CHAPTER SIX,
new york city detectives
"HOW ARE YOU FEELING, momma?" Erin asked, looking over at Ariella, who was sitting at her desk, eating a bagel.
"I'm always hungry." She told Erin, who smiled.
"Well, now you're eating for two." Erin pointed out, and Ariella nodded. Antonio walked back up the stairs, holding a bag of food. He sighed and walked over to her desk, putting the bag go food on her desk.
"Here you are. Your double cheeseburger with extra lettuce and a large fry." She smiled at him.
"Thank you." She said taking out the food and indulging. She bit into the fry and moaned at the taste, "Oh, I love you." She said, putting fries into her mouth.
"Are you talking to me or the fries?" Antonio asked and she looked up at him.
"You, obviously." She lied and went back to her fries.
"She's talking about the fries." Erin corrected a smile on her face.
"Whatever." He rolled his eyes, before looking back over to his partner, "Take it easy."
"I know, I will." She nodded.
"No jumping off buildings or crashing cars."
"I don't do that normally." She reminded him.
"Right, right." Ariella only smiled as she picked up the file Jin had dropped on her desk. Their latest victim was raped, murdered, and her ear was cut off. It was the same MO as a few victims that SVU had up in New York, meaning he was hopping cities, so Voight called SVU in New York.
"Oh, my God. These poor girls." Erin looked at the photos.
"Media's calling him "The Riverwalk Killer." Voight annoucned, standing in front of the board with all the pictures, "Mayor's flipping out on the Superintendent, who's flipping out on the Chief. None of that matters to me. Two young women are dead and were put through something so horrific It ain't gonna happen again."
"There are no witnesses. Area central searched every crime scene and came up blank on physical evidence." Antonio added.
"Pods?" Jay asked.
"Zero." He answered.
"Detectives from Special Victims Unit in New York are en route right now to help out," Voight added.
"They also had two victims killed in their city two days apart, "and traffic cameras picked up a male, white, 5'10" wearing a hoodie following both victims, but they couldn't get a clear visual on his face," Erin read off file.
"What about registered sex offenders?" Jay asked.
"Nothing pops. Plus, no DNA yet off any of the victims." Jin answered.
"Hey, we're not waiting around for that. We get proactive. Boots on the ground. I want everyone working the river looking for suspicious behavior. Dress the part." Voight instructed.
"Hey, Sarge," Ariella said, standing up.
"I want you to stay." He told her.
"What? Come on." She whined. She looked over at Antonio, who shrugged and raised his hands in surrender.
"Fine, but I better be getting paid for answering the phones." She playfully glared at Voight, who laughed.
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"This is a railroad, man. Unbelievable. I would never hurt a woman, never." Theo Mitchell, the guy they arrested at the pier, said. He wasn't the man they were looking for, but they were hoping he would lead them to a bigger piece of the puzzle.
"We're inclined to believe you," Antonio told him as he and Ariella made their way into the interrogation room.
"Then what the hell am I doing here getting looked at for it?" He asked.
"Riverwalk's your turf for pulling crimes, right? Looks like you've had pretty fertile grounds for a while." Antonio commented.
"Oh, oh, okay, I get it. Threaten me with rape, murder, and then admitting to boosting some wallets seems tame by comparison. You know what? I'm out of here." Theo stood up, ready to get up and leave when Ariella pushed him down by his shoulders.
"Sit down." She glared, then made her way to the other side of the table and took a seat next to Antonio, "Since you basically live there, sizing people up and then ripping them off, we're thinking maybe you could help us find who did rape and kill those two girls because, in my experience, a cheetah always knows where the hyena is."
"I like that analogy. You went jungle on me." Theo nodded. Ariella slammed her hands on the table, making Theo flinch.
"Early this morning, before 6:00 AM, around East Lake close your eyes and think." She demanded.
"There was this dude Like, 5:00 AM in running gear, but he was just stretching the whole time, just looking around. I remember thinking he was either a criminal or a cop, but I ain't ever seen a cop with a watch that nice, though." He told them.
Antonio scoffed, "How close did you get to him?"
"Real close. I walked right by him." Ariella and Antonio shared a look before they gathered the stuff they had brought in and walked out.
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"Hey, appreciate you coming," Voight greeted, walking up to the two detectives from New York as they walked up the stairs.
"Of course," Rollins nodded.
"Hank Voight." He introduced, shaking hands with both of them.
"Hey, there. Rollins." She smiled, shaking hands with all of them.
"You guys are nice. What's up with that battle-ax downstairs?" Fin asked.
"There isn't enough time in the day." Al joked, shaking his hand, "Pleasure."
"Start off looking for patterns." Fin told them. After getting settled in, they got right to work, "Why New York and now Chicago? Is this guy a salesman, and this just happens to be his route? - Maybe an interstate trucker?" He suggested.
"Yeah. The only commonality that we could find that might be worth pursuing, is there was a manufacturing trade show convention in New York at the time of our rape-murders. Now, that convention is here in town at the Rittenton Center?" Rollins asked.
"Rittenhouse, yeah. Yeah. Jin." Voight nodded over to the tech guy.
"Yeah, on it," Jin nodded.
"So who is this guy? I mean, what are we looking for?" Erin asked.
"This perp has been elevated to serial-killer status. I mean, in terms of rape and murder, there are five different profile psyches. I think we're looking at an anger retaliatory rapist." Rollins explained.
"Why the ear? I mean, I get that he's a sadistic son of a bitch and everything, but is he trying to establish some sort of cred or-?" Adam asked.
"Usually as a souvenir or a trophy. Sometimes they even make shrines." Fin suggested.
"Yuck," Ariella muttered, her nose scrunching up.
"How long do we have you guys for?" Voight asked.
"As long as you need," Rollins smiled.
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"Hi, Vanessa." Ariella greeted, walking into the most recent victim's room, Antonio walking in behind her, "Ma'am. I'm Detective Rivera, and this is Detective Dawson, and we're here to try to-"
"I'll do whatever I can to help you catch him," Vanessa cut her off.
"All right. Thank you." Ariella smiled, "Can you take us through what happened?" She asked, sitting down on one of the chairs next to the bed.
"I'm on the soccer team at school, so I like to get a run in after practice, and I cut through Riverwalk the way I do every day, and out of nowhere, this guy appears in a brown hoodie with a mask on." She began.
"Did he say anything?" Ariella asked.
"Just to shut up and not scream. He put a hand over my mouth, and he dragged me to, like, this dark area underneath the stairs. And then he yanked my sweats and underwear down, and that's when he did it." She explained.
"Okay. Is there anything that you could see on his scars, a birthmark?" Ariella asked.
"No." Vanessa shook her head.
"What about height and weight?" Antonio asked, standing at the foot of the bed.
"He was about your height, maybe a little heavier than you. He had brown eyes, and I saw some of his hair. It was dirty blonde." She described.
"Well, that's great. That's a lot more than we had." Antonio nodded.
"Is there anything else that you saw that could help us identify him?" Ariella asked.
"When he took his knife out something kicked in. We just had this self-defense class at school, and the instructor lady said that if you don't remember anything else, you should slap, grab, twist, and pull. And that's what I did." Ariella nodded.
"Good. I'm glad you did." She smiled at her, "Now when that happened, were you able to scratch his face or-?"
"It got my thumbnail inside his eye, his right eye deep." She cut Ariella off, "He screamed, and he fell off of me, and that's when I ran."
"You have been amazing," Ariella flashed her a smile.
"He didn't break me. I want him to know that." Vanessa told them.
"He will." Antonio nodded.
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"The guy we brought in, Jeffrey Baker what eye color does he have?" Voight asked, outside of the hospital room.
"Blue. Plus, he was in our custody when this rape happened." Ariella reminded him.
"All right, kick him. Get the word out: blonde hair, brown eyes, possible damage to the eye. Check all clinics, hospitals, see if anybody came in for an eye injury." Voight told them.
"I'll get it out to all vehicles and foot patrol," Antonio nodded, walking ahead of them. Ariella sighed and Voight looked over at her.
"You all right?" He asked.
"She's only 16. Let's get him." Ariella stated.
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"Okay, so, if the perp was rational, I mean, he'd leave town knowing that the heat is on, but there's a good chance he's not, so most likely he's angrier. He's more fixated because his needs went unmet." Rollins explained once all of them were back at the precinct.
"He probably has a good idea that he left DNA under the victim's fingernails, and it's only a matter of time before he gets ID'd, so he's gonna need to strike soon while he has a chance," Fin added.
"All right, hospitals and clinics, check with foot patrol down at Riverwalk. Beat the bushes on this guy." Voight told them.
"Hey, where's Burgess?" Antonio asked as Ariella was getting her jacket on.
"I haven't seen her." Ariella shrugged.
"You..." Voight pointed to Ariella.
"I know. Stay here. Man the phones." Ariella nodded.
"Good." Voight nodded, patting her on the shoulder.
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After following up on Kim's lead, which led them back to the suspect Theo had given them, they arrested him, "Baker's from St. Louis. Vance is from Shreveport. Not sure how they would've met." Antonio said, pointing to the pictures on the board.
"Some deviant chat room most likely." Fin commented.
"Baker travels for his conventions. Maybe Vance meets him there. Baker's the lookout while Vance does the crime." Jay suggested.
"It's a dyad. Both partners plan and commit the crime together, but there is usually a dominant-submissive relationship." Rollins said.
"Like the Columbine killers, the DC snipers, the Menendez brothers, those two yahoos who blew up the Boston marathon," Fin added.
"Yeah, the dominant force is psychopathic and/or sadistic. The submissive partner is depressed. He's dependent. The leader is gonna be charismatic, you know, enthusiastic. He's looking for a follower to manipulate, while the subordinate he's vulnerable. He feels lost. He needs someone to lead him." Rollins explained.
"Baker's the dominant, guaranteed," Ariella nodded her head.
"Where's Baker right now?" Fin asked.
"He's in the interview room. He's all lawyered up." Adam answered.
"Not for long. Put him in the cage." Voight instructed.
"Yes, Sergeant," Adam nodded, walking down the staircase by the breakroom to get to the basement while the others walked back to their desks.
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After Baker broke, gave up his partner, and where his partner was, they all ended up on the pier. Antonio got out of the car, then opened Ariella's door. She untucked his shirt, covering his badge up with the shirt since they were undercover.
"Spread out. Come on." Voight told them and Antonio, Ariella, and Erin followed after him. They looked around at the crowds and crowds of people, not seeing anything. They spread out, going their separate ways, keeping their ears open for anything on the walkie.
The whole time they were walking around the pier, Antonio made sure that his arm was around Ariella in any way, afraid she disappeared or afraid that something would happen to her.
"I got the eye," Adam announced.
"Ruzek? Where are you?" Voight asked. Adam ran after the perp, trying to talk him down from killing the woman in his grasp. He held a knife to her throat while Adam tried to talk him down.
"You're smart. Not even my partner, Marlyn, knows about the backup." Adam said, giving them a hint about where he was.
"Ruzek's at the Marlyn yacht. Everybody move in." Voight told them. Ariella and Antonio wasted no time in sprinting down to the pier where they were.
"Listen, I'm gonna make a deal with you, okay? You let her go, I let you go. Right now I just want the girl safe." Adam reassured."Call SWAT in?" Erin asked, looking at Hank.
"No, there's no time for that." Voight told him, "Halstead and Olinsky, move into position." He instructed.
"We're backing out of here. The moment I see someone flash metal at me, she's dead I mean it!" The man shouted.
"None of that needs to happen, all right? We're not going there." Adam shook hos head.
"You got the shot?" Voight asked.
"Affirmative," Jay answered.
"Light him up," Voight gave him the "okay", and within seconds of that order, Vance was dead on the ground, a bullet hole through his head.
"It's okay. This is Detective Lindsay and Detective Rivera." Adam said as they both ran over to the woman.
"Hi." They both smiled at her as Antonio rushed over to Vance.
"I just want you to calm down. She's gonna ask you a couple of questions." Adam reassured.
"Do you have any family we can call?" Ariella asked.
"Yeah. It's in my cell phone." Kate nodded.
"Okay, we'll get it. We'll get everybody here, and we'll get you to the hospital." Ariella told her.
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Ariella walked into Vanessa's hospital room. Vanessa turned off the TV, giving all her attention to Ariella. She sat on the edge of the bed and grabbed Vanessa's hand, "We got him." She told her.
Vanessa stared at her, processing what she had just learned. She sat there before bursting into tears. Ariella pulled her, carefully, into a hug, of which Vanessa returned, and cried into her shoulder. Ariella ran a comforting hand up her back, letting her cry.
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Ariella and Antonio were both filling out some paperwork and just about to get ready to head home. No one else was in the office, so they had the place to themselves, "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure." Ariella nodded.
"Do you want to get married?" Ariella dropped what she was doing and looked up at him like he had grown a second head.
"What the hell, Antonio?"
"What? Do you not want to?"
"What is your problem?" She threw a crumbled piece of paper at him, "Of course I do, but this is how you do it?"
"Well, I had another idea planned, but it felt too extravagant." He shrugged. She groaned, dropping her head on her desk, "Is that a yes?"
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note.
the last scene is actually so funny to me. i love them so much. okay, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will see you soon my loves 💕💕
SHOW: chicago pd:
season one, episode six
"conventions"
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