*34th and Wilson, Southeast Corner*
Ana was standing next to Hank who was crouched near the corpse of an elderly looking African American male. Kevin closed the body bag it was laying in and stood up with the male Sergeant.
"You knew him?" The brunette guessed, having watched him carefully the entire time.
"You know, Englewood was my first beat. Me and Mr. Roy hit it off from the jump. He was real good people, Sarge." The Officer shook his head and the older man grunted in reply. "He cared about his family, the community."
"Okay." Hank nodded and Adam took his place, moving the body with the help of a patrolman.
The two Sergeants and Kevin made their way out of the store, where the remaining three members of the Intelligence Unit were waiting.
"So what are we thinking? Armed robbery?" Ana wondered.
"The register was cleared out, but his wallet was still on him." Jay replied.
"The M.E. said there was fresh contusions and abrasion on Roy's face." Kim recalled. "He was beaten and shot at close range."
"Oh, yeah. This was personal." Hank muttered, glancing at his left just as the body was wheeled out and over to an awaiting ambulance. "All right, what do we know about the offender?"
"I didn't get a good look at all. 5'10, 170. Masked up. Ruzek said he was fast as Hell." Kevin listed.
"Any surveillance?" Ana wondered, adjusting her mask a bit.
"No security cameras inside, Sarge." Hailey reported.
"I told him to put those things in years ago." The dark skinned Officer sighed. "He didn't like the message they sent."
The two Sergeants shared a look.
"Well, let's get him the justice he deserves." Hank commanded.
"Yes, check PODs and talk to witnesses." Ana ordered.
"Hit the streets hard." The older man finished. "All right, let's go."
Everyone dispersed to do their jobs and Hank was about to walk off with his wife in tow when-
"Sergeant!" The Deputy Superintendent called.
The brunette instantly turned on her heel and went in the direction she remembered seeing the two Detectives head towards.
*District 21: Bullpen*
"My CI told me that Quincy Barrett runs that neighborhood." Kevin informed, gesturing to where his picture was taped up to the center of the whiteboard. "He's got a strong sheet. Distro, agg assault, armed robbery, intimidation."
"Whose flag does he fly?" Hank inquired from his usual spot next to Ana's desk.
"Nobody's. He's a lone wolf. From what I understand, he recruits unaffiliated kids to deal dope and shake down good business owners for protection money." The dark skinned Officer explained.
"All right. Is anybody talking?" Ana wondered, leaning back in her chair.
"No one so far." Adam replied from his desk.
"But it's pretty clear that pizza guy is getting harassed or saw something." Kim added from hers. " He just doesn't want to get involved."
"Well, we also know Roy was getting harassed." Hailey chimed in, standing up and joining Kevin at the board. "OCD Lab dumped his phone, and he's been getting threatening text messages for about a month from a burner. These are the most recent. Two weeks ago, 'Tick tock, old man.' Last week, 'Time to pay.' And yesterday, 'My gun's untucked.' All the messages are coming within the vicinity of the hardware store. And after Roy's murder, the phone was turned off." She reported.
"Sounds like Roy didn't want to play the game, so Quincy decided to make an example out of him, send a message." Hank muttered, glancing over at his wife.
"All right, so what else we got?" Kevin asked.
"During our canvass, a witness told us that they saw a beige SUV patrolling the block for about minutes before the shooting. Had tinted windows." Jay spoke up from where he was sitting on his desk. "We did our homework. Quincy drives a beige Escalade."
"Okay, that's good." Ana nodded, leaning forwards in intrest. "Did we catch it on any security cameras?"
"No, he got lucky." The male Detective shook his head.
"Well, it looks like his luck just ran out." Kim smirked, standing up and moving around to the empty desk across from hers while everyone else walked over. "I'm gonna pull something up. So this was captured on POD footage across the streets from a car wash on Jackson two hours after Roy was killed. That Escalade's registered to Quincy Barrett. And that guy, it looks like he's only cleaning the driver's side." She observed as the video showed exactly what was just described.
"All right. Anybody recognize him?" Hank inquired, looking at his wife and various members of their team.
"No, he doesn't look like Quincy Barrett to me." Kevin replied.
"Too far for a facial rec." Hailey pointed out.
"Okay, so let's ID this car washer." Ana suggested. "We need to figure out a way to get inside that Escalade."
"Exactly." The older man agreed. "You find Roy's blood in there, it's game over."
The team dispersed to carry out their orders while the two Sergeants returned to their respective areas. Well, almost. The brunette followed her husband into his Office and stood in the doorway, crossing her arms.
"So how is it that you came across the Pizza Store owner in the first place?" She asked, casually.
Hank just chuckled, softly, and turned to face her with a warm gaze.
"I'm sure you remember how Miller was at the crime scene earlier." He paused and waited for his wife to nod before continuing. "Turns out she brought Dave Wheeland's ex partner, Andre Cooper, with her and wanted me to. . . introduce myself."
"Did she now?" Ana's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
The short woman knew Sam was involved somehow but she wasn't expecting that of all things.
"Yeah. He was the one that clocked the owner ducking back into the pizza joint when patrol arrived." Hank revealed. "Even noticed the 'vintage' bulls jacket he was wearing."
"Hmm." The brunette hummed, thoughtfully. "I say we keep an eye on him then. Something's telling me we might need this 'Andre' for something later on."
"Already on it." The older man smiled.
Ana laughed and turned to leave the small room.
"Of course you are." She murmured, softly.
Hank heard it, though, and his smile widened just the tiniest bit as he went to sit down at his desk.
*A Little While Later*
A new suspect had appeared on the board: Damari Evans. However, he had a solid alibi.
"Okay, so that's Damari Evans and his younger brother, Theo, at Midway Hospital. This is the same day that Roy Hill is murder, and they are in that waiting room from 2:30 to 4pm." Kim reported, showing everyone the footage as they crowded around her.
"And when was Roy shot?" Ana inquired.
"Shots fired call came in at 3:15." Kevin replied.
"All right, so Damari's his cleaner, not his killer." Hank summarized, slowly moving over to the whiteboard.
"Which would suggest Quincy did his own dirty work." Hailey pointed out.
"Were we ever able to track down the Escalade?" Ana wondered.
"No. There's probably too much blood in there, and he's hidden it somewhere." The blonde speculated.
"All right. What else do we know about Damari?" Hank demanded as he turned around and faced the team again.
"Yeah, he's got one bust for distro, two agg assault. He's been in the gang database since he's 15, and he lives with his little brother, Theo." Jay listed, reading aloud from the file in his hands.
"Okay, so Theo is a straight-A student, one B-plus. He has a severe form of epilepsy, which requires a ton of medical attention, and both parents are out of the picture." Kim explained.
"Right, so he's the mother, father, brother, breadwinner wrapped in one." Kevin muttered.
"Yeah, and that's good for us. It means Damari's vulnerable." Hank reasoned.
"Right, we jam him up, get him to flip on Quincy to protect Theo." Hailey suggested.
"We need to come at him as a big-time buyer." Jay added.
"But how?" Kim asked in confusion. "Besides me, you guys are all burned, and I'm pretty sure Damari doesn't want to sell to me."
Hank locked eyes with his wife and Ana stared right back at him with a knowing smirk on her face.
*The Next Day*
Andre Cooper was placed undercover in attempt to set up a buy bust with Damari. Things seemed to be going according to plan but when it came time to actually make the deal, Andre called it off. Adam and Kevin were left, understandably, mad. Especially, since the Pizza store owner was dead now too.
Ana was currently standing next to Hank who was sitting on his desk with one foot planted on the chair across from him. Kevin was standing in front of the two Sergeants, explaining how it all went down.
"That was his call, Kevin. He was the one in play." The older man pointed out.
"And Patrol was in the vicinity." The brunette added in agreement.
"Okay, well, how about just ducking in the building and keeping the deal going?" The Officer pointed out.
"He's new. He's learning." Hank countered.
"I understand that, but I think there's more to it." Kevin argued.
The two Voights shared a quick look.
"Okay." They motioned for him to continue.
"He got a very soft spot for Damari. We can't forget about what just happened last week. He watched his white partner kill an innocent Black man." The Officer hissed. "He's got a lot on his mind, and it's starting to worry me a little bit."
"Okay, then you make the call." Ana sighed, placing a hand on her husband's shoulder to ground herself against the conflicting emotions in her mind. "Do you want to pull him?"
Kim appeared in the doorway before he could reply.
"Guys, I got something." She called, heading over to her desk and the other 3 cops followed her every step of the way. "We picked off Quincy's credit card at a mini mart minutes after Bob Hayes got shot. We tapped into their security server for the camera inside and out. He walks in, buys a pack of cigarettes, walks out, meets with someone in the parking lot." The female Officer explained as she showed them the footage on her computer.
"Looks like he handed the murder weapon off to Damari." Hank observed.
"Guessing his job was to stash it or dump it. The question is, where?" Hailey muttered, having joined them as well.
Jay was nowhere to be found though.
"And the answer is in that phone." Kim sighed.
"Yeah, you're right." The older man agreed. "We ID that cell number, we find the gun.
"So, Kev, do you think Cooper can handle it?" The brunette inquired, essentially repeating her question from earlier just in a different form.
"Mm-hmm." The dark skinned Officer nodded.
"All right. Get him up to speed." Hank ordered, heading back into his Office while Ana went over to her desk.
*A While Later*
After everything was said and done, the team had Quincy in custody and Andre was unharmed. . . but Damari didn't make it. The ending wasn't pretty, but the case was closed. Even if they could have done better.
A/N I hope you all enjoyed! I, well, let's just say that the Prodigal Son will return on Monday! 😉 Till then.
~Princess <3