Told you my impulse control was not great! Big thanks to nons for your encouragement and thanks to you all for such lovely reviews on the 1st chapter xx
Hailey had left Jay still working in the bullpen around 3am, even though she'd tried to convince him to leave with her. Something in his expression told her she needed to back off, so she had.
It's 8.30am now, and she managed 4 hours of sleep. Her eyes are tired, she feels vaguely irritable, like something's scratching underneath her skin.
There's no sign of life. She'd half expected him to be still tapping away at his keyboard. It could be a good sign. Perhaps he found evidence or the name of the bar.
She places the coffee cup down and walks toward the kitchen, tupperware container filled with salad in her hand wondering if today's the day she'll get the chance to eat it, stopping in the doorway when she sees Jay lying on the couch. He looks younger when he's asleep; Or did till his face screws up slightly, and he mumbles.
Hailey considers waking him but decides against it, It feels like she's intruding so she backs away out the door after quickly putting her food in the fridge, picking up the empty pizza box on the table still there from last night, putting it in the trashcan and goes back to her desk turning the computer and monitor on, stretching before sitting down.
There's no sign at all that Jay got anywhere further in the time after she left and he won't thank her if there's time lost this morning she knows and that's what makes her mind up as she pushes the chair back and stands up, walking toward the kitchen and almost colliding with one tired, rumpled looking Jay Halstead as he rubs at his eyes, sniffs at his clothes and yawns loudly stepping out of the kitchen into the bullpen.
Jay steps back and his eyes almost bug out as he takes in Hailey and looks at his watch.
"You're early."
Hailey fixes him with a pointed stare and his eyes lower before he replies defensively, "I didn't see the point in heading home. I don't want to give up on this case."
He walks past her and sits down, rubbing at his face again before he blows out a breath, turning towards Hailey, a confused and dejected expression on his face.
"I don't understand what we're missing, you know? How hard can it be to find a bar? Is it some kind of ghost bar? Or perhaps Mr Flynn was wrong about it. What if the bar's in another part of the city altogether?"
"You got any contacts from your time in The Rangers? Could be that someone knows something?"
Jay pulls his cell from his pocket, flashing a grim smile, "Already ahead of you. I messaged a few people earlier knowing they'd keep military time and," he swipes at his phone, looking up and frowning, "4 out of 4 and guess what none of them know a thing."
"So we hit up CIs? Do some canvassing?" Hailey suggests and Jay shrugs, mouthing 'Yeah'.
She gets why Jay's losing hope, but it's too early to give up. Voight's not even here yet, not chasing them for developments. He drops his phone onto the desk and leans back in his chair, shaking his head, not looking at her.
"Okay but what if it wasn't murder? What if he fell and the guy who found him was right and there was a car that pulled up except what if it was unconnected?"
"What if it was?"
He eyes her, "Why are you backing me on this?"
Hailey shrugs, "We're partners and if you're telling me something feels off, I say we roll with it until we either have it taken away from us because homicide wants it or there's nothing to investigate or maybe it'll be the final option."
"Which is?"
"David Flynn got in with bad people; they murdered him and we'll be the ones to get his killers as you promised his parents we would."
"You make it sound so simple," Jay remarks with a skeptical expression.
"It isn't but what we do is what we always do and well which is that we keep looking."
So they do. They hit up old contacts and after a couple of hours, there's a CI, one of Hailey's they're about to go see. All the while Jay has made phone call after phone call sighing in frustration each time the outcome is fruitless.
Time's their enemy now and sooner rather than later Voight will arrive and with his arrival unless something changes will see the case falling from the precarious hold they have on it now and into someone else's hands.
Someone that Hailey knows Jay reckons won't care as much. Certainly won't need this as much as Jay does.
They're reaching for their jackets, hoping that Hailey's CI can summon up a miracle when they hear footsteps thudding up the stairs and two familiar faces appear.
"Still looking for the name of that bar, bro?"
Jay's got one arm in his jacket when he freezes at Kev's words, "Yeah."
Adam grins, walking toward Jay and whirling around his back to Voight's office, "Not anymore you're not, we got you" he says as he hands a piece of paper to Jay with a flourish.
"Got a CI who knows a lot of bars. Used to run inspections on them till they realized he was taking too much off the top and he spent time at County. Anyway, he kept all his contacts, and I called him when Hailey messaged me we got nothing overnight. Within 5 minutes he was calling to meet."
Jay scans the paper as Adam continues.
"The bar's not that far from where David Flynn's body was found."
"Roosevelt Road?"
"Yeah, near the South Loop." Kevin replies as Jay looks up and nods, handing the paper to Hailey.
"So, how do we know this Brian's place is the place?" Hailey asks as she reads the name.
"CI, Karl, is ex army too," Adam explains, "He hears about all the new places anyway and he heard about this bar before so he put two and two together, said there was no other place in the city that he could think of immediately that'd fit and it's not too far from where they found Flynn makes it fit even more."
"Still, how would he know?" Hailey shakes her head, it's not enough.
"The guy who runs the place. Peter Barnet. He's ex army also, and he's known to my CI. Got priors too according to my CI. He knew him while he was in County."
"How the hell's he running the place?" Jay questions.
"He's not," Kevin says as he steps forward, standing next to Hailey. "Someone else owns it as far as the city's concerned."
Adam nods, "Oh yeah, and one last thing. Karl said there was a guy, Eddie Stapleton, who apparently worked at the bar till he disappeared."
Hailey and Jay exchange a glance before Jay sits down and taps away at his keyboard.
"Eddie Stapleton?"
At Atwater and Ruzek's nods, he hits enter and leans in closer, shaking his head at what he sees when he does.
"Ex-army too. Thirty-eight years old, has a partner and 3 kids. Disappeared exactly 3 months ago."
"Dangerous place to work or be a regular at," Kevin comments.
"So we're close but not close enough for us to take this from homicide?"
They all turn round at Voight's voice, he's arrived the back way to the bullpen and is leaning against the doorway to the kitchen.
"Sarge, you gotta admit this looks bad." Jay says, standing up and gesturing toward his computer.
Voight nods.
"It's more than we had. A lot more but we still need a little more so you and Hailey go to the morgue, find out how David Flynn died. We'll have Burgess and Antonio go see Eddie Stapleton's family," Voight pauses before pointing at Kevin and Adam, he adds, "And you two, dig deeper into Peter Barnet, the bar and see what we can learn. We'll see where we stand after that. I'll stall homicide for a couple more hours."
"Copy that, Sarge," Kevin acknowledges as he walks back to his desk.
Hailey watches as Jay hesitates, looking like he wants to say more. Sensing the eagerness in him to go after Barnet now even though there's nothing at all yet to show he's someone capable of being involved in what may not even be a murder, priors or not. And people disappear too. All the time.
"Jay." she says. Firmly enough to draw his attention from pursuing whatever argument he was about to with Voight.
He flashes her a look that's part annoyance, part realization and the awareness that now really isn't the time and now is better spent getting the angle they need to find out how and why Kevin Flynn died so they can look Steven and Helen Flynn in the eyes again soon.
"Victim had small defensive wounds on his fingers, there were also abrasions on his wrists and his eyes were bruised and swollen, his nose had been knocked too but that could have been accidental. Aside from that, there was no obvious injury or cause of death that points to murder."
Jay looks at Hailey quickly and back to the medical examiner before he turns his attention to the contents of the file he's holding, "Nothing at all?"
"Cause of death will go down as Ventricular fibrillation, a cardiac arrest," the medical examiner looks apologetic as she takes in Jay's obvious consternation.
Jay shakes his head and stares back at the file, flicking through the pages, searching for something. Anything.
Hailey's next to him, he doesn't believe she's looking. She's probably about to try to draw him away from here. Onto another case. Her hand touches his arm though at that moment and she reaches for the file which he hands over, curious about what she's seen.
"It says here about something you found above his eyes?" Hailey asks the medical examiner who turns away from her computer and nods, walking past them both and back toward David Flynn's body, pulling the sheet back.
"Yeah, above both eyes, like a glue substance. Strange."
Jay steps closer to the body, thoughts running fast through his head. "Doc, humor me here. Could a guy his age, served in Iraq on 2 tours, have died of fright? Is it possible that something or someone scared him to death?"
He senses Hailey's eyes on him for a second before she focuses her attention on the Medical Examiner. He can almost hear the wheels turning in her brain, catching up to Jay's train of thought.
"And could that glue substance have been tape to keep his eyes open?"
Jay returns her look and nods at her, thankful that her question shows it's not only him.
The medical examiner immediately nods. "Quick answer, yes. If a person's body becomes overwhelmed with adrenaline. It doesn't matter how many tours you completed, it can kill and actually it fits with the amount of calcium we discovered. It's definitely possible and yes, the glue could well have been tape."
Jay feels grim satisfaction, and he hands the file back to the medical examiner "Thanks, doc," not waiting for a response as he follows Hailey out of the morgue and outside shaking his head and releasing a breath as they walk to the truck.
"I was convinced we weren't getting anywhere."
"Me either."
As they reach the truck, Jay stops and looks at Hailey over the bonnet, "Thanks, you know, for encouraging me to stick with it and for being on the same thought process in there," he gestures back toward the morgue.
"Like I said, Jay, we're partners. You got a sense for something, it's part of the deal for me to get there fast and back you up, especially when I've agreed from the start that nothing about David Flynn's death was ordinary or was an ordinary sudden."
Jay favors her with a half smile, tapping the bonnet lightly before he opens the driver's side of the truck and gets in as Hailey does on her side.
He's starting the truck when she speaks again.
"You could probably use a change of clothes by the way Jay, and maybe a shower. You look like crap."
He flashes a look at her, shakes his head and mutters, "Okay, thanks mom."
Pleased when he can sense her smile and more relieved than he's felt in days at the progress they've made in the last couple of hours, eager to find out how Kim and Antonio got on and whether Ruz and Kev have gotten anywhere with Barnet and the bar.
Confident that they're starting to form enough evidence to not only take the case from Homicide but also an idea formulating in his mind for how they'll move it on.
A change of clothes and sleep can wait.
If Jay won't go home for a shower, Hailey at least insists that they grab a coffee before they walk up to the bullpen.
"It's on me," she says as Jay orders a coffee for him, ordering her own and handing over the money to the server in the van.
"Black, neat?"
"Anything else destroys the flavor, the whole point of having coffee."
"Oh god, a coffee snob," Jay teases as he takes the two coffee cups, handing Hailey's to her.
"A wide awake coffee snob, Halstead, don't knock it." she catches his eye as they cross the street, grinning as they walk up the steps into the 21st and up again to the bullpen.
The board is out now and Adam and Kev have started to put information on there, though for now only a picture of David Flynn, the name of the bar and a picture of who Hailey presumes is Peter Barnet.
In the bullpen, Olinsky sits on the edge of Ruzek's desk, an impassive expression on his face as he watches the younger guys populate the board.
Antonio and Kim walk out of the kitchen together and nod at Jay and Haily as they take their jackets off and put them on the back of their chairs and turn around, walking nearer to the board as Voight comes out from his office and says.
"Ok, so what have we got? Hailey? Jay?"
Hailey nods at Jay as she takes a sip of her drink and Jay takes front and center.
"At first it seemed like it was a whole of nothing aside from small defensive wounds and the bruising around his eyes and blood near his nose but the medical examiner agreed combined with other factors that David Flynn's cause of death was a cardiac arrest. We think and the Medical Examiner agreed it's possible, even likely that he died of fright."
Ruzek tilts his head to one side, leaning further forward.
"Yeah and the other factor is that they found a glue like substance on his eyelids and above his eye consistent with tape. Someone wanted to make sure he had no choice to see something," Hailey concludes.
"Is that certain?" Voight questions.
"Short of being there, yeah, the M. E agreed that it's consistent with her examination."
"Ok, Kim, Antonio, what did Stapleton's partner say?"
Kim straightens from where she'd been sitting on the edge of her desk, everyone's attention switching to her., referring to her notebook as she talks.
"Amelia Fischer. Not married to Eddie, but they have 3 kids. She said Eddie seemed normal in the time leading up to his disappearance. A little stressed about money, but they always got by. Fast forward to the night before his disappearance, Amelia woke up to shouting outside. She looked out of the window and saw Eddie on his phone. She tried to talk to him about it but he said it was all okay, apologized for waking her and the next afternoon, he went to work or so she thought and never came home."
From behind where Hailey's stood, Antonio continues.
"Kim asked how she was doing for money now. Amelia said that Eddie's boss has been amazing. There for her and the kids, taking them all out."
"Barnet?" Kev asks.
"Yeah."
"As if he knows Eddie's not coming back," Jay suggests.
Antonio shrugs, "That's one way to look at it, yeah."
"Or if he's ex-army, it's the whole brotherhood and looking after the families of someone that's lost even if it's a temporary thing," Al observes.
"Possible too," Jay concedes.
"Anything else? Did she give off any sign at all that she knows more?" Voight queries.
"No," Kim starts but stops, shaking her head, "But, you know Sarge, everything about her, her demeanor I'd say that she has a crush on Barnet at the very least. Also, there were no pictures around of her and Eddie with the kids, only Amelia and the kids, and we asked who the guy was in one picture next to where she sat on the couch on a side table. I thought it was maybe her brother."
Kim walks to the board and points to the third photograph on it, "It was Peter Barnet."
Hailey observes the way Jay's eyebrows shoot upwards and down again quickly at the information. She feels a familiar burst of adrenaline that comes when things really begin to fall into place, even if it's only to give them the case.
"Ok, anything else?" Voight inquires.
"No, though Kim and I agreed we don't think she's particularly concerned about whether Eddie Stapleton comes back, as long as she gets her cash and Barnet plays Uncle Peter or whatever, she's down with it."
Voight nods then again toward Kevin who pushes away from his desk and towards the board, Kim moving away to the side.
"Adam's CI already told us Barnet is ex-army. In the Illinois National Guard, did two tours of Iraq. Came back in one piece but ended up in County within 9 months of his last tour. Attempted murder of his then partner, the same partner who spoke up in his defense along with a therapist he'd seen only 2 times at his trial so he only served 7 and a half years, released in early 2015 and disappeared off the grid."
Adam moves next to the other side of the board, gesturing toward the right of it.
"Till now. The bar which we know is called Brian's place. Owner is James Price. Ex-marine. No priors. So far so ordinary, right? Except we looked everywhere, all the socials. It's like Brian's place doesn't exist or not till the last couple of months anyway, but then we started seeing posts about another bar called The Cross. It looked like the same place, slightly different decor, and that's when we looked at the address." Adam nods at Kev.
"Same address, Sarge. Same interior, just a fresh sign and a new name. Same owner, too, Price. So we started looking deeper, we looked at other posts for the Cross and we started seeing 'Search for Anthony' and 'Memorial Fund for Craig Farmer' posts."
Kevin steps toward his desk, reaching for two fresh pictures, which he places on the board, gesturing at them in turn.
"Turns out whether it's called Brian's place or the Cross, it's an unlucky place to be. Craig Farmer died at the end of last year, just after Thanksgiving. They found his body on Ohio Street Beach, the day after he was reported missing by his wife. No obvious cause of death, but we're pulling the records to learn more," Kev gestures at the other picture. "Then Anthony Hunt disappeared after telling his best friend he was heading out to The Cross to talk to someone. Two last things. Neither of them worked at the bar. Both of them: ex-army."
Kev folds his arms, "That's it for what we found so far."
There's a loaded silence in the bullpen as everyone digests what each of them has brought to the table information wise, but all Hailey does is watch Jay.
As he steps up to the board and stares for long moments at each photograph lingering the longest on David Flynn before he turns away almost reluctantly and fixes his gaze on Voight who's not moved from his position.
Hailey's certain that the case is theirs to keep now at least. No way will Voight give it up. What's unpredictable now is Jay, what Intelligence does next and how Jay reacts to it.
Hailey believes she has the basic measure of Jay Halstead. Or thought she had till recently. Probably Jay himself doesn't know he'll react until he does.
"Sarge?" Jay says breaking the silence.
Voight grunts, "Okay," he steps toward the board, and then turns to face everyone, "We take this case."
Hailey doesn't have to wait long to see how Jay reacts.
"I'll be the one to go under right, it makes sense. I'm the only choice, right?"
Hailey catches the look that Voight shares with Olinsky. The minute shrug that Al sends Voight's way and the returning shake of the head from Voight. Hailey steels herself for what's coming.
"We survey. We observe. We do everything and I mean everything by the book."
Everyone murmurs their assent. Everyone except Jay.
"Sarge, why? Why would we waste time if Steven Flynn is right; if all the evidence we're seeing is even halfway right, we'll find nothing we need until we have someone in there and that someone is me. Right Al? Right Antonio," then as neither man responds, he fixes a desperate look at Hailey, "Right, Hailey?"
Hailey shifts, about to respond, though how she'll respond, she's not even sure, but Voight cuts across her before she can reply.
"Not yet, Jay. Not yet. We spend the rest of today looking further into all those leads, we investigate Barnet and Price, we look at the autopsy report for Craig Famer; we check any footage we can for when the guy who found Flynn says he heard vehicles; we leave no stone unturned and we prepare for tomorrow and the coming days and we go in when it's right."
Then brokering no further argument even as Jay shakes his head and looks like he wants to punch something or cry or both out of frustration, Voight walks through the bullpen and into his office.
Hailey tries to catch Jay's eye. Tries to do it so she can talk to him somewhere, just them, and try to bring him back from the place he's stuck in but he won't meet her eye.
Instead, as everyone settles, as the tension dissipates slightly and everyone takes their seat or goes into the kitchen, Jay goes back to his desk too and sits.
Throwing occasional glances backward towards Voight's office, then he settles; even taps at his keyboard and appears to be looking at his screen till he shakes his head and Hailey can hear him mutter something like 'Screw this' as he stands up, pushing his chair back a little too hard for it to be a silent movement and walks into Voight's office with no invitation.
She follows him before she can stop herself.
Hailey feels the way the temperature feels like it's plummeted the second she steps into the office, closing the door behind her seeing Al just behind Voight sitting on the windowsill, expressionless even as Jay bristles and throws a glare at Hailey before he focuses on Voight.
"I don't get it. We won't get a single thing from surveying the place for 2 days or 2 weeks. And what if they get onto us? You know what these neighborhoods are like. They talk or they don't talk unless strangers suddenly start showing up and going into a place no one's seen them go into before. I'm Barnet's people. I'm the best tool we've got. Just let me go in."
There's more than a hint of pleading in Jay's voice.
"You finished?" Voight questions, though not unkindly.
Jay sags. If he wasn't in a room with a Sergeant and 2 other Detectives, maybe no one would have noticed.
"You will be the best tool we got, Halstead, you will. Just not right now. We follow the book. Reform has changed everything and we need to do what we need to do in the right order particularly after what happened, you know that right?"
Hailey tenses.
"What do you mean after what happened?"
"You know what I mean.".
Jay brings his hands up toward his head and then throws them down again. "If you don't trust me Sarge, you could at least say it rather than pretending like it's out of concern for me or out of respect for reform or whatever crap you expect me to believe."
"Halstead," Voight's tone is laced with a warning that if Jay pushes more, there's no way he'll like the outcome.
The trouble is Jay's in the mood that maybe he wants it but perhaps not as his posture sags even more and he says nothing, allowing Voight to continue instead. This time with a tone that's barely concealed concern.
"Those are yesterday's clothes Jay, go home, sleep and we'll talk again tomorrow but for now we follow what I say we follow, okay?"
Jay says nothing, just shakes his head, defeated and turns toward the door, casting a resentful look at Hailey then walks to his desk, picking up his jacket and quickly leaves the bullpen.
"I'll go after him," Hailey says to the room, not waiting for a response.
Voight watches as Hailey follows the direction Jay left in.
"What do you think? Think we should go undercover now?"
When there's no immediate response, Hank looks behind and turns his chair slightly. Sees Al shrug.
"If you'd asked me this before Erin left and before Jay shot the little girl, well for one thing I doubt we'd be having this conversation and for the other I'm certain we'd be talking about him going in and under the day after tomorrow."
"She did leave and a kid did die though."
Al pushes away from the windowsill and walks around the other side of the desk toward the door.
"I think you answered your own question, Hank. He's the right kid, hell he's completely the right guy, but it's also the wrong time and maybe tomorrow will be the right time or 3 weeks, it's the right call for now and I think he knows it too which is probably what's scaring or bothering him the most."
"Yeah," Voight shares a pensive look with Al before the other man steps back out in the bullpen without another word.
Hailey finds Jay in the driver's seat of the truck, hand poised on the ignition but unmoving.
"Jay, I."
"A little backup, a little support. More of being a partner, those things you said before, it would have been good just now."
She shakes her head, "Oh no, Jay. That's not what you'll get from me if I don't think it's right for you. I will do anything for you except if I think it could put you in harm's way or risk the unit or risk getting anything long term. I'm here for you but that doesn't mean I'll sign off on things that aren't right just for this moment."
"You think he's right then?" Jay questions, still not looking at her. His tone is a little less angry, more uncertain. His expression and demeanor less hostile, more afraid.
"I don't think it hurts just to see what we're dealing with," she answers diplomatically before adding, "Even if it's just a day. You're the right person. He didn't disagree with that. It's just about making it work, Jay."
Jay doesn't respond at first, but then slowly he turns his head toward her and smiles.
"Thanks for convincing me it was worth the while this morning and for staying last night too."
"We're partners, right?"
After a beat, Jay turns the ignition key, starts the engine and grins even if it doesn't reach his eyes, "Yeah, we are. See you tomorrow, partner."
Two minutes after he's gone. Hailey shakes herself, walks back across the parking lot and whispers, "You will, partner, you will."
I know it was pretty long. I wanted most of the setup for the case in one chapter though loads more to come but much more combined with character stuff and shorter chapters. Thanks for reading. Would love to know what you think. Stay well. Back soon xxx