Amy and Jake

The next two days at work were intense and long for Jake and his squad, as Friday rolled around, he groaned from exhaustion as he got out of bed at five.

"Jake?" Amy whispered, she was asleep when Jake got home at midnight, she was trying to be home more for JJ as she also balanced being lieutenant of the nine-nine during a time of crisis.

"Sorry Ames, I didn't mean to wake you up." Jake rubbed her leg gently.

"Jake, you can't keep going like this, you'll burn yourself and your squad out, quickly."

Jake sighed, "I know, I let them go at eight last night, I stayed looking into a few things."

Amy sate up and wrapped her arms around him, "are they coming early?"

"Yeah, but not until seven, I want to get things ready for our briefing."

"Do you have any new leads on your suspect?"

Jake shook his head sadly, "no. I don't know what else to do, we've put out pictures, we've hit all known relatives and former residences, but all it did was back up what we knew, but we still have nothing concrete tying this guy to anything, in fact nothing tying him to Brooklyn in the past three years, so while what we know could easily make him our guy, we don't know for sure, and may never know."

Amy kissed him gently, "babe, you're doing your best, something will give. You need to take care of yourself too."

Jake laid his head against hers, "I know, but this is for Holt, you and he are the reason I'm a sergeant and not a fired detective who couldn't play well with others. Plus, I think the killer's about to strike again, I can't even tell you why, other than it's been a while and the media attention is starting to die down a bit."

"Can you at least take an hour for lunch today? I'll ask your mom to bring JJ over and have Gary grab us some hot dogs and orange soda."

Jake smiled, "that sounds amazing. I will make sure to be at the precinct at noon."

Jake

At six, Jake was sitting as his desk when Terry came in running, "Peralta, what the hell are you doing here? You need sleep and family time man, but I'm glad you're here, the bastard struck again, the nine-seven, Officer Cohen, a rookie detective there."

Jake slammed his hand on his desk, "fuck! I interviewed him, he was good, just not as good as the others, he seemed like a good guy though. We are getting no closer and this guy is taking out more cops…" Jake's head was spinning as thoughts came to him, "Terry, are we sure it's the same guy, Cohen was a detective, so to know it was him, in plain clothes…"

Terry placed a hand on his shoulder, "he left a note this time, as for how knew Cohen was a cop, I have no idea."

Jake threw his file down, "do you know what the note said?"

"No, not yet, it should be in your email now, everything about this guy comes to you first."

Jake texted Amy about the news, read his emails with the new details and then printed out copies of the note for his morning briefing and finished his preparations. As the detectives filed in the briefing room at seven, Jake handed each of them a coffee, "drink up, wake up, I know I'm asking a lot of you…"

Rosa interrupted, "that's not what we're worried about, when did you leave last night? Aguilar forgot his wallet and came back at eleven for it and you were still here."

Jake tried to grin, "I just feel a lot of responsibility for this case, that's all. Feeling the pressure, I guess."

"Jake, I mean sergeant, you are doing all you can, we can't ask more than that, no one can."

Jake nodded numbly, "I know, but I just have to, that's all I can say. So, he struck again, he left a note, study it." Jake hit a button on the remote in his hand, the note popped up on the screen, it read, "as you see, no one is safe, not even detectives, I know you, I will find you, anyone who helps you will also die. See you soon."

The detectives discussed their plans for the morning, the others received their orders, then Jake faced them again, "Charles and I are going to visit Dorothea Judy, Doug's mom and see if there is anything else I'm missing from Doug. I doubt much will come from it, but maybe his connection is a personal one, remember, the worst of the escaped convicts a few years back was his foster brother, so it's worth a look, plus, I have a bad feeling that the killer might know Judy is helping us."

As Jake dismissed the detectives, all of them left but Alita Daniels, she was the last one remaining, "Sarge," Jake looked up, "Please don't kill yourself doing this. I was a psychology major, actually I have a master's degree in it, you cannot keep going like this."

Jake smiled tiredly, "I know, Thanks Alita. I just feel responsible, this deals with Holt too, I know you got here after him, but he stuck his neck out for us, a lot, I can't do anything but my best."

Alita placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, "I know, he's the reason I became a cop, he came and talked to my college when he was stuck in public affairs, but he needs you at your best, and you have a beautiful wife and son, they need you too."

"How about you Daniels, I know you're divorced, any kids?" He felt bad for not knowing this about her.

She shook her head sadly, "no, not living, my son died of leukemia, it drove a wedge between my ex and I, I was working, a lot, to try and forget my sadness. I love my job, but it's not worth sacrificing the best things in life."

As Charles drove he and Jake to Doug Judy's mother's house, Jake couldn't help but think of what Daniel's had said. He had planned on working all weekend, but he now wondered if it was worth it and whether it would actually help him more than taking a day off.

"A lot on your mind Jakey?"

Jake turned, "too much Charles. Something tells me Hubert or Huggy or whoever the killer is knows Judy is involved, I wanted him to be in prison for his crimes, not die, especially not be killed by this psycho. This guy could be hiding anywhere Charles, a state away, a few states away and only come in to kill, we know nothing really…"

"Jake, I get it, you're in charge of this, our sergeant, but we all have your back and will do all we can to bring this guy in."

"Thanks Charles, I just hope it's actually possible."

Charles rang the doorbell as Jake tried to act natural, he had met Judy's mom before, she was actually a lovely person who may not have had knowledge of her son's crimes.

The door opened, the small black woman with a big smile, her smile vanished when see saw Jake, "Detective, what's he done now?"

Jake coughed nervously, trying to gain composure, "Mrs. Judy, you know me?"

She laughed dryly, "of course, I knew he lied when we met, I should have known, I just always hoped for him. His father, god rest his soul, would have hunted him down, he was a god fearing man, an accountant."

She ushered Jake and Charles inside, they sat down, "Now, what has he done? Did you finally catch him?"

Jake shook his head, "no, he helped me in the case I'm working, the man who's killed three policemen."

"Dear God, why does Doug know anyone like that? That boy, he always thought he was so much smarter than everyone else, I always told him it would end badly."

Jake gulped, "well…he heard something from someone he knows, he just said some old fella, who knows everyone and owes him a favor."

"Son of bitch." Jake and Charles both jumped as she said this, "pardon my language, but I am fairly certain I know who the old fella is, the same idiot who introduced my Dougie to a life of crime and made it seem appealing, and the stupid son of a bitch who helped him steal his first Pontiac."

Jake glanced at Charles, "and if you don't mind ma'am, who is that?"

Mrs. Judy shook her head, "my youngest brother, Joseph Donaldson. That man's been a pain in my ass since the day he was born, he did nothing at home, gave my parents grief, then he became an idol to my youngest son and you know the rest."

Jake had no knowledge of an uncle of Doug's with a record, but he was good at hiding things, "do you think he knows where Doug is? I'm afraid the killer we're after might know that Doug or his uncle said something."

She held up a finger and picked up her large cordless phone, she stared for second before pressing the buttons and putting it to her ear, "Hello yourself Joseph. Yes, of course this is Dorothea. What do you know about this police killer out there?" She frowned as she listened, "of course, of course you knew him. Well, thang goodness Doug did something right and told his police friend, but now you two need to be careful, that boy you started off selling weed for you might just kill the both of you. Yes you, Old Joe Donaldson, the old man all the bangers think is so cool, your own stupidity might actually kill you." She slammed down the phone.

"I should have asked where he lives, but I think he'll be in hiding now, I'll get you a list of places he might be." Dorothea or Mrs. Judy stood up slowly, Jake thought she aged during the conversation, she returned minutes later with a list. She handed it to him, "this was a list Doug made me, he said if he didn't contact me for a while, he was probably dead in one of these damned places." She paused as tear slid slowly down her cheek, "I'm too old for this nonsense, no one deserves to worry about a child like this, yet so many do. Check these places detectives but be careful. Doug loves you Mr. Peralta, he may not show it like a normal human being, but the fact that he put his butt on the line and told you, he loves you." She took his hand and grabbed one of Charles', "both of you, please be careful, I've seen my share of bad cops during my lifetime living in Brooklyn, but you two don't strike me as that, especially you," she playfully released Charles' hand and poked his stomach, "you have kindness written all over your face."

Jake and Charles were both quiet as they left Mrs. Judy's home, Charles spoke first, sadly looking at the house in the rearview mirror, "she might be the sweetest and wisest old lady I've ever met."

Jake nodded, "I know, I know, I hate this. I'm glad Doug helped us, this guy has to be caught, but this could end really badly for him."

Charles clicked his teeth nervously, "copy that. I don't like this case, I think this guy knows more about us than we do about him."

Amy and Jake

Jake was somber as he returned to the precinct, he wrote a detailed report of the visit, made copies of the addresses given to him by Dorothea and walked into Terry's office. To his surprise, Amy was seated in front of Terry's desk, in full uniform, but holding a sleeping JJ.

"Ames," Jake croaked it, rather than said it. "I guess you can hear this too," He smiled sadly at Amy and their sleeping son, "Doug Judy's mom was a goldmine, a sad one though. She does know her son's a crook, and her brother was Doug's source and his inspiration to live a life of stupidity. She gave us a list of places her brother might be hiding, and Doug might be with him. The brother's name is Joseph Donaldson, he has places or hideouts all over Brooklyn and one in Queens. I made copies of the addresses, we might need some uniformed officers to check them out as well." Jake slumped into the chair next to Amy, "I feel like I'm in over my head. Every big case I work has personal connections or tragedies. Gotta cigarette Amy?"

Amy smiled tenderly at Jake, "Jake, you have done incredible, it's just a bad coincidence that Doug Judy is this connected to this, I know you both love and hate him, this can't be easy, I'm sorry."

Terry did his sad smile which always made Jake uneasy, "Peralta, you are doing great. Holt is pleased with the progress you've made and your decisions. Just today he told me we chose the right man for the job."

"I wish that made me feel better, but I am taking a long lunch with my wife and son, not hotdogs in the conference room, let's go someplace nice, even with JJ, we deserve it."

Terry stood up and reached over and shook Jake's shoulder, "that's the spirit, you have to take care of yourself, and you are not working the entire weekend, divide it up, and if we have no leads or other places to check out, people can think about it at home. I'll let your detectives know what's going on and when you get back from your lunch, you and Charles can check out a few places on the list."

As they were seated at their table at Tanoreen, Amy's favorite middle eastern food that wasn't street meat, Jake held the still sleeping JJ in his arms, glancing down sadly at him from time to time.

"Jake," she eyed him carefully to gage his response, "why are you so down about this?"

Jake shrugged "I wish I knew, but it's just all bad. A killer no one has seen for at least three years, that we know of. A killer with ties to a sort of friend, which could lead back to me, I think he already knows who we are, seriously, I just think he killed Cohen from just one precinct over to send a message."

Amy felt confused, "a message to you?"

Jake nodded, "yeah, do you know who the Sergeant of detectives is over at the nine-seven now?"

Amy slowly nodded, "Lohank, right?"

"Yeah," Jake turned to avoid eye contact, "he told me a couple of months ago they call him, Cohen that is, they called Peralta Jr., being Jewish and a little of a lone wolf, he liked the name and put it on his jackets and crap like that."

Amy scooted as close to the table as she could, acting like someone they didn't want to could hear their conversation, "are you serious, did you tell Terry?"

Jake glanced at her and lowered his head, "no, but I didn't think of it until I was at Judy's mom's house."

JJ woke up as their food came and Jake shared his food with him as he tried to keep him from throwing it and spilling everything. Jake was stopping JJ from spilling his water when he noticed Amy staring sadly.

"Ames are you okay?"

She looked at him deeply and sadly for a second, "Jake, I think your gut is telling you, be careful, we have too much to lose, each of us if anything happens to the other."

"I know, I will be. I don't even know if it's me in danger or those that work with me or my snitches or what, but I just don't like this case. Charles said the same thing, it just gives me the hee-bee jee-bees."

Amy reached around held his hand gently, "babe, just listen to your gut, be careful, the little man you're holding would be devastated if something happened to his Da-da."

Jake glanced at JJ, who smiled up at him, "I know Ames, I know. I'll be careful, and I'm taking the weekend off, I've put in close to sixty hours already this week, on Wednesday I didn't get home until eleven, talked to you and then was reading files until three and woke up at six."

Jake

That afternoon, Charles and Jake took the locations on the list farthest from where they happened, both to be nice and because of something Jake's gut told him. He thought the perp was watching them, but smart enough to stay a distance away, if he knew Old Joe well, he could easily know his hideouts and safehouses.

They pulled up to an old apartment complex in Jamaica, Queens. Jake looked at the address on the list again and shook his head, "let's talk to the super first, the website says there's a small office in the back."

The super was older Romanian man, he hated his place, but his son who owned it didn't want to upgrade, so their clientele varied from young professionals to some gang types, or so Mr. Alexander said. When he looked at the apartment number, the old man got nervous, "that's not a good place, they pay in cash, every month, never checks, I never see anyone who lives there, I don't like that place, be careful."

Jake and Charles left his office running, they took their guns out and preceded carefully, as they reached the landing on the fifth floor where the apartment was, the door of the apartment they were headed to slammed shut, Charles pointed his gun at the door while Jake knocked, no answer of course. Jake was done waiting, he told Charles to back up and kicked the door in, "Police!" The door was chained and bolted so it took three kicks to bust it open. As they entered the apartment, there was no sign of anyone, they darted around the apartment looking, eventually lifting the window, the fire escape was empty as well.

"Jake! You'll want to see this."

Jake went in the bedroom, there laid out on the bed were pictures of Jake, Doug, Rosa, Amy, and Holt, and hand-written note, matching the handwriting from the other note, reading, "close, but no cigar."

"Fuck! It's definitely Sampson, I swear, this guy is pissing me off, we have to find him Charles!"

As they returned to the precinct after forensics scoured the place, Jake talked with Terry before going home. "Terry, Captain, I'm not coming in this weekend. You decide who comes in, I can't, I'm fried, I'm scared, and I'm sure he's going to a place we won't know about now."

Terry nodded, "You got it Jake, I'll have Rosa lead a small squad tomorrow, and everyone gets Sunday off. We're no good if we're sleep deprived and on edge, also, Holt is assigning all precincts in the area to set up watches around the homes of everyone Sampson had pictures of."

"Thanks Terry, that'll make me feel a little better."

"Jake," he turned around to face a solemn Terry, "be careful man, JJ deserves to have dad around for his birthdays."