"I can't tell you how sexy that is," Deonna Purrazzo said. Her eyes were full of lust as she looked at her girlfriend.
Sylvie Brett looked at her lover, lounging on the couch in Sylvie's apartment's living room, then gave her a twirl to show off her look. "Still feels weird modelling my uniform for you like this. But since you find it sexy..."
"I've always been a sucker for a uniform," Purrazzo breathed. "And for really hot blondes, too."
"But I'll have to do," Brett said.
Purrazzo giggled. "You even put the gloves on."
"Well, you said you wanted me the way I look on duty. I wear these things pretty much all day," Brett said, raising her hands and looking at the blue nitrile gloves for a second. "Anyway, they might be good for, well, you know."
"You're talking about pleasuring me, Ms Brett."
Brett moved over to the couch and sat down on her lover's lap, facing her. "That's exactly what I'm talking about." With that, she started kissing Purrazzo's neck, knowing that it was a weakness she had. It started working its magic right away.
"Mmmm," Purrazzo purred. "You drive me crazy, Sylvie. You're so..."
She was interrupted by her phone starting to ring. It was sitting beside her on the couch. 'Sergeant Lindsay' was on the screen, not a welcome sight on a Sunday evening, which was meant to be a day off. She made to pick the phone up, but Sylvie got there first and grabbed it. With her other hand, she covered Purrazzo's mouth. "Sshhh. Don't make a sound. You're going nowhere until I'm finished with you."
"Mmmmm!" Purrazzo protested into the hand, but she didn't try to struggle. She wasn't the one in charge of this encounter.
"Sshhh," Brett said again, before answering the call. "Hello, Sergeant Lindsay, it's Sylvie. Deonna can't talk right now."
Purrazzo had to stop herself laughing at the innocent way her partner had spoken.
"Hi, Sylvie. Get a message to her for me, will you? We've got a case. I need her at 595 Alcott Street ASAP."
"Sure, I'll pass that on for you," Brett promised. The call was ended at the other end. Sergeant Lindsay didn't seem to have had time for good manners. But then that was probably a sergeant thing. She tossed the phone aside.
"Wmmt's shmm wmmt?" Purrazzo mumbled into Brett's hand, which remained clamped over her mouth.
"Some case has come up. You've got to go to 595 Alcott Street. But you're going nowhere yet."
Brett slipped her other hand down the front of her girl's pants, and into her underwear. She met no resistance or objection. Whatever the case was could wait a while.
"Nice of you to show up, Purrazzo," Lindsay said when Intelligence Unit's newest member joined the rest of the team on the sidewalk outside of 595 Alcott Street. The boss made a point of looking at her watch.
"Sorry, Sergeant. I came as quickly as I could." Literally, she thought, picturing Sylvie in her paramedic attire again.
"Right. Now that we're all here, to business. We've got two missing twelve year old girls. Marie Palmer and Stacey Garrett. The house we're in front of is the Palmer house. Both families were at a barbecue party here from lunch time until this evening, when they noticed the girls were missing."
"The girls weren't at the barbecue?" Halstead asked. Purrazzo had moved to stand next to him, keeping their partnership unit together. For the same reason, Kim Burgess stood with Kevin Atwater and Adam Ruzek stood with Alvin Olinsky. It was a subconscious thing that almost always happened.
"They were at lunch time, then they went inside the house. The parents thought they were up in Marie's room, watching TV or something. It wasn't until Mrs Palmer went up to check on them that they were noticed as missing. Apparently they're not usually ones to go off unannounced. Both of their phones are off, and phone calls to all of their friends' parents turned up nothing. No one has seen them."
"This is an Intelligence case?" Atwater asked. "It's been a few hours. They're probably sitting in a tree house or something. We all wandered off when we were kids, right?"
"Maybe," Lindsay conceded. "But maybe not. Both sets of parents are distraught, convinced that the girls wouldn't do this, especially without having their phones on. So, we're going to take it seriously. If we find them and they've been off somewhere enjoying themselves, I'll be perfectly happy."
"Second that," Olinsky said.
"But if something has happened, the first few hours are often the only chance to find victims alive in cases like this," Burgess added.
Lindsay nodded. "That's why we're here. Now, Kim, Kevin, you're going to come inside and speak to the Palmer family. Ruzek, Olinsky, you've got the Garretts. I want photos of the kids, details of their favourite locations, best friends, any possible reason they might have wandered off or where they might have gone. There were some other guests at the barbecue too, so I'll join uniform in talking to them. Halstead, Purrazzo, you're door to door. I want neighbours spoken to. Find out if anyone saw the girls, and if so where they were going. I also want any CCTV footage you can get your hands on, including video door bells. Everything clear?"
"You got it, boss," Ruzek said.
No one else had anything to say, so Lindsay ended the briefing. "Okay, let's go."
Everyone apart from Halstead and Purrazzo headed up the short driveway to the Palmer house, leaving them to their assigned task.
"Door to door. The worst kind of police work," Purrazzo grumbled as they started towards the neighbouring house on the right side.
"It's not fun," Halstead conceded. Given the choice, he'd have preferred Erin to have them in the Palmer house. But she was the boss. "We're going to have to do it though, so let's get it done."
"Do you think there's anything in this? I mean, calling Intelligence out for something like this?"
"That's Sergeant Lindsay's decision. She decided we're taking this case, assuming it ends up being one, so we work it and see what happens. This complaining isn't like you, Purrazzo."
It had been a couple of months since the Bayley Martinez case, and Purrazzo's big screw up that had put her on her final chance with the unit. Since then, she had made no further mistakes, and her stock was slowly rising again with Sergeant Lindsay.
"Sorry," she sighed as they approached the neighbour's front door. "I had what was going to be an amazing evening spoiled almost before it got started. But you're right, I'm here to work now. Let's do it."
"Good." He pushed the button to ring the doorbell.
It took a few moments for the door to be opened. A black man in his twenties stood there, not looking particularly welcoming once he set sights on the two strangers, and noticed a squad car in the background.
"Halstead, Purrazzo, Chicago PD," Halstead announced, showing his shield.
"What do you want?" There was some wariness and hostility in the question. This man did not like police. All things considered, it wasn't a great surprise in the current climate.
"We're looking for your neighbour's daughter, Marie Palmer," Halstead said.
"She's got a friend with her. Have you seen them?" Purrazzo asked.
The man became more helpful right away. "Uh, no I haven't. I heard them out back with that barbecue they've had going on, but I've not been out. Haven't seen anyone all day, I've been playing X Box for most of it."
"Anyone else home who might have seen them?" Purrazzo asked.
"No, ma'am. My parents are out of town. Is this serious? I mean, cops all over the place. You think something has happened to them?"
"Right now we're not sure. We just want to find them," Halstead said. "If you think of anything that might be of use, find one of the officers, okay?"
"You got it. I hope you find them safe," the man said, and closed the door.
"I didn't get a bad vibe from him," Purrazzo said as they turned and walk back to the street in order to head to the next house.
"At least not about the girls," Halstead agreed. "I'm getting the feeling this is going to be a long evening."
And so it proved to be, or at least it felt like it did. It actually took them an hour to visit the nearby houses, getting answers at almost all of them. Sunday evening was a good time to find people home. Unfortunately for the investigation, there was precisely nothing of use to show for their efforts. People knew of Marie Palmer, but no one said they had seen her or Stacey that afternoon.
"That's it then, a bust," Purrazzo said when they were done.
"There's Erin. I mean Sergeant Lindsay," Halstead said. Occasionally, he mixed up his personal and work-based language.
Lindsay had walked out of the Palmer house. Halstead and Purrazzo hurried down the street to meet up with her.
"Anything?" Lindsay asked.
"Not a single thing. You?" Halstead replied.
"The girls go to school a few blocks from here. There a children's play area with a soccer pitch on it next to the school. Apparently the girls hang out with friends there sometimes. I sent Burgess and Atwater down there to see if there's anybody there who has seen them. Olinsky and Ruzek are calling around the families of the girls' friends, although the parents already did it once. I've been keeping the Palmer parents company. The Garretts went home about twenty minutes ago."
"Not good. If someone has taken them, doesn't look like we'll be finding them any time soon."
"I do have one bit of good news. We have a very good picture of them, taken today. It's being circulated as we speak." Lindsay pulled the picture up on her phone. It showed two happy young girls, one blonde, one with black hair. They were both wearing Chicago White Sox jerseys. "Seems they went out still wearing those jerseys, so people should remember seeing them easily enough. I'm having all of the city's local CCTV sent to Vega. She's going to get some people to help her start reviewing it. Did you not get anything usable?"
Purrazzo shook her head. "No. There was a house with one of those Ring doorbells, but no one answered the door at that one."
At that moment, Purrazzo's phone started to ring. Noting her sergeant's displeasure, intending to reject the call, she took it out of her pocket. When she saw the caller's name, she figured she had to at least answer it.
"Not now, Sylvie. I'm busy on..."
"These two missing girls?" Brett guessed. "That's what I figured. They just showed their picture on TV."
"Sylvie, not now, please. I'll call you back," Purrazzo said, now being glared at by Lindsay.
"Deonna, will you listen to me! I saw them. I saw those girls today."
A/N: Welcome back, everyone. I got a bunch of requests for a new case, so here we go.
I know you'll be wanting to know how things are going for Linstead. Don't worry, we'll find out soon.
What do you make of the new case so far?