Yn's POV
As I walked into the office, I just so happened to catch part of Jay and Al's conversation. "You speak Italian? Where'd you pick it up" Jay asked. "I was stationed in Vicenza" Al replied. "You served" Jay asked. "Yeah, A.B.C.T., part of a rapid response team. It's about an hour away from everyone. You" Al asked. "Rangers. Afghanistan" Jay said. "Well, that explains a lot" Al said. "Were you ever injured in the line of crushing grapes" Jay asked. "Excuse me" Al asked. "Was that in World War II" Jay asked jokingly.
"Hey guys" I say to them as I dropped my stuff off at my desk. "Hey Ln. What have you been up to" Al asked. "Nothing much. I heard you guys talking about your experience in the army. I know how tough that is" I say. "You served" Jay asked. "No, but my older brother currently does" I say. "Yeah? Where's he deployed" Al asked. "Iraq. He's apart of an EOD division" I say. "Is everyone in your family some sort of hero or something" Jay asked me. "No. My older sister is a software engineer, my dad is a carpenter, and my mom is an accountant" I say. "You're the youngest" Al asked me. "Yep" I say. "That explains a lot" Al said.
"The media is calling him 'The Riverwalk Killer.' The mayor is 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 isn't going to happen again" Voight said. "There's no witnesses. Area central searched every crime scene and came up blank on physical evidence" Antonio said. "Pods" Adam asked. "Zero" Antonio replied. "Detectives from Special Victims Unit in New York are en route right now to help out" Voight said.
"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 said. "What about registered sex offenders" Jay asked. "Nothing pops. Plus, there is no DNA yet off any of the victims" Jin said. "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 said.
At the riverwalk, I took the role of photographer. I walked around and took pictures of different things like any photographer would. "All right, everyone check the ramp. I've got eyes on a male, white, brown hoodie" Voight said over the radio. I headed towards the ramp, but Jay got there first, handcuffing the suspect just as he tried to make a move towards a woman.
"This is Theo Mitchell, and I don't think he's our guy" Jay said once we had all grouped up. "Based on" Voight asked. "I found four wallets and three watches on him. He's a pickpocket, a purse-snatcher" Jay said. "Four arrests in the last ten years along those lines. Nothing violent. No rape or murder, not even a sexual assault" Erin said. "What do you think" Voight asked Antonio. "Let's bring him in" Antonio replied.
Back at the district, two detectives from New York, Rollins and Tutuola, were waiting for us. "We start off looking for patterns, obviously. Why New York and now Chicago? Is this guy a salesman, and this just happens to be his route? Maybe an interstate trucker" Tutuola said. "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 said. "Rittenhouse, yeah. Jin" Voight said. "Yeah, on it" Jin said.
"So who is this guy? I mean, what are we looking for" I ask. "This perp has been elevated to serial-killer status. I mean, in terms of the rape and murder, there are five different profile psyches. I think we're looking at an anger retaliatory rapist" Rollins said. "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" Adam. asked "Usually as a souvenir or a trophy. Sometimes they even make shrines" Tutuola said. "How long do we have you guys for" Voight asked. "As long as you need" Rollins replied.
The thief we pulled from the park was able to recognize one of the guys at the conference. He said that he was at the riverwalk stretching to run, but he never did. He just stood there and looked around. That man's name was Jeffery Baker, and at the moment, Jay and Erin were talking to him in the interview room. However, some important news came up, so I poked my head into the interview room. "Can I talk to you guys for a sec" I ask. Jay and Erin nodded, and they stepped outside. "What is it" Jay asked. "There's been another rape down at the Riverwalk. The victim survived. She's at Chicago Med" I say.
When interviewed, the girl at Med said that the offender had brown eyes and dirty blonde hair. She also said that she managed to get her thumb deep into the man's right eye. Jeffery Baker, the man we had in custody, had blue eyes, and he was with us at the time of the murder, so we had to kick him.
Later that day, Kim showed up in the office. "Okay, so I called all the pharmacies within a two-mile radius of the attempted rape asking if any male with blonde hair and brown eyes came in with an apparent eye injury. The Walgreen's over on Superior said a guy matched that description and bought gauze, peroxide and sunglasses. They needed to see a badge, that's why I had to go down there" Kim said. "What do you have" Voight asked. "He used a credit card. Neil Vance. Jin pulled his credit card history. He's been staying at the Hotel Fauntleroy the past six days. He also has hotel charges in New York at the same time of the rape-murders that happened there" Kim said. "All right, lets go" Voight told the team.
At the hotel, Jeffery Baker showed up, and he asked the desk clerk which room Neil Vance was staying in, so we brought him back down to the station. Voight took a run at Baker, and he gave up where Vance was, which was Navy Pier. So, we went down to Navy Pier and spread out. Adam and I ended up walking together down by the water. As we were walking, a guy wearing a hoodie with a bruised eye. I stopped Adam and turned to look back to see that the man was staring at me. Adam turned around and pulled out his radio, and that was all it took for Vance to start running. "We've got the eye" Adam said into his radio as we took off. "I'll go this way, you go that way, and we'll cut him off" I tell Adam. He nodded and we split up, me going the opposite direction. That turned out to be a bad idea though because as soon as I got close to Vance, he grabbed roughly and pressed a knife against my neck.
"I'll kill her" Vance said to Adam who was standing a few feet away from us. "Neil, my name is Adam. How about you and I talk this out" Adam asked. "Come any closer, and I slice her from ear to ear! Now, drop the gun on the ground and kick it to me" Vance said. "I'm not going to give you a loaded gun, but I will drop mine" Adam said and put his gun on the ground. Neil pulled my body closer to his, and my gun hit his side. "I've never killed a cop before. This should be fun" Vance said.
"What's your endgame here, Neil? You've got no way out. Why don't you let her go? Come with me. We have Jeffrey. He gave you up" Adam said. "Jeffrey wouldn't do that" Vance said. "I mean, how do you think we found you? What are you gonna do? Are you going to jump on a boat? I mean, you haven't hurt her yet. We can still work this out" Adam said. "You've got a backup gun! I know it! Give it to me" Vance said. "See, you're smart, Neil. You're smart. Not even my partner, Marlyn knows about the backup" Adam said. That's when I realized we were standing near a yacht named the Marlyn. Adam was telling the rest of the team where we were.
"Listen, I'm going to make a deal with you, okay? You let her go, I let you go. Right now I just want her safe" Adam said. "We're backing out of here. The moment I see someone flash metal at me, she's dead. I mean it" Vance shouted. "None of that needs to happen, all right? We're not going there" Adam said. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, and that's when Neil suddenly lost his grip on me, and I heard him hit the cement. Adam was the first one to reach me, and he pulled me into his arms. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you" Adam asked me. "No. I'm fine. I'm okay" I say.
After the crime lad had swept through and taken Vance's body, Al walked over to me. "Ruzek and I were going to hit Molly's. Want to come" he asked. "What is with this district and going to bars after every case" I ask. "You didn't do this in Homicide" Al asked. "No. After a case I went home and went to bed. I guess I have to get used to the new customs though, so I'm in" I say.