⋆° დ ༄ RISKY BUSINESS
chapter sixty two. start digging.
"Happy birthday dear Daniel. Happy birthday to you" Maxine, Maverick, Justin, Hank, Olive and Erin sing. Daniel looks around at his family, not really understanding what was going on. Hank kisses the top of his grandsons head then places the cake with the number one candle on it in front of him and says, "Come on, blow out the candle. Ready?"
Hank and Justin both bend over to blow out the candle and everyone smiles and claps.
"I can't believe he's a year old already" Erin smiles. Justin smiles putting his arm around Olive's shoulders.
"Time for presents" Hank says and places a blue bag onto the table, then whispers to Daniel, "that ones from me" while Justin opens it.
"All these years you kept this?" Justin asks, holding onto an old toy he had when he was a baby.
"Oh, your mom did. She kept all your baby stuff upstairs in the attic. Just, you know, hoping one day she could pass it along"
Olive leans her head on Justin's shoulder and says, "thank you, Hank. It's perfect"
"Thanks pop. I wish mom was here, too"
"She would be so proud of you. That I know" Erin says getting up to give Justin a hug.
~~~
Maxine pulls Justin aside and says, "Hey Justin, um, thanks for inviting me. It means a lot"
"I know that finding out that we're siblings was a shock...to both of us. But I'm glad that we are, I've always wanted a sister" he smiled, putting his arm around her shoulders, "so, tell me about your fiance. As your brother, I need to make sure he's treating you right"
Maxine rolls her eyes and hits his arm.
~~~
Maverick takes a sip of his scotch, then looks up to see Hank staring him down. "Thank you for inviting me"
"Yeah. Do I need to worry about Maxine around you?"
Maverick shakes his head, "No sir"
Hank leans forward and says, "cause if I find out, that you did anything—"
Justin walks in and says, "Pop"
Maverick stands up from the leather chair and says, "thank you" to Justin on the way out.
🪩🪩🪩
Erin, Maxine and Hank step out of their vehicle, stepping under the crime scene tape when they're approached by Antonio and Atwater who says, "hey, Sarg. We got one dead female. Found her in the trunk."
"A park district employee was closing the gate. He was about to have the car towed when he noticed blood on the rear of the car, called the police." Antonio says, as they walked over to the car to see the dead woman in the trunk.
"Victims hands and feet are tied with barbed wire. Her throats cut. Fingernails are gone, too. I'm guessing she fought back against the assailant. He knew there'd be DNA so he yanked them off" Jay says.
"Cartel hit?" Hank asks.
"Or Russians. They've been known to use barbed wire, too" Dawson adds.
Max looks at her phone and says. "Mouse ran a work up. Cars registered to the victim. Her names Melissa Wilds. She's 26 years old. We got an address"
"Call Ruzek and Olinsky. Tell 'em to go over there and do a knock and talk" Voight says.
🪩🪩🪩
"Melissa Wilds" Erin sighs, writing her name on the whiteboard as Maxine takes off her jacket and sits at her desk, while simultaneously drinking her Red Bull, "her husband was an army private. Killed in a training exercise last year at Fort Bragg along with three others when their chopper went down."
"She has an associate's from Roosevelt and worked as a paralegal for the law firm Sawyer and Sawyer" Antonio says, reading from a file.
"Yeah, I've seen those commercials. They're just high profile ambulance chasers" Kevin says.
"Bigger than that. They do seven figure class action lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies or schools with asbestos"
"You know, except for a few parking tickets, Melissa has zero priors. She's a working, widowed mom. So the more I'm digging here, I can't see any reason why she'd be associated with Cartels or any Russians" Jay says.
"Well, listen. This girl was tortured with barbed wire. That means the killer either wanted something from her or it was personal. So I wanna know where she was before we found her, who she was with, if she was seeing someone new...hey look who's here" Hank says, as Roman walks onto the unit from the locker room with a box of his things.
"Last day, Huh?" Jay asks, getting up from his desk as the rest of the team gather around him to say goodbye.
Max hangs up the phone from her desk and says, "Roger Simpson. Melissa's father is downstairs."
Voight looks at Olinsky and says, "Al"
Al sits up from leaning on his desk and says, "we should start drawing straws"
~~~
Mouse walks over to Jays desk and hands him a files and whispers, "hey I found something"
"Okay. Why are we whispering?" Jay asks.
"Just look at it"
Jay looks over the phone records Mouse handed him and asks, "are you kidding me?"
"No, I wish I was"
Jay then looks into Voight's office where he's talking with Maxine and Erin and goes to walk to his office and knocks on the door.
"Hey, we got, uh, Melissa Wilds' phone records."
"Okay" Hank says.
Jay closes the door behind him and says, "she and Justin, um, they knew each other." Then he gives Hank, Erin and Maxine a piece of paper of the phone records, "looks like there's maybe 20 phone calls and twice as many texts between the two of them last month. The last phone call she made was a half hour before her time of death."
Hank starts dialing a number and says, "he said he was in town to help a friend. Maybe it was her" then puts the phone to his ear.
"Where's Justin now?" Erin asks.
"Should be at home with Olive and Daniel"
"Did he ever mention this girl to you?" Jay asks.
"Don't you think I would have mentioned it if he did?" Hank says, hanging up his phone, "straight to voicemail"
🪩🪩🪩
Erin, Maxine and Hank walk into said sergeant's home to see Olive bouncing Daniel up and down to try and keep him from crying.
"Where's Justin?" Hank asks.
"He left over an hour ago. Said he needed to clear his head"
"Have you tried calling him?" Erin asks. Olive nods her head and says, "he's not answering. I texted him too. Hank, I'm worried"
Hank goes to grab his grandson from the Olive as Maxine gets on her phone and calls, "Mouse, I need you to track the GPS on Justin's car. Now"
🪩🪩🪩
Maxine, Erin, and Hank track Justin's car, which looks to be abandoned. As they get out, they make their way to the car to check it out.
When they open the trunk they find Justin in it with barbed wire around his wrists and ankles and unconscious.
"Oh my god!" Maxine covers her mouth.
"Oh god" Hank says, feeling for a pulse, "he's got a pulse!"
Erin keys her radio and says, "Lincoln 50-21, emergency. I repeat, emergency!"
"Oh my god, he's been shot!" Hank yells.
"We need an ambulance at my current location. We have a gunshot wound victim. Get me that ambulance now!"
"Copy that Lincoln 50-21"
Hank holds onto Justin, tears in his eyes. Erin looks over at Maxine, who she's never seen cry before.
🪩🪩🪩
"Talk to me" Maggie says, running to the automatic doors, as the paramedics bring in Justin on a stretcher followed by Maxine, Hank and Erin.
"It's my son" Voight says.
"Sharon called. We're going to Baghdad."
"GSW to the neck. GCS three. Tubed in the ambo. Pupils fixed and dilated." A male paramedic says, as they roll him to a room, "signs are tachy on the monitor. He was bound in the trunk of a car"
As Maggie and the paramedics roll Justin into a room, Sharon says, "Hank, let's step outside"
"Is he breathing?" Hank questions.
"I need a CT head! Someone call neurosurgery!" Maggie says.
"Is he still breathing?!"
"I'm checking right now, Hank"
"Come on, let them do their job" Sharon says. Antonio and Jay run into med with Olive who was holding her son where Hank, Erin and Maxine are.
Maxine just stands against the nurses station, tears streaming down her face. Her hand is placed on her stomach from the nausea she was feeling.
"What are they saying?" Erin asks, tears also streaming down her face.
"Get everyone back to 21" Hank demands.
"Hank, we don't..."
"Now!" He yells then walks away. Erin grabs a hold of Maxine's hand who hasn't moved since they got to med and guides her out of med followed by Jay, Olive and Antonio, who was holding Daniel.
🪩🪩🪩
Back on the unit, everyone is gathered around Antonio who says, "everybody needs to hold real tight. And you all know what I mean. If at any point you're not comfortable with something you come tell me."
Maxine is sitting at her desk, staring off into space, not moving a muscle when Hank walks onto the unit with a duffle and sets it down on Jay's desk and takes out loads of money, "I want you to put the word out to all your CIs. That's 90,000 for any information on who did this to Melissa Wilds and my son"
"Hey, we got this Sarg." Kevin says, "think you should go to the hospital?"
"Alright, let me be clear. I don't need condolences. I need commitment from each of you. I'm gonna do whatever it takes to find who did this. Anybody not comfortable with that should take the next couple of days off."
"Turns out Justin went through basic training with Peter Wilds at Fort Campbell, before Peter got shipped to Fort Bragg. That's how they knew each other. They stayed close friends. Melissa started reaching out to Justin about four weeks ago." Erin explains.
"It still doesn't tell us how they were mutual targets"
"Maybe there's a nexus with her job, the law firm" Jay states.
"Check it out" Voight says, before leaving the bullpen. Erin catches up with Hank, tears gathering in her eyes and says, "Hey"
"What?"
"Just remember you have a grandson now, okay?" Erin says and Hank just walks away.
Jay rolls his chair over to Maxine and places his hand on hers, who slowly removes her hand from under his. Jay then clears his throat and says, "I'm always here to talk"
Maxine then gets up from her desk and walks to the locker room in tears. Adam follows after his best friend, who was standing over the sink, that was running, "Maxie—"
"He's my brother, Adam"
"What?"
Maxine turns around in tears and says, "I wasn't going to tell you because I know how you are. Justin's my half brother"
Adam scoffs, "but that would mean—"
"Voights my dad"
"Are you okay?" Adam asks, going to bring her into a hug.
"I don't know"
🪩🪩🪩
"Melissa was a great employee. Never complained about the hours, or working weekends, but there was definitely something off with her these past few weeks." Melissas' boss says as Maxine and Jay question her about their victim.
"How do you mean?" Max questions.
"Her demeanor. Melissa was always outgoing, always has a smile on her face, even after losing her husband, Peter. But lately, she's become withdrawn. Distant. And to be honest, that's when I started to get suspicious"
"Suspicious of what exactly?"
Mrs Childs gets up from her desk to close the door then says, "we worked a class action suit last year. Several dozen plaintiffs were awarded mesothelioma cancer payouts. All over a million dollars each. After the checks were mailed out, three of the plaintiffs were robbed in home invasions. Some of them badly injured."
"Was Melissa the only one with access to this information?" Jay asks.
"Well, no. But the way she was acting, and now what's happened to her. It can't be a coincidence"
🪩🪩🪩
"Anything?" Hank asks, walking over to Mouse, who stands up from his desk.
"I checked LEADS, NCIC, CHRIS, CPIC. There's no offender who's been arrested in the city of Chicago with the alias ginger"
"I'm waiting on a call from my guy in the FBI. See if Ginger pops for anything federal" Antonio says.
"Alright, thanks man" Adam says, hanging up his desk phone then stands up from his desk, "Uh, hey. That was Jay. Sounds like Melissa wilds might have been involved in a series of home invasion robberies. Feeding the addresses of clients who got large settlements through her law firm"
"She's got no record, a 4 year old at home...doesn't add up" Antonio says.
"Dead husband, a hungry kid...the girl has bills" Kevin says.
"She's a paralegal. She's not starving"
"Look, just call robbery Homicide. Get the details on these home invasions." Hank says, now standing in front of the whiteboard.
"Look, if she was involved in the robberies, it seems Justin probably knew about them, you know" Adam says, making Hank glare at the officer, "whatever that means, but it's unlikely that Melissa ran a robbery crew by herself"
Al then looks at Hank who says, "what are you saying?"
"Just that he might have had a different role in all this"
"Come on" Al says, guiding Hank to his office, then looks back at Ruzek.
🪩🪩🪩
The intelligence team is geared up and enters a sleazy motel where girls get pimped out to find Carl Hearnes aka Ginger.
As they get to the door Carl is supposed to be in, Hank says, "this one we don't announce"
Kevin kicks in the door. Carl going for his gun in his bag and Al yelling, "don't move or I'll shoot your head off"
"You, get your clothes and get out of here" Erin tells the blonde who runs out of the room.
"You got a warrant?" Carl asks.
"Melissa Wilds" Voight says.
"Never heard of her" Carl says, as Adam cuffs him.
"The stove" Voight says, as Al drags Hearnes into the small kitchen, "cover the door. Justin Voight is my son" then he punches Carl in the gut and turns the stove on, and puts his hand on Hearnes neck, "you shoot him and then wrap him in barbed wire?"
"No, man. That wasn't me. It was all Kevin!"
"Kevin who?"
"Kevin Bingham. A guy I work with sometimes. He used to bang that girl, Melissa, when they were younger. He got his hooks back into her after her husband died. Forced her to give up info on who was getting big payouts from her law firm."
"Yeah and you did the home invasions." Hank says, before slapping him hard across the face.
"I just do the safes, man! He handles the people, then we split it down the middle."
"Why did he kill her and shoot my son?"
"Melissa wanted out. But Kevin wouldn't let her so she went to Justin for help. Then he called me, wanted me to meet him at that social club to broker a deal for her safety for five grand. I told him, 'leave it alone'. He had no idea who he was messin' with. Kevin knew Melissa was gonna rat him out, so he called Justin to meet! To tie up loose ends!"
"Where's Kevin now?" Hank asks, as tears begin to gather in Maxine's eyes again as she clenches her fists in anger.
"I don't know. I swear! He only calls me when there's a job!" Carl yells as Voight presses his face against the hot stove.
"Voight we can do this at the district!" Dawson yells.
"We're fine right here." Hank tells Antonio then he grabs Carl by his hair, "relax. Relax. Where's Kevin now?"
"Hiding. Cause he knows you're after him. I swear to god, that's all I know!"
🪩🪩🪩
"Kevin Bingham. He's been racking up felonies since he was 18" Maxine says, reading from a file and standing next to the whiteboard, that the team is gathered around, "armed robbery, assaults, battery, burglary. Five years ago, he got popped for attempted murder. A guy spilled his drink at a bar, so Bingham stabbed him 16 times."
"Yeah and he got out of jail three months ago." Dawson says.
"Melissa's father said she and Bingham dated 6 years ago, back in highschool. After her husband died, he started coming around again." Al adds.
"Yeah, so these were sent over in the robbery homicide file" Jay says, pointing to the pictures on the board, "all of these are from recent home invasions where the victims were tied up with barbed wire."
"That is definitely something he picked up in prison" Kevin states.
"So Bingham's parole officer said he stopped showing up, but he's got no LKA" Adam says, walking onto the unit with Mouse.
"Yeah, so we've been running an extensive check on all his known associates, including those off his prison visiting list." Mouse says.
Adam tapes a picture onto the board between Bingham and Hearnes and says, "alright. This is Dillion James. He's Binghams half brother. Visited him all the way up until his parole, putting money into his canteen account. He's got priors for methamphetamine, and a thing for stealing UPS trucks and stealing the stolen goods"
"Where is he?" Hank asks.
"We got a possible house in Rogers park." Mouse says.
"Alright, let's roll out. Antonio..you stay here. Just call us if you get anything."
"Hey. Any word on Justin?" Maxine asks, walking over to voight.
"Goodwin called. He's been moved to ICU. Said she'll call in an hour with an update"
🪩🪩🪩
The team walks up the porch stairs with their guns drawn to Dillion James' address.
"Chicago PD!" Jay yells, using a shotgun at the doorknob to open it and the team storms in to find Dillion and some other guy sitting on the couch.
"Tear this place up. Top to bottom." Hank says, as Jay walks away and Voight stands in front of Dillion with Maxine and Al beside him with their guns pointed at them, "your brother, Kevin Bingham, where is he?"
"I-I don't know" Dillion says.
Voights shoots him in the leg and James immediately starts yelling and groaning in pain.
"A son of a police officer was left for dead. We know your brother did it" Al says, "so if I were you, I'd be forthcoming."
"I ain't seen him" Dillion says, then Hank puts the gun to his heart, "alright he was here. He came by last night. He was picking up some cash I was holdin' for him and some guns"
Hank puts the gun to Dillion's neck and asks, "where did he go?"
"I don't know. On my life! I'm tellin' you. He said he just needed to get out of town. Until somethin' blew over."
Hank looks over at the other guy and says, "let me see your hands" then puts the gun in his hands, "get binghams picture to every train, bus station, airport and roll camera. Alright, call an ambo. Just tell 'em it was a domestic"
🪩🪩🪩
Hank walks onto the unit to see Sharon Goodwin talking with Erin and Maxine and the rest of the unit with sad faces.
"Hank. Can we talk?" Sharon asks. Hank nods his head and they walk into his office.
Maxine sniffles trying to hold it together the best she could. Jay looks over at her, concerned.
"Just let it out, Sharon. Please" Hank says, closing the door.
"Justin's not coming back. The bullet caused a catastrophic brain injury and it's inoperable." Sharon says, "Dead brain tissue is not regenerative so he will be on a ventilator and feeding tubes for the rest of his life. He won't wake up. He won't recognize his family or speak again"
"I...I gotta talk to Olive"
"That's why I'm here. I spoke with her. She's at med now. Olive wants to withdraw life support. She wanted me to ask you first. Look, I know what happens to families when they hang on too long. I am so sorry"
Hank then opens the door and Sharon walks out, followed by Hank, who stops to look at his team. "Max, you can come if you want. Your his sister after all"
Maxine nods her head and goes to grab her jacket and follows after Hank and Sharon.
🪩🪩🪩
Maxine walks into Justin's hospital room after Hank said his goodbyes and tears flowed down her Rosy cheeks.
She grabbed his hand, "I'm so proud of you, J. I've known you for 10 years and in that time, you managed to pick yourself up and redo your life. I am so sorry this is how your story ends. I love you" then she walks away, wiping her tears.
🪩🪩🪩
Hank sits in his vehicle in the rain, at the Silos and ignoring Maxine's calls. When Hank sees a car pull up behind him and gets out, meeting with the guys from his social club.
"We got a package for you in the trunk" the passenger says as the other passengers get out of the car to open the trunk and Hank finds Kevin Bingham tied with barbed wire and gagged.
"I'm Justin's dad"
The guys get Bingham out of the trunk and place him on his knees on the gravel still tied and gagged and then they leave. Hank takes a pair of pliers and walks over to the man and takes the gag out of his mouth and takes a revolver from under his belt and points it at Bingham.
"Just hear me out for two seconds, okay? Two seconds. I did not kill Justin. But I know who did and I want that son of a bitch just as bad as you." Bingham says. Hank rips down his shirt to show claw marks and says, "where Melissa Wilds tried to fight you off."
"No"
"Right before you killed her and pulled her fingernails out to hide your DNA."
"Okay, look, I can get you 500 grand." Bingham says as Hank walks back to his car, "tonight. In cash. Hey you wanna kill me? I understand. But believe it or not, I liked Justin, and I know he'd want you to have that money"
Hank walks back over with a shovel, throwing it next to Bingham and uses the pliers to break off the barbed wire.
"Start digging" Hank orders. Bingham stands up, picking up the shovel and starts to dig his own grave as Hank leaned against the car and watched him.
"He left a note for you. I-I have it. I mean, not on me, but I have it." Bingham says.
"Dig" Hank says, pointing the gun at him.
As Bingham starts digging again he says, "I told him a bunch of times, 'you're in over your head, kid'. You think I brought Justin in on this deal? Hell no. He came to me, trying to be some hero for Melissa, and I told him, this don't concern you."
"Keep digging"
"Did you hear what I said? He stuck his nose in my business. He was warned"
"Dig"
Maxine quickly drives down the gravel road to where Hank is as Bingham starts yelling for help.
"Hank!" Max shouts, getting out of the car.
"Thank god. This guy threatened to kill me! I didn't do anything!" Bingham yells.
"don't do this" maxine pleads.
"Get back in your car, Max" Hank says.
"Do not throw it all away over him."
"Get back in your car" Hank warns.
"Hank please, Justin wouldn't want you to do this!"
"Get out of here!"
"Justin wouldn't want this!"
"Now!" Hank says.
"Hank, Hank!"
"Maxine" Hank says, looking at the detective before she walks away to her car. Bingham starts yelling, "no! You can't leave! Maxine, right? No!" Then he looks at Hank and gets back to digging.
Bingham then starts laughing and says, "he's the kind of son you worry about, right?" Then he throws the shovel to the side, "cause he don't have the smarts to survive. I bet you probably waited up every night waiting on that phone call. Well, at least the phone calls over with. And I'm gonna tell you what I told him" Hank then walks closer to Bingham who suddenly has the balls to speak up, "right before I put a bullet in his head. Go.."
As Max drives away she hears a distant gunshot and starts crying.
authors note;
this is the last chapter of the book guys 😭😭
RIP JUSTIN VOIGHT 🕊
i hope you guys enjoyed the crazy ride of this book and I can't wait to share the next one with you 🫶🏼🫶🏼