Yn's POV
"Adam, hey" I say as I entered the lobby. "I heard about what happened with Kim. I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Dealing with it as much as I can" Adam replied as I gave him a hug.
"How's Kim doing" I ask. "I tried calling her, but she wouldn't answer, and she hasn't responded to my texts."
"Voight's got her on IOD for a few days, and when we spoke this morning, she said she wanted to be alone" Adam answered.
"Well, if I was in her shoes, I would want that too. I'll see you upstairs" I tell him before heading up into the bullpen.
"Looks who's back from vacation" Hailey spoke as I entered the bullpen. "How was it?"
"It was good, except it wasn't really a vacation. I stayed at the apartment all day everyday, and I had to deal with Jay complaining about going into work" I responded.
"That hurt, Yn" Jay said and touched his heart.
"Oh shut up" I laugh and push him away playfully. "I'm just glad to be back."
"You caught up on the case" Vanessa asked me.
"Yeah. Hailey sent me everything this morning" I reply.
"All right. What do we got" Voight questioned.
"I followed up on the Sammy's story about going to an AA meeting with Roberto, so this is security footage from the community center, and this is from an auto shop down the block. There's the blue pickup Sammy was talking about" Hailey said. "Time stamp says 7:12. That's a few hours before Roberto was killed."
"All right, here we go. Blue 2011 Ford. Belongs to a Joe Mason. Convicted felon, recently paroled out of Stateville on an attempted murder beef. LKA's a house in Elsdon" Jay read aloud.
"Okay, Jay, you and Hailey get over there. Stand by for the warrant" Voight said.
...............................
"So Joe, do you know Roberto Pena" I ask.
"Yeah, I know him. That son of a bitch broke into my truck. I caught him red-handed, and he ran" Joe explained.
"What'd he steal" I question. Joe ignored me and looked down at the table. "You know, if I were you, I'd keep talking because you were the last person who was with Roberto before this" I say and place down a photo of Roberto's dead body.
"I had nothing to do with that. Look, he stole my coke. I had some in my glove compartment. So, I drove everywhere trying to find that punk. He said he still had half of my cocaine, so we went to some empty house he was squatting at" Joe stated.
"So you went to the house, you got your drugs, and then you carved him up, didn't you? That's why you slit his throat? Why'd you cut his hands off" I ask.
"I was just trying to get high. I didn't do that to Roberto" Joe responded.
"What time did you leave" I question.
"Sometime after 8:00. Then I went to my buddy's 40th birthday party. This guy was still alive when I left that house" Joe answered.
Vanessa and Kevin went back to check out the house Joe was talking about, and there they found a huge puddle of dead blood, meaning that was where Roberto was murdered. They also found Sammy's notebook, but when they went to bring him in, he was nowhere to be found. However, they did find a pair of sneakers, and they had blood on them. Roberto's blood.
"The sneakers that we found at the church are identical to Sammy's, and the sole pattern and size are an exact match to the prints that we found at the demo house" Adam spoke.
"All right, where are we at in Joe Mason's alibi" Voight asked.
"We've got three witnesses that put him at a party same time as the murder" I reply.
"Well, Sammy Logan's starting to look good for this" Voight stated.
"Yeah, the problem is, we can't find him anywhere. We've been circulating photos of him all over the neighborhood. No one's seen him" Hailey said.
"We've been checking city shelter logs. He's been in and out of a few for the last two years. Never stays. He does have a case worker over in Lincoln Park though" Vanessa added.
"All right. Get a subpoena for his medical records, talk to the case worker, and see what you can find" Voight said to Vanessa and Kevin.
When Vanessa and Kevin left, I walked into the break room to fill up my water bottle. As I was turning on the sink, Jay appeared behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, placing his chin on my shoulder. I smiled and sunk into his embrace, enjoying the warmth that emitted from his body.
"What's up" I ask Jay as he placed a kiss on my neck.
"I missed you this morning. When I woke up, you weren't there" Jay mumbled against my skin.
"Sorry. I had to go to my mom's house and explain to her that while I appreciated her help with wedding planning, I was more than capable of doing it on my own. She seems to think we'll be getting married next month, which is not the case" I say.
"The women on your side of the family are crazy about weddings. You're not going to go all Bridezilla on me, are you" Jay questioned.
I laughed and turned around so that Jay and I were facing each other. "Definitely not."
"Good. Well, we should get back to the case" Jay spoke.
"Yeah. I'll meet you back in the bullpen" I say.
.....................................
"Hey. We found something" I tell Vanessa, Hailey, and Voight as Jay and I walked into the small room attached to the interview room. "I just got off the horn with CPIC. Some guy tried to cash an SSI check in our homicide victim's name, Robert Pena."
'When was this" Voight asked.
"This is 45 minutes ago at a currency exchange in Homan Square" Jay replied and showed everyone a video.
"I'll be damned. That matches the guy Sammy just described" Hailey explained.
"And it's a clear image too. Bet you a bourbon we get a hit on facial rec" Jay said.
"I won't take that bet because I know we'll get a hit, but I am down to get a bourbon later" I say.
Once we had explained what we found to the rest of the team, everyone started digging. If we were going to pin this on the man in the video, we needed solid evidence that he was our guy.
"Eduardo Salazar. He's been on the run from Miami, Florida since 2015. He robbed a bank in Dade County. Killed the clerk. Then he killed the responding officer. FBI has been looking for that dude for a long time" Adam explained.
"Notice how Salazar and Roberto look similar? Salazar hangs around the homeless. He's looking for the right physical match. He finds Roberto. Makes sure he doesn't have any family or close friends. And then slits his throat and steals his identity" Vanessa said.
"Did we talk to the feds" Voight asked.
"I spoke to the S-A-C in the Miami Field Office. She's sending over files. There was an anonymous tip that Salazar was spotted in Homan Square, but it came up dry" Adam added.
"Yeah, well, dry or not, this guy killed the police. Let's find his ass" Voight said.
A while later, we were searching all cameras and PODs in an attempt to find Salazar. Finally, Hailey got something.
"I got a hit off a CTA-cam near the cash exchange place. The camera has Salazar hopping into a Chevy Monte Carlo. The car is registered to a Liza Radley, his girlfriend. She rents an apartment on Belmont. Landlord says she lives with her boyfriend. Boyfriend's description matches Salazar's" Hailey spoke.
At the apartment, we found Liza, but Salazar was nowhere to be found. We needed to catch this prick, and we needed to catch him fast. As Vanessa, Jay, Voight, and I were standing around, Hailey walked over to us.
"She lawyered up and spit in my face for good measure" Haile said.
"All right, anything on her phone" Voight asked.
"Salazar texted her a few hours ago, and then he shut his phone off. The text says, 'Chasing more Roberto paper. We almost there, baby. Punta Mita soon'" Jay read aloud.
"Punta Mita" Hailey questioned.
"It's a beach town in Mexico" I clarify.
"It sounds like he's getting his new identity in order then making a run to the border. All right, so keep monitoring the phone. Let's get a couple of cars down here in case he comes home, and check all nearby businesses. Anywhere he could be setting up a new identity. I know it's a needle in a haystack, but it's worth a shot" Voight said.
We ended up finding Salazar because patrol got a hit on his car, so now the case is over. Once we had packed up our things, Jay and I headed to Molly's to get that bourbon we talked about earlier. We were sitting in a booth across from one another, glasses in our hands.
"Man, I really needed this" I say and take a sip of the bourbon in my glass.
"Me too" Jay spoke and downed his glass. "But I also just want to go home and spend some quality time with my beautiful fiancee."
I laughed and finished up my glass. "You sure are a charmer, aren't you?"
Jay smiled. "I can't help that I've got the most amazing woman in the world."
"All right" I say and stand up. "I'm freezing, so I would really like to get back to the apartment."
"You know what the say; skin to skin contact is the best way to stay warm" Jay informed me.
"That's not a terrible idea. Lets go" I tell Jay and drag him out of the bar.