Sighing I dropped my bag and coat onto my desk, it had been about a week since the team found out that I was a Voight, and a week since Erin had spoken to either me or Voight when it wasn't about a case we were working, Antonio said that she was stressed out because she was still trying to help Nadia, the working girl who had helped us solve the counterfeit case a few weeks ago. Everything else had been fairly normal, other than me and Jay, we still haven't spoken properly since that day he asked about my reunion, which is a week away.
"We got a case." Voight said making me jump as he came up the stairs a few minutes after me.
"I was serious about that bell you know." I said as I spun around to face him. "A, what case? And B, where is everyone else?" I asked noticing that we were the only ones in the bullpen.
"Their already down there, Burgess and Atwater caught the case." He said, me listening as I picked up my coat, shrugging it on before turning to walk back down the stairs.
"Why am I the last to know exactly?" I asked confused as to why everyone was already waiting on us.
"I needed to talk to you about Justin." He said lowly as we walked through the gate and past the front desk, sending Trudy a wave and a smile as we passed.
"What about him?" I asked as we climbed into the SUV, although I had a feeling it was about him showing up covered in blood last week.
"Remember that friend of his I told you about?" He asked, nodding my head as I thought back. "He was arrested for murder a couple of days ago, Justin was the driver." He told me without taking his eyes off the road.
"What? Is he being charged with it?" I asked worried, I couldn't lose the brother I had only my just got.
"I've got an old friend in the gang unit who was working the case, they've got enough on the guy without Justin so legally he wasn't involved." He said as he turned onto the same road as the crime scene.
"That's great and all, but he's gunna really have to watch his ass now." I said rolling my eyes as I noticed Erin and Jay stood together talking, close enough so that their arms were brushing.
"Listen, about this case." Voight said pulling up and stopping the car. "The main and only witness is Lexi." He said nodding out the window.
"Al's Lexi?" I asked looking out to see the young girl stood with her father. "Is she okay?" I asked concerned, I had only met the girl a handful of times but she was a smart girl and was going to make it far in this world.
"She's shaken but she's fine, I want you to talk to her, and only you." He told me. "Al doesn't want her to testify or talk to anyone else, he's trusting you." He said putting a hand on my shoulder.
"You know I won't let him down, or her." I nodded as he squeezed my shoulder before we got out.
"What have we got?" Voight asked as Al and Lexi came over to us.
"It's Nathan, he was walking me home after this party and some guy came out of nowhere and shot him." Lexi said her voice shaking slightly as she looked between the three of us.
"Hey, you're gunna be okay, why don't we go back to the district and get a drink, yeah?" I said putting my hands on her shoulder and leading her towards the SUV's.
——————
"Careful, it's hot." I said as I placed the cup of coffee down infront of Lexi as we sat in the break room back at the district. "So, how long have you known Nathan?" I asked as I took a seat next to her.
"Uh, a few weeks, we met at my friends birthday party, we've texted here and there but nothing special." She said looking down at the mug in her hands.
"Was you with him tonight, before everything happened?" I asked gently watching her reaction.
"He invited me to this party one of his friends was throwing, he was walking me home, he said it wasn't safe for me to go alone." She said smiling sadly. "He was a good guy." She said without a hint of doubt.
"Listen, I know this sounds bad, but do you know if he was involved in any gangs at all?" I asked leaning forwards on my elbows.
"I don't think so, but I didn't know him that well." She said shrugging slightly. "Like I said, he was a good guy." She said smiling slightly as her dad came in.
"Hey baby, how you feeling?" Al asked rushing to his daughters side, standing up I smiled down at Lexi before patting her shoulder gently and walking out closing the door behind me, I think they need some time alone.
"How is she?" Jay asked as he came over and took a quick look through the window.
"She's okay, I think." I smiled slightly keeping my eyes on Lexi before turning to look up at Jay. "Can we talk?" I asked hopefully.
"Yeah, come on." He said putting his hand on my arm gently leading me round to the interrogation rooms and into the first viewing room.
"I'm sorry, about being snarky with you the other day." I said quietly getting straight to the point. "You only asked a question, I shouldn't have snapped like that." I said shrugging slightly.
"Hey, it's alright." He said softly rubbing the top of my arms. "You don't need to apologise, just speak to me." Looking up into his eyes I could feel the barrier breaking.
"Stan, my uh, stepdad, he wasn't who I make out he was." I said quietly, moving to sit on one of the chairs by the two-way mirror, him sitting beside me. "He was great when I was younger, always around but when I started high school he changed, he was a low life, spent all his time at some strip club doing drugs and sleeping with whoever he could find. The only times I would see him was when he would drive me to the train station so I could come see Trudy at the weekends, she knew, I think, but she never said anything, not until I joined the academy and left him alone." I told him fiddling with my fingers until his hand moved to cover mine as a tear escaped my eyes.
"Why didn't you say anything?" He asked furrowing his brows in confusion.
"All through high school I was known as the girl whose dad was a pervert and mum had run off to be a prostitute because she couldn't stand to live with us. Nobody believed me that she had died." I said feeling more tears start to fall. "I didn't want to be that person anymore, I wanted to be known as nothing more than Trudy's niece from New York." I said quietly with a shrug. "I thought you'd all judge me for it." I said laughing slightly at how stupid that sounded now.
"Nobody would have judged you, especially not me." He said quietly moving to put his arm around my shoulder resting my head against his chest. "Does Voight know?" He asked resting his chin on the top of my head.
"Nobody knows other than you, and that's why I didn't tell you about my reunion, I can already hear the comments they'll make when they see me." I sighed slightly, feeling his hand come up and rub my back gently.
"Screw them, they don't know the same person that I do, the kind, thoughtful, beautiful woman who just so happens to be my bosses daughter." He said lifting my head so I'd look at him, a small smile on his face. "Your past makes no difference to me, I'd like you just the same." He said quietly, leaning in he placed his lips on mine in a slow yet amazing kiss.
"Come with me." I whispered as we pulled away. "To my reunion." I smiled slightly as he broke out in a grin of his own.
"I'd be honoured." He winked leaning in for another kiss until we were interrupted by a knock on the still open door.
"Hey, we got a lead." Adam said leaning against the door. "Unless you're too busy, I can stand guard if you want." He joked with a laugh as me and Jay stood up.
"Shut up man." Jay laughed slightly, nudging Adam as he walked past.
"God, you look like crap." Adam gasped dramatically as he looked at me, receiving a smack on the arm from me and one to the back of the head from Jay. "It was a joke damn, but seriously, your make ups running." He said motioning to my eyes.
"I'm just gunna run to the bathroom quick, I'll be five minutes." I said rushing past the two of them and into the ladies, soon hearing footsteps behind me.
"Hey." Erin said quietly as she stood behind me, me looking up into the mirror after sorting my make up.
"Hi." I said quietly turning to lean against the sinks so I was facing her. "What's up?" I asked noticing she looked like she wanted to say something.
"I just wanted to apologise, for going off at you." She said looking at the ground for a second. "I guess I was just confused and honestly a little jealous that Justin wanted to talk to you rather than me." She shrugged slightly.
"It's okay Erin, we're all good." I smiled holding my hand out for her to shake. "Right?"
"Right." She said shaking my hand before we both turned to leave the bathroom.
"Hey, does that make us sisters now?" I joked as I walked out behind her. "I mean, you're practically a Voight too." I grinned making her laugh.
"I guess so." She grinned just as we got back to the bullpen, stopping as everyone's eyes turned to us.
"What? Do I still look like crap?" I asked looking pointedly at Adam who held his hands up in defence and mimed zipping his mouth closed. "Finally some silence." I sighed dramatically making Erin and Jay laugh slightly.
"This guy most known as Calaca is our suspect in Nathan's shooting, he runs with the Latin Priests." Antonio said standing from his desk and pinning a picture on the board making us all switch to work mode, me and Erin making our way to our desks. "One of my CI's said that Nathan was new to the G-Park Lords but was at a party on the Latin Priests side of town. Calaca got word and waited to catch him on the street, its all over territory." He said tapping his finger in Nathan's photo, just as my phone rang.
"We'll be right there." I hung up interrupting Adam and Jay's theory talks. "We got four bodies tied up in a field, smack bang in the middle of Latin Priests territory." I said standing up, grabbing my coat and looking over to Voight.
"Let's move." He nodded in approval.
———————
"All four men shot execution style in the back of the head." Jay said taking a closer look at the men's injuries while I looked over the men themselves.
"Hey look at this." I said lifting up a sleeve slightly, the Latin Priests gang tattoo on his arm, checking the other bodies, they all had the same one. "Their Latin Priests." I said standing up besides Voight.
"There's no struggle marks from the rope, they were tied and brought here after they'd been killed." Jay said standing up and walking over to me and Voight.
"So we've got four Latin Priests, killed execution style and dumped in the biggest field." I said, the facts running through my mind quickly. "They wanted the bodies to be found, it's gotta be a rival gang." I said looking over at Voight who nodded his head.
"It's escalating, whoever did this are showing them that they can get in their territory, kill four of their men and leave them in public, this wasn't a five minute job." He said nodding down to the bodies.
"No," he said shaking his head. "It's not about the territory anymore, it's a full on gang war." Voight said looking down at the bodies.