Jay POV
"Halstead, Lindsay," Voight barks as he storms out of his office. Both of us look up from our desks immediately, our eyes trained to our boss standing in front of us.
"What's up Sarge?" I ask, having to refrain from calling him Hank, in front of the unit at least. I know that it would come across as weird and I don't want any of them even getting the notion that I'm here on counts of favoritism.
"The ME just finished a full work up on Anicka Cepnikova, I want the two of you at Med, now," He explains.
"Got it Sarge," I say as I grab my jacket from the back of my chair, noticing Lindsay doing the same thing.
"Let's roll," She says as she moves quickly from the bullpen, not bothering to wait for me. I like that about her, she's brand new but she takes initiative, she doesn't wait for someone to tell her what to do, she just does it. My first partner in Intelligence, she was like that. It was a quality I missed with my last partner Quinn Baylor. She was a genius, that's how she made her was into Intelligence, but she was quieter. I waited for two years for her to come out of her shell, but she never did. I feel bad admitting this, but I breathed a sigh of relief when Voight told us that she had put in a transfer to San Francisco. But nonetheless, I cannot tell you how happen I am to have a partner like that again.
"Keys?" She asks, holding her hand out once we're at the 300. I begrudgingly pull the key chain from my pocket and slap them in her hand, a satisfied smirk plastered on her face before jumping into the front seat like an excited high school student driving for the very first time. I try to suppress it because I know Voight's rule, but she's cute when she's excited like that, it a little break in her usually stone like exterior.
"You need directions to get to Med?" I ask as we pull out from the 21st.
"I think I got it," She says as she turns in the right direction. Since she refuses to tell me literally anything about herself, I've been picking up on just little things all day. This would be a prime example. She knows her way around this city, so either she's nuts and memorized a map of Chicago, or more likely, she's from here. She must have worked at the 21st a while ago or something, which would also explain her knowing both Voight and Olinsky. But there's still a whole lot to learn.
"So you're from Chicago?" I ask, deciding to roll the dice and see if she'll even give me an answer.
"Born and raised," She says with a rare smile. Bingo, I was right on the nose. "I left the city when I was 25 and made the move over to New York,"
"Why'd you come back?"
"I just needed to come home," She says. And the vague answers are back.
Erin POV
"All three?" I exclaim in disgust. I cannot be hearing her right. Halstead and I had pulled into Med no less than fifteen minutes ago and we're currently getting the rundown from Dr. Keating, the on call ME. I need to be thorough, but I also want to get out of here as fast as possible and get back to the streets to work this case and get justice, not only for Anicka, but for all twelve of those girls.
"That be would be correct," She tells me as she scans her clipboard. "We found semen that matched DNA collected from Ryan Dalton, Harrison McManus, and Marcus Lonter on and inside the victim." I think I'm going to be sick. I've worked this kind of case every day for the past seven years, that just what happens in Special Victims. But I still get that feeling in my chest every time we catch a new case. You don't want to believe that there are these kinds of people in the world, especially since Emma was born, but I get reminded that there are every single day.
"Does it look like it was consensual?" Halstead asks, his head staying level in a rough situation.
"Absolutely not, after a thorough exam we found vaginal and anal tearing as well as bruising a large portion of her body, all which would be consistent with sexual assault," She says as she looks down at her clipboard. I've felt the goosebumps climbing up my arms since we'd arrived, but they hit a new high as those words leave her mouth.
"Have you got a cause of death yet?" I ask, pushing my horror the back of my mind and focusing all of that pissed off energy towards taking down the three boys that did this to her. "I assume that it would be the blunt force trauma to the back of the head?"
"Surprisingly no, that occurred after the fact." She explains.
"She was already dead?" I ask.
"She was, my current assumption would be that the injury was sustained during the transport of the body,"
"You mean the dump of the body," Halstead clarifies.
"Yes," She responds reluctantly, "but the cause of death would be strangulation," She says as she moves the sheet down to reveal the red marks ringing around her pale neck. I cringe again.
"Do you have idea what was used for the strangulation?"
"By the looks of the ligature marks, I would assume a belt but that's just a guess, there isn't a surefire way to figure it out."
"Okay, thank Dr. Keating," Jay says.
"No problem, I will call you if I find anything else," She assures me as the two of us move towards the exit.
"Call Voight," He concludes as we stand outside the door.
"Got it," I say, quickly pulling my phone from my back pocket. I unlock it quickly, making sure that Halstead doesn't see the picture of Kelly, Emma, and I on my lockscreen. I've been meaning to change it to a picture without him, but I haven't gotten around to it. Not that that's a huge issue right now, but I don't want to have to explain everything to him right now. There are more important things for us to focus on.
"Hank Voight," He answers instantly. He's always been that way, I don't think Hank Voight has ever missed one of my calls.
"Hank it's Erin," I curse myself internally as I realize what I've said, I told myself that I wasn't going to call him Hank on the job, or refer to myself as Erin. "We just got the rundown from the ME,"
"What's the deal," He says gruffly, forcing me to cut right to the chase.
"She found semen from Ryan Dalton, Harrison McManus, and Marcus Lonter as well as vaginal and anal tearing and bruising all over the body," I tell him.
"So they gang raped her," He states.
"Yes,"
"Do we have a cause of death?"
"Strangulation," I add, "Most likely from a belt,"
"Alright, come back to the district, I'm going to get a warrant signed by Kot and then you and Halstead are going to take Atwater and Ruzek to pick up the boys and bring them in, I want this done quickly and quietly. Do not let the media even have a chance to pick up the scent, these boys are from high society families and they will be all over this,"
"Will do boss," I respond.
"We can hold them on the rape charges and questions the three of them while looking further into this murder. I want them off the streets as fast as possible,"
"Oh and Al and Burgess located Anicka's roommate, Lena Park. They're bringing her in now,"
"Sounds good,"
"See you soon Erin,"
"He's calling you Erin now?" Halstead says with a smirk as I shove the phone back in my pocket. Crap I knew he would catch on.
"Oh shut up,"
"Alright so do we have a plan?" Atwater asks as the four of us stand on the sidewalk outside the frat house.
"I have an idea," Ruzek says. I can tell by the smirk on his face that the wheels in his head are turning.
"What is it?" I question, extremely unsure of whatever he's about to say.
"Send Lindsay up first, the three of us will be standing on the other side of the door, that'll get us in faster and plus it'll be kinda funny when they figure out she's a cop," Oh alright, Ruzek is the immature one. There is one in every unit, SVU had Amaro and I guess Intelligence has Ruzek.
"Uh no," I respond shortly. There is absolutely no way I'm doing that.
"C'mon Ruz, we have the warrant they have to let us in anyway," Halstead argues, defending me.
"Okay fine," Ruzek responds, his demeanor matching that of a sulking five year old.
"So plan?" Atwater asks again.
"It's an easy pinch, find the boys in the house and cuff 'em," I respond. "Let's go," They all nod over at me before the four of us begin to advance together towards the front door of the frat house. I knock on the wood, making sure I'm loud enough that the whole house will hear me. It's not too long before I get an answer, a college boy with a dumb smirk on his face and that stupid swoop haircut.
"Oh hello," He says smugly as he leans against the doorframe. I can almost feel the overpowering scent of his cologne creeping up into my nose.
"Detective Erin Lindsay, Chicago Police Department, Intelligence," I say as I flash the badge. That puts him back in his place real quick and along with the death glares coming out of the eyes of the three guys standing behind me, he won't make any more moves.
"Yes sorry, what can I do for you Detective?"
"We're looking for Ryan Dalton, Harrison McManus, and Marcus Lonter. Would you happen to know where they are?"
"You got a warrant?" It doesn't even take a second before Jay has shoved the document in his face. "Yeah they're right back here," The three of us follow him through the house. I can tell that there are eyes on us the entire time, but we've got a job to do. He leads us to a back room, three boys I recognize from their photos lounging on a couch together. They aren't fazed by our appearance in the room, they've all been through this before, several times.
"Harrison McManus, Marcus Lonter, and Ryan Dalton?" Jay asks. I can tell that he's pissed now and Ruzek and Atwater aren't much better. I don't blame them, I already want to slap those smug looks off of all of their faces.
"And how can we help you?" The one I recognize as Harrison asks.
"Stand up," Atwater growls. They don't move. I give them a look and they all nod back at me. All three boys grab one of them and force them to rise to their feet.
"Lindsay you got cuffs?" Halstead asks before I toss mine over to him. Ruzek and Atwater both pull their from their pockets and slip the metal bracelets over their wrists.
"What the hell?" Ryan yells as he feels the cuffs click.
"Marcus Lonter, Ryan Dalton, Harrison McManus you are all under arrest for the rape of Anicka Cepnikova." I announce. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be assigned to you."
"Call my father!" Harrison exclaims as he's walked out of the room by Jay, me following close behind them. The guy who answered the doors nods at him. We have them, but I know this case is far from over. These boys have been arrested twelve times. This was the easy part. Now we have to prosecute them, get around the slimy lawyers I know they're about to hire.
I grab my phone as I follow the six men out of the house and hit the first number on my speed dial.
"Hank Voight," He answers gruffly, the same greeting I've received on his end for the past fifteen years.
"Hank it's Erin, we're bringing them in,"
I know it's been forever since I updated, but life just happens sometimes. But I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and you'll leave me a short review. This chapter was on the shorter side, but I'm hoping future chapters will be longer and I will try to get another update out as soon as I can. Thanks for reading!
Much Love,
Addie