Yn's POV
I woke up to the sun shining in my face, and I groaned and pulled the blanket over my head. That's when the alarm went off, and Jay shifted in bed beside me to turn it off. As soon as he returned to his previous position, I turned around and buried my face into his chest. Jay then draped his arm over me, and for a minute or so, we just laid in bed together. However, it was soon time to get ready for work. I sat up in bed, pushing my hair out of my face, and yawned.
"I'll go get the coffee started" Jay said and climbed out of bed.
"Thanks" I say and stretch my arms above my head.
Once I had gotten out of bed, I quickly showered, brushed my teeth and hair, etc., and now it was time to pick out my outfit for the day. I decided on a white t-shirt, a black cotton zip up, and blue jeans along with my sneakers. When I entered the kitchen, Jay was filling up two to-go cups with coffee.
"You are the best" I say as Jay handed me a cup.
"Only for you. Voight called, and we've got a new case, so we'll be stopping by the crime scene before we head to the district" Jay said.
"Of course we are. There's never a boring day in Intelligence" I say.
"You've got that right. You ready to go" Jay asked me.
"Yeah. Lets get out of here" I say.
.........................................
"All right, we're running point on this now, so what do we got" Voight asked.
"The victim's name is Nikolay Lukov. He had just opened the place up. He was tallying receipts in here when a couple guys came in and they robbed him" Jay explained.
"And like the previous robberies in the area, the offenders fled in a silver SUV with patches on the side" Kevin added.
"It looks like they've gone from hitting residences to hitting restaurants now" Hailey said.
"How much did they get" Voight asked.
"The owner said there was about 14 grand being prepared for deposit" Kim answered.
"Any witnesses" Voight questioned.
"No other employees were here, but we do have the owner's son. 17 years old. His name is Peter. He actually flagged us down. He said when he walked up, the offenders fled and he did catch a glimpse of one of them when they took their ski mask off. Described him as male, white, 30s" Kevin informed us.
"All right, did we bag his hands, do a GSR test" Voight asked.
"Yep. It came back clean" Adam replied.
"All right, so let's canvass the neighborhood for witnesses. Grab POD footage, and check all suspicious persons in service clothes too. Maybe somebody saw the offenders casing the place" Voight spoke.
Back at the district, we started digging for anything we could find to see who had robbed the restaurant. While digging, I ran out of coffee, so I headed into the break room to get some more. As a new pot of coffee was brewing, Kevin walked inside.
"I swear that you and Adam are the same exact person" Kevin told me.
"Um, care to explain" I query.
"Both you and Adam have an obsession with coffee. That's your second cup in the last 2 hours" Kevin said.
"Coffee isn't an obsession. It's a hobby" I explain and pour some into my mug.
"That makes no sense" Kevin said.
"Yeah, to you" I say and pat his shoulder before exiting the break room.
"All right, where are we at on this" Voight asked.
"We knocked on a few doors, but came up dry" Adam answered.
"You would have thought that somebody would have looked out the window or heard the shots or something, but nobody saw anything" Kevin said.
"Or if they did, they aren't sharing" Vanessa clarified.
"All right, so street PODs" Voight asked.
"Most of them have been vandalized and made inoperable by the locals" Hailey replied.
"Patrol did say this neighborhood is notorious for not cooperating. It's been like that for years" I say and take a sip of my coffee.
"I'm going to go back and take to this Vasil. Encourage him to work with us. Meanwhile, it looks like we're back at square one, so let's restart at the beginning" Voight said.
"Hey, I just got a call from a CI who's been asking around. He said he got word that a silver SUV with patches was just dropped off at an auto salvage yard on the South Side" Kim informed us.
"Okay, Adam and Kev, chase it" Voight said.
As Adam and Kevin left the bullpen, I took a seat at my desk. My coffee mug was still in my hand, and I took another long sip. I then set my mug down and turned my computer on. Just as I did, Jay walked over and sat down on my desk.
"What's up" I ask Jay.
"I was thinking we could go out to Molly's once the case is over" Jay spoke.
"Okay. I'm down" I say and reach for my coffee mug, only for Jay to pull it away. "Hey!"
"You need to slow down today. No more coffee" Jay said.
"But I need coffee" I retort.
"No you don't. No more coffee" Jay repeated and walked away.
..........................................
"Who's this guy" Voight asked as he noticed Jay putting a picture on the white board.
"Gregory Barnes. He's 26, no criminal record" Jay answered.
"We think this is the guy that dropped off the SUV. It was his Uber account that requested the pick-up at the auto salvage yard" Kim spoke.
"Does he have family or work ties to Albany Park" Voight asked.
"None that we can find" I reply.
"Okay. Let's bring him in" Voight said.
We were all waiting in our cars for Barnes to appear. Hailey and I were waiting in the alley while Adam and Kevin were in the front, and everyone else was spread out. I yawned and rubbed my eyes in an attempt to rid them of tiredness, but it didn't work that well.
"You okay" Hailey asked me.
"Jay won't let me have any coffee" I state.
"Ooh. That's tough" Hailey said.
"We've got eyes on Barnes. Walking through the parking lot of the building. We're going to grab him up" Adam said over the radio.
"We've got a runner" Kevin said seconds later.
Hailey started the car and drove into the alley where we came across Barnes running, with Kevin and Adam chasing after him. I sighed and climbed out of the car joining the chase of our offender. I was right behind Adam, who easily clambered the fence in front of us and jumped over it, but as soon as it was my turn, I yawned again, and that made me lose focus. As I tried to jump over the fence, my left foot didn't quite make it, and I tumbled off of the top of the fence, my body hitting the ground with a thud. I groaned and stood up, dusting myself off just as Adam caught Barnes. Back at the district, I winced and rubbed my side, which now had a pretty nasty bruise because of my fall.
"You good" Jay asked me.
"Not really. You know, this never would have happened if you didn't take away my coffee" I say.
"I stand by my choice" Jay said.
"Boss, I found something interesting when I was transcribing the restaurant employee statements" Vanessa said. "Vasil's bartender, Chelsea Roberts, shared the same street address as Barnes, an apartment complex over in Canaryville. It was years ago and they lived in separate apartments, but-"
"But they knew each other. Take a look at Chelsea Roberts' social media account. This is her with Barnes like three months ago" Kim said and showed us her screen.
"Call down to Trudy. Put a hold on Barnes. Have Halstead and Upton bring her in" Voight spoke.
"He bonded out an hour ago" I say.
"All right, you and Adam go grab him" Voight said.
...................................
"Kim, tell Voight we came up dry. Barnes isn't at home, but we'll track him down" I say and hang up my phone.
"All right. The landlord said Barnes stopped by, grabbed a few things, and then he took off" Adam explained to me.
"Well, the guy isn't stupid. He knows we're on his ass" I say.
"Yeah, she also said she's looking out her window, and she sees a suspicious white guy sitting in his car watching Barnes" Adam added.
"It could be the partner in crime" I suggest.
"Yeah, one would think, except Barnes didn't seem to know he was there. Barnes takes off and the car follows" Adam said.
So, Jay and Hailey interviewed Chelsea, who was actually 8 week pregnant, with Barnes being the father. She said she overheard Peter talking about how much cash the restaurant was bringing in, so she told Barnes about it. She also told us his last location, which was a motel, but when we got there, all we found was Barnes' dead body.
"All right, what do we got" Voight asked.
"The techs couldn't find any comparable prints in the motel room" Jay answered.
"Ballistics confirmed that it's a 9-millimeter, but it doesn't match any in the system" Kim confirmed.
"I might have something. I took a deep dive into Barnes' cell records. I figured if he's got a new friend like Chelsea said, that number would have just started popping out on his cell phone. Jack Cranston. Recently paroled from Stateville for armed robbery. Exchanged gunfire with cops the last time they arrested him" Vanessa said.
"All right, let's get his address from his parole officer" Voight said. "Ln, stay here and see if there's something we've missed. Everyone else, suit up."
After a while of waiting, the team finally got eyes on Cranston. However, he didn't want to go down without a fight, so he started a shooting match. Because Adam had beef with patrol at the moment, there was no backup, meaning Cranston got away.
"Sarge, take a look at this. I pulled the POD footage to find out how in the hell Cranston broke containment. He stole someone's car with them in it" I explain and show him the video.
"Did you zoom in on the plate" Voight asked.
"I did. It's registered to a woman named Gina Morales. Her and the car did not resurface yet, and the GPS is disabled, so he's still got her. I put out a BOLO" I say.
"Yeah, and send Kev and Rojas to check her home address" Voight said.
"Copy that" I say.
............................................
"Armed robbery, kidnapping, and murder. That's a felony trifecta" I tell Cranston.
"Murder" Cranston asked and stood up.
"Sit down" Jay said and shoved Cranston back into his seat.
"Look, I don't know what he told you, but it was Barnes that shot that old man, not me. Look, if you don't believe it, put me in a cell with him. I'll wear a wire. You can hear it with your own ears" Cranston said.
"You want to be in a cell with Barnes" Jay asked Cranston.
"Yeah, he's an idiot. The gun went off when he was trying to push the old man away. I mean, Christ, I had to tell him to get rid of the gun after he'd used it! He was going to hold onto the damn thing. Don't don't play me for stupid! I know you picked him up yesterday" Cranston said.
"You're trying to tell me it wasn't you followed Barnes from the motel after he made bail" I question.
"What are you talking about" Cranston asked.
Turns out, Peter, the victim's nephew, killed Barnes, and we knew because we found his car a block away from the motel Barnes was killed at using POD footage. However, Vasil, Peter's father, wanted to take the blame, and Voight let him.
That night, before Jay and I were going to head to Molly's, I was icing my side. The bruise had turned an ugly purplish-yellow color, and every so often it throbbed. Having the ice against it made it feel somewhat better, but I knew I would be hurting for a few days.
"Man, that's a nasty one" Jay said when he walked into the kitchen.
"Again, this was your fault" I say and set down the ice pack I was holding.
Jay laughed and wrapped his arms around my waist, avoiding my bruise. "I'll admit, maybe taking coffee away from you wasn't the best idea."
"You're lucky you're hot and amazing. Otherwise, I would've broken up with you for doing that" I say.
Jay shook his head and pressed his lips to mine, earning a smile from me as I kissed back. Jay then hoisted me up onto the island, which sent a wave of pain through my body. However, I didn't seem to mind the pain as much because I was too busy making out with Jay.
"Maybe we should save Molly's for another night" I whisper against Jay's mouth.
"I am so glad you said that" Jay breathed out and kissed me again.