Hi everyone!
Here's the next chapter of the story. I hope you like it.
Thanks to all of you who read and to the ones who have commented and followed the story. It really means a lot and it motivates me to keep writing.
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Happy reading!
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination.
It was early for anyone else to be at their spot in the bullpen.
Having this case to focus on was a gift from the heavens. I spent a great part of last night thinking about what threads to pull in order to solve this case and I came up with a few ideas. That was up until I saw that picture of her.
Gosh, she looked gorgeous. I reacted and got no reply. Great. Was this the signal I was waiting for? Did this mean that I had to give another shot to my relationship with Wendy?
I decided that I was not gonna spend the night like that, not again, so I just took a shower and went to bed determined to make the best out of today and to do all that was in my power to contribute to solving this case.
I heard steps up the stairs and moved my eyes away from the screen to see who was coming in, it was still pretty early.
"Someone fell out of bed this morning." She said as soon as she saw me. Her voice was still groggy, she looked tired and she moved as if she had heavy weights attached to her body, but having her dark sunglasses on was what gave her away.
I chuckled before answering.
"And someone else had one hell of a night." she smiled, I really liked that smile.
"I did… No regrets, too. I just wish I had a couple more hours of sleep." she said as she took off her coat and hung it behind her chair, before extending her arm over both of our computer screens to fist bump me.
"We have a bunch to do today, partner. Hopefully that will keep you awake." she smiled and took off her sunglasses, she really did look tired.
"I won't disappoint." she finished off with a wink.
It was funny to see Kim do her best to stay awake and focused. As soon as Jay and Erin arrived I could see that Lindsay was in no better shape than Kim. These girls sure did know how to make the best of a night out.
I spent some time working on some of the ideas I had come up with last night. Before sharing any of it with the rest of the unit I stopped by the break room and got a brand new pot of coffee ready.
I poured some coffee in a mug and got some stuff I kept in the drawer, it was my special homemade hangover cure. I stepped out of the break room and walked towards Kim's desk. I stood behind her and placed the cup and an aspirin in front of her.
"This does the trick for me every time." I said as I gently squeezed her shoulders. It was such a low shot and my behavior was beginning to frustrate me, but I was taking every chance I had to make some sort of physical contact.
She turned around, the sweetest smile on her face and placed her left hand over my right one that was still resting on her shoulder.
"Thank you"
"Sure, no problem" I tried to sound cool and relaxed, but the truth was that when my eyes linked with hers, I kind of lost it for a bit. And probably if we had been alone, if Wendy and Sean wouldn't be a part of this, I would have cupped her face with my hands and just kissed her.
But that wasn't going to happen. Not today, not ever.
"Alright, do we have any leads? Anything to work on?" Voight's voice pulled me back to Earth.
"Actually boss, I think we've been looking at this from the wrong perspective." I said
"What are you suggesting?"
I walked to my desk to get some papers and started to stick them on to the board. "We've been focusing on Sandy Williams, but I think we should really be looking at her sister Rhonda." Everyone's eyes were on me.
"How is she connected?" Jay inquired.
"Rhonda has a son, Jaime Carter." I posted his picture as I continued talking. "He did some time for possession and this is where it gets interesting, he got out on bail and the person who paid is Marcos Ortiz."
"Isn't that the guy from the Latin Players?" Kim asked as she took a sip from her coffee.
"He is." I nodded.
"So, what you're saying is that Ortiz got Carter to kill the victim from the convenience store?" Atwater was trying to follow my lead as he was connecting all of the dots. "Makes sense since the victim was part of another gang." He rounded up.
"Sounds good Ruzek. I want you and Kim to go check on Carter." Kim and I nodded at the same time as we got our stuff to head out, Voight countied to talk. "Lindsay and Halstead, visit the victim's family. See if he had any other issues with the Latin boys prior to this."
"On it Sarge." Lindsay replied.
"Kev, I'm calling Rojas up today. You and her check the streets, see if your CIs have something, anything to back up Ruzek's theory."
"Yes, boss."
We were outside most of the day. We got to see Carter and we managed to get a few things out of him that were enough to bring him into interrogation.
Erin and Jay were able to get more information that actually linked Ortiz to this murder and Rojas and Kev were able to track down an eye witness who you placed Carter at the crime scene 5 minutes after the shooting happened.
With everything we had this was pretty much a closed case.
Jay and Voight were in with Carter right now. The interrogation was taking too long and I just hoped that all of today's work was useful for something.
"We got a confession." Said Voight as he walked between our desks with Jay right next to him. "Great work team!"
"I'm sorry to interrupt this happy moment, but I have an important delivery. They told me it could wait." Platt's sarcasms made my day ten times better. Our desk sergeant handed a manilla envelope to Voight and went downstairs.
"Jay, get all of Carter's paperwork ready. I'm going to take a look at this." He said as he raised the envelope and walked into his office. By the time Voight came out of his office all of us were at our desks.
"Listen up, I have some good news. I am very happy to announce that this is, officially, an all detective unit. Congratulations Atwater, Burgess and Ruzek, your results are great!"
Voight came and hugged each one of us, when he got to me he gripped my shoulders tightly, "I'm proud of you kid, and I'm sure Al would be proud of you, too."
"Thanks sarge, it means the world to me." Voight smiled and pulled me in for another hug. I know that bringing up Al into the conversation was as hard for him as it was for me.
"This definitely calls for a celebration!" I think I never heard Halstead so enthusiastic. "Tonight we all hit Molly's!"
"Alright, it's late already. You can all take the rest of the day, and I guess we'll see each other at Molly's." Apparently Voight was in a good mood today, too.
"Thanks Sarge!" By the look on her face I could tell Kim was super excited. We all began to get out stuff to leave the bullpen.
"We did it dawg!" Atwater patted my back and then hugged Kim.
"I think now would be the perfect moment to say, 'Sorry for laughing at your sticky note and flair pens, Kim. They really did help us study.' You both know we had some kick ass notes because of my serious skill and ocd, of course." She laughed, expressing every ounce of happiness in her body. I was becoming addicted to that sound.
"You're right sis. In fact tonight I'm buying your first drink." Kevin offered with a charming smile.
"Hey, what am I getting?" I complained.
"Well, what was your contribution to our study group?" Kim asked.
"It was obviously my vast experience in intelligence and my charming personality is always an asset." I replied with a cocky smile receiving a playful little punch in my right arm.
"I believe I haven't congratulated you detective Burgess. Come here." And just like that I wrapped her into a massive bear hug. Yeah, low blow. But I was taking everything I could get right now. I had to let go of her before it became too obvious how much I needed that contact, Kev's voice was the perfect cue for that.
"What do you say we get out of here?" We nodded and left the Bullpen.
I got in my car and I texted my pops telling him the news and inviting him over to Molly's. I also had to share this with Wendy, she was my girlfriend and this was pretty big news, I honestly wanted to share this with her. I turned the key in the ignition and started the way towards her place.
Our celebration arranged by Halstead was a success. The whole Unit had shown up at Molly's as well as my pops and a few other friends from med and the fire house that we had invited. Platt didn't make it because she had something planned with Mouch.
It was getting a bit late, and almost everyone I knew had already left.
I went to the counter to ask Hermann for another beer when I saw her sitting there staring at nothing and playing with the glass of red wine in her hand.
"What's up detective Burgess?" She turned around and smiled as I sat right next to her "You seem like you're having a hell of a time." I said ironically.
"I am, actually"
I raised my eyebrows and looked around "Where's your man?"
"Night shift."
"That sucks. I'm sure he would've loved to be here." All she did was shrug before speaking again.
"How about your girl? Did I miss her?"
"You did not. She didn't come and she's not my girl anymore" I shot back as I took a pull of the beer bottle Hermann had just brought me.
"What?" That seemed to call her attention.
"We broke up" I wasn't looking at her, instead I was playing with my bottle.
"When? Why?" She asked again.
"Just before coming here in fact. She wasn't all that thrilled about me becoming a detective. You know how she never liked the fact that I am a cop? Being in intelligence, with our messed up schedules didn't help much. And I guess now, with the new badge and all, she realized that there's no way on Earth I can give this up." I looked at the counter and played with the water ring that my bottle had left there.
"Gosh, Adam… I'm so sorry." I could feel her eyes on me and then I felt her hand take a hold of my wrist, that was when I looked at her eyes, there was concern in them.
"Don't be. I'm fine" I gave her a reassuring smile, "That relationship was going nowhere, it was going to end sooner or later." I know I was coming off as cold right now, but it was the truth. Despite the fact of my mixed feelings about Kim, everything I had just said was true.
"You know more than anyone that being a cop is not just what I do, it's who I am. I can't be with someone that doesn't respect that and that wants to change me."
"Adam, loving what you do this much, is exactly what makes you such a great cop." The look on her face was sweet and serious, I could tell that she meant every word coming out of her mouth, "And a great guy. You have this bad boy vibe, but you are a hell of a good man. You deserve someone who can see that." She disengaged the connection between our eyes and finished off her wine in one big gulp. "I should go home now".
"Do you want me to drive you?" I offered.
"No, I came in my car. See you tomorrow." She got her things quickly and got off the stool. I grabbed her by the arm and she gave me not a very friendly stare.
"Why are you running away?" I asked.
"I'm not. I just wanna go home."
"Ok" I let go of her, my gut told me that there was something else to that look but there was no point in pushing her about it right now. "See you tomorrow".
"See you." she just left, no goodbye, no hug, nothing. She was gone.
