⋆° დ ༄ RISKY BUSINESS
chapter fifty eight. if we were normal.
"Hey" Maxine says, sitting down across from Kim at a coffee shop, and shrugging her coat off.
"Hey. Got you a coffee"
"Oh, thank you"
"And I don't know if you take it black or with milk or soy or..anyway, Uh, yeah, I brought everything"
"Look at that, thanks. So, what's up?"
"So, I wanted to get your advice on something, but I...look, I probably know what you're going to say, which is what I need to hear about something that..." Burgess sighs, "Sorry. I need to hear you say, 'don't do it'.
"Okay, I'm with you"
"Okay. Last night, I went out with Roman, just as friends. But by the end, it kind of felt like more than that."
"Hmm" Maxine hums.
"You don't seem surprised."
"Oh, I'm sorry. You...you wanted me to...sure. Uh, oh, my god" Maxine jokes sarcastically.
"I mean, nothing has happened at all. At all. But, last night there was this moment. Do you know what I'm talking about?"
"Yeah, I do."
"But having been engaged to Ruzek, your brother, what you are saying is that I should not be opening the door, right?"
"You want me to be the one to tell you that you should not date your partner?" Max questions and Burgess nods her head, "Love is love, do what your heart says"
"Yeah, no. With the way you and Jay are with each other... you guys make it look so easy"
"What? Jay and I aren't dating. I'm engaged" Maxine says, holding out her left hand.
"Really?" Kim asks, and Max nods her head, "I—I'm so sorry. Congratulations Maxine"
Maxine gives the officer a tight lip smile, "it's okay to call me, Max, Kim. All my friends do"
Kim smiles, "Cool"
"Units in 21 and units on the citywide, battery in process involving a male and a female reported at Kinzie and Dearborn. First responding officers, please advise"
"Let's roll" Maxine says, grabbing her coat as well as Kim who says into her radio. "21,13 squad, I'm responding"
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Maxine pulls up to the corner of Kinzie and Dearborn with Burgess behind her and when they get out a couple approaches them and the lady says, "some guy just got stabbed"
"Okay. Slow down. Get out of the street" Max says, as they move to the sidewalk, "where did it happen?"
"Over there" The male witness says, pointing south.
"What did you see?" Kim questions.
"The couple was arguing. She was in her underwear." The male says.
"She was high on something and she stabbed the guy and she ran" the woman says.
"Where did he go?" Max asks.
"He drove off. I don't know, uh, north. And then, some other guy ran after her to see if she was okay" the man says.
"Wait, what guy?" Kim asks.
"Him" the lady says, pointing to a black male running towards them.
"I lost her" the man says, panting, "she tried to stab me. I was just trying to help"
"Did you catch a plate? A type of car?" Burgess asks the couple.
"It was silver. I'm not sure what kind" the woman says.
"It was an Audi. A4 or A6" the man says.
"We need to send out a flash message" Kim says.
"Yes" Maxine says, then turns towards the black male, "where did she go?"
"Right down that way, down the alley" he says, pointing south.
"Okay, I need the three of you to stay here. You're all witnesses. Please stay here" Max advises them then her and Burgess run across the street when she spots a pool of blood when an alarm goes off.
An older male says 'down there' and the two round the corner with their guns drawn and down the alley to see glass broken and blood on the broken window.
"Stop. Call it in" Max tells Kim.
"2113 squad, requesting additional units. Forced entry at 3233 south Princeton. We are entering the premises. There is a plain clothes officer on the scene."
"Copy that"
"Let's go" Max says, as she enters the building with burgess behind her and down the metal staircase clearing the space.
"Chicago PD. anyone in here?" Kim shouts.
"Burgess" Maxine shouts, spotting a pool of blood.
"I got it"
As they continue to clear out the space, Max spots a trail of bloody footprints leading to a small space where a girl is seen sitting in her underwear and her shirt all bloody and a screwdriver in her hand.
"Drop it! Let me see your hands! Let me see your hands!" Kim shouts.
The girl drops the screwdriver and says, "help me"
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"Victims name is Ruby Baker. She says she was kidnapped. She stabbed her abductor with a screwdriver she found in the trunk of his car. She got away. He drove off." Maxine tells Hank and Al at Chicago Med.
"So, this was a kidnapping in progress?" Olinsky asks.
"No. Ruby thinks she was snatched about two months ago, maybe. She says she lost track. Kidnapper drugged her. Next thing she knows, she's chained up in some room. We ran her through NCIC and LEADS, nobody's reported her missing."
Penelope Severide walks over to the group from leaving Ruby's room and says, "she's still traumatized. You can talk to her, but go easy."
"Alright thanks" Hank says then looks at Burgess, "can you get the evidence over to the lab? See if they can put a rush on it"
"Yeah, got it" Kim says before walking away.
"Done a rape kit yet?"
"She's refusing medical treatment. She won't let us touch her. She's 19. So technically, we can't force her." Penelope states.
"Thanks Penny" Maxine says.
"Yeah"
Al, Hank and Maxine walk into Ruby's room and Max says, "Ruby, this is Sergeant Voight and that's detective Olinsky"
"Did you get him?" Ruby asks.
"Not yet. We're hoping that you can help us with that."
"Ruby, the man you stabbed, was that your kidnapper?" Voight asks.
"Mister. Just mister. That's what he made me call him" Ruby says.
"What else can you tell us about this man?" Max asks.
"He was tall. He had sandy brown hair."
"That's great. Is there anything else?" Voight asks.
"His nose, it looked like it'd been broken, like, a long time ago. And he always parts his hair. Like a politician."
"Did he force himself on you?" Voight asks, but Ruby gets real quiet and looks down at her hands, "I'm sorry. Where were you held? Was it a house? A building"
"A room. With no windows. He didn't want me to know what time it was. And he wouldn't let me leave. Not even to use the bathroom. I used a bucket. He got off on that"
"Ruby, do you remember any other details of that room? Sounds?" Al asks.
"I heard kids playing. Almost every day. And yesterday I heard sirens. Lots of them. I thought I was being rescued."
"So, how did you end up outside?" Hank asks.
"Mister, or whatever the hell his name is, he said we had to move. He threw me in the trunk. I kept banging until he pulled over. That's when I stabbed him."
"Listen none of us can imagine what you've been through, and I'm sure you just wanna try to forget. But we really need you to do something for us" Max says, "we need you to let the doctors give you a rape kit."
"I can't stay here. He said he'll find me. I'm not going back to that place!"
"Well, we'll have an officer posted outside your door" Al says.
"Can you stay?" Ruby asks Al.
"Sure. Yeah, I can stay"
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"Sarg, I think I narrowed down the location." Kevin says, walking to the board.
"Alright" Hank says.
"So, Ruby said that she jumped out the car at Kinzie and Dearborn. Told Olinsky that they drove around for about 10 minutes. That'll put her approximate location in this six mile radius" Kevin says, drawing a black circle on the map.
"Ruby heard kids and sirens, which means we're looking for some place near a school or playground." Dawson adds.
"There's a bunch of them in that area."
"Has anyone read Ruby's rap sheet?" Adam asks, looking at his computer on his desk, "in the last year alone, she's been picked up for credit card fraud, retail theft, possession of heroin."
"Where'd she say she was grabbed from?" Jay asks.
"Pin Pan Alley" Maxine says.
"Pool hall on Ashland?" Jay asks and Max nods her head, "that's a hangout spot for runaways. Lots of teen prostitution."
"So, she's got a history like everybody else" Erin says.
"Right, where we at with the composite?" Voight asks and Mouse hands him the sketch, "alright, so circulate it to all hospitals, urgent care centers. See if anyone matching this description came in with a stab wound" Hank then gives the sketch back to mouse, "Antonio you and Max hit that pool hall"
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"Take another look" Maxine says, showing a man at the pool house a picture of ruby.
"Yeah, I've seen her and 20 more girls just like her" the man says.
"Don't be a jagoff, alright. We think she was abducted from here"
"I'm saying, a lot of girls her age come and go. I don't keep track"
"You have surveillance cameras here?"
"You think the guy who owns this place cares about his employees?"
"Does he? I haven't met the guy"
"He doesn't. Only thing he cares about is his money, so he has a camera right over the safe in back"
"And nowhere else?"
"That's him"
"No?" Antonio asks some people outside the pool house, showing them a picture of ruby.
"No, sorry man. Haven't seen her" one of them says.
"You looking for ruby?" A guy asks, walking up to Antonio.
"Who are you?"
The guy sniffles and says, "we used to be tight"
"That so? Then what? Ruby was kidnapped. You know by who?"
"No. Damn. Kidnapped?"
"Tell me about the last time you saw her?"
"We, Uh, got in a fight, yeah, about money, so she went to work"
"And by work you mean..."
"Ruby went on dates. With guys"
Antonio shows him a sketch of the suspect and asks, "this guy?"
"I didn't get a look at him. Uh, just his car. It was expensive"
"Like an Audi?"
"Yeah. Like one of those"
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After Olinsky found out that Ruby is pregnant a patrolman gave him a file with 6 pictures of suspects in it so Ruby could identify the man who did this to her. Once she did, everyone surrounded the whiteboard where Antonio tapes up the picture of the man Ruby had picked out.
"Drew Stommer. Real estate agent at Cermak Realty. Business degree at northwestern. Minor in psychology. Never married. No kids. No priors." Dawson says.
"This guy looks like the world's most eligible bachelor" Adam says.
"That's what they said about Ted Bundy" Voight states. Maxine takes a piece of paper from the fax machine and says, "We got the results of Ruby's ultrasound back. She is seven weeks pregnant which means it's Stommers."
"I called the owners of the house on Bristol. They told Stommer to put it on the market six months ago. He didn't list it on MLS till last week. Which means he's been sitting on the house." Jay says.
"Yeah, to hide Ruby. And he had to move her because the house was about to sell." Kevin says.
"Perfect thank you" mouse says, hanging up the phone, "Uh, guys, Stommer...I just ran him through the DMV he's the registered owner of a silver 2004 Audi A4. His office says that he's hosting an open house at a property in Hyde Park"
"Antonio, you and Lindsay go pick this guy up." Voight says.
"No. I'll pick him up" Al says.
"Okay. You and Atwater. Jay, you and Max get a warrant for his house. I want you to search it top to bottom"
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Maxine and Jay walk up the stairs onto the porch of Stommers home and Jay knocks on the door and shouts, "Chicago PD!"
As Jay was about to open the door by crowbar the door opens, making the two detectives put their hands on their holsters and they see a woman standing there who says, "oh. Is something wrong with the doorbell?"
"Chicago police. Do you live here?" Maxine asks.
"Of course. What is this about?"
"Ma'am. Are you related to Drew Stommer?" Jay asks.
"I'm his wife, Madison"
Maxine and Jay look at each other and sigh as Jay hands her a warrant, "we have a warrant to search the premises. We're gonna come inside."
~~~
As Max looks around the living room and Jay searches upstairs. Madison sits on the couch and asks, "Where is Drew? And what is this all about?"
"Among other things, your husbands been arrested for kidnapping." Maxine says, walking to the other side of the room to look through more of the drawers and cabinets.
"Kidnapping? Kidnapping who?" Madison asks but Max doesn't respond, then the blonde starts to stand up, "you know, I really should call my hus—"
"Sit down. He's not taking calls right now"
Jay walks down the stairs and says, "hey. You're gonna wanna see this"
Max looks at Mrs Stommer and says, "come on" then she walks up the stairs followed by Madison and all three walk into a baby room.
"Mrs Stommer, do you have a child?" Jay asks.
"Drew says we're going to have one soon"
Max raises an eyebrow at Jay who asks, "So you're expecting?"
"We're trying. Drew says that setting up the nursery will help manifest the baby. He says if you can visualize it, you can make it come true"
Maxine scoffs and says, "okay. We're gonna need you to come down to the station and answer a few questions."
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"I didn't know where to put her Sarg. She says her name is Madison. Not only is her marriage to Stommer not official, she doesn't exist as a person" Atwater says, as he, Mouse, Maxine, Hank and Al gather in a kind of circle looking at Madison who is in the break room.
"Yeah, the Secretary of State has no record of a Madison Stommer. So I ran the maiden name she provided, Madison Dodd. The social matches a woman in Mount Vernon, but the DOBs don't match." Mouse says.
"You check Cook County?" Voight asks.
"I ran all cross checks. She doesn't have so much as a library card to her name."
"I ran Madison's prints. Her real name is Jamie Lynn Stevens" Adam says, walking over to the group and hands voight a piece of paper, "it says she went missing seven years ago"
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Maxine walks into the break room where Madison is with Hank and Dr Charles and says, "This is Sergeant Voight and this is my friend, Dr Charles, he's a psychiatrist at Chicago med. we asked him to sit in with us"
"A psychiatrist? I need to consent to that" Madison says as Dr Charles sits down across from her.
"It's just a conversation" Hank says. Max places a file down in front of her and says, "do you recognize this girl? Her name is Jamie Lynn Stevens. This is you"
"That's not me"
"We know that it's you from your fingerprints. You have a younger sister named Caitlin and she missed you very much"
"I'm sorry. I think you have me confused with someone else"
"If it's not you then who is it?" Dr Charles asks, "you know, Jamie Lynn is missing. You know what I think? I think maybe seven years ago, or so, Jamie Lynn, a confused young woman, went looking for help"
"Jamie Lynn is dead.."
"And what she found terrified her. And nobody can blame her for that. In fact it terrified her so much that she convinced herself that Jamie Lynn needed to disappear. So that Madison could survive"
"I chose to be with Drew"
"Well, Drew...your husband. He just admitted to hiring prostitutes to be his S&M partners." Hank says, leaning on the counter.
"Drew said never to trust the police"
"Let me tell you what I think. I think you and your husband used Ruby Baker as a concubine just so you could have a baby"
"I don't know anyone by that name"
"You know what I think? I think that you're a good person. And that you want to do the right thing. And we just want to help you do that" Dr Charles says.
"If my husband hasn't already asked, we would like a lawyer"
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Maxine sits on the edge of Adam's desk, who looks up at her to see that she was giving him the look. "What?"
"What are you doing?"
"Um, paper work"
"No, I mean with Roman. You gotta stop beating up on him because you ruined your relationship with Burgess. It's not his fault and you're hurting Kim in the process" Maxine says, then walks back to her desk.
~~~
"Okay, what do we got?" Voight asks, walking out of his office.
"Madison Turner is actually Jamie Lynn Stevens" Jay says, taping her mug shot to the board, "she was arrested in 2008 on solicitation charges, and then she went missing in 2009"
"Who filed the missing persons report?" Antonio asks.
"Her mom. Then a year later she overdosed and the case ran cold."
"Hey, boss. We've been going through Stommers call logs. His clients, wife, all checked out, except for one short phone call made three weeks ago at 2:32 a.m. on March 7th to a residence in Naperville, owned by a woman named Marcia Harris." Ruzek says.
"Yeah. Call outgoing from his cell phone. Call lasted two minutes." Mouse adds.
"Marcia has no connection with Stommer. What she does have is an 18 year old daughter, who was popped for solicitation, in the exact same place where Ruby was kidnapped."
"I'll drive" Antonio says, towards Ruzek.
~~~
"Jennifer Harries. 19 years old. History of drug problems. Fits Stommers M.O. mother couldn't give us much. Jennifer's been out of the house a year, no fixed address." Dawson explains, taping a picture of the girl onto the board.
"She got herself together enough to get on public assistance. Has a link card that's active, and purchased thirteen dollars worth of groceries on March 6th" Jay says.
"Damn, March 6th, day before she called her mom" Kevin states.
"Yeah, Nothing after that"
"Alright, get a warrant for this real estate office" Hank says, "we're gonna hit every property Stommer represents. This girl could be out there, locked up, starving, we don't know what."
"I wanna try something else" Maxine says.
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Voight drives down the dirt and snowy road of the Silos. Where Maxine is waiting outside her car holding Madison back so she doesn't go near Drew, who is being dragged out from the back seat of Voight's car by Voight. And then Al drives up and parks next to Maxine as he and Ruby get out.
"You can't just drag us out here like this, we didn't do anything" Madison says.
"Madison, look at me. Do not listen to them. We're gonna get through this." Stommer says.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" Ruby shouts running towards Drew, when Al catches her to make her stop.
"That is Ruby Baker" Max points towards Ruby and Al, "your husband kidnapped her eight weeks ago, and held her in a basement and raped her to get her pregnant."
"No, honey, remember what we talked about. Everything they say is a lie." Drew says, still looking at Madison.
"We're going to tie you to all three abductions. This is the last free air you're gonna breathe." Voight says to Stommer.
"Hey, we need your help." Al says to Madison, "he's holding another girl. We don't know where she is."
"It's the truth. Another girl like Ruby, he took her and he hid her for one reason, to give you the family you've always wanted." Maxine says, as Drew struggles to get out of Hank's hold.
"Your husband raped me. Every night until I forgot how long I was down there!" Ruby says.
"They are trying to tear us apart. We did nothing wrong! We're just trying to start a family! Like you always wanted." Drew shouts.
"Madison, I think you knew what was going on the whole time. You might've had your eyes closed. This is what it looks like." Voight says.
"No, I didn't know!" Madison says, tears gathering in her eyes.
"Madison, listen to me!" Drew says.
"Shut up!" Voight says.
"Listen to me" Max says, looking at Madison, "your name is Jamie Lynn Stevens. You grew up outside of Rockford, Illinois"
"No" Madison says, starting to cry.
"Your little sisters name is Caitlin. Caitlin is 25 years old now. She's married. She had a baby girl"
"Madison, Look at me!" Drew shouts and Voight pushes him down to the ground.
"She named her baby Jamie Lynn" Maxine says, as Madison starts to cry more, while Drew still shouts for her, "I know that you know what the right thing to do is. I can tell that you're a good person. I know that you want to help us. I can see it. Please. You are our only chance at finding this girl."
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After finding Jennifer dead, Hank and Al bring Drew to the cage to scare him into begging for his life before they properly arrest him.
Maxine and Jay are at Molly's having a beer when Jay says, "Ruzek and Burgess and Roman. It sounds like a horror movie right there"
"It'll probably be a pg13 deal. Nobody is gonna kill anybody"
"Hey! Shots on the house" Herrmann says, bringing over three shots and setting them on the bar, "just something that I created in honor of Mouch and Platt. Two great tastes that taste great together."
"Cheers" Max says, then they all take the shot and start coughing.
"Unlike gin and scotch"
"Why would you do that to somebody?" Jay questions, clearing his throat.
"I don't know. I'm stupid" Herrmann laughs and walks away. Jay and Max take a sip of their beers to try and wash that bad taste from their mouths.
"Okay what else?"
"Burgess did ask me for advice about dating a partner"
"Yeah? You've dated a partner before?"
Maxine shakes her head, "she thought we were dating"
Jay raises an eyebrow, "Really?" And smiles, taking a sip of his beer. Maxine rolls her eyes, "shut up"
Maverick walks into Mollys and over to the partner duo, "Hey baby" he says, leaning in to kiss his fiancé.
Maxine smiles, "hey" as jay clears his throat, "oh, Mav, this is Jay, my partner. Jay, this is my fiancé, Maverick"
Jay holds out his hand, "hey man"
"Nice to meet you" Maverick said, shaking the detective's hand, then he looks over at Maxine, "we should go if we're gonna make our reservation"
"Okay, yeah" She says getting up from the stool, "I'll see you tomorrow, Jay" then she grabs Mavericks hand and follows him out of the bar.
authors note;
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