Chapter 16 – Old Friends

Kelly walked Lexi and Jay through the wreckage of the building that had taken Shay's life. He explained where everyone was, the timeline of events and then they stood on the street Kelly explaining to Lexi the evidence he found that made him believe it was arson that lead to Trent Lamont.

"Thank you" Lexi told Kelly looking up at the building. "I know this can't have been easy for you."

"It's a little easier knowing the person responsible has paid for it" Kelly said looking at Jay "I never did thank you for that" Kelly held his hand out.

Jay took his hand and shook it "No thanks needed."

Lexi looked at their connected hands, it was good to see them getting along but she wished it was under different circumstances. She couldn't believe this was happening, she was the reason her sister was dead, her job had finally caught up with her.

Lexi bent at the waist, suddenly she felt like she couldn't breathe, she was gasping for breath. "Lexi" Jay said going to her side and putting his hand on her back "Are you ok?"

"She's hyperventilating" Kelly told him "sit her down before she passes out" Kelly commanded running to his car and retrieving a paper bag.

Jay guided Lexi to sit on the curb and sat beside her as Kelly returned giving her the bag and sitting on the other side of her. Jay rubbed her back gently in circular motions. "Just breathe, in and out, slow, deep breaths" Jay directed.

Lexi closed her eyes and breathed in to the bag. She was having a panic attack, everything was getting too much to handle, least of all she was sat between her ex-fiancé and her boyfriend who had been in a fist fight day's before. Her breathing slowed. "How do I tell my parents?" Lexi asked staring in to space, not focusing on anything in particular. "how do I tell them I'm responsible for Shay's death? All my choices, my job, everything that's happened is because of me."

"No" Kelly and Jay said in unison. Then both became silent waiting for the other to speak.

Lexi shook her head and spoke before either of them could find the words to make her feel better. "There's nothing either of you can say to change my mind" She told them "Shay was always the smart one, the responsible one. I was a tear away; I was the rebellious one. My parents would always tell me to stop and think before I did anything, think about what Shay would do in any given situation before I did anything. Now I have to tell them that the situation I created killed their daughter"

"Blaming yourself is not going to help anyone" Jay told her.

"As far as your parents know it was an accident, they don't need to know any different. Not until you're ready" Kelly said standing up. "I should get back, you got this?" Kelly asked looking at Jay.

Jay nodded "Yeah, thanks Kelly"

Lexi crept through the house, sweeping her gun around rooms as she entered them, clearing them. It was eerily silent, the dark seemed the pulsate at her, the house illuminated only by the moonlight. She wanted to call out to Jay, needed to know his location. He had chased Calvin Poe in to the house, a single gun-shot had rung out as Lexi crossed the threshold then silence.

If she called out to Jay, she would give away her location to the perpetrator. Lexi cleared the first floor, finishing in the kitchen then she noticed the basement door slightly ajar.

She didn't want to go down there, every cell in her body told her not. She used her gun to push the door open wider, then walked one foot over the other down the basement steps, keeping her back against the wall.

Four steps from the bottom she saw Jay lying on his side facing away from her. The pursuit and offender forgotten, Lexi holstered her weapon and raced over to Jay. She rolled him over to assess the damage. His body flopped as she rolled him, and she could feel how cold he was through his clothes.

She looked at his face, only then seeing the bullet wound to his head, a clean shot, his lifeless eyes stared up at the ceiling. Lexi screamed and jumped back scrambling for the stairs, she tripped on something else and as she caught herself on the bottom step, she looked down to see Shay lying lifeless beneath her.

Lexi shot up in bed, breathing heavily, sweat pouring down her chest. Jay was already sat up beside her, he must have been trying to wake her. "It was just a dream, it's okay, it's okay" he assured her stroking her sweat soaked hair from her face. Lexi sucked air in and out but it wasn't working, she felt like she was drowning.

Jay stroked her back and kept reassuring her "it's okay, you're okay"

Lexi calmed her breathing and then got out of the bed. She walked through the dark apartment to the kitchen and flicked on the light. She made herself a glass of water as Jay entered and stood watching her. She lifted the glass to her lips, her hand visibly shaking.

"I'm sorry I woke you" Lexi told him walking past him and in to the living room. "You should go back to bed" she spoke as he followed her.

Lexi went to the window of the apartment and pushed back the curtains looking down to the street, she could see the squad car with two officers parked a few feet from the main building door. Lexi felt a little better knowing they were there, knowing help was close by should she need it. She felt Jay watching her, worrying about her.

"Wanna talk about it?" Jay asked walking behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

Lexi shook her head "No, it was just a bad dream" Lexi continued to look down at the street. Lexi took a few deep breaths; she could still see Jay's lifeless eyes in her mind. She needed to distract herself, think about something else. "You never asked me what happened with Kelly?"

"Figured you'd tell me when you were ready" Jay explained looking over her shoulder and out of the window.

"I gave him the engagement ring back. I told him to stay away from us, from me and that we'd stay away from Molly's for a while" Lexi moved from his arms and sat on the couch. She ran her hands over her face and through her hair, leaving her hands intertwined behind her head. She felt guilty, she had kissed Kelly not once but twice whilst being with Jay. She was so angry at Kelly for cheating on her when that is what she had done to Jay.

"It that bad?" Jay asked turning from the window and walking to sit beside her.

"I'm sorry Jay, I'm so sorry." Lexi told him "I swear it was just a kiss, I stopped it before…"

"Stop please" Jay interrupted her explanation as he stood up and stepped around her.

Lexi stayed on the couch, she knew he needed time. Jay was angry, and he had every right to be. Maybe it would be best if he broke up with her, if he had had enough and walked away from her. "I'm sorry" she told him as he walked in to the bedroom.

Jay woke up in his bed alone, he looked over at the empty space beside him, Lexi must have slept in the other room. He wasn't ready to talk to her, he got out of bed and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

He let the hot water wash over his face and body and stood in the warm stream of water. He didn't know which emotion he felt the strongest, anger, hurt, sadness, frustration.

Maybe it was too soon after her break up with Kelly for them to start their relationship? Maybe he had been wrong to kiss her at the cabin? Maybe she needed more time to work out her feelings before she could fully commit to him? What if she couldn't commit to him? What if her feelings for Kelly were too strong and she wanted to be with Kelly? He had told her that he could deal with everything else, all that mattered was that he loved her, she loved him, but not he wasn't' so sure.

Jay dressed after his shower, all the thoughts lingering in his mind, the apartment was quiet when he left his bedroom. He checked the other bedroom to find it empty, a wave a panic washed over him, she wasn't supposed to go anywhere alone. He took his phone from his pocket and selected her name from his recent calls list.

Lexi answered after three rings. "Hey"

"Where are you?" he demanded. He didn't want to get in to their relationship problems on a call, he just needed to know she was ok.

"I got the squad detail to take me to the district." Lexi explained.

"Ok, I'll see you there" Jay told her before hanging up.

Atwater had discovered Calvin hadn't checked in with his parole officer in the last few weeks, the last address they had for him was false, Calvin had never been there. Voight and Olinsky had found that Calvin's cell mate, Steven Lewis, was still in prison.

Lexi, Jay and Hank had travelled to the prison to question Steven. Lexi stood leaning on the wall of the interrogation room of the Chicago Corrections Facility, Jay and Voight sat at the table waiting for Steven Lewis to be brought to them. Steven had been Calvin's cell mate for five of the six years Calvin had been incarcerated.

"Last chance to bail" Voight told Lexi. "I'm good" Lexi confirmed hearing the buzzer of the door to signify someone was entering.

Steven Lewis was escorted in, as soon as he entered he looked at the three faces staring at him, landing on Lexi his face broadened in to a smile. "Your Lexi"

"Detective Shay" Voight corrected him as Steven sat at the table in the chair opposite them.

"Detective?" Steven questioned looking confused.

"How do you know who she is?" Jay asked leaning across the table to Steven.

"Man, I feel like we're old friends, I know everything about you thanks to Calvin" Steven began explaining.

Voight sat forward "Why were you shocked when I said she was a Detective?"

"What's going on? Am I in trouble?"

"You're not in trouble, we just want to know about Calvin" Jay assured him. "Everything about him, from the beginning, no detail is too small."

"Okay, he was a bit of a weird dude. When I first met him, I was a little worried, felt like I should sleep with one eye open, you know? But after a while I got use to him." Steven offered "Maybe six months after he got here, he starts telling me about his girlfriend Lexi, grew up in St Louis, had a twin sister, Leslie. Met when they were working for some guy called Benny. Calvin was smitten, he said they broke up when he got sent away but was always talking about getting out and seeing her, always said they were far from done and he'd see her shortly"

Jay and Voight shared a look making Steven stop talking. Jay asked, "you knew her face when you walked in here, did he have a photo of her?"

Steven nodded "yeah, it was a picture of her, her sister and some Latino woman in a bar"

Lexi took her phone from her pocket and flicked through her photos and found the one she thought he was referring to "this one?" Lexi asked showing Steven the photo of her, Shay and Gabby in Molly's.

"That's the one" Steven confirmed

"Molly's Facebook page" Lexi explained where the photo had come from looking at Voight.

"Did Calvin ever mention a brother?"

"Maybe eight months in to his sentence he had a visitor, he came back to the cell looking like he had seen a ghost. He said some guy he had never seen before shows up and tells him he's his half-brother, Trent something I think"

"How did Calvin react?"

"He was shocked at first, but after the second time Trent visited, he was over the moon, he said he was going to help him get Lexi back"

Lexi had heard enough, she banged on the door "GUARD" she yelled. The door opened and she raced out, she heard Voight and Jay thanking Steven for his time as the door closed behind her.

Voight and Jay appeared a few seconds later. "He got me back alright!" Lexi told them. "It was a match made in psycho heaven" Lexi paced in the small corridor. "Trent the arsonist realises he has a half-brother, finds he's been incarcerated by a cop who is related to a paramedic and is engaged to a firefighter. They must have planned the whole thing together"

"Steven made it sounds like Calvin was deluded in to thinking he and Lexi were involved" Jay began trying to make sense of everything he had learned "But I don't think that's it, I think he was just planning revenge. He was a weird guy, but he was a smart guy"

Voight nodded "you're probably right, but we still need to know more." He walked to Lexi and put his hand on her shoulder. "We're gonna find this guy" Voight reassured her. "we're gonna find this guy and he's gonna pay, for everything"

"Yeah but it won't bring her back" Lexi sighed and stopped pacing looking at the ceiling, the florescent lights making her close her eyes. "I want a protective detail on my parents" Lexi told Voight "if he knows everything about me, he knows where they are"

Voight nodded "we'll get on it as soon as we're back at the district."