There was nothing remarkable about 1125 St. Louis, Halstead saw when he parked out front of it. It was a two storey detached house with a small front garden that could have used a bit of attention. There was nothing parked on the driveway, which wasn't a surprise considering the owner and his van were at the police station.
"It's going to be awkward if there's a wife in there," Purrazzo said from the passenger seat.
"If there is, we'll need to assess whether her surprise seems genuine. It wouldn't be the first time by any means that a couple have been serial killers."
"That's true. What a first Intelligence case that would be."
To Halstead, she sounded a bit too much like she was enjoying the day's events. It was an easy mindset for someone who was new to this kind of work to get into. In fact he remembered doing it himself. But that didn't mean it was acceptable.
"People are dead, Purrazzo. It's not a day out at the beach."
"You're right. Sorry, sir," she said, looking chastised.
"Let's go," he said, seeing Atwater and Rose pull up behind them.
All four of them got out of the cars and started approaching the house.
"We'll take the front, you cover the back," Halstead said to Rose and Atwater. It was always good practice to have the back of a house covered in situations like this in case someone tried to flee.
"Got it," Atwater said. He and Rose walked off along the side of the house towards a gate that they were going to have to climb over.
Halstead raised a hand to tell Purrazzo to wait a moment. They were not going to approach the front door until their colleagues were in position. They only had to wait less than a minute.
"In position," Atwater's voice said over the radio.
Halstead promptly walked up to the front door and banged on it with his fist.
"Chicago PD!"
No response came from inside. Peering through one of the two narrow vertical windows in the door, he saw no sign of life inside. He banged on the door again.
"Chicago PD!"
After about another fifteen seconds, Halstead decided there was likely no one home. They were going to have to let themselves in.
"Okay, Purrazzo, kick the door in."
"Me? I mean, yes, sir."
They switched positions, and Halstead watched to see what his protégé could do. There was a certain technique to kicking a door in that he figured he was going to have to...
With a kick more powerful than her appearance suggested she was capable of, Purrazzo busted the door open on her first attempt, breaking the lock off the door frame.
There was no time to admire or praise her work. Halstead rushed in before her, gun raised. It only took him a few moments to clear the living room, kitchen, and lastly the dining room, with Purrazzo behind him as backup. There wasn't a sight or sound of anyone in the house. French doors opened from the dining room into the garden. They were locked.
"Downstairs is clear. Come around the front," he said to Atwater via his radio. Through the doors, he saw Atwater and Rose start back towards the side of the house.
"Now we clear upstairs, right?" Purrazzo said, going back out into the hallway.
"Yes," Halstead said. "Then we'll search up there." Atwater and Rose walked in through the front door. "You guys search downstairs. We'll go up."
Atwater nodded, then gave Rose instructions for their search.
Meanwhile, Halstead led Purrazzo upstairs. There were four doors off the landing, all closed, he discovered.
"You take those two, I'll take these two," he said, pointing to the doors in question. "Make sure you clear them properly before searching. And remember to glove up before you touch anything."
"Yes, sir," Purrazzo said. Any air of excitement was now gone. She was all business, befitting the situation.
They parted ways to clear their rooms. The first door Halstead opened belonged to a bathroom. There was nothing worthy of serious attention in there, but he did note that there was only one toothbrush on the sink, and no female oriented products anywhere. It told him that Orton was a single man who lived alone.
Opening the other door that he had assigned to himself, he saw a master bedroom. He walked in and cleared it, then he heard Purrazzo call out, loud enough for everyone in the house to hear.
"You're going to want to see this!"
Halstead hurried out of the master bedroom and into the room next door. It was a smaller bedroom, in this case being used as some kind of study. There was a large wooden desk on the far side of the room, where Purrazzo was standing.
"What have you got?" he asked.
She was standing looking at something on the desk. "You'd better look."
Concerned, Halstead walked over to her. He soon saw what she was alerting him to. There were dozens of photos on the desk, showing the naked bodies of multiple women. It seemed they had been taken in the back of Orton's van.
"Well, safe to say we have our guy," he said.
"That's not what bothered me," Purrazzo said. There was a second stack of photos in her hand. When she handed them to him, he could barely believe what he was looking it. The top one showed a very pretty blonde woman with shoulder length hair and lip fillers, just Orton's type. The only problem was this was a very familiar woman, pictured wearing a police uniform.
"Holy shit. That's Amanda Rose," he breathed.
"They all are," Purrazzo said, meaning the second pile of photos.
And so they were, Halstead saw as he flicked through them. It looked like Orton had printed out every picture Rose had posted on social media. There were also some that he must have taken himself. He had been following her.
"How did he even know about Rose? This makes no sense," Purrazzo said.
"I can answer that. She was on the scene for one of the first bodies that were found. He must have been there too, watching. Looks like Rose was a dream come true for him. Thank God we arrested him before he tried anything with her."
"Are we going to tell her about it?"
"Tell who about what?" Atwater asked from the doorway. Rose was standing right behind him.
Halstead knew this was going to be uncomfortable for Rose, but the way he figured it she had a right to know. Besides, Orton's apparent infatuation with her could possibly be of use to them in obtaining a confession from him.
"Orton's definitely our guy," he said. "There are a lot of photos of victims here. It looks like they were taken in the back of the van we arrested him in. There are also a bunch of other pictures here. There's no easy way to say this. Rose, they're of you."
"Me?" she cried, pushing past Atwater and walking over to see the pictures. "Why would the bastard have pictures of me?"
"Because you're exactly his type," Atwater said. "Also, and I say this intending it not to be inappropriate, because you're a beautiful woman."
"My guess is he was at or around that crime scene that morning when we first met," Halstead said to her. "I think he saw you there and latched on to you."
"But he killed more hookers after that," Rose said.
"As chilling as it sounds, I think maybe he was working himself up to you," Purrazzo said, impressing Halstead with her insight. He was thinking the same thing.
"So you're saying you think I might have been next? Well, shit, that'll help me sleep tonight."
"I know it's scary," Atwater said, putting a comforting hand on his understudy's arm. "But with these pictures, we're on the way to putting the guy behind bars for life."
"Actually, Rose, you might be able to help with that," Halstead said.
"How?" she demanded.
"By sitting in on the interrogation."
Purrazzo looked at him like he was betraying her. But this wasn't about who got the best jobs to do during the trial period, this was about getting a confession from a serial killer. In any case, he would make sure Purrazzo got her fair share of action before the month was over.
"Alright, if that's what you need, I'll do it," Rose decided bravely.
"Wow, that was something," Purrazzo said. She and Halstead had just gotten back into their car after concluding the search of the house. The only notable evidence they had found was the photographs. It was likely that the van would produce DNA evidence too, so the case was starting to come together.
As Halstead started the car, his phone rang. Taking it out of his pocket, he saw Olinsky's name on the screen.
"Halstead."
"Jay, the coroner's office have just been on the phone. They've recovered evidence from one of the bodies. Either you or Atwater get over there, speak to the coroner, find out what he's got."
"Purrazzo and I will go. Atwater and Rose are on the way back to the station. They've got plenty to brief you on."
"Understood," Olinsky said, and the call ended.
"Where are we going?" Purrazzo asked.
"The coroner's office. Apparently they've recovered evidence from one of the bodies. I'm going to guess you haven't been in an autopsy room before?"
"No, I haven't."
"Then let's go and get you that experience."
The coroner was a bald man in his fifties by the name of Steve Austin. He led Halstead and Purrazzo into the autopsy room, where a petite blonde woman lay on the middle of the three tables. The other two were empty.
"What have you got for us?" Halstead asked.
Austin walked over to the body, with his visitors in tow. "A couple of things that should help you make a case. This is the second of today's victims. As I understand it, this is the one the guy you arrested was near to when you arrived in the scene. She was found naked, like the others. Strangulation is obviously the cause of death. What's different about this one is I found semen splashed all over the chest. It got there after the victim was deceased, my guess would be at the crime scene."
"He masturbated over the body after dumping it?" Purrazzo asked, wrinkling her face up in disgust.
"Either that or he returned to it to masturbate over it," Halstead said. "Either way, it gives us DNA evidence."
"Yes, I'll get the results to you as soon as I have them. There's another difference between this one and the other victims. This one was bound and gagged before she was strangled. You can see the damage to the wrists and ankles from some kind of rope or string, and there are traces of adhesive from some kind of tape around the face."
"So he held her captive. Maybe he was waiting for the park to be empty of police before he killed her?" Halstead speculated.
"Looks that way. The bruising on the wrists shows a fairly clear pattern of the rope or string, and it looks quite unique to me," Austin said. "If you could find a piece of it, I could match it to these wounds."
"We've just been and searched the house. We could do a follow up search and look for any rope or string that didn't jump out to us the first time. We'll get on that. Anything else we need to know?"
"I don't think so. As I said, the cause of death is the same as before, strangulation by a strong man using his hands."
"Thanks. We'll be in touch if we find anything that might be of use."
With that, Halstead and Purrazzo left the room and showed themselves out of the building.
"It feels like we're getting somewhere with this now," Purrazzo said once they were outside.
"Yes, it does. Providing the DNA checks out, we've got the son of a bitch. I think his obsession with Rose threw him off his game. When she came on the scene, his game plan changed and he started making mistakes."
"Luckily for us. And luckily for Rose."
Halstead nodded. "Right. This thing could have gone a hell of a lot differently if that news helicopters hadn't shown up. It's remarkable how you get a break in a case sometimes."
"That must be where the phrase 'it's better to be lucky than good' comes from," Purrazzo said.
Halstead looked at her and raised his eyebrows. "You just worry about being good."
A/N: Thank you to everyone who left a review on the previous chapter.
Some disturbing discoveries made by our team!
Next time, we'll see Erin again. How do you think she will be feeling about things after having some time to process what happened to her?