Y/n's POV
I hopped out of the driver's seat of my car, closing the door softly behind me. Hailey followed suit, putting her hair up into a ponytail as the two of us neared the crime scene. I guess Kevin had been in the area when the drive by shooting had occurred, and because one of our own had claimed the scene, this was our newest case. Adam rose his eyebrows at me, a look of confusion strewn across his face as I passed under the bright yellow crime scene tape. I met up with my partner by the vehicle he was examining, and as soon as I got close, Adam stopped inspecting the bullet holes in the side of the door.
"What's with the weird look?" I ask.
"You and Jay came in separate cars," Adam noticed. "Ever since the two of you moved in together, you've almost always arrived in the same car. So do you want to tell me why Jay arrived 10 minutes ago without you and you came with Hailey instead?"
For a split second, I thought about spilling everything to Adam. I wanted to tell him what happened with Roy Walton; How I saw him die and was now holding a secret that could send me to prison for a long time. But in an instant, I knew that I couldn't say a word. No one else could know what happened the night we found Kim.
"Nothing's wrong, if that's what you're asking. Hailey stayed over last night, and the two of us drank a little too much," I lie. "So it took us a bit longer to get ready this morning."
"All right. Sorry for questioning your relationship," Adam apologized. "Now, getting back to the topic of work. Voight wants you and Hailey to interview the daughter. She's over with the paramedics right now."
I nodded. "Got it." I met back up with Hailey by the ambulance, and together, we interviewed the girl whose father had been caught in this morning's crossfire. Once we were done with that, we made our way over to Voight, who was talking to Kevin.
"Did the daughter see anything?" Voight quizzed.
"Yeah, but not much," Hailey responded. "She saw a red SUV and two offenders."
"Both were masked and hooded, and it was the passenger who was dumping the shots," I add. as Kim and Adam joined us.
"The name of the victim is Anthony Wiggins," Adam started.
"Yeah, he rolled with the Burn City Hustlers. Did a 10-year stint for drug trafficking and was released a month ago," Kim continued.
"Based on the amount of lead this guy took, and the trajectory of the bullets, we think Wiggins was the target," Adam confessed. "All the rest of this is just collateral damage."
Just then, Jay walked over, and for a second, him and Voight just stared at each other. That's when I noticed the small cut on Voight's bottom lip, and I had a theory on what had happened. Last night, when Jay had been gone for quite some time before he finally came home, he had confronted Voight on what happened to Roy. And when he didn't get the answer he was looking for, he took his anger out on the person who had caused the whole mess.
"We're waiting on the server for the footage from the restaurant, but the place next door, they've got security cams, and it's pretty clear from the video. We can't see the shooting, but the whole block had a good view. There were kids sitting on a stoop across the street when the shots went off," Jay revealed and gestured to a group of teens on the other side of the road.
"Okay, so knock-and-talk the hell out of them," Voight ordered. "The rest of us, grid-search for the weapon. Dig into all gang disputes." As everyone split up, I walked alongside Jay, hoping to talk to him for a second.
"You left early. I didn't even hear you leave," I note.
"I was trying to let you sleep. We talked all night, and I just wanted to go to work," Jay admitted and took off in a different direction, leaving me standing all alone. Yeah, things definitely weren't good between the two of us at the moment.
.............................................
"Okay, the kid I talked to implied that Wiggins was no longer in the game," Kevin informed us. "He changed his life when he found God in the penitentiary. It is confirmed that was in Stateville. While inside, Wiggins actually started a violence intervention program. Now, two days ago, confronts this man, Moe Hubbard, a street legend from the 90s.
"And Hubbard has never done time even thought he's been arrested six times. Dealing, homicide," Jay listed off. "Nothing has ever stuck."
"So, like I said, two days ago, Wiggins confronts Hubbard, and 48 hours later, Higgins was killed in that drive-through," Kevin disclosed.
"All right, we got anything concrete to connect Hubbard to the shooting?" Voight implored.
Hailey shook her head. "No. No red SUV and no ballistics match, but we're still digging."
"Where's Hubbard now?" Kim questioned.
"He's got a recording studio for young rappers," Kevin answered. "Acts like he's all about the kids. He promises hope, but hands them guns instead."
"The rest of you keep digging," Voight instructed. "Kev, let's you and me pay Hubbard a visit." Right as Voight and Hubbard came back from talking with Hubbard, I got something. So, I had everyone gather around my computer.
"The restaurant footage finally came in," I announce and pull up the video. "Watch. The red SUV swerves into the lot, the passenger fires at Wiggins' car, and then we get a good look at our offenders."
"They look like kids," Kevin commented.
"I was thinking the same," I agree. "Now, you can't see faces, but you can see the driver's hat, and you can just make out the bottom of the logo. I ran it through every system we've got, and I got a hit. The logo came back as Chi-Teen Arts. It's a privately run program contracted by CPS. It's the only arts program they use. At-risk teens, they get referred by their teachers and counsellors. It's run by a woman by the name of Celeste Nichols."
"Well, let's hope this Miss Nichols can help us ID at least one of the offenders. Hit it," Voight demanded.
"Come on, Adam. Lets go," I say. The two of us climbed into Adam's jeep and drove off towards the address I had written down on my phone. However, just before I could get out of the car, Adam stopped me.
"Hey. Are you sure there's nothing going on between you and Jay? You guys have hardly spoken today," Adam observed. "And that's not like you at all. Usually you'd both be laughing at each others' jokes or smiling at each other from across the room at your desks. I don't mean to intrude but-"
I cut Adam off. "And yet you are. Listen, Adam, I already told you this morning that things were fine. So just drop the issue. Nothing's wrong. Now, I believe we've got a job to do, so we should get to that." The inside of the building was filled with beautiful paintings, some hanging on the walls while others were freshly painted. And the amount of detail that was put into each and every one.....it was amazing. "Celeste Nichols? Chicago PD."
"Full disclosure, any truancy or juvie issues must go through CPS. I don't give information on my kids. This is their safe space," Celeste shared.
"Celeste, we think two of your students are in trouble. Could you look at these photos and tell us if you recognize either of the boys?" Adam asked.
Celeste nodded and took the photos from his outstretched hand. "Sure. I can try." As soon as she looked at the photos, she froze up, and I'm guessing it was because she recognized at least one, or maybe both, of the kids. "I mean, it's not very good quality."
"Well, you can see the Chi-Teen Arts logo, and we think one or maybe both of them are students here. Take a look again," Adam requested.
"They're covered up. It's grainy," Celeste defended.
"Yeah, but Celeste, it feels like you can tell," I counter.
"It could be anyone," Celeste declared.
"Well that makes things difficult. We're gonna have to come down here, and we're gonna have to talk to all of your students, possibly have to put them down as persons of interest. Ms. Nichols, we're gonna have to put them on the record. Either we do that, or you can come down to the station and you can talk to us," Adam explained.
Back at the station, we had Hailey and Voight try to talk to Celeste, but that didn't work either. If she knew who the two boys were, which we believed she did, she wasn't gonna give them up any time soon. While that was going on though, Kim ran all of Celeste's students through databases to try and eliminate some of them as suspects, and she got down to 4 kids. The thing is, it could've been any of them. This is when Kevin revealed that he actually knew Celeste. She didn't know he was a cop, so he volunteered to try and get her to talk about what she knew. And he did just that. While talking to Celeste, one of the kids called her, and she led us right to him. The boy's name was Lewis Dotson, and as soon as we heard him confess over Kevin's wire, we moved in and apprehended him and Celeste. Once in custody, Lewis told us everything. The shooter was his friend, Eric Boyle, but Lewis claimed that Eric was under the control of Moe Hubbard, one of the men we were investigating earlier. And then things went wrong. While transporting Lewis to a prison, the police car was ambushed, and Lewis was shot and killed. However, Eric Boyle was arrested, and Moe would also be charged with a crime.
"Hey Kev," I greet as Kevin joined me in the locker room to gather his things. "You doing okay?"
"Yeah," Kevin replied. "I'm uh, I'm doing fine. Thanks for asking."
"I know what you went through must've been tough," I admit. "But we're all here for you. So if you ever want to talk to someone, I'll gladly listen."
"Thanks, Y/n," Kevin said. "I'll think about that. Are you heading home?"
"As much as I'd love to stay here and work on paperwork, yeah, I'm going home," I respond and pull on my jacket. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kev."
The drive back home was filled with silence except for the radio playing softly in the background. If Jay were with me, and things were normal, we'd be talking about our plans for tonight like what we wanted for dinner or if we wanted to watch a movie. But I had a feeling tonight wasn't going to be like that. I pulled up to our house, and Jay's truck was in the driveway, meaning he was already home. Inside, I spotted Jay sitting on the couch watching tv, and when I entered, he didn't even look up to greet me. Instead, he just continued staring at the screen in front of him. I sighed and set my things down before going into the bedroom to get ready for bed. Married life was supposed to be amazing, but for Jay and I it was turning into quite the opposite. And to be honest, I don't know if we'll survive as a married couple if things keep going on this way.