Y/n's POV
"Adam, hey," I breathe out and hug my partner. "You okay? I could only think the worse when Jay said we had to leave cause you were involved in a case."
"I'm fine," Adam assured me. "You guys get anything on the car?"
Jay shook his head. "It was stolen. No sign of it yet."
"And I talked to a few witnesses. None of them had a good description of the offenders," I add.
"All right, check PODs and cameras," Voight instructed. "Maybe we'll get lucky on facial rec."
"Okay. See you guys at the district tomorrow morning," I say. The next morning, all of us got to work to continue working on our newest robbery case. And it just so happened that Detective Sal Ortiz was joining us. He had been working this case for the past few weeks, so Voight had called for him to work the case with us.
"So we've got three offenders," Sal started. "The shells from the jewelry store hit matched the weapon in all three prior robberies."
"Was anyone killed in those?" Jay asked.
"No. The security guard's our first victim. Now, these guys like high-end, especially watches," Sal continued. "Stuff like expensive Rolexes and Pateks. They're definitely dumping them though. We found one of the Pateks on eBay. They always wear the rubber skull masks. The lead skull carries a semiauto. Skull number two does the smash-and-grab with a mini sledgehammer. And skull number three, that's the driver."
"They always steal vehicles?" Voight implored.
"Every one of them," Sal replied. "They must be getting them through a chop shop quick. Getting lucky on PODs, I don't know."
"Well, their luck just ran out," Kim announced. "Patrol found their getaway vehicle abandoned in Pilsen."
"Okay, good. Y/n, you and Adam check it out," Voight ordered.
"So, what did you have to do to get Detective Ortiz to work with us on this one? Bribe him? That guy is like a legend," I point out.
"I've known him since I was a kid," Adam admitted as we got to the lobby. "And hey, I'm a very likeable person. If I didn't know him, I could've easily gotten him to join us."
"Well, I've been your official partner for, what, 6 years, give or take? And that's including all of the times we were partnered together but worked with other people when we were sorting out some issues. So I will agree with the likeable thing. But I still don't think you'd be able to swing Detective Ortiz to work with us," I comment, causing Adam to push me away playfully.
"Hey, Y/n," Platt greeted. "Can you give me a second with Officer Ruzek?"
"He is all yours, Sergeant," I tell her and turn to Adam, taking the keys from his hand. "I'll be waiting in the car."
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"Did you actually read this new chase directive?" Adam quizzed as we exited his car. "I feel like we get a new directive every week now."
"It was two paragraphs," I recall. "So yeah, I managed to make it through."
"What'd it say?" Adam questioned. "That I've got to ask permission to chase bad guys?"
"The point's just de-escalation," I notify him as we approached the CSI. "And don't worry. I'm sure your meeting with IAD will go fine. Just explain what happened and then they'll let you off the hook."
"Okay, so, I'm not a trained narcotic canine, but my nose never fails me. I thought the vehicle smelled like cat pee at first, but there's no cat hair. And you know what has the same odor as cat pee? Raw crystal meth. I found this plastic meth packet under the driver's seat," the CSI informed us and handed over an evidence bag. I also pulled a print, and it's definitely not from the retired librarian who owns this car."
The fingerprint belonged to Paul Lambert, who had previous arrests for assault, so we were on the right track. And after after robbery, Lambert called a man by the name of Timothy Skiles, who owned a pawn shop. Skiles had been arrested for selling stolen property, and Lambert had called him an hour ago, so we knew a meeting was about to go down. At the meeting in an abandoned factory, Voight, Kevin, and Kim apprehended Skiles easily, who had a few watches that were from the most recent crime scene. Lambert, however, didn't want to go down without a fight, and when Adam and Sal gave chase, Adam had no choice but to shoot him, causing one of our robbers to be dead.
"So, while you guys were out, Y/n, Jay, and I did some digging, and we got something on Lambert. It turns out he has a CTA Ventra card," Hailey declared. "CTA just sent this video from five weeks ago over. Lambert's seen exiting the Clark Street station in the Gold Coast, and he walks up to these two guys. They have a quick chat, and then they leave. This is the day before the skulls hit their first jewelry store."
"And we got facial rec to identity them. Meet Nicholas Quinn and his little brother, James. These two both have a sheet for armed robbery. Plus, Nicholas and Paul Lambert did a stretch in Stateville together," Jay disclosed.
"Right. Our theory is that these guys get together the day before the robbery, case the joint, go back, get their masks, and then hit it the next day," I share.
"Well, that's a good theory, but it's just that. Get an LKA on them," Voight requested.
"Hey," Kevin intercepted. "911 is getting calls about a suspicious blue Hyundai that's circling the vintage jewelry store on West Elm in the Gold Coast. The owner says that it's two males in the car eyeballing the store, and they already assigned a blue and white."
Voight nodded. "Okay. Kim, Adam, Sal, you three hit it."
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"The techs came up empty on prints and DNA at the store, and there have been no hits on those watches," Hailey announced.
"Okay, what about LKAs on the Quinns?" Voight asked.
"So their mother passed away five years ago, and their father owns a two-flat in Pilsen," Jay answered. "Techs been sitting on it, but so far it's all quiet."
"Patrol found the carjacked vehicle 20 minutes ago torched to the rims in Little Village. Luckily, techs were able to get into the GPS. The Skulls carjacked it at 4:16 p.m. GPS puts it across town on the block of Laporte Avenue at 4:37. It waits there exactly five minutes before driving to that field in Little Village. And we don't have an address, just a range on Laporte."
"There's about 50 houses around there," I state. "And why stop for five minutes? There's gotta be a stash house."
"Let's work this block," Voight said. "Find out where they stopped. Let's go." For some reason, Hailey headed off with Kevin, and Adam with Kim, leaving Jay and I to partner up. Our first stop was a pizza place on the corner of the block. There were cameras posted outside, so hopefully, they caught which house our offenders had walked into.
"Hey, Aurelio," I wave to the man behind the counter as Jay and I walked inside.
"Y/n! It's been too long," Aurelio chirped and smiled at me. "Last time I saw you was when you were with that ex-fiance of yours Archie. I'm sorry that didn't work out."
I waved him off. "It's fine. Things like that happen."
"So how are you? How have you been?" Aurelio implored.
"Good," I reply. "Sorry I haven't stopped by. I've been very busy with work."
"Right. You're a Detective with Intelligence," Aurelio remembered. "You want a slice of pie now?"
"Maybe another time," I say.
"Sorry," Jay intercepted. "Do you two know each other?"
"Oh, I've known Y/n since she was a little girl. Her, Chloe, and Ollie would come down here all the time after school," Aurelio told Jay.
"The pizza was just as good as the company," I exclaim. "Aurelio, this is my husband, Jay Halstead. He works with me in Intelligence."
"Ah. So you finally hooked one," Aurelio joked to me. "It's nice to meet you, Jay."
"Yeah. You too," Jay returned.
"So, I'm assuming you guys want to look at my security footage after all of these robberies I'm hearing about that are connected to somewhere over here," Aurelio guessed and gestured to his computer. "It's all pulled up and ready to go for you."
"Thank you, Aurelio. I promise I'll stop by sometime soon," I pledge and open up the computer to view the footage. After finding the video, I held my radio up to my lips. "Sarge, a sedan pulls up to a brown two-story house, green iron railings, big flag out front. One of our offenders rushes in with what appears to be a brown knapsack, and rushes out five minutes later, no brown knapsack."
"I see the house and I'm running it now. It was last bought in by an Ariana Pappas, who is Paul Lambert's sister," Kevin revealed.
"Okay, we'll call in a warrant. Then we move in," Voight declared. With that, Jay and I exited the pizza place to meet up with the rest of our team, but before I could climb into Jay's truck, I stopped and stared down the block. Jay noticed me pause and turned to face me.
"What's up?" Jay quizzed.
"The house I grew up in is a only a few blocks from here," I respond. "I haven't seen the place in ages."
"Maybe we can go and see it," Jay proposed. "The team still needs a few minutes to get the warrant set up, so we can just swing by."
I smiled. "Yeah. Okay. I'd like that." A few minutes later, Jay pulled up in front of the house I had directed him to, and the two of us climbed out of the truck. Jay came around to my side of the car, and both of us leaned back against the vehicle, staring up at the building. "The top floor right side window was where me and Chloe's bedroom was. She never cared that she was 4 years older than me. Any time we got to spend together was worth it to her. And even though Ollie will deny it, he enjoyed being dragged into whatever stupid games we created. Sometimes I miss that, you know? Movie nights, always having someone to talk to, a house filled with smiles and laughter."
"Yeah," Jay breathed out. I could tell he knew I wasn't just talking about my childhood home, and that I was hinting at the struggle we had been going through lately. But before Jay could say any more, his phone buzzed. "It's from Kevin. They've got the warrant and are gonna start searching the house."
"We better get over there then," I murmur and climb back into the car. When we got to the residence, we found Lambert's bag, but there was nothing in it, which was odd since we had someone sitting on the house the whole time. So who the hell had taken the watches?
"Maybe the Quinns doubled back before we got here," Sal suggested.
I shook my head. "Jay and I just watched the security footage at the pizza joint. Nobody came back here after Lambert. At least not through the front door."
"Someone could have been inside before we showed up," Jay proposed. "He grabbed the watches and took off before we got the back covered."
"But why leave the bag?" Hailey questioned.
"The guy's in a hurry, has the watches out, pockets them, and runs," Sal explained.
"Okay, look for witnesses, cams, anyone who might have picked off someone coming or going. Get Tact on this house," Voight demanded. "I mean, there's a chance they don't know we hit this place. Meanwhile, keeping digging into the Quinns." Later that day, I jogged up the stairs into the bullpen, making my way past everyone who was going the opposite way, and ran into Adam, the person I had come looking for.
"There you are. I've been looking for you. How was the meeting with IRT?" I ask.
"Good. Fine," Adam reiterated. "They cleared me. Listen, I've gotta tell you something. Detective Ortiz, he's our guy. He stole the watches from the stash house, and now he's on the run. I think he's been working with this crew the whole time."
I frowned. "Adam, what the hell are you talking about?"
"Kim saw Sal go into the basement of the stash house minutes before we discovered that the watches were missing," Adam informed me. "And we did a deep dive into Sal's history, and he's in some serious debt. Between his wife's cancer treatments and a city suit that went bad, he's in over his head. It all adds up. We're going to Alan Delano's house now. He's a CI of Sal's that lives in Roseland. He's also a former thief, so we're thinking Sal's going to sell the watches. Everyone else is heading there now."
"Well then lets go," I say and take off after everyone else. At Delano's house, we did in fact find Sal, and we arrested him. DNA also came back on the watches we have, and it matched the Quinns, so they were now in custody as well. With that, the case was over, but I didn't want to go home. Not to a house that was filled with silence, anyways.
"Hey," Kim greeted me as she walked back into the bullpen to grab her coat. "What are you still doing here?"
"I decided I might as well stay and put a dent in this paperwork," I declare and gesture to the stack next to me.
"That can wait until tomorrow you know," Kim pointed out.
"Yeah, well, there's not really much for me at home," I mutter under my breath.
"What was that?" Kim quizzed.
"I said have a great night," I lie and sign off on another piece of paper. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Yeah. See ya," Kim said and left the bullpen.