Yn's POV
"Okay, all I'm saying is that you would look amazing in a turtleneck. You should consider buying one," I tell Jay as we were waiting for Voight to arrive at the crime scene.
"You think so?" Jay questioned.
"I know so," I state confidently. "Besides, you should change up your wardrobe every now and then. In all of the time I've known you, I don't think I've ever seen you wear a color lighter than maroon."
"Don't judge my style. And it works, so I'm sticking to it," Jay said as Voight made his way over to us.
"Any news?" Voight asked.
"Burgess took the girl to Med. They're checking her out," I respond.
"Witnesses?" Voight quizzed.
"Not yet. We're working the block. The victims are all members of the same family, the Wards. They all live in the house. And the little girl, Makayla? She's the only family member that survived," Jay spoke.
"All right, let's keep a cap on the media as long as we can. That means no one but the techs and us step foot on this property," Voight said. As Voight and Jay went there separate ways, I walked over to Kim.
"Hey. I uh, I heard you and Adam found that little girl. Is she okay?" I question.
Kim shook her head. "She doesn't want to talk to anyone, which isn't a surprise considering she saw her whole family murdered. I'm going to try to talk to her some more later."
"All right. I'll talk to you later," I say.
........................................
"All right, talk to me. What do we got?" Voight asked.
"Ward family, no priors except for Benny, who has a year-old possession charge," Hailey answered.
"I'm thinking the shooter might've used a suppressor. No one heard or saw anything, and there are zero cams," Jay added.
"I connected with Forensics. It's going to take them some time. Three bodies, that's a lot of DNA," Adam admitted.
"Four people living in one house, that's a lot of foot traffic," Hailey further stated.
"Well, we work the why first. Home invasion gone wrong? A hit? Family disagreement? Murder turned triple homicide? There can be plenty of possibilities, but it's going to be the why that gets us to who," Voight announced.
"I've got a possible why. Benny Ward's yearlong possession charge is not the full story. The kid's got a couple gang dispersal cards and quite the social media presence. According to the Gang Unit and CPIC, he's been the enforcer for the Gangster Prophets for the past two years. He's got a lot of enemies. CPIC sent over a whole list. Over a dozen death threats online," Kevin informed us.
"We think this is gang retribution? They'd do a whole family like that?" Adam questioned.
"Listen, no reason is ever going to feel like enough, Adam. Run it down. Talk to your CIs. If this was a gang hit, the streets will know," Voight said.
"Copy that, Sarge," I say. So Hailey and Jay went out to talk to one of Hailey's CIs, and they got the name of a guy who could be our shooter, Truman Powell. When they came back, Hailey put Truman in the interview room, and as I met up with Jay just before he could get there, I saw that he had some dried blood trailing from his nose to his chin. "Hey. What happened?"
"Powell elbowed me in the face. I'm fine," Jay exclaimed.
"You should know by now that the little act you do where you pretend to be fine doesn't work on me anymore," I confess. "Let me help you."
"But Hailey is waiting for me," Jay protested.
"Hailey can wait one minute while I clean you up," I counter and lead Jay over to my desk. I had him sit down on the edge of it while I grabbed a wet paper towel from the breakroom. Then, I headed back over to Jay and dabbed at his upper lip to get rid of the dried blood. "There. All done," I declare and throw the paper towel into the garbage can under my desk.
"What would I do without you?" Jay asked jokingly and got off of my desk. I only shook my head and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. And with that, Jay made his way to the interview room to interview Truman with Hailey. I walked into the adjoining room and watched as Jay and Hailey attempted to get Truman to talk, or at least give an alibi, but all he did was ask for a lawyer. I exited the room and met up with Hailey and Jay, but just before we could get to the bullpen, we were stopped by Platt.
"Hey, Upton. They're not just calling me anymore. Now the feds are sending me packages for you. You're going to have to rein this in at some point, not that I don't like being your mail lady," Platt spoke.
"I know. Thank you," Hailey said.
"The feds?" Jay questioned.
"Uh-huh," Hailey replied as we walked into the bullpen.
"Look, I don't care if Tru's not talking. He's still looking good for it," Voight noted.
"And ballistics came back. The bullets match an unsolved Southside Hustler shoot," Kevin informed us.
"All right, so we hold Tru for 48, see if we can place him at the scene. Hey, did Kim make any progress with the kid?" Voight asked.
"Not yet. Family Services are going to have to relocate her tonight. Kim's out trying something right now," Adam answered.
"All right, let's hit it," Voight said. As everyone went their separate ways, Jay caught my eye and nodded to Hailey. I immediately understood what he wanted and walked over to Hailey's desk with Jay at my side.
"What did the feds want?" I ask her.
Hailey hesitated, but finally spoke. "It's a job offer."
"Well, that's good. Where at?" Jay questioned.
"New York," Hailey replied.
"Cool," Jay murmured and walked back to his desk. I could tell that he didn't want Hailey to take the job offer. I mean, him and Hailey were the best pair up here. While Adam and I were good together, Hailey and Jay just connected in a way that made them great together.
................................................
That night, Kim was taking Makayla to her new home for the night, and while there, 2 people attempted to kidnap Makayla. So now, the hunt was on for our killers. Hailey was interviewing our main suspect at the moment, Truman Powell, and this time, he gave us some crucial information. He knew who Makayla's father was, and that was who was killed the family.
"This is Tariq Morris. He is a notorious Southside Hustler. He's extremely violent. He's got priors. He's feared by his faction. According to Truman, Tariq is Makayla's father," Jay told us.
"So Tariq and Gabrielle dated briefly years ago. Gabrielle got pregnant. Tariq ended up in Stateville on a six-year prison sentence. Before the baby was born, Gabrielle broke it off with him," Hailey explained.
"And Tariq just got released?" Voight asked.
"Three days ago," Hailey replied.
"Makayla said there was a woman in the house calling out her name, saying her father was there to pick her up. They were looking for the girl. It's been about Makayla this whole time. They were there to kidnap her," Adam confirmed.
"Okay, so Stateville sent over visitor logs for Tariq. Gabrielle went to visit him once at the beginning of his sentence. She didn't bring Makayla, and she never went back," I state.
"I talked to a few guards, Sarge. Apparently, that was the exact visit that Gabrielle broke up with him. She took the chance to get her and her daughter the hell away from him. Stopped answering his messages and his letters, just completely shut him out," Kevin put in.
"And he spent six years in prison ruminating on it," Voight said.
"Right, so he goes to that house. The entire family tries to protect Makayla, and they get killed for it," Jay added.
"I think we've ID'd our female accomplice: Nia Benson. Girl from the neighborhood, half a dozen arrest priors, not a single charge on her. Started visiting Tariq in prison about a year ago. There's phone calls. There's emails. There's hundreds of visits between the two of them. She also has a black Nissan Pathfinder, which is the same SUV that we found at the foster home. Ruzek's running her LKAs right now," Hailey spoke.
"I think I got her. Patrol just responded to our BOLO at Nia's sister's house. There's a black Nissan Pathfinder parked in the back alley," Adam noted.
"Go grab her," Voight ordered. We brought Nia back to the district, and as Voight and Adam interrogated her, I walked over to Hailey.
"Can we talk?" I ask her.
"Sure," Hailey responded and stood up, following me into the break room.
"So, New York," I bring up.
"Yeah. New York," Hailey muttered.
"Is it a good offer?" I question.
Hailey nodded. "It's a great offer. It's everything I've ever wanted. But I'm stuck. What do you think I should do?"
I sighed. "I don't want to make your decision for you, but if it's a good offer, then maybe you should take it. You're my best friend, Hailey, and you're Jay's partner, and yeah, it would pain us both if you decided to go. But I don't want to hold you back from a once in a lifetime opportunity. Besides, if you go, I can always buy your plane ticket when you have to come back for my wedding, and you're welcome to stay at me and Jay's place."
Hailey laughed softly. "You make a good point. I'm going to think about it a bit more, but when I come to my decision, I'll let you know." After that, Hailey and I headed back to our desks to wait for Adam and Voight. The thing was, during Nia's interview, she denied everything. So, we needed a better plan.
"Any progress on Tariq?" Voight asked.
"Zero. Transit teams and state police have been alerted, but so far, nothing," Jay spoke.
"The guy's hiding out, waiting for his gal," Adam added.
"What about a lure?" Hailey suggested. "We've got her cell. We could do a bait and switch."
"I don't know. I mean, the texts on her phone made it sound like she already knew where she was picking Tariq up. If we change locations now, chances are, he's going to know it's us," Adam pointed out.
"Look, it's simple. We need Nia to talk. We're going to have to use Makayla as leverage. I mean, she was at the house. She can ID her as an active participant," Voight said.
"No. I disagree with that completely," I argue. "Makayla is traumatized from what just happened, and I don't think we should make her relive that night again. What if we have Kim go talk to Nia, and she just lies her ass off? Maybe that will make her crack."
Voight nodded. "All right. Get Kim caught up with the plan." Kim was amazing. She walked into that interview room and laid everything out on the table, and Nia had no choice but to tell us where Tariq was. Now, we were all waiting outside the building he was in, and after a few minutes, he walked outside. "Move in," Voight spoke over the radio. We all moved in and arrested Tariq, meaning the case was over. We had our guy. Later that night, after shift, Hailey and I went to a bar so we could further talk about her job offer.
"So, lay it on me. What did the FBI offer you?" I ask.
"Joint level task force with the HIG. All interrogations. All high-level targets," Hailey responded.
"Is it good pay?" I question.
"It's great pay. Honestly, it made me a little embarrassed about what we get paid," Hailey admitted, causing me to laugh a little bit.
"Well, you'd probably be really good at it. And you liked it out there, right?" I ask.
"I don't know if I liked it. I think it was just what I needed at the time," Hailey clarified.
"Yeah, and during that time, I missed you like crazy," I point out. "But you were always a phone call away so..."
Hailey smiled. "The agent on the phone said the only reason a good cop doesn't take a job like this is because they're scared, implying that I'm afraid of change and I wanted to stay here where it's safe. I don't think that's why I don't want to take it. I don't want to take it because of you and Jay and Voight and the rest of 21. You guys are my family. And I'm better here. You guys make me better. Besides, your wedding is something I want to be fully involved in. So I'm not going to take it."
"You sure?" I question.
Hailey nodded. "Yeah. I'm sure. I want to stay. Jay, who is the best partner I've ever had, is here. Voight and the rest of the team, they're here. And you, Y/N, my best friend, are here, and I would never leave you." I smiled and stood up, walking to the other side of the table to give her a hug. I was glad Hailey had made the decision she did because I did not want to lose her. Not now, not ever.
"I think this calls for more drinks," I state.
"I can agree with that. You uh, you want to invite Jay over?" Hailey asked me.
I shook my head. "He spends enough time with you during the week. I also think he's sleeping right now anyways. Now, lets get another round to celebrate you staying in Chicago."