You And I - (A One Chicago Story)

Chapter 1 - A new case

*just a side note, I might not get all the american policing terms correct 100% of the time as I am from the UK but I will try my best. My best friend is reading this to help with any grammar errors etc but we are not perfect so there may be a few mistakes along the way :)*
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I could barely make out my phone ringing over the top of my incredibly loud music and me singing along just as loud but rather out of tune. I made my way over to the countertop where I had left it and picked it up.

"Detective Cooper" i answered
"Cooper are you ok, you sound rather out of breath?" My rookie partners voice came through the phone (he was new to the unit two months ago and I wasn't going to share what I did in my spare time with him just yet)

"Yeah I'm fine thanks Avery,What do you need?"
"A body has been reported, at a bowling alley" he informed me
"Right ok text me the address and I'll meet you there"

After I hung up the phone I looked around my apartment not only had I been having my own mini concert but I had also been baking muffins and somehow ,probably with all the dancing, there was a significant amount  of flour on the floor and on me.

I sighed as I looked around my apartment I never usually let it get this messy I was one of those people who like everything to be neat and tidy all the time "ill tidy this when I get home" I muttered before I made my way into my bedroom to put on something more work friendly that a hoodie and jogging bottoms.

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I pulled up to the bowling Alley to see my partner Benjamin Avery waiting outside for me, He was good at his job but sometimes made silly mistakes or missed pieces of evidence but usually I put that down to him being a rookie and lack of experience.

"What have we got Avery?" I asked him
He led me inside to where the body was he began to talk

"So we've got an unknown male mid to late 30s was found by the owner when he came to open the Alley up for the day, he has a bad laceration to the back of the head and has two stab wounds one on the left side of the abdomen and the other around his heart"

"Right ok" I responded " has there been a weapon recovered and what about the owner did anyone speak to him yet? I asked to the room at large

"There was a knife recovered in the gutter of Lane 10 and the owner is outside with patrol, I'm pretty sure he got a nasty shock when he switched the lights on and found  a body in the middle of the floor" Avery responded

"I'll bet he did, its not everyday you find a dead body in your bowling alley" I said "anyway he still needs to answer some questions so let's make sure the knife gets sent to the lab and go and speak to the owner"

"Copy that" Avery responded and we headed out side to look for the owner

We found the owner stood away from the main entrance with a patrol officer he was very pale and seemed to be quite upset about what had just happened

"Ill take the lead on this one" I told Avery, he nodded in response and we walked over to where the owner was stood

"Hello there Mr Barnes I'm detective Cooper and this is officer Avery is it OK if we ask you a few questions about this morning?"

"Yeah thats fine" he said running a hand over his bald head

"First of all are you ok Sir? i know its not every day you walk into your business and find a dead body"

"I'm ok as I can be with all this it was a nasty shock to switch the lights on and see a body on the floor"

"Yeah I'm glad your ok, can you walk me through exactly what happened this morning please?"

"Of course, I got here about 9:30am like I do every morning and I was in the  lobby area for about an hour doing a bit of admin and running through todays bookings and whatnot and then I...er....went into the main area where the lanes and the arcade games are, it was dark so I didn't see the er... body. I proceeded to make my way over to the light switches flicked them on and thats when I saw it. I ran outside and dialled 911 and waited for the cops I wasn't about to go poking around and end up getting arrested for something i didn't do."

"OK thank you Mr Barnes and I completely understand why you didn't want to go poking around and its a good thing too as if you did you might have contaminated some crucial evidence, I just have 2 more questions for you did you notice anything unusual in the last few days and argument between customers and employees for example and do you have any security cameras they might help us to get facial recognition on the guy"

"There was nothing unusual in the last few days but over the last year or so I have had trouble with some teenagers braking in and using the facility while its closed that could be related. As for security cameras yes I do have some but I can't guarantee they work as they are quite old you see"

"OK thanks for your help Mr Barnes, make sure you keep your phone on in case we need to ask you some more questions"

"Will do" he responded and Avery and I walked away.

"Avery have someone check the security cameras and......." I trailed off Avery had stopped and was staring at a black SUV that had just pulled up.

I let out a grown as two people got out the SUV both wearing a a CPD badge round their neck.

Avery and I walked over to the SUV and both the men turned to look at us.

"Can I help you" I asked the older man

"You taking the lead here?" he asked  me in his rough voice

"Yes Sir I am, I'm Detective Bailey Cooper and this is my partner Officer Avery" I responded "we're from homicide" Avery added

"Ah yes I've heard of you two, solved some pretty difficult cases over the last few months havent you" he told us although I only heard the first half of what he said because I was too busy realising who the person he was with was.

"I'm Sergeant Hank Voight and this here is Detective Jay Halstead" he said indicating the person he was stood next to.

I sighed and shook both of their hands
"Good to see you again Cooper" Halstead told me. I just nodded my head at him I wasn't really in the mood to talk to him,if I'm perfectly honest I'd hoped never to have to see him again.

"Look i don't mean any disrespect Sergeant but what exactly are you doing here, I mean homicide have it covered if we need assistance i can assure you we will ask for it" I stated kind of irritated. Not irritated at him for showing up irritated that I had to see and talk to that idiot Halstead again.

"Ah funny you should mention us being here" voight Chuckled and I could've sworn I saw Halstead smirk in the corner of my eye

"Intelligence are taking over the case" he finished

What,why this was just a regular homicide why did intelligence want it

"Oh but don't worry Cooper" Halstead was properly smirking now "we'll be sure to let you help out if you want"

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Shout out to Pipadoodle for helping me with the front cover:)

Thanks for reading my story it really means a lot