The Intelligence team stood over the body of Carlos Williams which lay sprawled on the wet, marshy grass of Jackson Park. A dense fog had settled over the parkway giving the scene a gloomy, ominous presence not unlike a Sherlock Holmes movie — Hound of the Baskervilles maybe. Some high school students who had slipped away from a field trip to the nearby Museum of Science and Industry stumbled over the body and immediately called 911.
Williams had suffered one gunshot wound to the chest, was apparently killed where he was found, and showed no signs of a struggle which meant he either knew his killer or it was a blitz attack which he never saw coming. His hazel eyes stared vacantly into a world where few, if any, people would mourn his death.
"Karma's a bitch," Atwater said as he stared down at the corpse. "Couldn't've happened to a nicer guy," he sneered with contempt.
"The way I see it," Upton said, "whoever killed this psycho did the city a favor. Case closed."
But killers, whoever their victims are, cannot get free passes. A young woman was still missing — Savanna Murray — who was either dead or in the clutches of whoever killed Williams. There had to be a connection.
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The team was working feverishly to find Savanna Murray, the only student and former acolyte of Carlos Williams who was unaccounted for. Maybe Carlos murdered her before he died, or maybe she was abducted and/or murdered by whoever killed Carlos. The team was baffled because if she were already dead, they would have probably found her body by now. If she was being held captive, then by whom and why?
Upton and Halsted interviewed her parents, and Atwater, Burgess, and Ruzek re-interviewed the other students who were no longer in protective custody now that Williams was dead. The Brass had decided that the Unit would work in conjunction with Homicide.
Voight sat in his office going over the file looking for some clues that would lead them to the missing woman, but so far he was coming up with nothing. Elena was unable to help because she knew very little about Savanna inasmuch as the woman was aloof towards her and the others except with Carlos on whom she doted.
His phone rang. It was Detective Upton.
"Hey, Hailey, did you come up with anything yet?"
She hesitated before answering him because she was about to deliver some disturbing news.
"Uh, Sergeant, we just left Savanna Murray's home after speaking with her parents. You aren't going to like this."
Voight shifted in his chair, a prescient queasiness forming in his stomach. He knew instinctively by the sound of Hailey's voice and her forewarning that the news was going to be explosive, whatever it was.
"I'm listening," he said.
"Savanna's mother, Edna Murray, has been married a few times. Her current husband is Leon Murray, Savanna's dad. Before him she was briefly married to a Dillon James. They had one son, Dillon James, Jr."
Voight furrowed his brow because that name was very familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.
"I've heard that name," he said.
"Yes, you have. I'm getting to that," she said.
"Before Mr. James she was married to a Charles Bingham whom she dated in high school. He was her first husband. She got pregnant by him when she was 17, and they got married shortly after graduation. They had one child, a boy." Upton took a deep breath: "His name was Kevin, Kevin Bingham."
A chill ran through Voight as if he had just walked over a grave, and for what seemed like an eternity his breathing stopped while his pulse rate quickened to the speed of a trip hammer. Kevin Bingham?
Kevin Bingham, the man who murdered Voight's son, Justin, by tying him up with barbed wire, torturing him, shooting him in the head, and leaving him for dead in the trunk of his car.
Kevin Bingham, the man Voight hunted down like a dog, forced at gun point to dig his own grave, and then shot him in the face.
Kevin Bingham, the man whose body he buried at The Silos.
Kevin Bingham, the man whose murder was pinned on his best friend, Detective Alvin Olinsky, who was arrested and sent to the Cook County Jail where he was shanked to death just as Voight was about to confess to Lieutenant Denny Woods.
What in the hell was going on?
"So what you're telling me is that this Savanna Murray is Kevin Bingham's . . . sister??" he asked incredulously. "
"Half sister, but yes. She, Dillon, and Kevin have the same mother, all different fathers. Their mother is white but her father is African American, making Savanna biracial.
"And Dillon James, her other half brother, was the man I questioned in a motel when I was trying to locate Bingham."
"You shot him in the leg from what I heard, but it was called in as a domestic dispute."
"Yeah, I remember, Hailey."
Voight needed a moment to process the information. This wasn't a coincidence. And it also wasn't making sense.
What could possibly be the connection between Kevin Bingham's and Dillon James' sister and Elena or Carlos Williams, he thought.
Then it hit him.
"Hailey, get over to my house now!! Call the rest of the team and tell them to get there ASAP!! And have Dispatch send some patrol units in the area over there now!! I'll call Elena and tell her not to open the door for anyone except you, patrol, or the team!"
"Sergeant, what's going on?"
"I DONT HAVE TIME TO EXPLAIN!! JUST GO!!
I'M ON MY WAY!! BREAK DOWN THE DAMN DOOR IF THERE'S NO ANSWER. DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO!!!"
He disconnected the call and immediately called Elena. He had left her alone because he thought the danger was over now that Carlos was dead and no longer a threat, but instead he had left her tied to the stake like a sacrificial lamb!
His call went straight to voicemail.
"DAMMIT," he cursed, his desperation and fear growing.
He grabbed his jacket and keys and tore out of the office.
He prayed he wasn't too late.
He couldn't remember being this scared!
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