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Josie had been enjoying the peace and quiet of the pre-dawn hours. She'd gotten up to feed Grace and in the process, had accidently woken Antonio. She told him that she'd feed Grace and be right back. He stopped her and got out of bed.
"I'll feed her this time, you… rest… after that thing with your dad… I think I can feed our daughter."
Josie just sighed and leaned back into her pillows. She knew that Antonio had been feeling as if he wasn't doing enough at home, but with what was going on with work, she had understood. She had to laugh when he came back to the room with a little bit of spit up on his shoulder. "Forgot the burp cloth?"
Antonio nodded. "Yep… consequence of a pre-dawn feeding." He went into the bathroom and wiped it off. He tossed the towel in the hamper, along with his pajama pants and came back to bed. He pulled her into his arms. "This is nice."
"It is. We don't get a lot of this alone time."
"5 kids does make that a little bit challenging." He kissed her.
"Just remember… the twins will be out of the house and off to college in a couple years."
"Don't remind me." He cringed. "I'll have missed so much and then have them here for a short time before they're all grown up."
"Antonio, none of this was in our control." She stroked his jaw. "You know that if we'd have had our way, we would've been married for almost 20 years instead of only finding each other now."
Antonio moaned softly as her hand went from his jawline to his chest. "Jo… the kids."
"Are sound asleep." Her voice almost a purr.
Antonio was about to say something else but Josie disappeared under the sheets and her mouth quickly enveloped his cock. He bit his lip, a primal growl barely escaped his lips.
Josie knowing that they hadn't really had a lot of time for themselves lately focused on him knowing that he'd return the favour. She alternated between sucking and stroking. She gasped in surprise as Antonio pulled away from her and pinned her against the bed. He kissed her lips, almost crushing them, while lifting her nightshirt. His nimble hands made quick work of her underwear, tossing them off to the side. He slid two fingers in her.
"Babe, you're all wet."
Josie managed a weak "Mhmm."
He grabbed her hips and positioned himself between her legs. As he slid into her wet heat, he pulled her up against him. Josie instinctively wrapped her legs and arms around him. Antonio rocked as the two made their way to climax.
"Antonio!" Josie exclaimed before he covered her mouth with his.
They froze, wrapped in each other's passion as they climaxed hard. Josie collapsed back into the pillows while Antonio carefully rolled off of her. They lied there, just trying to catch their breath and slow their racing hearts.
After a few minutes, Antonio leaned over her and kissed her, gentler before. "That… wow."
Josie giggled. "I'll say, Detective."
"We really should do that more often."
"Between keeping my mom and dad's wedding on track, hunting the scum of Chicago and making sure our five children behave?" Josie snickered. "Sure. I think I can schedule that in somewhere in my 26-hour day."
"Just remember that when we both need a caffeine drip IV today."
Josie looked over at the clock on the nightstand. "We still have an hour before we actually have to get up."
"Are you hinting at something?" He asked.
"Maybe." She teased.
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"Hank?" Dixie called from the kitchen. "Breakfast is ready."
"Yeah, we'll be right down."
Dixie went about setting the table. Justin had just come back from his graveyard shift. While she understood that Hank was wanting to help Justin get back on his feet, she was starting to wonder if her future step-son was really wanting to make something of himself now. She knew that Josie had talked to Hank about it but she wondered if Hank had truly listened.
Hank checked in on Justin. "Another graveyard tonight?"
Justin looked up from his workout. "Yeah, Pop."
"Justin, I… I know you hate this CTA gig, but it's only temporary. I just… I don't want you getting in with the wrong crowds again or bad…"
"I love you, Dad… I really do."
"Everything okay, Justin?"
Justin wiped his face. "Yeah… I can't tell you I love you?"
"No, you can…" Hank stopped. He reached into his pocket for his cell. "Yeah, okay… yeah." He looked to Justin.
Justin knew what that look meant. "You gotta go."
"Yeah."
Justin sighed. "Okay." He made his way to the bench press that Hank had had installed for him to work out.
"Justin, Dixie made breakfast… go have some and get to know her… then you can rest before your next shift."
"Yeah, uh… I can cook for myself, Pop."
"Justin, you will respect her. Not saying you have to like her, but you will respect her."
"Pop, I had one mom… I don't need another one."
"You don't really get a say in this." Hank crossed his arms. "I love her, and I'm marrying her."
"So, you never loved Mom?"
"No, I did… I always will… the same way Dixie loved her first husband… but we are happy together, and we want this second chance… companionship… one day, you'll find that girl and you'll understand what I'm talking about."
"Sure, Pop."
"Just… please respect her?"
"I'll try."
Hank sighed and made his way to the kitchen. "Morning, Dixie."
Dixie handed him a travel mug filled with coffee the way he liked it. "Josie called… you have a case?"
Hank sighed. "Yeah, bad one."
She reached behind him on the counter. "Breakfast sandwich to go."
"Dixie, I could grab something on the way."
"You could, but it wouldn't be as good or healthy as what I made you." She kissed him. "Things okay with Justin?"
"Yeah, still adjusting." He smiled. "If… just let me know if he gives you heck?"
"Don't worry about me… go clean up our streets… and make sure our daughter and our son-in-law get home to their children in one piece, please?"
"I'll do my best." He kissed her and grabbed his keys. "I'll call you later to let you know how it's going." He put on his jacket. "You gonna be watching Gracie today?"
"Uh, no… Antonio's mom is headed there now… she hasn't gotten to spend a lot of time with the kids lately."
"Ah." He grabbed his breakfast and coffee. "I love you."
"Love you." She blew him a kiss and watched as he headed to his SUV. She looked up to the staircase and sighed. She knew Justin wasn't going to be coming down for breakfast. She served herself and sat down with the paper.
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"Same as before?" Voight asked Antonio as he got on scene.
Antonio nodded grimly. "Her name's Charlotte Matthews… everything matches the victim from a couple days ago."
Josie walked up to them. "This guy is a monster."
They were interrupted when Commander Perry joined them.
"Commander." They nodded.
"Raped?" Perry asked.
They nodded.
"Ear was cut off?"
"That's right, sir." Josie said softly.
"There were two rape-murders in New York 6 months ago, similar to this." Voight stepped forward. "We've been in contact with detectives there."
Commander Perry looked at the covered body. He looked to Voight. "There are 600 reasons why I didn't want you to run this unit, but there's one main reason I did… cases like this. You understand me?"
Hank nodded. "I do."
"Then find these bastards and get them off my streets." Commander Perry stomped off.
He turned to Josie and Antonio. "Let's get back to the District… I got a call to make."
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Josie and Antonio had returned to the bullpen around the time Jay was questioning Al's choice in reading materials. That quickly turned to Jay busting Al's balls by teasing him about his age. Josie just shook her head. Their mood was about to change drastically.
"Oh, my God." Erin gasped as Josie and Antonio put up the information on their latest victim. "These poor girls."
"Media's taken to calling him the 'Riverwalk Killer'." Antonio sighed.
Voight came out of his office. "Mayor's flipping out. Superintendent is getting it from him and dishing it out to the Chief and so forth. None… absolutely none of that matters to me. Two young women are dead and were put through something so horrific…" He looked at the board. "It ain't about to happen again… not in my city."
"There's no witnesses." Ruzek piped up, but instantly regretted opening his mouth when the rest of the team just glared at him.
They went over what they didn't have. Finally, Voight revealed his wild card. "Detectives from Special Victims' in New York are flying out right now to help us."
"Why do we need them for?" Ruzek asked, earning him more glares and a smack in the back of the head, this time from Antonio.
"Rookie, at this point, we will take all the help we can get to get this bastard down." Antonio snapped. "If you can't say anything helpful, don't speak."
Ruzek looked to Al but he only got a shrug in return. Josie felt for Ruzek. He was the eager rookie who wanted to prove his worth. Josie had been there, and she knew every other cop in that bullpen had been that way too. Only difference was, they'd worked their asses off to get up here. Some had put their lives on the line to get there. Adam had it easy. He had been hand picked out of the Academy before graduation. He was going to have to learn, but sadly it looked like he was taking the hard route over just listening to the wisdom of the rest of the more experienced cops.
Voight huffed. "They had 2 victims killed in their Riverwalk. Same MO. Their cams managed to pick up a male, white about 5'10 wearing a hoodie following both victims before their bodies were found."
"Any facial rec?" Jin asked.
Voight shook his head. "They never managed to get a clear shot of his face."
"Sex offenders?" Erin asked.
"Nothing's popped." Josie said. "I've extended the branch nation-wide, but nada."
"Doesn't help that we don't have DNA." Jay added. "No DNA, nothing to match it too even if there was some hit in the system."
"Hey, we ain't waiting for that." Voight snapped. "I don't wanna look down on someone else's daughter again." He looked to the board then back to his team. "We're getting proactive. Boots, on the ground. Every single one of us is going to the river. UC, don't care how, don't care doing what, or who you'll be, but we're all down there."
With that, the team broke up. Everyone went to plan exactly how they'd be undercover. Antonio already knew he'd be a city worker. He always went that route for these types of situations. He also knew that until they got a receptionist upstairs, they'd need someone to man the phones. He headed downstairs to see if Platt could spare him a patrolman. He spotted Kim Burgess. "Hey, Burgess!" He called her over. "I need a favour."
"Sure thing." She replied eagerly. "Anything!"
"We're all going UC… we need someone manning the phones in Intelligence." He knew that Burgess wanted to move up to Intelligence someday. She may as well get a hint of what it's like. "It's a heater case… expect a bunch of calls."
"Yeah. Yeah." Burgess was definitely a little eager beaver. "I'm all over it."
Antonio patted her shoulder before running back up the stairs to Intelligence. "Thanks!"
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Josie had pulled some strings with Hank. She had Dixie bring Grace to the Riverwalk. She could watch from one of the benches near the playground while helping her mom with the baby. No one would suspect a mom, grandma and baby. Antonio was being a city worker. Erin was jogging around. Jay was biking, but slowly, pretending to take in the sights. Voight and Jin were in the van overseeing the whole operation. The van was disguised as a city vehicle and parked near where Antonio was 'working'. Adam was taking in the sights on the bridge while Al was actually in a suit pretending to be a business man on a lunch break.
"Whoever is panting in the mic, you're killing me." Adam whined over their earpieces.
"Bite me, Adam." Lindsay snipped. "Been doing this for an hour."
"Can you two just can it?" Josie asked. "Seriously."
Antonio chuckled. He knew that Josie was comparing Adam and Erin's bickering to their teenaged children. He moved some pylons around. "Hey, boss. Something on the ramp."
Voight and Jin worked on getting an image. It was grainy. Voight put the order through to get people moving that way.
Josie was closest. She got up and started pushing the stroller in that direction. Jay had started pedaling a little faster to get closer. Antonio and Ruzek were higher up. They were in position for a take-down if he moved towards the stairs leading out of the Riverwalk.
Voight's voice came through the earpiece. "Male, white, brown hoodie."
Suddenly, Mr. Hoodie grabbed a purse from an unsuspecting woman and started to run. Josie stopped the stroller and took off on foot. Erin was running towards them. Jay jumped off the bike to tackle the guy.
"Police!"
"Stop!"
Erin and Josie stopped to help the woman whose purse he grabbed as she'd been knocked to the ground.
Jay and Antonio nabbed the guy.
"Stop moving!" Jay barked.
"I'm gonna crack you in a second here, pal. Stop moving!" Antonio slapped the cuffs on him. "Give me your other hand."
"Offender in custody." Jay radioed in.
The others quickly joined them.
When Voight joined them, Antonio handed him the perp's wallet. "Theo Mitchell. Don't think he's our guy."
"Based on?" Voight arched an eyebrow. This guy fit the physical description provided by SVU.
Jay pointed to the stash they'd pulled from Theo's pockets that they'd laid out on the hood of Antonio's UC car. "Found 4 wallets and 3 watches on him."
Antonio looked back to his father-in-law. "Guy's a pickpocket… purse snatcher." He handed Voight the record Jin had managed to pull on the guy. "Four arrests in the last decade for those types of crimes. Never rape, murder, not even peeping."
Theo's eyes bulged. "What?!"
"Whatta you think?" Josie asked.
"Bring him in." Voight nodded to Antonio.
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"Think he's good for it?" Erin asked Voight from the viewing room as Antonio and Josie questioned Theo.
"Not sure… probably not. Guys don't just go from pickpocketing to murder and rape overnight." Voight rubbed his chin.
"True… but if that's what you're thinking, why bring him in?" Erin pushed.
"Think about it." Jay piped up. "Guy works the area… he's a people watcher… he knows what to watch for to make an easy mark."
"Boy toy got it." Voight nodded. He motioned to the interrogation room.
Theo was insisting he wasn't their guy. "This is railroading, man. I would never, ever hurt a woman."
"We're inclined to believe you." Antonio replied.
"Then what the fuck am I doing here… getting looked at these horrible crimes?!"
Josie whipped out the Southern charm. "Look, your turf is the Riverwalk… right?"
Theo calmed down. "Yeah."
"It's a pretty fertile ground for you, right? Lots of tourists, people getting fresh air… that kinda thing?"
"Yeah."
Josie arched an eyebrow. "Cher, why do you think we have you in here?"
"To threaten me with rape and murder, only to get me to boosting wallets and shit because it's milder." He tried to get up. "Not happening. I'm outta here."
Antonio pushed him back down into his chair while Josie just shook her head. "No… no, you're not."
Antonio sat next to his wife. "Since you basically live there, you know, sizing them up… figuring out who the best mark to rip off is… We're actually hoping you'll help us ID the monsters who actually did rape and murder those girls."
"Our experience is that the cheetah always knows where the hyena is." Josie smirked.
"I like that analogy… you speak jungle."
They knew at that moment they had him. Now, it was just the waiting game to see if he'd actually provide them with a lead.
He went through his morning. "5 am… this dude, he was in full running gear, but he never actually ran… just stayed put while stretching… looking around."
Antonio scoffed when Theo suggested that the running man was either a criminal or a cop. Theo just kept talking to Josie. "I've never seen a cop with a watch that nice."
Josie was taking notes on what Theo was telling them. She wanted to make sure they didn't miss a single detail to bring this guy down.
"How close did you get?" Antonio asked. He thought this was just a big waste of time.
"Real close." Theo glared at Antonio before turning his attention back to Josie. "I walked right by the guy. I could describe him to one of those sketch artists."
Josie smiled. "We'll be right back." She patted Antonio on the shoulder. They left Theo to stew while they went to find someone to come work on a composite.
"Whatta ya think?" Voight asked them.
"He's not our guy." Antonio said. "But I believe that he saw him."
"Anyone around to help with a composite?" Josie asked.
"Jin can probably help out." Voight stroked his chin. "The New York detectives are here… let's get some of their input."
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Hank greeted the team from NYC. "I'm Sergeant Hank Voight… this is my team." He let them introduce themselves. "These are Detectives Rollins and Tutuola."
"Antonio Dawson." He shook their hands.
Josie extended her hand. "Jo Dawson."
"Uh?" The blonde with a southern. "Same last name?"
"We're married." Jo laughed.
"Oh. Okay." Fin chuckled.
The rest of the team introduced themselves. They were happy to have the help. If they got this guy, it meant two cold cases in New York and the two cases here would get closed.
"You guys are nice." Fin commented. "What's up with that battle-ax downstairs?"
Al patted him on the shoulder. "Not enough hours in the day… not enough hours in the day."
Josie showed them where they could put their things so they could go over both cities cases.
Rollins was the one to explain their theory. "The only thing we found in common between our two cities was that there's a manufacturing trade show in both cities. It was in New York during the time of our rape-murders… and it's here, now… in Chicago."
"Where?" Antonio asked.
"Rittenton?"
"Rittenhouse." Voight corrected Rollins. He looked to Jay and Erin. "You two will be headed there as soon as our friend in interrogation gives us a composite."
"Why don't we do better?" Jo stood up. "If they're part of the trade show… they'd have profiles, right? Especially if they're travelling with it?"
"Jin?"
"On it, boss." Jin went to get his laptop to get to work.
"Jo, can I see you in my office please?" Voight asked.
Jo nodded and followed her father into his office, closing the door behind her.
"What's their story?" Fin asked Antonio.
Antonio chuckled. "Want the Reader's Digest version? 'Cause the whole story will take more time than we've got to solve this."
"Sure."
"Jo is Voight's daughter."
Fin looked back to the office before turning back to Antonio. "You're kidding? You married the boss' daughter?"
"Jo and I go way back… like 15 years plus back… she was my kid sister's best friend in high school and I was a new patrolman. We fell in love and well, she got pregnant… but I didn't get to marry her until this past year because she'd been shipped into WitSec and I watched her house blow up. I was led to believe she and the baby had died."
"Following so far."
"She had twins on her 18th birthday… raised them on her own with her mom."
"Where does Voight fit in?"
"Turns out, the man that raised Jo wasn't her real dad… Voight and her mom had had a quick fling…"
"So, you've got two kids, you're married to the boss' daughter and you're his right hand?"
"I've got two other kids… I married between the time Jo was taken from me and the time she came back to Chicago… and we have a baby at home too."
"5 kids? Damn man." Fin was in shock. "Well, all the best with that man."
"Thanks… uh, I'm gonna try and get this pickpocket to get us an ID, make yourselves at home."
Meanwhile…
"What's up, Dad?"
"What's your taken on this whole thing?"
"What do you mean?"
"That this prick is travelling, following a convention?"
"It's plausible. I saw something similar back in New Orleans… but these guys have profiles on him. We didn't have that until now. The fact that he's anger retaliatory… not good. I saw a couple… and I've treated their victims. He's not about to slow down."
Voight looked behind her. "Looks like they're headed to go figure out the convention attendees, go help them out… I'll get the New York duo to help out the rest of us with more of a profile..."
Josie went to the door. "Let's hope Erin and Jay can nab him once we get an ID."
"Yeah." Voight nodded.
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Antonio and Jin were starting to make their way through all the attendees at the convention when Jo walked in. "Anything?"
"There are literally hundreds of people attending this conference."
"Hmm." Josie leaned against the back wall next to Antonio. "Adam, are you contributing to this?" She'd just noticed that Ruzek was in the back of Jin's office. He also wasn't fully focused.
"Yo, the computers work better if you don't slobber on them." Jin snapped at Antonio.
Antonio put his hands in the air. "Sorry."
"Hey, that Detective Rollins?" Adam said.
Josie rolled her eyes. "What about her?"
"She's got… like 10 things goin' on, right? All of them good."
Josie groaned.
Antonio and Jin exchanged glances. "Uh huh, sure."
Antonio looked to Jo next before adding on. "I give your marriage 6 months."
"No, no!" Adam joined them next to the computers. "Wendy… she's cool. I could go home and tell her that."
Josie choked on her coffee.
"You'd tell your fiancé… that you worked with some hot detective from New York and she kinda blew your mind?" Antonio had no clue what Adam and Wendy's relationship was like at home, but he knew what it took to make a relationship work. Adam didn't have that, especially not if he would have the hots for every pretty thing that came across his path.
Jin was shaking with laughter. "Really, Ruzek?"
Adam thought about it. "Uh, no."
"No, that's what I thought." Antonio turned back to the computers. "Jo, you okay?"
"Yeah… just… focus on the case." She pointed to the computers.
"So," Jin pointed the screens. "Here's a list of attendees to both conferences… and I went through the DMV and pulled their photos."
"Jin, we don't need to hear about the labour… just show us the baby."
"Here." Jin sighed. "45 guys who were at both conferences."
"Okay, load this onto the laptop." Josie put her empty coffee cup in the trash. "Let's show, Theo… maybe we'll catch a break and the guy he saw is one of these 45."
It didn't take too long before Theo pointed out the guy he saw in the Riverwalk. "That's him."
"Thank you, Theo." Josie smiled sweetly. "You've been a doll… now, we let you go… but you get caught again… you're not getting away."
"Yes, ma'am." He nodded.
Antonio opened the door to escort him out while Josie got the picture of Jeffrey Baker to Jay and Erin to bring him in.
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Baker was sitting in Interrogation with Jay and Erin. Rollins, Fin, Antonio and Josie were in the viewing room. Hank had to take a call. Baker wasn't giving them anything.
Antonio was getting pissed off. Baker was smug and arrogant. His cell began to vibrate. "Dawson." He listened before punching the wall and ending the call. "Fuck!"
"Antonio?" Josie looked to him.
"Come with me." He signalled to her.
They all followed him as he went to the Interrogation room and pulled Erin and Jay out of there.
"What?!" Erin snapped.
"There's been another rape down at the Riverwalk… vic survived."
"What?!" Josie exclaimed. "She… she's alive?"
Antonio nodded. "She's at Med."
"I'm coming." Erin went to get her jacket.
"You coming, babe?" Antonio asked Josie.
"Someone's gonna have to keep her in line." Josie growled. While she appreciated where Erin's emotions were coming from, she knew that her temper could blow their entire case if she got close to the guy who did this.
"So, it's not Baker?" Jay asked.
"Unless he can be here and in the Riverwalk at the exact same time, probably not." Antonio sighed. "Talk to Voight. See what he wants to do. I'm going to make sure those two don't lock horns any more than they have to today."
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The ride back from Med was done in pure silence. Erin had seen herself in the latest victim. Josie, however, had been shaken to the core. Vanessa, the only one to survive this rapist, was 16. She was a few months older than Zoë and a couple years older than Eva. She had fought back. She'd managed to get them DNA evidence and something of a description of the man that had attacked her. The only thing was, it wasn't Jeffrey Baker. Baker was a blue-eyed blond while her attack had dirty blond hair, his eyes were brown. There was something off about Jeffrey, but he wasn't the one. Josie knew that they'd have to kick him.
Antonio looked over to his wife. She was staring out the window. He took her hand and squeezed it. "Jo."
"She's a girl, Antonio… she's almost the same age as our daughters… and… I just… I can't."
"We're gonna get the bastard." He said, turning into the District parking lot.
"We better, Antonio… I… All I can think about is what if it were Zoë or Eva…"
"Jo, you can't go there." Antonio had gone there himself, but he wasn't about to add to the stress she was feeling. "You can't. Vanessa fought back, and because of that, she's alive and she's getting us one inch closer to the son of a bitch that attacked her."
Erin was still quiet in the back seat. She could see that Antonio and Josie were just as upset at this latest turn of events, and they had every reason to. She, however, was boiling over in anger and pain. She was almost that girl once upon a time. She needed to talk to Voight when they got back to the District. She wanted a piece of this monster when they got him. She wanted 5 minutes alone with him in the cage.
Upon getting back to the District, they revealed what they'd learned from Vanessa.
"If this moron was rational or logical, he'd make a run for the hills… but he knows the heat is on, and he's still here… so he's pissed off because Vanessa survived." Rollins said.
"And he probably knows he left DNA under her nails." Josie added. "It's only a matter of time before his DNA pings on our system. He's gonna hit sooner rather than later… these attacks are his drug, and he's a big-time addict."
Voight cleared his throat. "Hit every hospital, clinic and pharmacy in this city. He had to have gotten his injury treated… or at least he had to do something to deal with it. Send more foot patrols into this Riverwalk… I want this bastard off my streets!"
Antonio headed into Voight's office to make a plan to get more officers into the Riverwalk. He looked up from the map and noticed that Burgess was nowhere to be found. "Anyone see Burgess?"
Jay shook his head. "Haven't seen her."
Antonio sighed and went back to the map.
Josie was making herself some tea to calm her nerves when Rollins came into the staff room with Erin. They poured themselves some coffee.
Rollins grimaced as she took a sip. "Okay, that confirms it. Chicago cops can't make good coffee either."
The three women chuckled.
Erin asked Amanda how she could deal with this every day. "It's tough… especially if they're kids… but Vanessa's alive."
"It just doesn't make sense." Erin took another sip of coffee.
"You want the good guys to win." Rollins pointed out.
"I want the bad guys to get what's coming to them."
"Sometimes they do." Rollins said. "Do you believe in Karma?"
Josie spoke up. "We tend to believe in payback here."
Rollins looked to her. "Really?"
"We're a little rougher around the edges here. Especially this unit."
"Well, a little advice, just because I've been in your shoes before… because, payback tends to be the biggest bitch out there. It consumes you."
Josie scoffed under her breath and left the room. She needed to clear her mind.
"What's her problem?"
"She's got two teen girls, her husband is her partner and her dad is the boss… she tends to take a lot more personally than she needs to, but this time, I'm with her." Erin finished her coffee and went to see if any new leads had come in.
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Antonio, Josie and Hank had finished redirecting foot patrols in the Riverwalk area when Burgess came back with a possible ID. They had Jin pull his history and found that he had charges to his credit card in New York at the same time as their rape-murders.
"Where's he staying?" Voight asked as he walked out of his office.
Ruzek answered. "Hotel Fauntleroy… past 6 days."
"Okay, let's roll out." He winked at Burgess. "You're going places, kid."
Antonio patted her on the shoulder. "Good job."
Josie smiled. "You'll be up here soon. Let's get this guy."
They headed to the hotel and got into position. Adam and Al were inside the hotel while the others were in vehicles near the key exits of the hotel.
"You think he's here?" Josie asked her father. She'd gotten used to always riding with him and Antonio.
"If he's not, they may be able to give us an idea of when he'll back." Voight sighed. "I want him… and I want him gone."
"Dad, I… after what I heard from Vanessa, I think I'm wanting him alone… I want… I want him to pay for what he did to those girls."
"Jo, I want nothing more than to let you do that… but for everything he did, he needs to face the full force of our justice system. The families need closure, and I know exactly where you're coming from. Erin already asked me for 5 minutes with him in the cage. I told her no."
"You bend rules all the time."
"Me, yeah… because I really don't care if they take my badge or throw my ass back in jail. I do care if they come after my daughter or the officer who is like my daughter." Voight looked his daughter in the eye. "I know that you two are some of the strongest, most brilliant minds in the CPD. I'm not about to take away the strongest people we have to clean up the streets of Chicago."
"I'm with Voight on this one." Antonio put the binoculars down. "He needs to face justice… and if I could, I'd take him out… but we can't… not this time."
"Hey, uh… guys?" Ruzek's voice came through their comms.
"What?" Antonio snapped.
"That guy… from the convention center… we kicked him…"
"Yeah, Jeffrey Baker." Antonio radioed back. "What about him?"
"Which hotel is he staying in?"
"Sofitel." Josie took the radio. "Ruzek, you wanna fill in the rest of the class?"
"He just walked in here." Adam answered back. "He's talking to the desk clerk."
Voight yanked the radio from Josie. "Take him! Take him now!" He then turned on the SUV and began to move it towards the front of the hotel.
Al's voice came over their radios. "Suspect exiting through the front door."
Voight gunned it and pulled in front of Baker, jamming the brakes. Antonio jumped out and grabbed him, throwing him against the hood. "What are you doing here?"
"Out for a stroll." Baker said.
"Uh huh." Voight looked to Ruzek who was running towards them. "What?"
"Clerk said he was asking what room Neil Vance was staying in!"
Voight grabbed Baker and slammed him against the hood, harder than Antonio had. "Where the hell is Vance!?"
"I want a lawyer."
Antonio grabbed him and shoved him in the back of the waiting cruiser. This wasn't about to get any easier.
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Voight hadn't gotten anywhere. They knew that Vance and Baker were partners. Baker was the lookout while Vance did all the dirty work. There was only one way to get the information they needed. Voight looked to his team. "Put him in the cage."
When no one moved, he bellowed. "NOW!"
Atwater and Jay went to move Baker from interrogation to the cage. Voight moved towards the stairs.
Josie went to stop him. "Dad, what are you planning?"
"Getting answers."
"Dad."
"Jo, just keep New York out of the cage… we'll be fine."
"Da…" Josie was cut off as Hank closed the door leading to the rollout and the cage. "Damn it!"
She pounded on the door. Hank had locked it from the other side. There was no way she could get down there. She had to make sure no one else went down there. Last thing Intelligence needed was for Voight to lose his badge and get tossed back in jail.
"What's going on?" Antonio asked as he pulled her aside.
"Well, pretty sure my father is trying to purposely have his badge taken away." Josie growled. "He wants us to keep the two visitors busy while he gets some answers."
"Awesome." Antonio looked to see Fin questioning Jay about the cage. "The Commander said to do anything to get this guy off our streets."
"I don't think he told Dad to kill the torture one of the suspects." Josie hissed. "Are you seriously siding with him on this?"
"No, babe, that's not what I'm saying… I'm just saying, let your dad do his thing… and not judge… the young women of this city are still walking targets for Vance."
Josie knew he was right. They went to keep Rollins and Fin busy while Voight got the answer they needed.
About fifteen minutes passed before Voight reappeared. "Navy Pier."
They geared up and rolled out. The team broke up. They had to. Navy Pier was a lot of ground to cover and they didn't have time to get more officers into the area to find Vance. If Vance felt cornered, he was liable to start killing people on a spree. Enough blood had been spilled because of him. This was the end of the line.
Antonio, Voight and Josie were in one group. Erin had gone with Rollins. Jay, and Fin were together. Jay had brought his sniper rifle. No one knew how this was going down but they needed their bases covered. Al was staying high. Adam had wandered off on his own.
They weren't seeing him. Suddenly, Adam's voice broke the silence in their ear pieces. Antonio froze, causing Josie to bump into him.
"I got the eye."
"Ruzek?" Antonio asked.
"Where are you?" Voight questioned. If Adam had Vance, he was alone and they needed to get to him.
Adam was shouting at Vance. The team booked it towards the central part of the pier. It was the only place he could be.
"Woah!" Adam exclaimed. "Come on, now."
Voight froze. Vance had a hostage. "Shit."
Adam was trying to talk Vance down. Vance was demanding Adam's backup weapon. It was then that Adam gave them his location. "You're smart, Neil… not even my partner Marlyn knows about it."
"Marlyn Yacht!" Voight bellowed.
They booked it. Erin questioned if they should call in SWAT. Voight told her there wasn't enough time. They knew he was right. He ordered Jay and Al to go high and get in position.
"In position, boss."
"Got the shot?"
The air was tense. This was a last resort but if they had to, they had to take him down.
"Affirmative." Jay was the one taking this shot.
"Light him up."
A single gunshot echoed and the Riverwalk Killer was down. Chicago was finally able to breathe again.
Erin and Rollins went to help the hostage, while Antonio went to clear Vance's weapon.
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After the paperwork was done and filed away, Voight went to meet Commander Perry. Erin drove the two SVU detectives to O'Hare for their flight home. The others went their own way. Antonio and Josie stayed behind.
"Jo, you okay?"
Josie sighed and sat on the edge of his desk. "No."
"What's wrong?"
"This whole thing." She twirled the promise ring he'd given her all those years ago. She still wore it, only now it sat on the middle finger of her right hand.
"You only play with your jewelry when you're upset… we got them."
"I know… but why don't I feel better?" She could feel the tears beginning to build.
"I think it's because justice wasn't fully served." He got up and pulled on his jacket. "Let's go… I think I know something that may help pick up your spirits."
"What?" She slid off the desk.
"Come on. I'll show you." He handed her her jacket.
They drove to Med. Upon arriving, Josie asked. "What are we doing here?"
Antonio took her hand. "Giving a young woman peace of mind."
They made their way up to Vanessa's room. Antonio knocked on the door. "Vanessa, ma'am… mind if we come in?"
Vanessa nodded. "Sure."
"You remember my partner?"
"Sure… she's your wife." Vanessa managed a weak smile. "Do you have more questions?"
Josie walked to the side of the bed and took Vanessa's hand. "No, sweetie, we came with news."
Vanessa's mother took a deep breath.
"We got them. They were a team, and because you are so strong and you were able to fight back, and get us evidence, we got them. One is going to jail for the rest of his life, and the other… well, he can't hurt anyone anymore."
Vanessa gasped before breaking down completely. "It's over?"
Josie hugged her and rubbed her back. "It's over. You are so strong, Vanessa. So, so strong. Thank you. Because of you, a lot more girls are safe."
"He didn't break me."
"No, he didn't." Josie wiped Vanessa's tears, the way she had her children's tears over the last 15 years. "You won, and you are that much stronger. You rest and heal. If you ever want to talk…" She pulled her card from her back pocket. "You call me, okay. I'll be there to talk."
"Thank you." Vanessa took the card.
Vanessa's mother patted her daughter's shoulder before asking Josie if she could speak to her outside. Josie nodded and followed her to hallway. "Thank you."
"Ma'am… it's what we do."
"I… I don't know how you do this job… knowing what these animals do…"
Josie cleared her throat. "I… I do this because we have 5 children at home. Two of our daughters are close to Vanessa's age."
"I knew that you had to be a mother. I could see it in your eyes… that this wasn't just another case for you."
Josie nodded. "Cases involving children or teens… always hard… today… seeing Vanessa… I couldn't help but imagine if it had been one of our daughters."
"Thank you… you gave my daughter peace of mind." Vanessa's mother hugged her tightly. "She wouldn't sleep… couldn't close her eyes… now look at her."
Josie looked over and saw that Vanessa's eyes were closed and her vitals had calmed down drastically. "I meant it when I said she could call me. Before I became a detective, I was a nurse… and I can be an shoulder if she doesn't feel comfortable talking to anyone else about what happened."
"Thank you, Detective Dawson… truly. I'm going to go sit with her… I'll be in touch." Her mother went back into the room. She thanked Antonio and hugged him before taking her seat next to her daughter's bedside.
Antonio exited the room and slid the door closed. "Better?"
Josie nodded. "Better."
Antonio wrapped his arm around her waist. "Let's go home and you can hold our infant daughter and things will start to slowly go back to some semblance of normal."
"Normal is a setting on the dryer, babe."
Antonio kissed her cheek. "Yeah, yeah."
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Josie had just gotten Grace settled and Antonio was checking in on Eva who had gotten into a fight at school. The twins were on a school retreat and Diego was at a friend's place for a birthday party that also happened to be a sleepover. She was headed back to their bedroom when she heard a car pull up to the house. She went back down the stairs to see who was there. She grabbed the baseball bat that was kept by the door since their guns were locked away. She wanted to be safe. She saw that it was Erin's car. She had no clue as to why the hell Erin was here at this time of night, especially since she was supposed to at her high school reunion with Jay. She put the bat behind the door and deactivated the alarm. She opened the door and leaned against the door frame.
"Jo… how?"
"I was leaving the nursery when I saw your headlights… what's going on?"
"Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure." Josie stepped back from the door. "Where's Jay?"
"He went back to his place."
"Let's go to the kitchen." Josie motioned. "Antonio?"
"Yeah, babe?"
"I'm gonna make some tea and read for a bit."
"Sure thing… Eva and I will be chatting for a while anyhow."
"Something happen with Eva?" Erin asked as Josie placed a mug in front of her.
"Fight at school… wouldn't talk to me or Gaby… so Antonio's trying."
"Poor kid." She sighed.
"So… you didn't come over to check on the kids… what's up?" Josie put the kettle on the stove. "Reunion didn't go well?"
"Not my scene… I don't owe any of those morons anything… I'm better now than I was then… that's all that matters."
"Okay." Josie took out the tea. "Then why are you here?"
Erin bit her lip. "I need to talk to you… and I'd prefer if Antonio doesn't find out."
"Why?"
"It's about your brother."
Josie turned off the stove and poured the water into their mugs. "What about Justin?"
"He… he showed up at my apartment…"
"So?" Josie added some honey to her tea. "Did he make a move on you or something?"
"No… he was shaking… Jo, his knuckles were busted… he was covered in blood."
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A/N: Well… we all knew something was going to happen, right? Yes, a lot of this comes from the 'Conventions' episode… but… it does lead up to some interesting family drama for Josie… more to come soon. All credits for any lines from the episode to Chicago PD's genius writers. Until next time… Nicole!
