Chapter 3. So funny story (not really tho) had 3 more chapters written and accidentally deleted them, so I've had to rewrite 3 1/2 chapters which sums up to about 4,500 words...
Hailey got her emotions back in check and exited Vought's office after coming clean to him about her connection to the victim.
"Guys," She addressed the Intelligence Unit. "There is something you need to know: Alana is my niece," she confessed. Condolences echoed the room and a few members comforted Hailey with a hug or pat on the back.
"What do we have so far?" Hank interrupted.
"Not much," Kevin answered. "We talked to mom, she didn't know much about her daughter's personal life."
"Not a surprise," Hailey scoffed. "Her mom is crazy. She was on drugs for several years after Alana was born so my brother took custody of her. Then her mom got clean and sued my brother for custody of Alana and somehow won," Hailey explained to the group. "We didn't ask her dad any questions, thought we'd give him some time to grieve."
"Hailey and Kim, how about you two go talk to the bartender at the club," Hank suggested. "Adam get to digging through her text and call records. Kevin look through security footage, see if you can find footage of her entering and exiting, maybe with someone," Hank instructed.
Kim and Hailey headed down the stairs. They were little curious of why they were split up from their normal partners, but they eventually shook it off, Hank had his reasons for everything.
"Halstead, my office," Hank commanded once Kim and Hailey had disappeared down the stairs. Jay got up from his seat and followed Hank into his office. "Is Hailey going to be able to handle this or do I need to take her off the case?" Hank bluntly asked.
"I think she can handle it," Jay answered. He'd seen Hailey handle cases that hit a little too close to home, but none of them hit this close. He knew how much solving this case meant to her, so he didn't express his slight doubts.
"Ok, keep an eye on her," Hank replied.
"Always sarge," Jay replied truthfully before waking out of Hank's office.
•
On the way to the club, Kim and Hailey sat in silence.
"We're going to find this son of a bitch," Kim stated, interrupting the silence. Hailey just nodded in response. "And if you need someone to talk to, I'm here. I was in your shoes a while back with my sister," Kim added turning to look Hailey in the eyes.
"Thanks Kim," Hailey replied as the pulled up to the club. The ladies entered the club, the bell on the handle signaling their arrival.
"We're not open!" A man shouted.
"We're with the police department," Kim explained to the man and she and Hailey both showed him their badges.
"I already talked to the officer this morning when the body was found," The man stated, voice thick with annoyance.
"Well the case got turned over to our unit and we want to personally question you," Hailey replied.
"Did you see anyone dump the body last night?" Kim asked the man.
"No," He bluntly answered, not looking neither Kim nor Hailey in the eyes. He busied himself my wiping the bar with a cloth. "I told the other officers that."
"Did you see this girl here last night?" Hailey asked pulling out Alana's student ID photo.
"No, I didn't," He replied, once again not looking at Hailey, Kim, or the photo.
"You didn't even look," Kim scolded. "Look at the picture and tell me of you saw that girl here last night," Kim instructed.
"No," He restated after taking a quick look at the picture. A few moments later, Hailey's phone buzzed. She looked down at a text in the Intelligence Unit group text. We have footage of her entering, no exit. Adam texted with an attached clip from the security camera footage of Alana walking into the bar alone.
"I have video footage of her walking into this club, so do you want to take one more look at the picture and tell me if you saw her here last night?" Hailey asked, turning her phone so that the bartender could see the video on her phone.
"Ok, yeah, now I do recognize her," The man finally answered.
"That's what I thought," Kim mumbled.
"Do you have security camera's in here?" Hailey asked.
"Yes," The man answered, busying himself once again.
"Can we have the footage?" Hailey asked.
"No," The man replied, not looking up from his task.
"It's crucial to our investigation," Kim added.
"I said no," The man responded firmly.
"Then we'll get a warrant and you will have no choice but to give us the footage," Kim warned the man before she and Hailey left the club. As they were driving back to the district, Hailey's phone began to buzz. She looked down to see an incoming call from Sarah Upton. She answered the call and before she could get a word out, Sarah greeted her in a panicked voice.
"Hailey! I need your help, please come to the house!" Sarah said into the phone. There were faint sounds of arguing in the background.
"I'm on my way," Hailey told Sarah before hanging up. "That was my sister in-law she's needs me at her house, I don't know what's happening," Hailey told Kim.
"Tell me how to get there," Kim replied. Hailey guided Kim to Derrick and Sarah's house and as soon as she put the car in park, both women jumped out and rushed up the steps where Sarah was already waiting and holding the door open.
"What's going on?" Hailey asked as she approached Sarah.
"Claire came," Sarah reported, referring to Alana's biological mom.
"It's all because you got her that apartment and she was living alone that she got murdered!" Claire screamed as Hailey and Kim followed Sarah into the house. "This wouldn't have happened if she would have just lived with me!"
"If she was living with you you would have gotten her hooked on those pills you think you can't live without!" Derrick screamed back.
"Hey!" Kim shouted to interrupt them.
"Cut it out!" Hailey shouted.
"Hailey, she's accusing me of getting my daughter killed!" Derrick vented to Hailey.
"Our daughter," Claire corrected.
"Like you can call yourself a mother," Derrick replied. "Can't you arrest her or something?"
"Oh so you call your big shot detective sister to come back you up," Claire retorted. "Hope she's not working our daughter's case." Hailey had to bite her tongue to keep from going off on Claire. Claire had alway gotten under her skin, but now she was really irritating her.
"You need to leave," Kim told Claire, picking up on the tension that had formed in the room. Kim ushered her out of the house and made sure she left.
"You just let her leave? You didn't arrest her or anything?" Derrick asked. "Hailey, she was harassing me!"
"What was I supposed to arrest her for?" Hailey asked her brother who was all riled up.
"Harassment!" He shouted, voice filled with anger. "She accused me of being the reason my daughter is dead."
"Derrick, she's just grieving. Alana was her daughter too," Hailey replied.
"Don't take her side!" Derrick shouted. This pained Hailey. She had always been close with Derrick, but now here they were, yelling at each other. Hailey knew he wasn't angry at her, he was just hurt by his daughter's death and Claire's words and was taking it out on Hailey. It still hurt.
"I'm not. I don't like her either, but she's just grieving. She needed someone to blame-"
"And she picked me!" Derrick interrupted his sister.
"Yes. We are working on finding out who killed her so that she can blame that person instead," Hailey continued. "Let's all take a minute to calm down and then we want to ask you some questions about Alana's personal life so we can find out who did this," Hailey added as Kim entered back into the home.