fritz's departure, she'd turn to this bag of candy nibbles, not to eat, but to clutch at nervously. Lately she'd taken to shifting them like worry beads, pushing each one with her thumb from one end of the packet to the other - much like she was doing now. She forced herself to focus on Raydor's recap in front of her.
"I'd like to go in and question her. Officer Welles has an appointment to see me this afternoon and if I can finish up with Samantha, I'll be able to file the report by tonight, well within my deadline."
"Well Captain if you'll be *well* within your deadline, maybe you'll let us question Samantha first? Let us get the real crime out of the way. You can then file your report tomorrow morning." Brenda didn't know why she was being difficult, she just knew Raydor was going to be the focus of it - at least until someone better came along. She wondered what Will was doing for lunch.
"Why?"
"Excuse me Captain Raydor? Did you just ask me why?"
"I did Chief. There's plenty of other work that can be done with your case, mine simply needs the -"
"If there's plenty of other work that can be done on *my* case, I think you see why we need to go first when it comes to questioning Samantha before...well before she lawyers up." Brenda threw in a decisive little nod, proud of how she finished her argument. She was damned if she was going to lose something this petty to Raydor. If she gave in on the small stuff, it would just be a hop, skip and a jump to just turning her team over to the arrogant woman.
"I still don't see why this matters - she hasn't asked for so much as a hair tie, let alone a lawyer. She won't - she seems hellbent on penance for something -"
"Yeah, Captain - it's called killin' her husband? You remember, the dead cop in the morgue downstairs?" Flynn called out, slumping over his arms on his desk. Watching these two go at it was like watching those damned cat videos Provenza was always sending him - fun at first, but just really boring after a while. There was only so many times you could watch small, fluffy things scratch and hiss at each other and be entertained.
"I do remember, Lt. Flynn. Thank you. The sooner we can close the case on *how* the man died, we can focus on *why* he died. Right now there's a lot of rumours floating around about that 'dead cop' downstairs - I can't think of a better way to honour a fallen officer than clearing them up, can you?"
"No ma'am." He responded. He hated when she was right. And she tended to be right more times then he liked to think about.
"Alright - here's what we're gonna do..." Brenda moved her hand to her brow again, feeling the pressure continue to build. "The Captain and I are goin' to question Ms. Reese in an as yet to be determined order. Lt. Tao, since Buzz is out visitin' his Nana -" She paused while the team made their requisite snickers, "You'll be filmin' for us. Lt.s Provenza and Flynn, I'd like for you to go to the Reese house and poke around, see if you can find -" She put her hand up to cut off Raydor before she could speak "-you're going to investigate the victim, not the suspect, that'll get you by without a warrant. Detectives Gabriel & Sanchez, I want you two to hang around and see what comes up from the interview. Let's go Captain." Brenda quickly turned on her heel and headed out towards the interview room, knowing Raydor had to jog to catch up to her.
"Chief -" Captain Raydor called out after her as she rounded the corner and waited at the door to the interrogation room, "Just a moment?"
"Yes Captain, what can I do for you?"
"I just wanted to talk, make sure we're on the same page before we begin."
"I didn't realize we weren't on the same page. I assumed that when a superior officer gives an order, her subordinates get onto the page she wants them to."
"Yes ma'am. It's just -"
"Did you not hear me, Captain? You will get on whatever damned page I'm on - be it 'It was a dark and stormy night' to 'and they lived happily ever after'."
"And just what page are we on, Chief Johnson?" Raydor asked her, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"Well, ah. I don't know just yet." Brenda stood there for a moment before pushing the door open to their side of the room. She could feel the headache grow stronger - she just needed some time away from this woman, and maybe this office. Just a nice day curled up in her bathrobe watching some awful, awful television and eating as many Robin's Eggs and Twizzlers her body could take. Just the thought of it, her perfect day, left her with a tranquil feeling. "Ok, here it is -" She watched as a uniformed officer lead in Samantha Reese. "You will go first. You will complete your report. You will turn it in. It will be spectacular. You will leave Major Crimes and we will all celebrate like they did when the house crushed your sister back in Oz, do you understand me?" Brenda pretended she didn't hear Tao's muffled laugh as he walked into the room mid-diatribe followed by Detectives Gabriel and Sanchez.
"Yes Chief. Absolutely." Sharon's eyes narrowed some more. Brenda wondered how the other woman could see anything with them so tightly drawn together. She did that when she was angry - you could tell a lot about the older woman's mood by her eyes - open wide meant something was going on, narrowed was thinly concealed rage. There was a third look, one that she hadn't seen many times, just out of the corner of her eye now and then, that she didn't understand, couldn't quite read.
"Well, what are you waitin' for? Get in there." Brenda cocked her head towards their suspect and stepped closer to the other woman to lead her towards the door. "Go get 'em, or nab 'em, or do whatever it is your department does. Steal her candy - I don't care. Just...shoo!"
The two women stood there for a moment, sizing the other up. Brenda noticed the brunette cocked her head to the side as if to gain a new perspective. Let her try - she almost laughed - she'd love to see someone make sense of her, Lord knows Fritz couldn't. After an all but imperceptible nod, Captain Raydor turned on her heel and walked out. "Well," Brenda clasped her hands together and smiled nervously, turning towards Tao, "Let's see how long it takes her to screw this up, shall we?"
Sharon entered the room after a minute or two of waiting and Brenda watched as she quietly introduced herself to the other woman, then sat down across from her - taking her time as she set down her file folder, her note pad, her pen - until they were all just so. She wasn't sure if it was a delaying tactic, or a power trip, or just her precise personality coming out - whatever it was, it wasn't working. Samantha Reese was indifferent to the performance. Brenda took this time to look at the other woman. Her limp blond hair was hanging around her face, under her brown eyes were deep lines and bags - more than could be explained from a single sleepless night in lock up. "You know Chief," Tao murmured as he watched the screen in front of him, "She kinda looks like you - you know, if you just shot a man."
"Yes, thank you for that observation, Lt." She huffed, pretending she hadn't just been thinking the same thing. "Can you just get the sound louder?" The tinny sound from the other side of the mirror grew louder as Sharon's session began in ernest:
Sharon Raydor: And so on the evening of April 18th, 2011 you -
Samantha Reese: Killed my husband.
Sharon Raydor: You do you know you're well within your rights to request a lawyer, correct?
Samantha Reese: Yes.
Sharon Raydor: And you're choosing to waive that right?
Samantha Reese: Yes. Are we done here?
Sharon Raydor: Not quite. Can you tell me how you killed your husband, Nicholas Reese? Can you walk me through it?
Samantha Reese: I drove up to where he and Paul, Officer Welles were, I parked my car, I got out of it, I walked up towards him, asked to see his gun, he said no, I grabbed it from him, then shot him.
Sharon Raydor: How did you get his gun?
Samantha Reese: He doesn't keep it snapped in. He has a nervous habit or playing with things like snaps, he likes to flick them.
Sharon Raydor: I see. I have to ask, Mrs. Reese, why did you do it?
Samantha Reese: For Michael.
Sharon Raydor: Care to elaborate?
Samantha Reese: Nick killed Michael.
Brenda looked on, eyes widening - she knew this moment all too well, she'd faced it countless times, sitting across the cold, metal table as you watched the witness before you shut down. It was like a switch being flicked - turning off the lights, shutting the flow of water. There was often little warning - even she would be blindsided time to time.
It was too late. The interview had stalled. Damn.
"What's she doing in there?" Brenda waved a hand behind her to silence the intrusion of Will Pope.
Sharon Raydor: Who's Michael and how did he kill him?
Samantha Reese: ...
Sharon Raydor: Samantha, who's Michael?
Samantha Reese: I'd like to go back to my cell now.
-TBC