AN: My knowledge of courtrooms comes from Law and Order so...
5 months later
"The honorable Rita Clarke presiding," the court clerk read as the courtroom stood up as Judge Rita Clarke walked into the room. She was an older woman, stern but was considered fair. Prosecutors and defense attorneys liked being in her courtroom.
Judge Clarke sat down and looked through her glasses. "Derek Upton, this is a sentencing hearing. You are pleading guilty to two counts of felony drug trafficking of a controlled substance."
His lawyer, Jay Donaghue, nodded. "That is correct, your honor."
Judge Clarke also nodded. "Very well. Does the defense have any witnesses they will be calling?"
"The defense calls the arresting officer, former Chicago Police Department Detective and now DEA Agent Allison Montgomery." There were definitely whispers in the courtroom as normally cops testified for the state or prosecution, not the defense.
Allie walked up to the stand and took the oath and sat down and prepared herself for the possible onslaught that was going to come from the two lawyers. This was a high profile case, although it hadn't gone to trial, and a cop was testifying for the defense.
"Why are you testifying for the defense?" Jay Donaghue asked.
Allie looked at Jay directly in the eye. "Because Derek Upton helped me put Patrick Davis, a ruthless drug dealer, behind bars for good and helped Chicago PD Intelligence find the killers of Carl Williams and Martin Powell."
"What was Derek's role in Patrick Davis' crew?"
"He was the middle man. Derek was deep in gambling debts. Patrick Davis' cousin, a guy by the name of Ashton Walburg who went by the nickname Rabbit, was Derek's foreman. Rabbit heard about Derek's gambling debts and told him that if he moved some product around for him, he could get his gambling debts paid off. Derek then recruited two kids that worked for him at night, Carl Williams and Martin Powell, to sell it on the street."
Jay nodded. "Who did Derek owe?"
"A bookie by the name of Janny Ross."
"Janny Ross then put a hit out on Derek Upton's sister, Detective Hailey Upton, did he not?" Donaghue asked.
Allie thought it was a weird line of questioning for the defense but she went with it. "Yes, he did. The money was being wired directly from Patrick Davis' account, which is where we nailed him on, but Patrick only wired him $25,000 to cover half of Derek's debts."
"Did Derek fully cooperate with Chicago Police?"
Allie nodded. "He did."
"You knew Derek before you joined the Chicago Police Department. What can you tell me about him?"
"Objection, testimony," the prosecuting attorney, ASA Steve Kot, said.
Judge Clarke looked at Kot. "Overruled. She had a personal relationship with him before joining the Chicago Police Department, she can answer."
"I knew Derek through his sister, Detective Hailey Upton, and through my ex-husband, who was Derek's foreman for many years. I considered him to be a good husband and a good father," Allie said, hoping her face didn't give her disgrace of having to say that away. She told Donaghue when she agreed to testify for the defense, because Derek Upton did get her a rock solid case on Patrick Davis, but she was not commenting on her personal relationship with him and giving him a character statement, because she'd have no problem throwing him under the bus.
Donaghue saw the daggers being thrown at him by Allie and decided to wrap it up. "Thank you."
ASA Steve Kot stood up and faced Allie on the stand. "Who killed Carl Williams and Martin Powell anyways?"
Again, Allie thought that was an odd line of questioning. "Carl Williams' own father."
"Ever find the motive?"
"Sergeant Voight did get a confession, yes. I believe they were killed because they were dealing cocaine for Patrick Davis' crew and not their main supplier out of the G-Park Lords, Angel, who happened to be Williams' cousin."
Kot looked at her. "Why'd you testify for the defense? You helped get Derek Upton the plea deal but why testify for the defense. You certainly didn't say much about his character."
"Because it was his testimony against Rabbit and Patrick Davis that is going to throw away the key on Davis. I spent 18 months trying to bring him down and Derek Upton was the final nail in Patrick Davis' coffin."
Kot nodded. "Very well. How many other trials are you testifying at this week?"
Allie rolled her eyes, knowing exactly where Kot was going with this. She didn't just fly back from Afghanistan for this one trial. Derek Upton wasn't that special. "Three."
"Thank you," Steve said and nodded at the Judge to let her know he was done with Allie before sitting down.
Hailey and Jay watched from the back of the courtroom. They were there, as part of CPD, and as family. Hailey was not sure how well Allie's testimony was going to go, as she knew that Allie would absolutely not testify for Derek's character but she would testify in behalf of him doing her a solid on Patrick Davis. Both CPD Detectives were nervous on how Judge Clarke was going to sentence Derek.
"She did good," Jay whispered.
Hailey raised an eyebrow. "She stuck to her guns."
Once they had Derek in custody and he spilled his guts to Allie and Voight, it didn't take them long to unravel everything. Carl Williams and Martin Powell's killings, the hit put out on Hailey by Janny Ross, the gambling debts and how it all connected back to San Diego. It was actually Allie's ex-husband who gave them the smoking gun. The guy – Rabbit, who replaced Logan as Derek's foreman, was from San Diego, and Logan, said he had a questionable background but he was a hell of a welder so Derek overlooked it. Rabbit's cousin was Patrick Davis' and that was how battery acid cut cocaine that Allie was chasing in San Diego got on the streets of Chicago. Carl Williams and Martin Powell were working for Derek and Rabbit at night in the welding shop, trying to learn enough to see if they wanted to make a better life for themselves and go into the trades. They got sucked back into the lifestyle when Derek and Rabbit approached them about dealing on the side.
Jay, Hailey, Ruzek, Atwater, Burgess and Antonio ended up at Molly's after the day in the courtroom. Voight was the one who ended up having to testify for Kot's prosecution, something nobody in Intelligence wanted to do, given the fact that it was Hailey's brother who was pleading guilty to two felonies in a plea deal. They all needed a couple drinks after today. Judge Clarke would come back tomorrow with her sentencing for Derek.
"You know, we haven't been here together, in a really long time," Burgess commented.
Atwater nodded. "You're right. It's about damn time."
The door opened to Molly's and instinctively Jay put his arm around Hailey's waist as he heard the door open. To their surprise Allie Montgomery walked in the bar, with a half smile on her face as she approached the table of cops. It wasn't that busy in the bar, as it was a Wednesday and in the middle of the week. "Voight told me that I should probably show my face in here."
"Better than the bar in G-Park Lord territory that you were drinking your sorrows in 5 months ago," Ruzek commented.
Allie rolled her eyes. 'That was low. But I deserved that one."
Antonio grabbed her a drink from the bar. "Drinks are on us, for our favorite DEA Agent."
"Trying to drink all the alcohol you can before you go back to the dry land?" Jay teased as Allie accepted another beer from Hermann.
"Not actually a bad idea. Afghanistan really blows," Allie said as she took a sip of her beer. She turned to Hailey. "How are you holding up?"
Hailey shrugged, not wanting to give too much away in front of her co-workers. They knew it had been hard on her, even though Derek and her weren't super close but seeing any family in that situation is hard and being the one to put them behind bars is even worse. "I'm alright. I'll be better once this is all behind us."
"Amen to that," Jay said.
Allie smiled at her friend. "I think you got a good one. Might want to keep onto this guy."
Hailey smiled. "Oh I intend on it."
AN: Andddd we're done with this story. Honestly, I ran out of ideas for this but I knew it had to be wrapped up and this was the only thing that I could put on paper. I'm sorry it didn't have more Upstead moments. I am a lot better at writing one-shots so I will be back with those for Hailey and Jay.