Otis knocked on the door. "I wonder if she's awake yet."
Cruz shrugged. "It's 10 am; I don't see why she wouldn't be. She's always awake before all of us at the station."
Otis glanced down at his phone and his brow furrowed. "She never texted me last night. She said she would text me when she got home."
"Well, her car is here, so she got home okay." Otis glanced at her car.
"Easton! Open up!" Cruz knocked on the door hard, and it cracked open. "Doesn't she have a bunch of locks? Why did that just open?" He looked panicked as he opened the door.
Otis was just scared as Cruz. "Easton! Where are you?" He walked into the dining room and found her on the floor. "Call an ambo!" She was bleeding from her head, and the laceration from the day before had reopened, both pouring blood. Her skin was pale and cold to the touch. Otis felt her weak pulse and listened to her shallow breathing. Blood was pouring from her mouth. He saw where she had been stabbed and immediately tried to apply pressure.
"We need an ambulance and police at 1221 West Fletcher Street in Lake View." Cruz paused and pulled his phone from his ear. "Oh my God, Otis. Look." Otis tore his eyes from her still body and looked at the wall. Someone shattered the mirror hanging on the wall. Inside the frame that was once glass were two words that had been painted in black. Neither of them could read it.
Otis couldn't get his thoughts together. "I think that's German. Who does she know that's German?"
Easton started to stir a little. "Nie jestem dobra." She kept muttering it over and over again. Every muscle she moved made the bleeding worse.
"Easton, stop talking. You are going to make the bleeding worse." Her green eyes slowly opened, and she looked at him briefly before rolling back into her head.
The ambulance arrived minutes later, and the paramedics entered the house with their bags. Two patrolmen entered behind them. It was Officer Burgess and Officer Roman. The first thing they saw was the writing on the wall. "I need to call Voight."
After Easton was en route to the hospital with Otis, Cruz stayed behind with the officers as they called Voight.
The leader of the Intelligence unit took his phone out into the squad room with the other detectives. "Listen up. Burgess and Roman think they've found a case." He put his phone on speaker.
"A woman, age 26, was found unconscious and severely beaten in her home. She had a gun, meaning she must've expected it."
Halsted interrupted. "Plenty of people have guns. It doesn't mean anything."
"When an angry warning is painted on her wall in German, it means something. This will probably interest you, Antonio; it's the new candidate at station 51."
Halstead's heart nearly stopped. "Is her name Easton Lis?"
"How did you know that?"
"I know her. I met her while she was bartending at Molly's last night. Can we check it out?" He looked up at his boss and waited for his response.
Voight nodded. "You, me, and Antonio will go check out her house. The rest of you, get started on background information. Burgess, keep any witnesses there. We'll be there soon."
Ten minutes later, they pulled up to the curb outside her house and walked inside. Cruz was still there talking to Burgess.
Halstead looked around the house. "Nothing is messed up in the living room. It's like they weren't trying to cover anything up. Where did you find her?"
Cruz took them into the dining room, where he pointed at all the blood that had stained the hardwood flooring. "She was knocked out here. The blood was just... so bad." Cruz took a deep breath, and Antonio put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay, Joe." The rattled firefighter nodded and watched the detectives as they photographed the words painted in the old frame of the mirror. They sent it to Ruzek to work on a translation. "Anything else you can tell me?"
"She started saying something. It was something like no yester do something. I can't remember."
"That's really helpful, Cruz," Antonio said as he looked at her gun. He checked the clip. "She's missing one. She fired it."
Halstead went into the kitchen and looked for where the bullet had gone. He found where it had entered the wall. "It's in the wall over here."
"So she comes home, sees someone in her kitchen, and discharges her gun. Then they attack her with a bottle, leave a death threat, and no one hears this?" Voight was deep in thought.
"She was working last night. The bar closes pretty late; her neighbors were probably dead asleep." Halstead pointed out.
"I think we have all we can get from here. Let's get back to the precinct."
As they headed out to the car, Antonio looked over at Voight. "Are we going to take the case?"
"They were sloppy, leaving clues. They also didn't trash her house to at least cover their tracks. We are taking this case."
Halstead raised an eyebrow. "Why exactly?"
"I think this is organized crime."
Jay was shocked. "You think she's in a mob?"
"With that writing on her wall, I'm certain that your little firefighter friend has something to tell us."
At the hospital, Otis was sitting outside of her room, waiting. She was still unconscious, but the doctors controlled the bleeding and stitched her up. Mills and Cruz rounded the corner, followed by Casey and Gabby.
"Is she okay?" Otis stood up and looked back at the door.
"The doctors say she is fortunate that she survived after that much blood loss." Otis refocused on Cruz. "What did the police say?"
"Antonio's unit is on it right now. They haven't told me anything yet."
Gabby checked her phone. "Antonio said they have everything under control, and they are taking the case. I'm supposed to tell them when she's awake."
"They said it should only be a little while longer. You might want to text Antonio. I want whoever did this in that little cell in their garage by tonight." Otis tried to keep his emotions in check, but it was difficult for him.
All the detectives were researching, trying to find clues on Easton Lis. Antonio was the first to find anything. "Voight. Look. That is Anatol Wilk, the head of the Polish mob in Seattle. Recognize the girl behind him?"
"That's our girl." Halstead walked over to look over Antonio's shoulder. "She doesn't look too happy that her father was freed from prison."
Halstead noticed something odd. "Look at all of her rings."
"Maybe it's a way they tell her rank or who she is." Antonio shrugged.
"But that's an engagement ring." They looked at her left finger. "She doesn't wear one now."
Voight was thoroughly interested now. "We need to talk to her."
Antonio picked up his phone. "Gabby said she's awake. Let's go."
They walked through the hospital and saw Otis sitting in the uncomfortable hospital chair in her room. He looked like he was drifting off, but when they entered the room, he sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Have you found anything?"
"Nothing we can discuss with you." They noticed she was asleep. "I thought she regained consciousness."
"Oh. Yeah, she did. I guess she fell asleep." He got up and gently tapped her on the shoulder before shaking her arm gently. She shook her head a little before she woke up.
"Wha...? What is it?" Easton looked over at Otis. "You are still here. I told you to leave. I'm fine here by myself."
"East, this is the Intelligence unit from CPD." She glanced over at the cops.
"Jay Halstead. I met you at Molly's, right?"
He nodded. "We have some things to talk to you about. I think you should take a walk, Otis."
"No." Otis looked at Easton. "Batman can stay. He'll find out anyways. Is Mills here? He would love to hear this."
"As long as you are sure." Antonio opened the door, and Mills, Cruz, Casey, and Gabby stepped inside. "You are in a crime family." Mills nodded, things finally clicking into place.
"Not willingly, of course." She looked at her friends. "I was born into the Polish mob in Seattle. My dad is the boss."
Antonio handed Casey the picture he found of her after her father's trial. "I did a background check. You have no convictions and didn't pay to get anything expunged from your record. Did you pay off the police or DA?"
"I said I was unwillingly born into this. I don't do the underhanded things they want me to do. My father wanted me to take over Seattle with him, but I decided to go to the fire academy instead. He wasn't too fond of that." She sighed. "If you noticed, I'm wearing an engagement ring in that picture. My fiancé was Chris Barone. He was just a normal guy, just a tattoo artist. My father didn't like him because he thought all Italians undermined us. After I spoke out against Wilk at the trial, Chris was murdered in order to punish me. Then my father sent me here to deal with the big guys, to show me that I had it good being under his protection."
"He punished you by sending you here where he can't protect you?"
"He sent two of his personal goons. One of them, Bartek, is the one who pulled me off my front steps the other day. I have no doubt he was the one that broke into my house."
Voight nodded. "What I'm going to suggest next might seem a little crazy, but just give me a straight answer." Easton frowned. "I need to get my man inside, and that will require you."
She laughed. "You want me to go in deep? That's hilarious."
"I'm having issues seeing why."
"Your man will have to literally live in my house and spend every waking second with me, probably doing morally questionable stuff."
"Well, I don't hear a better suggestion. Unless you give me everything I need to take down your family."
"Stop calling them that. They are not my family."
"Sergeant, I think she needs time to rest a little more." Casey tried to push Voight's focus away from her.
"Let's go. Casey's right. We can talk to her another time." Halstead shot Easton a sorry look before he followed his boss out of the room.
Otis looked at her expressionless face. "Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine. The doctor said I'll be back on shift in two weeks." Then she paused. "Well, actually, will I be allowed back, boss? Now that you know my father is a murderer and that I can't break my ties to organized crime?"
She was looking right at Casey. "I don't care. You haven't done anything wrong. You are just my firefighter. I don't care what Voight is trying to get you to do, but I will make sure you stay safe."
Gabby pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Antonio sent this to me. Can you tell us what this says?"
Gabby handed the phone to her. She laughed. "It says nie żyjesz. That means you are dead. They will try to come after me."
"That is a death threat, and you don't even seem that worried." Mills was shaking his head. "How are you not worried?"
She tried to avoid looking at Mills. "I don't think you understand the entirety of the situation."
"Well, you should understand this." She looked over a Cruz. "At all times, at least two of us will be with you."
"I'm sorry, but what are a bunch of firefighters going to do against an armed mafia? Stay out of it. I warned you earlier, Mills. If you get involved, there is no out."
All Peter could do was shake his head. "You keep telling me that. I'm starting not to care."