A/N: Sorry for the delay folks! Hopefully this chapter answers some of your questions. Do feel free to get in touch, your reviews push me to post more!
You Rock!
xo
"Okay, so, tell me what we've got." Voight stated, standing with his hands in his pockets in the doorway of his office as Kim put the last of the photos in her hand on the board.
"Vincent Abernathy," Dawson started, pointing at the photo of the dead body on the board and rolling his eyes at the little fanboy-esque squeak Ruzek let out. "suspected mob boss."
"I thought you said he was one?" Hailey asked, raising an eyebrow and Erin shook her head.
"Can't make anything stick, ever. So his lawyers filed a suit against the CPD about 10 years ago for slander and we had to pay out because, well, we actually couldn't prove it."
"As I was saying," Dawson spoke slightly louder. "He has four clubs and an Estate Agency on his books, but we think those are covers for his drugs and money laundering. We raided his club one night almost 17 years ago now and his wife, Grace, was caught up in the crossfire. She died at the scene." There was a palpable silence in the room and Antonio pressed on. "His known associates are sketchy at best, no-one really knows who anyone is but we do have a list of names for you to reach out to with your CIs, because we checked on them and they seem to be ghosts." Antonio nodded towards Ruzek.
"Well, we think Aiden O'Driscol has taken over from Vinnie. That name pops up on a lot of the documents we've found at the estate, but when we search him, no one knows he exists." Ruzek made a face before squinting and shaking his head. "Then we have Fagan, which we think is some kind of nickname for Darragh Callahan, he's the only one we have some kind of photo on because he runs the Sex club and the strip club. Yes, yes I did just say Sex club and if we need another undercover operation, I totally volunteer." He held his hand up and everyone chuckled.
"Anyone else?" Voight asked, looking between Ruzek and Atwater who shared a look and Adam peered at the paper again. "Declan Colconnell." He stated confidently. "He's the company lawyer, along with Aiden, they're coming in tomorrow to discuss the estate and the business, so there's that." He rubbed the back of his neck and Voight gave him a pointed look.
"Is there something else?" Voight was clearly impatient and soon Adam had all eyes on him.
"Uh, there's the dude we think is the enforcer," he offered slowly, "goes by Toronto, but we're obviously working on that alias." Ruzek swallowed hard.
"Ruzek, spit it out." Voight snapped and Ruzek took a deep breath.
"Well, you see, Sarge –" Adam started.
"-we can't." Atwater stated matter-of-factly, shrugging and taking the piece of paper from Ruzek, making his way to the board and jotting down the words Toronto/Enforcer, Declan, Aiden and lawyer as well as Darragh/club boss. He then held the paper against the board, copying down the other two names very carefully.
"This one," he pointed at Saoirse written on the board, is the Estate agent, looks real pretty. Her name is listed as…" he trailed and shrugged, looking around the room for some help.
"sah-oi-rsey?" Ruzek tried.
"Say-or-sy?" Kim offered, shrugging.
"Seersha." Alvin helpfully told them, taking a bite out of an apple. "Its an irish name."
"well goddamn." Adam laughed, "That's one cool as hell way to cover your damn tracks. Give your people names no-one can freaking say out loud." He griped and moved back to his seat, earning a pat on the shoulder from Hailey on the way over.
"What about this one?" Kevin pointed hopefully at Caoimhe on the board and Alvin smirked.
"Keevah."
"Why they fuck not just spell it like that?" Ruzek griped from his desk.
"Well, out of everyone, we literally have less than nothing on her. This one looks like she doesn't exist. It is a she right? We got that right at least?" He leaned his head on his hand and sighed.
"Yup. Saoirse and Caoimhe are both female." Alvin took another bite of his apple and leaned against Hailey's desk, looking as unphased as ever.
"Do we have last names?" Voight asked, looking at Kevin again, rocking on his heels.
"Uh, Saoirse Fitzpatrick and Caoimhe Grace." Kevin read from the sheet and Voight nodded.
"Run them down. Get Darragh in here for questioning, any more on ballistics?" he asked, looking around the room and everyone shook their heads. "This guy is shot, twice in the head and once in the chest, tied up and thrown into the river, yet we have absolutely nothing on him? What the hell have we been doing all day? Admiring Lindsey's flowers?" he snapped and stalked back into his office, slamming the door behind him.
"Ruzek, Upton, go get Darragh." Antonio stated, "Kim, Kevin, run that chase up Ballistics."
"Lindsey—"
"I'm gonna follow up on Caoimhe and Saoirse," Erin stated, and Antonio nodded.
"Cool, me and Al will take this Toronto, dude, and the lawyers. See what we can find." Antonio looked at Al who was already making his way towards the stairs and reached out to pat Erin on the shoulder as he followed his colleague down the stairs, leaving the bullpen in almost silence.
Erin watched as everyone get their stuff together and busied themselves with their tasks before she turned her attention to her computer. There was something tugging at her about the fact they had nothing at all on one of those names that was bugging her. Even the limited information they had on the others was pretty standard and easily built upon by sitting down with a CI. But having nothing on a potential suspect? It didn't sit right with her. She reached into her desk drawer for a pen and paper, wanting to ensure that she had the correct spelling of the names before she started her search.
As she rummaged around, her fingers came into contact with the box again, the fabric worn from years of her touching it and putting it back, no longer a soft and smooth velvet like box. Erin pulled it out of the drawer alongside her pen and paper and quickly jotted the names down, the box resting on her lap.
This little box had absolutely been her saving grace so many times. Whenever she'd argue with Voight or Camille she'd go and lock herself away in the room and take the box out, touching the content recently. The necklace that was nestled inside always made her feel better and she wore it when she needed a little bit of courage. After Nadia, she'd worn the necklace until it had snapped during a raid, and she'd almost lost it. Kim had returned it to her, chain mended and hadn't spoken about it since, something she was incredibly grateful for it. It had been the one thing she came back for; the hopes that she'd see him again.
Erin slipped the box into her pocket of her shirt, and turned on her computer, momentarily distracted with the gorgeous flowers on her desk, before she pulled up the Internet search. Finding information on Saoirse was easy enough and Erin was genuinely finding it really, really difficult to believe that this woman was anything but the Real Estate Agent that she claimed to be. All of the properties checked out, they'd all closed to real people or real companies and Erin couldn't really find anything that wasn't squeaky clean on her. She was beautiful, too. Red hair and huge blue eyes. She looked early to mid-thirties. Erin noted all she could. She found an address for an apartment, a one-bedroom apartment, and she frowned as she wrote it down. She'd expect more from her, something fancier, but if the woman worked as much as it appeared she did? She probably didn't use it all that much. Noting the address down, she called on Burgess to go and have a look, maybe a knock and talk, see what they could dig up.
The other name, Caoimhe, was a lot harder to dig up anything on. In the quiet of the bullpen, with everyone now off on their own and Voight sulking in his office, she said the name out loud, quietly at first, testing it to see how it would actually sound and she found herself smiling, realising how beautiful the name was and how nice it would sound with an Irish accent. Exhausting her searches in property, DMV and any other public record she had access to without a warrant or subpoena, she let out a frustrated sigh and threw her pen onto the desk before running her hand through her hair.
Erin pushed up from her chair, stretching and glancing at the clock, realising that she had been at this for a few hours now, the room now totally empty. She shuffled towards the breakroom, coffee cup in hand to try and take a bit of a brain break. Usually, this day is filled with a good feeling, like someone is watching over her. But today hadn't been filled with anything other than confusion, dead ends, and a sinking feeling that this wasn't going to end the way she wanted it to. This whole case give her a really bad hit, and cases like this never usually got to have a happy ending. She couldn't work out what it was that she didn't like about the case, maybe it was just the date, or maybe it was something to do with Vincent Abernathy being behind every single time she shot up, or it could be the length of time Voight was spending in his office. Either way, there was something off about this case and she didn't want part of it.
She moved about the breakroom, brewing coffee; preparing it and finding a chocolate filled croissant in the snack box and making her way back to her death. Antonio had brought them in the first time, she remembered as she settled down at her desk. Eva had pointed out to him that she wasn't a kid anymore and didn't need them for her lunch bag, so he'd brought them into the breakroom and everyone had been all over them. Ever since then, they'd been making sure the shelves were stocked with the chocolatey goodness. Erin smirked; she was a snarky teenager when Voight had brought her into his home, Eva wasn't too much older.
Suddenly Erin was sitting bolt upright, her coffee sloshing onto the desk as she put the cup down, her case being dropped onto the desk as she began to type, about to search to see if anyone by that name was in the school system before realizing that she couldn't without a warrant and there was no judge that would sign a warrant just because she had a feeling. Erin took another deep breath and licked her lips, pulling up google and searching Caoimhe's name. There was nothing really to go on, nothing that identified her.
"In a city this fucking big, how many Caoimhe's are there?" She muttered to herself, before pausing and grabbing for her cell, dialling a number, and waiting for an answer.
"Do me a favour," she started once Antonio picked up, "ask Eva to call me, please."
"Why?"
"Because I have a hunch." Erin stated, "And I need her advice, and help."
"Erin—"
"off the record, her name won't even come up. I promise. I just need to know what I'm looking for. Please, Antonio."
There was a pause at the end of the line and Erin dropped her head into her palm. "Fine. Keep her out of it, though. I'll text her your number."
"Thank you, Antonio." Erin breathed a sigh of relief and hung up the phone before he could change his mind, placing her phone back on her desk and bringing up the search engine, reaching for her coffee and croissant again, trying to enjoy it as she waited on Eva to get in touch. She settled back in her chair, thinking of this day, all those years ago when Hank took her in. It had been a particularly cold night, she could still feel the cold against her skin without the warmth of his presence. It was funny, thinking back, she never felt cold with him, never felt anything other than safe.
Erin choked on a piece of pastry and gulped down a mouthful of coffee, her empty hand, now free of pastry, automatically moving to the little box in her pocket.
"We don't have much time," he told her, rubbing her arms, trying to keep her warm.
"What are you talking about?" She'd asked, confusion colouring her features when he took the little box out of his pocket and put it into hers.
"You gotta stay here, Erin." He looked pained, leaning in to rest his forehead on hers and she shuddered, this felt a lot like goodbye and she gripped onto his jacket.
"What are you saying?" she choked out, holding tighter when he began to pull away, their breath fogging the air between them.
"I'm saying you need to stay here, Erin. I'm saying I'm sorry." His smile didn't reach his eyes like it usually did, he looked pale, his freckles standing out in the moonlight.
"What the hell is going on?"
"I'm asking for forgiveness and not permission this time." He pressed a desperate kiss on her lips, one that tastes of apologies and goodbye.
Erin opened her mouth to say something, but the crunch of snow under tyres and the glare of headlights distracted her.
"Stay here, Erin. Always know I've got your back." He told her, patting her pocket where the little box was nestled as he kissed her forehead and wriggled out of her hold. Taking one step and then another before the door of the car opened, the crunch of boots walking towards them. Everything in Erin was telling her to run, to get away, but he'd told her to stay and now he was moving further and faster as she screamed his name.
"Hey, kid." The deep voice broke through the night, "Shh, it's okay. You're safe now." And there was an arm around her shoulder, but not the arm she wanted, and she felt herself shutting down. He was gone, he'd came through for her. He'd gotten her out.
Erin was pulled back to the present, her phone vibrating on her desk and she looked down to find the necklace he'd given her in her hand. It was of a bird, she'd always thought it was a hummingbird, but she'd worked a case not too long after she came back, and one of the witnesses had been an avid bird watcher and told her that the silver pendant was in fact a Jay bird. She'd barely made it back to her car before she'd broken down in floods of tears, Voight being the only one who understood.
She picked up her cell and pressed answer, the unknown number lighting her screen. "Hello?...Oh, Eva, hey, listen…I need your help."
A ten-minute phone call and a lot of possible combinations later she'd finally found what she'd been looking for and was currently on possible password 324 when she let out another frustrated scream, her hand absentmindedly moving to the necklace that she'd put on, knowing she'd need his strength to get her through this case. Her thumb and forefinger stroked over the little bird and she swallowed hard, the bad hit getting worse as a sinking feeling worked into her stomach. With shaking fingers she typed the word Toronto into the password section and her hand flew to her mouth when the Instagram page loaded, full of images of a beautiful looking girl striking a variety of poses with a whole lot of different people.
Erin found herself smiling despite herself, looking at this young girl living a good and happy life, her smile and eyes looking somewhat familiar. She couldn't quite place it, but the smile made her feel at ease and she found herself continuing to scroll. Letting out another loud gasp when she landed on the picture. She clicked on it and she realized just why those eyes were so familiar, and why that smile made her feel at ease. In the photograph he wasn't a scare teenage boy anymore, he was a grown man, facial hair and freckles everywhere. The filter made her laugh, even as tears filled her eyes. There he was, pulling a stupid face, the same kind face he used to pull to make her laugh with the girl beside him pulling a similar one.
Her Jay. Her Blue Jay. Toronto.
"Erin, is everything okay?" Voight's voice filtered through her thoughts and she raised her tear-filled eyes to him. She couldn't find the words so she just shook her head and looked back at the screen, her mouth forming a sad smile, knowing Voight was going to see it.
"Oh." He stated, before placing a hand on her shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Ruzek got something, a name and an address he wants us to meet him there."
Erin nodded again, writing down the username, which even gave her a kick FrapQueenKeev and the password before logging out and shutting her computer down, dashing the tears from her face and getting to her feet, her hand hesitating over the gun before Voight patted her arm.
"He made his choice, Erin. He knew what he was getting into when he chose it." Voight explained, rubbing her back.
"I know," Erin answered, nodding and picking up her gun. He made a choice, she thought, and it was me.
Erin sat shotgun, fidgeting with her vest as Voight drove, the silence thick between them.
"Erin, if we get in here, you need to be able to do your job." Voight said eventually, and Erin shrugged. "Because he won't hesitate."
"How do you know he'll even be here?" She snapped, turning to glare at him.
"Do you honestly think he's trying to hide? Come on, Erin." Voight laughed, "Toronto? His name is Jay. It's like he's been waiting for someone to catch him."
Erin said nothing, keeping her eyes on the road ahead, tuning Voight out as she watched the traffic, mumbling her agreement to Voight when he kept pressing. A truck moving passed them, coming out of the street they were about to turn into had her blinking, just keeping her reaction under Voight's radar, biting down on her tongue and the urge to tell Voight to turn the car around, that he was there. Her self-preservation side kicking in louder than her Cop side.
She could have sworn the world had slowed, just like this morning when Kevin was bringing those flowers to her desk, and she stared out of the window, her eyes locking with his as their vehicles passed and she could have sworn he smirked at her and her stomach flipped. As Voight slowed the car to the stop, the other cars headlights a distant memory, she got out of the car and palmed her weapon.
She didn't know how he was involved, but when Adam appeared and told them the target was dead, Erin knew this case was going to break her in one way or another, and the little birdie on her necklace wasn't going to be enough to save her.
A/N: Buckle Up folks, we're just getting started!
