Better Off Dead

Matt Casey was missing. Nobody knew exactly when he'd gone missing. All anybody at Firehouse 51 knew was that the last time they saw or heard from him was when they went off last shift. The next day Herrmann had tried calling him to ask about taking over as acting lieutenant for a shift to get a feel for it for whenever the day came he got to put his rank to the test. There had been no answer. Nobody had thought anything about it, the guy had a construction business on the side, he was probably busy. Then Severide had tried calling, see if Casey was interested in going to Molly's for a drink, still no answer. He'd stopped by Casey's apartment, the truck wasn't there but that didn't necessarily mean anything since he'd mentioned taking it to the shop. He tried the door, it was locked and there was no answer. Kelly put his training to the test and kicked the door open, searched the whole apartment, no sign of Casey anywhere.

He'd reached out to everybody from 51 to see if anybody had heard from him, nobody had. Trying not to panic, he'd reached out to Antonio and asked for help. Cops came to the apartment, checked everything, searched his computer, turned up nothing. The next 24 hours were a tense wait for everybody, by the time they went on shift again, the only update from the police was that Casey's pickup had been found abandoned under a bridge five miles from his home. There had been no forensic sign of a struggle, just the driver's side door left open and the battery completely dead, latent prints were lifted off the door handle from the inside and out and the steering wheel, though nobody was too optimistic any prints but Casey's would turn up. Chaplain Orlovsky stopped by the firehouse to join them in prayer that Matt would be found alive and well soon, and offer his services to anybody who wanted to talk.

A few hours into shift, the bells had gone off, there was a suspected fire at a hotel in one of the seedier parts of the city. Though everybody was aware of what they had to do, none of them could put their sole attention in the job at hand, everybody still wanted to know what had happened to their lieutenant.

The run down hotel was six stories tall and smoke was pouring out from some busted windows on the 5th and 6th floors. Some people had already gotten out but the manager explained there were still some people inside who hadn't evacuated, nobody knew for sure how many but the estimate was 10. Additional ambos were called in and 61 was on standby for the first victims brought out. Entering the lobby they saw smoke trailing down the stairs, the elevators were an obvious dead end, though Otis went to the controls and brought them all down just to make sure nobody was stupid enough to actually try using them. Everybody else went up to the top two floors first to check for victims. They weren't able to find the source of the fire yet and guessed it must've started in the wiring, in which case they had no way of knowing how long it would be before the whole place was busting out in fires, but their priority right now was finding anybody still inside and getting them out to the paramedics. Everybody paired off to sweep the floors and check for victims. Tony and Capp swept the 4th floor, Herrmann and Mouch took the 3rd floor, Severide and Cruz checked the 2nd.

Kelly kicked in a locked door, "Fire department, call out!"

Cruz was across the hall, kicked in another door and called out in English and Spanish, no response. The rooms were empty, so they moved on.

"I got one!" Kelly called at the third door he kicked in.

There was a 20-something year old woman face down on the floor, barely responsive, only enough to cough. He and Cruz carried her to the stairs where EMTs were ready with a stair chair, got her strapped in and took her down, then they resumed their search. Over their radios they heard Herrmann announce they'd found five kids in one of the bathtubs and their mother was unresponsive on the bed, there was some medication on the nightstand so they weren't sure if she'd suffered smoke inhalation, or lapsed into a diabetic coma. There was a response from the EMTs that additional ambos were just pulling up and somebody would be with them soon to help carry her down, meanwhile Mouch was leading the kids down the stairs to the exit while Herrmann stayed with the woman and checked her vitals.

Otis reported in that they'd gotten all the elevators down to the lobby and there was nobody in them, small favors indeed.

"Smoke's getting thicker up here!" Herrmann called out on his radio, "let's finish sweeping and get out."

There was a crackle on the radio, the next thing they heard was Tony's voice.

"Severide, we found Casey!"

"What?" Kelly was sure he'd heard wrong.

"We found him on the 4th floor, he's unconscious, we're bringing him down!"

Severide felt his knees going weak, he replanted his feet to stand straight. He turned to Cruz and they looked at each other with a mutual expression of confusion, worry, and relief. They finished sweeping the 2nd floor and found no additional victims. Herrmann and Mouch reported the 3rd floor was also cleared. Severide went to the stairwell and saw Capp and Tony carrying Casey's unconscious body down the stairs.

"What happened?" he asked as they came down to the 2nd floor.

"I don't know," Capp shook his head, "he was on the floor next to the bed."

"There's a body up there," Tony said as they moved to the first floor stairs, "he's been dead for a while."

"Any idea who it is?"

Tony shook his head.

Severide ran alongside his men as they carried Casey through the front doors and lowered him onto a waiting backboard. Ambo 61 was already in-route to Med so another company would be taking him to the hospital. In the daylight they got a better look at Casey and he looked terrible, his face and hair were covered with soot and what skin wasn't covered with soot was pale and ashy, his clothes were a mess, he was barefoot, he was almost unrecognizable. He was put on oxygen and moved into the ambulance.

"Is the building clear?" Boden asked.

"DOA on the 4th floor," Tony said, "we probably got time to go back and bring it down, be easier for the ME to identify him while he's still got his skin on."

Boden looked at the smoke pouring out of the building and told them, "Five minutes, if you don't find him by then, get your assess out."

"Copy, Chief," Capp said.

Severide was right beside Boden and looked at him with wide questioning eyes.

"Go," Boden nodded towards the ambulance, "go."

Severide merely nodded and ran over to ride with Casey. The paramedics tending to him weren't familiar with him so Kelly filled them in on all of Matt's medical history that he could remember.

"How long till we reach Med?" he asked.

"ETA's 10 minutes," one of the paramedics told him.

Kelly looked down at his friend who looked like death ran him over, then backed up and tried again, and wondered aloud, "What the hell happened to you, Casey?"

"On my count, one, two, three."

Will Halstead and the attending staff moved Matt Casey from the gurney onto the exam table. The paramedics had taken him off oxygen for the time being, he was able to breathe on his own but was still largely non-responsive.

"Oh my God, Matt," Maggie said as she stepped into the room and snapped on a pair of gloves. "What happened?"

"Found unconscious in a fire," Will said as they started getting him hooked up to monitor.

"He's been missing for two days," Maggie told him. She looked him over and said, "Dr. Halstead, something's wrong."

That was obvious but Will wanted to know what specifically Maggie meant. "What do you mean?"

Maggie grabbed the collar of the shirt Casey was wearing, it pooled around his neck. "These clothes are at least one size too large, these aren't Matt's clothes."

"What's that?" Will asked as he saw something under the shirt collar on Casey's chest.

They cut off the shirt and saw a mess of bruises around his neck and on his chest, and on his arms, and...

"Ligature marks," Maggie gasped as she saw the purple bands of indention marks around his wrists.

Will noted that the jeans were also too big and rolled up the bottoms in cuffs to examine Casey's feet.

"Legs too," he said as he discovered the matching purple bands above the ankles.

"Oh my God," Maggie gasped as she looked him over, she looked up at Will with wide eyes and asked, "what the hell happened?"

"I don't know, but look at this," Will touched the soot on Casey's face and revealed a bruise hidden underneath it.

"Was Casey on the fire floor?"

"I don't think so."

"So where'd this come from?" Will asked, "it's like somebody intentionally tried to cover up the bruises."

Maggie shrugged, "It must've been from when the firefighters carried him out."

"But there's hardly any on the clothes," Will pointed out.

"That doesn't make sense," Maggie replied.

"Is somebody here who responded to the fire?" Will asked.

"Kelly is," Maggie answered.

"See if he knows anything about this."

"Kelly," Maggie walked out to the waiting room, "I need you to answer some questions about when you found Matt."

"Yeah, sure," Kelly nodded, "Whatever I can."

"Did you find Matt?" she asked.

"Uh no, I was two floors below, Capp and Tony found him."

"Was he conscious at the time?"

"No, he'd already inhaled a lot of smoke, Tony put his mask on him to get a couple hits off the oxygen, it didn't work."

"Did they say where they found him?" Maggie asked.

"In one of the hotel rooms on the floor by the bed, why?" Kelly asked.

"Just standard pain in the ass hospital protocol," Maggie answered.

"Has Casey woken up yet?"

"No, his lungs are cleared but he's still out cold," she told him.

"But he's gonna be okay, right?" Severide asked.

"That's what we want to make sure of," Maggie said, "just seeing if there was anything else we needed to check for."

"Kelly wasn't on the same floor where Casey was, Tony and Capp found him and carried him down to the ambo," Maggie told Will as she returned to the exam room.

"Where?"

"They said he was on the floor by the bed," Maggie said.

"Do you believe it?" Halstead asked her.

"I have a feeling you don't," she replied.

Will pointed to the purple marks on Casey's body, "These are unmistakable, somebody beat the hell out of Casey, and somebody had him tied up for an extended length of time."

"And somebody got him dressed," Maggie said.

"In a set of clothes that aren't even his," Will remarked.

"You think whoever did that to him dressed him?" Maggie asked.

"What happened to the ones he was wearing?" Will asked.

Maggie shrugged.

Will shook his head, "I think somebody dressed him who was trying to preserve some dignity for him."

Maggie's eyes widened, "The firemen?"

"Think about it, get him dressed, cover the bruises with soot, it at least gets him out of the scene with few questions asked," Will said. "The question is did whoever had him tied up in that hotel room plan to get him out of there?"

"Or did the fire disrupt his plans?" Maggie finished the thought.

The two looked at each other hesitantly for a minute.

"You know we need the patient's consent to do a rape exam," Will said.

"Yes," Maggie answered.

"But any forensic evidence on his clothes is fair game since they're not even his clothes and they'll be disposed of anyway," Will told her, "if these are his attacker's clothes, they may be able to lift some DNA from them, and find out who it is, and find out if he has any STDs we need to start Casey on meds for."

"Copy that, Doctor Halstead," Maggie said as she collected the shirt and jeans they'd cut off of Casey.

Kelly looked at Maggie with a puzzled expression, which quickly turned to outrage as he asked her, "What are you saying, Maggie?"

"Just that something about your men's story doesn't add up, it's very hard to believe that they simply found Casey as he was."

"Why's that?"

"Kelly, did you get a good look at Casey?"

Severide paused for a minute and answered, "No, first Capp and Tony were blocking the view, then the paramedics were working on him."

"Did the paramedics notice anything unusual?"

"They're from a different house, they don't know Casey."

"Kelly, Matt has heavy bruising all over his body, a contusion on the back of the head consistent with being blitzed from behind, and ligature marks on his wrists and ankles," Maggie told him.

"What?"

"Whoever got to him kept him tied to the bed at the hotel, and somebody got him dressed in clothes that probably belong to his attacker. Doctor Halstead is still examining him, but it's very likely that he was the victim of a sexual assault," Maggie explained.

"My God," Kelly tried to take all of it in.

"How long did it take when they got to Casey's floor for them to radio in that they found him?"

"We swept the floors for victims, Cruz and I were about done on 2 when Tony said they found him on 4. It took them a while to carry him down."

"When the cops come to question everyone, they're going to know that something doesn't add up," Maggie said, "so you better check with your men so everybody has their stories straight. If Voight's people are brought in on this, you know they're going to figure it out."

Kelly nodded. "I will, thanks for the heads up. How's Matt doing?"

"Dr. Halstead is still examining him, he's severely dehydrated so we got an IV in him and are pushing fluids, when we know more I'll let you know," she told him.

Severide nodded in a dumbstruck manner, "Thanks, Maggie."

"What happened at the hotel?" Kelly asked his men when they parked themselves in chairs in the waiting room.

Tony looked at him, "What're you talking about, Severide?"

"The doctors know something's wrong, what happened with Casey?" Kelly asked. "Why did you guys lie?"

Capp and Tony turned and looked at each other and shared a mutual expression that didn't tell Kelly anything.

"What is it?" he asked.

"We had to do something, Kelly, he wouldn't want everyone to see him like that," Capp told his lieutenant.

"Like what?"

"Whoever the bastard was that kidnapped Casey left him tied to that bed face down bare ass naked," Tony told him, "We got him untied, found some clothes, got him dressed, then radioed that we found him. One of our own, Kelly, the roof could've come down, we weren't going to bring him out like we found him."

Kelly nodded hesitantly. "How bad of shape was he in?"

"Bruised and bloody," Capp answered grimly, "somebody worked him over."

"God," Kelly hissed under his breath, "how can this be happening? What happened to him? When we left last shift, he was fine, how did this happen? Who's responsible?"

"If the bastard's lucky, we'll never find out," Tony said.

Kelly shook his head and looked like he was going to be sick.

"I have to see him," he said, "I have to see if he's going to be alright."

Kelly looked in the room Casey had been moved to, he was dressed in a hospital gown, he'd been cleaned up, and he looked like he was sleeping peacefully though Kelly doubted very much that that was the case. He stepped into the room and made his way over to the bed and looked down at the blonde lieutenant. Now the bruises on his face were plain as day, as were the hand marks on his neck and part of his chest. He glanced down and saw the purple band around the hospital bracelet they'd placed on him.

"What happened to you, Casey?" he quietly asked.

When Kelly looked up again, Casey's eyes were open and seemed to be staring up at him.

"Casey!" Severide whispered in relief.

Casey did not appear so relieved to finally be conscious, he grumbled and groaned and rubbed his eyes and muttered, "Oh my God...this didn't happen...you're not here."

"Casey."

"Go away, Severide," Casey told him as he pulled the sheet up higher on him.

"Casey, what happened?" Kelly asked him.

"I said go away," Casey replied as he turned on his side facing away from him.

"Casey, we've all been worried to death, what happened?"

"Get out!" Casey yelled at him, and started reaching for anything within his reach to chuck at Severide. "Get out! Get out! GET OOOOUUUUT!"

That was enough noise to bring everybody running, doctors, nurses and hospital security, and finally made Severide back out of the room in shock and confusion.

"Go away! All of you go away!" Casey screamed at anybody who set foot in his room.

Severide was left standing outside the room without a clue what was going on, he felt completely lost.

"Come on, Kelly," Maggie guided him away from the room, "let Casey rest right now."

"W-what happened?" Kelly tried to put it all together.

"Just leave him be for now," Maggie told him, "when he calms down you can see him."

"Is he alright?" Kelly asked.

"Dr. Halstead's going to do everything he can for him."

"Is he gonna be alright?" Kelly reiterated.

"Try not to worry, go back to the waiting room, we'll come get you when there's an update," Maggie told him.

"Maggie, w-what about a rape kit? Can you do that so the cops can find out who did this?"

"Matt has to consent to it, otherwise there's nothing we can do," she said.

Kelly could still hear Casey screaming up the hall, he knew there was no way in hell Matt would consent to that.

"Nothing?" he asked.

"We have to respect the patient's wishes," she told him.

Kelly reluctantly took a couple steps, then stopped and looked back at her, "I just wanted to know what happened."

"I know, we're all wondering the same thing, when Casey feels up to talking about it, he will," Maggie said.

Kelly trudged along a couple more steps, then said to her, "Somebody ought to stay with him."

"I think he prefers being alone right now," Maggie replied.

"But if anything would happen..."

"He'll be closely monitored, don't worry," she assured him.

"But I gotta know what happened," Kelly told her, "He's been missing for 2 days, we all thought he was dead."

"I know," she nodded sympathetically, "But he needs to rest now."

Kelly reluctantly nodded, then headed towards the waiting room.