"Good morning, I'm here for Detective Halstead."
The woman across the desk looked at Hailey silently for a few seconds.
"And you are?"
"Hailey Upton, he called me."
"Oh, I don't doubt it."
The woman smiled maliciously bringing the telephone receiver to her ear.
She didn't have time to say more, because Jay's voice almost seemed to save her from being interrogated by the desk Sergeant in front of her.
"Sarge, I'll take care of it from here, thank you."
Jay gave her a big smile but he only earned an irritated snort and a wave of her hand and he seemed to get the message because he gestured in her direction towards the stairs.
"Sorry for the short notice but maybe you could help us. But the real question is, have you been on a murder case before?"
She nodded following him, "Yeah, of course. What's happened?"
Jay stared at her for a second before opening the gate, "Woman, 23. Found dead in the park in front of her home."
"Okay, and what am I here for?"
"She's the daughter of a Chicago banker and the family wants to close the situation quickly."
Hailey looked at him skeptically, "Close the situation on the murder of their daughter?"
Jay shrugged indifferently.
"Hailey! Twice in two days! I'm starting to like this!"
Kim approached her with a smile as they climbed the last step and suddenly Hailey realized she was going to meet all of his co-workers. Last night's speech was now very realistic and she wasn't surprised of not being afraid of that moment at all.
"Oh, finally the famous psychologist."
A voice surprised them from behind and Jay groaned beside her.
"This is Adam." He said, pointing to the man who had just approached, "He's an idiot, don't mind about him. And that's Kevin."
She waved a hand in their direction before her gaze stopped on the board with the photos.
"Okay, then. Gabriella Cobb, 23, was studying journalism at Chicago University." Kim leafed through a file rattling off a whole series of details, "A blow to the back of her neck that left no way out. Her body was found last night behind a bush in the park in front of her home."
Hailey nodded slowly as she walked over to the hanging photos.
"What about her family?"
"She lived with her parents, Andrew and Elizabeth and her older sister, Allison, 27 years old."
Kim slipped some photos onto a desk while Hailey continued to study those images in silence.
"Halstead, is she the consultant you told me about?"
The hoarse voice behind her dragged her brutally out of her thoughts and turning around, Hailey saw what she thought was the Sergeant leaning against the door of his office.
"Yes, Sarge. She is…"
Hailey interrupted Jay, extending a hand, "Hailey Upton. Nice to meet you."
It felt like she had seemed repeated her name a thousand times already that morning.
"Sergeant Hank Voight." The man eyed her with disdain and she could not help but behave in the same way, "This is my unit."
She nodded at his words while holding her position, until he turned around and disappeared into his office.
"Hailey." Jay stepped in front of her shaking his head, "Dealing with him can be a little…difficult sometimes."
She shrugged returning to the blackboard, "Do you already have an autopsy?"
"No. It should arrive soon. But…" Kevin walked over to her, "We're going to get her ex boyfriend for interrogating him. We need you to attend the interrogation."
"Yeah, sure."
"Hailey, I'm going out. You can sit at my desk." Jay handed her the large file he was holding in his hands after putting on his coat. The same coat from the night before, she noted with pleasure.
She gave him a quick glance before placing the file on the desk next to Voight's office and, in front of Jay's confused gaze, she laughed softly.
"Isn't that your desk?"
"Uhm, yeah, it is."
She shrugged enjoying his gaze, "From here you can see the whole room. I know you like control."
Hailey grinned hiding behind her hair, before sitting down on the edge of the desk. The blackboard in front of her and the file open on her lap.
Adam smirked, "This was interesting."
"I had to see it coming." Jay laughed, a hint of admiration floating in his expression.
She softly smiled already reading the papers.
She was left alone with Adam and Kevin and the rhythmic ticking of their fingers echoed in the silent space. It was a quiet and concentrated silence, and studying the photos of the body and the place where it was found was incredibly easy for her.
It wasn't the first murder case she worked on and it probably wouldn't even be the last, but each time she found it so strange thinking that until a few hours before that body had emotions, sparkling eyes and a beating heart.
Hailey leaned against Kevin's desk, "What do you think of her ex boyfriend?"
"Trevor Riley, he's a small time drug dealer. Clean record, no prior." He shrugged before reaching his arms over his head.
Adam rolled the chair over to them, "Victim's parents said she had been acting weird for a couple of months."
Hailey wrinkled her nose, "How weird?"
"Distant, as if she had so many things on her mind." Adam flipped through his notebook, "Initially they thought it was because of her studies, then they found out she and Trevor had broken up."
She nodded again with her mind lost somewhere else. There was something in the photos of her body she could not understand. Something that she made a bell ring in her brain but she couldn't really focus on what it was.
It was nearly two hours and at least two cups of coffee when Jay's voice made her sit straighter in the chair. If he was there, it meant she was about to witness the interrogation. And this could only mean that she was finally able to clarify her thoughts about that murder. So, she simply followed Voight in the small room down the hall..
"Trevor." Kim slowly sat down in front of him as Jay stood leaning against the wall.
"I don't know what you want from me. I did nothing."
"Yeah, that's what everyone says." Jay grinned, "Where were you last night around 9pm?"
He shrugged, "I was around."
"I need you to be more specific."
Trevor snapped, reaching across the table, "What the hell do you want from me?"
He looked around like a caged animal.
"Trevor." Kim repeated it slowly opening the file in front of her, "We're asking you, where were you last night?"
"And I answer you the same way. I was around. I have some friends who can confirm it."
The guy crossed his arms on his chest, challenging them with his eyes.
"How long has it been since you saw Gabriella Cobb?"
His back straightened and he looked at Kim for a few seconds, "Gabriella? Why?"
"Can you just answer a damn question?" Jay sighed as he leaned his head against the wall.
Trevor gaped at him, it was obvious he wasn't expecting that question.
"I don't know, three months. I think."
Hailey saw Kim cross her hands, "You really haven't seen her again?"
"No, I…she broke up with me three months ago. I haven't seen her since, no."
"So..." Jay sat down on the table, "If we checked the cameras in her area, wouldn't we see you walking around there?"
Trevor looked at him for a few seconds before lowering his gaze.
"No. I don't know anything about her anymore."
Hailey nodded to herself, before turning to Voight, "He knows something about her. He recently saw her."
He grunted something like an affirmative answer and she returned to focus on the scene before them.
"And why did she break up with you?" Kim continued.
"I guess it was because of her family." He snorted bitterly, "I just was out of her league. This is what her sister kept telling me."
"So Gabriella let herself be influenced?"
"I guess so." Trevor nodded slowly, his impudence now forgotten, "What does Gabriella have to do with it?"
Kim continued as if he hadn't spoken, "Do you still love her?"
Something slipped into his gaze, immediately hidden by indifference. Something that, however, did not escape Hailey. Regret and maybe even pain. He was undoubtedly still in love with her.
"I'm still not sure how it fits in."
"Listen to me, Trevor, when we ask you something, can you only answer clearly? You would make it easier for us." Kim ran her hands through her hair and tossed it onto her back.
He was silent for a few seconds, his hands clenched on the table until his knuckles were white.
"I loved her very much. And I was angry because I didn't want to believe she broke up with me. But it's been months, I understand her point of view."
"So you don't have a grudge for her?"
"Can you just tell me what's going on?"
Now he looked almost desperate and Hailey had no doubts about his innocence.
Jay leaned slightly towards him, "Gabriella's body was found tonight in the park in front of her house."
"Her…her body?"
Jay pretended not to have heard him and continued, "She was killed and left in a park. So I'm asking you again, where were you last night? "
Trevor stared for a few photos that Kim had now spread across the table before replying.
"I was really around."
"Sergeant." Hailey turned to him, "Now is a good time to stop the interrogation."
"Excuse me?" Voight crossed his arms across his chest trying to intimidate her.
"Trust me. Just finish the interrogation and leave those photos there with him."
They challenged each other in silence for a few seconds and, again, Voight grunted before disappearing.
Maybe that was the best way he had to communicate, Hailey reasoned. Not that she was particularly impressed by his techniques of intimidating her, he wanted to be a hard man with a person who was helping them on a case - not a good business card, after all.
Hailey stood watching Trevor even after Jay and Kim had left. The guy looked around a few times, as if looking for a way out, before returning to focus on the photos in front of him.
"Hey." Jay surprised her from behind, "What do you think?"
"It's not him, Jay."
He stared at her tilting his head, "You sure?"
"Totally sure. Look at him." She pointed to the guy in the interrogation room, "He's scared watching those photos and struggles to really focus on them. Look at his hands."
Jay nodded slowly, his breath brushing the side of her face.
"He would like to touch her but he's still incredulous. He still loves her, but would he kill her? He had no idea she had been killed. "
"Okay, come on."
His hand slid down her back and accompanied her down the hall.
She was enjoying this so much, working with him, seeing how he went through the day, how he faced work.
His hand lost contact with her back as they turned the corner to return to the bullpen and she followed him to his desk. Leaning against the glass behind her, she saw them circle the whiteboard interacting with each other.
"Trevor isn't our man." Jay's voice made them stop and all their faces mirrored their shock.
"No? He has a motive though."
"Hailey." Jay nodded to her and she jumped.
"He was genuinely amazed by the news of the murder. He didn't expect it. And he was scared watching the photos Kim showed him."
"Well, it's not the first time that a murderer hasn't been able to look at photos of his own crime." Adam shrugged, stretching his legs under the desk.
"He's still in love with her." Hailey explained calmly, "He can't look at the photos because he can't see the woman he loves dead."
"So you are telling me this is a dead end? That we have nothing?" Voight became impatient as he walked between the desks.
Hailey thought of the image of a caged animal and she had to restrain a laugh.
"No, I didn't say that."
Jay's head snapped in her direction so quickly that his neck probably creaked in disagreement, "What?"
"Maybe he knows something without really knowing it."
Voight's grunt made her want to throw a punch at him, but she inspired deeply before risking really losing her temper.
"He said he hasn't seen Gabriella in three months."
"Since she broke up with him, yes." Kim nodded.
Hailey smiled, "Exactly. But it's not true. He saw her. And if you look at the camera tapes…" She turned to Jay, "I can bet that for the past seven days he had been near her home."
After a second of silence, Adam jumped in his chair, "The tapes came ten minutes ago. I'm going to check."
"Atwater, go with him. And hurry up." Voight waved a hand in their direction, before returning to stare at Hailey.
She held his gaze quietly - as if she really could be intimidated by him. And after a while, he slipped into his office to grab his coat and go down the stairs.
Hailey let out a breath she didn't think to hold, letting herself fall slowly onto Jay's desk.
"This was cool." Kim gave her high five with a smile, "And between us, I think you're right. He's not our man."
Hailey shrugged with a slight smile on her lips.
It was weird and funny to see how that team moved so in unison. The other times she had collaborated with the police it had never been so…interesting.
Her attention was drawn again to the photos hang on the whiteboard and, again, the pose of Gabriella's body left her confused.
"Let's take a coffee." Jay tapped her leg with the pen before heading to the break room and she hopped up behind him happily accepting the third cup of coffee of the day.
Jay closed the door behind her and finally, after hours, she realized she could let her stiffen pose slip away slightly.
"So, I have to admit it was quite unexpected."
She tilted her head waiting for him to be clearer, "I mean, with Voight."
"Eh." She snorted, "Men who challenge me just to test my ability annoy me."
"He's a good Sergeant." Jay shrugged, "But he can be a little rude, that's true."
"Oh well, I don't have many problems. It's just the job, both for me and for him."
She smiled as she grabbed the cup he was holding out to her.
"Yeah, I've noticed that you have no problems." Jay whispered, his voice low and raw.
Something flickered in his eyes and the feel of his arms around her overwhelmed her.
She hadn't stopped thinking about Jay and their night yet. She had just been too focused on the work. But now, with his kind eyes studying her face, she realized she could easily spend hours leaning against him - like the night before.
"When you told me you were going to call me back, I didn't think so soon."
Jay laughed shaking his head.
"When I discovered they wanted to close the case quickly, I thought that the only person capable of helping us was the same one who understood that I had a headache just seeing me close my eyes for a second."
Hailey smiled as she buried her face behind the cup she was holding. She wasn't yet used to a person who relied so heavily on her.
"Not that I was sorry, anyway." She mumbled after a few seconds.
"I'm glad to hear that." His hand slid down her arm until their fingers intertwined.
And again, the contact with his skin was new and incredible. Jay was discreet and kind, two qualities she really didn't know how to handle. He attracted her and scared her so much that it made her head spinning.
She looked down at their intertwined fingers as a light flared in her brain.
"Oh my god, I need to see Gabriella's photos." She jerked away from him as her head raced miles per second.
She quickly went back to the bullpen and then scattered the photos of the body and the crime scene on his desk.
"What are you thinking?"
Hailey brushed him off while continuing to rummage through the file, "What about the autopsy result? Even just the preliminary one."
"Yes, the preliminary has arrived." Kim handed her the paper and she read quickly.
"Okay, can you ask to take a specific exam?"
"Yeah, sure." Jay picked up the phone, "Which one?"
"I need to know if she was pregnant."
"What?" Kim and Jay gaped at her as she no longer paid attention. Her head was almost spinning from the speed her thoughts had. She didn't know how she had managed to not understand it right away.
"The flower." She pointed to the little rose resting against Gabriella's stomach, "This flower. Ask the coroner if she was pregnant."
She continued to study her photos throughout his call and when he finally closed it, she started talking again. The documents were also scattered on Kim's desk and she moved between them trying to sort out her thoughts.
"He'll get us the results in half an hour."
"Yeah, good." Her fingers slid across the photos tracing the outlines of Gabrielle's body. And now everything was clearer to her.
"She wasn't killed in that spot, was she?"
"No. The traces of blood start from the park entrance. It was late and probably no one was passing by at that moment. But there is no surveillance camera at that point." Jay leaned against the desk.
Hailey nodded absently, "It wasn't Trevor."
"Okay…" Kim joined her.
"But it was someone who loved her."
She could almost feel their brains working feverishly to understand what she was saying. Then she pointed to some elements in different photos.
"She was put there. You see, lying on her back, her hair not ruffled."
"If her body had been casually thrown, she could never have been so perfect."
"That's right, she's perfect." She nodded to Jay, "This is typical behavior of someone who loves the victim. He wants to leave composure, beauty. As if to apologize for the gesture he made."
Hailey lost herself in the images, "Her face is turned to the sky, her arms stretched out to her sides."
"She looks almost asleep." Kim walked over to her and Hailey could almost hear the moment she understood her reasoning.
"So you think the flower on her stomach is a way of respecting her pregnancy?"
"Yeah, I don't know, I'm pretty sure of it. A way to pay tribute to that broken life."
"So she was killed by someone who loved her." Jay sat down with his head tilted back.
It was almost lunchtime, but he was dressed the same as the night before and it was pretty obvious he hadn't come home yet.
"So, it looks like Trevor actually passed a couple of times on the street where Gabriella lived." Kevin came in strides, followed by Adam, "The last time was three days ago."
"Do you have any news?" Adam asked.
"Oh, I don't even know where to start." Kim ran her hands over her eyes before pointing to the whiteboard.
"No okay, wait a minute." Jay got up slowly and took a sip of coffee, "Let's go back to Trevor. If he's really seen Gabriella lately, maybe she'd said something to him."
"Something we think he's hiding?"
Kim caught up with Jay, "No, something he doesn't think it's important. Hailey, just explain to them the same thing you said to us, thank you."
Left alone, she repeated the whole theory and, as she spoke, she realized how right she was. It had been so obvious from the first moment, but she didn't understand it. But now, the idea Gabriella had been killed in a fit of rage was so logical that it seemed absurd.
Another hour had passed and she was left alone in the main room. She had sat at Jay's desk all the time not finding anything else to do.
When the results of the coroner's tests had arrived half an hour earlier, she had almost rejoiced knowing that Gabriella was pregnant. Six weeks pregnant and they had no idea who the father was. Not Trevor, because apparently it was over between them nearly a month before the conception. And that left them with nothing done in hand.
She ran her hands over her face slowly as a silent presence behind her made her jump in her chair.
Hailey nodded in his direction, remaining focused on the documents, "Sergeant Voight."
"Did you find anything else?"
"No, not for now."
They were silent, but she could clearly feel his eyes piercing the back of her neck.
"That pregnancy thing. It was…impressive. "
The pause in his sentence made her smile behind the cascade of hair. If that was his way of admitting that she'd done a good job, she wouldn't complain.
"Thanks."
He walked over to her staring at her with his arms crossed across his chest. His gaze was serious and haughty and she had to lift her head from the documents at the strength of it. She knew what he was trying to do and, grudgingly, she had to admit that he was pretty good at making people tremble. Except that she could read through his game.
"Okay, Sergeant." Hailey breathed slowly deciding to play his game, "Is there something wrong with me?"
He stared at her again in silence and never as in that moment did Hailey wish she could read his thoughts.
"I don't like having outsiders in Intelligence."
"Outsiders." She repeated slowly, as if to evaluate the very meaning of the word, "Do you know it was you who asked for my help?"
They stared at each other in silence until a smile slipped onto his lips - a wry smile.
And Hailey couldn't help herself.
"Okay, this is my job and I know I'm good at this. But I can still leave at any time, I have no problems."
Voight nodded slowly before turning and walking back to his office, "Let's close the case."
"I respect your work, you respect mine." She said concisely, before returning to focus on the documents.
"All right. What do we know about other men in Gabriella's life?"
Kim brought her back to her reality by giving her a quick nod of the head. Something in the triumphant smile on her face told her that Trevor had told them something useful.
Hailey crept slowly into a corner, leaving Jay his desk. She slipped into the break room watching them work from the door. She hadn't had time to study them yet, as she had joked with Jay the night before. But now, she realized, she had time to do it and she wasn't going to miss this opportunity.
Kim was a constant source of energy. She was incredibly calm when she was sitting at her desk, but if she had something to do she couldn't really sit still. While Kevin, more relaxed than her, seemed to approach life with the same calm demeanor he had while he was thinking about a case. From what she had understood in those few hours, though, Adam was the most untidy and noisy of them.
But if she really had to risk an option, she knew what Jay had asked her to notice. And she couldn't wait to tell him that, as promised, she really noticed everything. The way Adam's eyes followed Kim in every movement, and how she always found a way, even unconsciously, to be around him.
"Hey."
Jay surprised her a few minutes later as she sat at the break room table. A hot cup of coffee in front of her nose and a blank stare.
"Trevor actually admitted seeing her up until a few days ago. She seemed weird to him, nervous. And she had rambled about a man several times. We don't know who, though."
Jay sat down next to her letting his forehead drop against the surface of the table. Hailey slowly stroked the back of his neck and he chuckled at the cold skin of her hand.
"Anything about other men in the family?"
Jay groaned, "A cousin. But he lives in Atlanta, so... "
"Hmm hmm…and?"
"Allison's boyfriend."
"Ah!" Hailey hopped in her chair and Jay opened one eye to her sudden movement, "You have to talk to him!"
"I imagined you would have said that." He laughed, "Kevin and Adam are going to get him."
Hailey hummed as she took another sip of coffee.
"Do you know, that hand on my neck?" Jay turned his head towards her with a slight smile, "Feel free to continue, if you want."
Hailey laughed before slipping her hand through his hair and he moaned again closing his eyes at her touch.
It was so normal that it didn't seem possible that everything was new between them. As if they had been doing it for years, being around each other all day, carving out little moments. All so normal and spontaneous. And again, she was so scared of all of this - of everything he was offering her.
Okay so, I'm really happy with how much you are enjoying this story. Your love is surprising and overwhelming. Thanks, thanks everyone :)
And okay, I know this is probably not the chapter you were expecting but I couldn't stop myself and just had so much fun writing this case - which, of course, will end in the next chapter ;)
As always, thanks to my fav one-cpd.
Talk soon, H.