Chapter 11

The case was not solved that day or even by the end of that week. By the end of Thursday of the second week, however, good old-fashioned detective work in the form of pounding the pavement, reviewing surveillance video and squeezing confidential informants finally paid off and two offenders were in custody.

It was now Friday morning and everyone was hunched over their computers doing the dreaded paperwork. Suddenly, a familiar voice boomed out, "Who's hungry?"

Trudy appeared at the top of the stairs with two boxes of donuts. "Neighbor kid was selling them for a school fundraiser," she explained. "Randy and I don't need to eat this artery-clogging stuff."

She searched for an open surface on which to plop them down. Every desktop was littered with files, coats, scarves and coffee cups. "Hey, Sarge. You can put them right here," said Adam as he moved a stack of files and newspapers to a chair behind his desk.

"Ruze, don't think you're gonna hog all those, man," chided Kevin.

"Wouldn't dream of it," laughed Adam as he opened a box. His eyebrows shot up. Two donuts were missing from the middle of the box. "Uh, you were saying, Sarge . . ."

Trudy gasped. "That low-down, donut-sneaking husband of mine. I'm trying to keep his cholesterol down so Will won't read him the riot act."

"Don't be too hard on Mouch," said Jay. "A man's gotta eat."

Trudy looked up. "Easy for you to say, Halstead. You and Goldilocks are young and in your prime and no doubt getting a lot of exercise to burn off the calories."

Both Jay and Hailey felt like a spotlight was suddenly trained on them. All Jay could think was, she knows and she's gonna out us at any moment and Voight's only a few feet away.

He reached for a cream-filled donut with a slightly shaky hand. "Yeah, you know, chasing down those perps all over the city, jumping over fences," he mumbled.

It was almost easier to stare down an armed criminal than to go toe-to-toe with Trudy Platt.

"Right. That's what I meant," said Trudy with a little smirk.

"Hey, Trudy. Did you get that form I asked about?" asked Voight as he came out of his office.

"That particular one is on back order. Probably come in by Monday."

Voight nodded. "Okay, thanks." He looked at his team. "You guys did a hell of a job tracking down those two guys. When you finish your paperwork, and I mean all of it, you can get an early start on the weekend."

Whoops and applause greeted his statement. He held up a hand to silence them. "I have to go downtown for a meeting at the Ivory Tower."

"Everything okay, boss?" asked Kevin.

"Have to smooth some Alderman's ruffled feathers. Seems our guys lived in his district. Nothing I haven't encountered before." He turned to Jay. "If anything comes up, you can let me know."

"Copy that."

Voight grabbed his jacket and descended the stairs with Trudy. A couple minutes passed as the team ate the donuts and drank coffee and joked around. Then Kevin spoke up. "So, Hailey, Jay, anything you want to share with us? Have you done something to piss off Platt?"

The two detectives shared a brief look. They figured Adam had goaded Kevin into saying that. Jay couldn't answer because his mouth was full of donut, but Hailey said, "Don't a lot of things piss off our dear desk sergeant?"

Kevin leaned back in his chair and roared with laughter. "Couldn't have said it better myself." Adam reached across his desk to high-five him. "Amen, brother."

After a few more donuts were consumed, everyone turned back to their computers. Hailey and Jay didn't risk looking up, but each could feel the other one's eyes on them. They knew their relationship was an open secret in the bullpen, but they didn't want to flaunt it. It was new and special and they wanted to keep it in a little cocoon for as long as possible.

Hailey paused in the middle of typing a sentence. Platt suspects us. What if she's already shared her suspicions with Voight? I don't want to get kicked back to Robbery-Homicide. I need to be here with Jay.

Just when paperwork was about to be wrapped up, they heard the door opening and Trudy reappeared.

"Listen up guys. A call came in two minutes ago about shots fired inside a post office on the Gold Coast and just now, a bomb threat was called in to the same post office."

Jay grabbed his phone. "I'll call Voight."

Everybody jumped up and began reaching for coats and weapons. "Ruzek, you might want to wipe that powdered sugar off your chin," Trudy pointed out and handed him a napkin.

"Yeah, we can't have you giving the 21st a bad name," said Kevin with a laugh.

"Same goes for you, Atwater," said Trudy.

"What? I have sugar on me, too?" He began scrubbing his hand over his face.

"You're sweet as sugar, Kev, but she's right," said Kim. She passed him a box of tissues, then pulled on her knit hat.

Adam frowned. "This is your fault, Sarge, for bringing in those artery-cloggers."

Trudy waved them off. "Yeah, yeah. Get out of here and be careful."

By the time the next full moon rolled around, Jay and Hailey secretly congratulated themselves on managing the whole work/dating thing so well. Jay still perched on the edge of Hailey's desk during briefings. It would look weird if he suddenly stopped doing that. He would cut his eyes to her and give her a little smile. She would frown slightly and shake her head a fraction as if to say, Not here, not now. That would make Jay grin even bigger.

Yes, things were going well. Platt still eyed them suspiciously, but Voight hadn't said anything. Then this morning Jay experienced a little glitch. Truth be told, he was only half listening to Voight because he was admiring the new blue sweater Hailey was wearing. It clung to her slight curves and complemented her beautiful eyes. It was really too nice to wear to work where blood stains and bullet holes were a constant threat.

"Jay, any ideas how we can catch this prick?" asked Voight.

Jay rubbed the back of his neck and tried to recall what exactly had been said about the suspected money launderer and weapons dealer. "We need to get back in that restaurant he owns and try to plant a bug. He knows he's under suspicion and never says anything incriminating on the phone.

Voight nodded. "Okay, you and Upton are going this time since it didn't go so well with Ruzek and Burgess last week."

Ruzek still sported a black eye from that encounter. "Yeah, sorry boss, I screwed up. But I didn't like that waiter putting his hands all over Kim."

"Adam, I was supposed to be your hooker date. I could have handled him, but you had to go all macho on him and start yelling and throwing punches." She glared at Adam until he squirmed.

"I know. I drank too much and let my emotions get out of hand. Won't happen again." Then he cracked a smile. "But you got in a couple good licks on him, too. I think you broke his nose."

Kim was not amused. She held up her bandaged right hand. "I certainly hope so because my hand still hurts like hell."

"Okay, enough," snapped Voight. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This is why we cannot bring our personal lives and issues into the workplace. When we're here, we need to be one-hundred percent focused on this job and nothing else. Is that clear? I don't want to have to make this speech again."

Voight stared at each one as they nodded their agreement. "Fine. Halstead, Upton, make a reservation for tonight. Burgess, Ruzek, you'll be in the surveillance van and Atwater, you'll back them up inside as a waiter. Any questions?"

Kevin leaned over and whispered to Kim, "You go, girl, with that right hook."

Kim blew out a sigh. "Next time I might use it on Adam."