"Abused?" He dropped his pen on his desk. Halstead now had his full attention. "What do you mean? By who?" He looked over Halstead's shoulder to where Ruzek was sitting. He was a hot head at times and could push as hard as he needed as a cop but he would never step over the line with regards to women and especially not with Burgess. Voight wouldn't even entertain that.
"By Roman." He noticed a dark cloud descend over Voight. A lot of things pissed Voight off and then there were a few things that just sent him to another level. Children and Women being among them, they were completely off limits.
"What?"
Halstead took a deep breath. "Will has told me she has been in a couple of times with some injuries and that the stories didn't really add up. She apparently shut her hand in a door while making an arrest, however Platt says she told her it happened at home and never filed the paperwork for an on the job injury that required hospital attention. She also had a bruise on her forearm, which looked liked finger marks according to Will. Yesterday she collapsed in the locker room, Roman said she had the flu but they called an Ambo anyway and she has an infected burn on her chest from apparently spilling coffee on herself." The words came all out in a rush. "Erin has tried to catch up with her but she keeps blowing her off. Something's not right."
"Who else knows?"
"I've only talked to Erin and Platt." Voight grabbed his desk phone and called Trudy up to his office. By that stage the Bullpen was starting to fill as his team wandered in to start the day. He looked at Ruzek who was at his desk checking his emails and he was oblivious to it all. If he had any inkling that something was going on he would be banging down his door demanding they do something, or worse still he would go after Roman himself.
"What's going on in there?" Ruzek nodded at Voight's office when Platt appeared and headed straight in.
"No idea." Atwater responded with a casual shrug. Platt hadn't even acknowledged them as she walked through but then again that wasn't unusual. Platt and happy greetings were mutually exclusive.
"What's your take on all this?" Voight asked Platt straight up.
"Can I say I am worried? If I find out he's laid one finger on her I will personally put him in the cage for you and Ruzek to deal with." She spat out. The more she thought about it the angrier she got and Mouch unfortunately got the full force of her rage last night.
"What do we do?" Halstead interrupted them. "We can't let her go home with him. She's still in hospital today and he's with her constantly."
"Can you call Will and get him to keep her in?"
"I can try although he said that Roman is pretty adamant that he's taking her home today."
Voight looked thoughtful. He rubbed his temples trying to get this all straight in his head. "Seeing as this is all just speculation at this point we can't go in with all guns blazing as much as we want too."
Platt was pacing back and forth in the corner of his office. "I can call him into work. I'll find a reason while we try and talk to Kim. Maybe if we get him away from her she'll talk." Halstead was surprised that Platt had used her first name. It was then he knew how close this all was to her and how hard she was going to take this, if it was true.
"Halstead I'm leaving this up to you at this stage. Keep it to yourself for mow. I am not running the risk of Ruzek finding out." Trudy agreed to help him out, but it was just the two of them at this stage. "Keep me in the loop."
Jay left them in the office. He grabbed his coat from the back of his chair. "I'll be back in a bit." He mumbled as he took off. Erin looked up from her desk and shrugged at Antonio when he looked at her quizzically he knew that sometimes things just jumped off and they would be bought in if required but Erin knew it was more than that, she was pretty sure that this had something to do with their concerns about Burgess and Roman. She wasn't surprised that Voight was trying to keep it in house at this early stage and she had to go along with it and it was taking all her willpower not to jump in feet first as was her usual mode of operation.
Trudy turned to Voight. "Hank."
He held up his hand. "I know Trudy, I know."
"She's one of the good ones. She doesn't deserve this."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
"Hank. I know. Now looking back I just know." They were both surprised to hear a small sob escape. Voight rested his hand on hers and squeezed it lightly.
Roman was starting to get a little frustrated. Nobody would tell him what was going on. Every time he asked when the Doctor would be in they blew him off. "What?" he snapped as he answered his phone.
"Officer Roman." Platt squeezed out. "Is that anyway to answer your phone."
"Sorry Sarge. Just a little frustrated."
"How's Burgess?" It actually hurt her to ask him, she wanted to reach down the phone and grab him by the scruff of the neck.
"Great. Much better today and hopefully we'll be out of here soon."
"Good to hear." How in the hell she was doing this? Being nice to him went against the very fibre of her being. "Anyway I need you to get your scrawny arse back in here."
"I can't. We are waiting for the Doctor to come in and discharge us."
"Look I have a judge riding my arse about some paperwork you stuffed up yesterday. Come and sort it out or I'll have you typing up traffic reports in the basement for months. I can make your desk duty far more unappealing. Now, Officer Roman." She hung up.
"I've gotta go." He let out a frustrated grunt and turned to Burgess. "When I get back I'll get you out of here. I promise" He leant in to kiss her and she flinched slightly.
He smiled. He couldn't help it.
Jay watched from a distance as Roman left the hospital. He figured they had half an hour tops, perhaps an hour if Platt had her way so he took off inside and with Will they slipped into Kim's room. Her eyes were closed and she was shaking. "Hey Kim." Jay held her hand softly and she looked relieved when she saw Jay. "We are here to help you? Do you need our help?"
The tears sprung from her eyes. "I don't know what to do." Will backed out of the room and let Jay talk to her alone.
"Did Roman do this to you?"
She nodded and admitting it to someone felt like finally there was a light at the end of this dark tunnel that she found herself in, although it still seemed so far away and it could disappear at any moment and she would be worse off than she was now.
"You need to tell me what he did." Halstead pulled up a chair and sat close to the edge of the bed.
"He gets angry. He thinks I am going to cheat on him or go back to Adam." She choked on his name. Everything was so screwed up. If she hadn't listened to him from the start she could still be with Adam and this wouldn't be happening. She had ruined everything and Roman seemed to take great pleasure in what she had done to Adam. He hated him and she didn't quite know why.
"What did he do? The burn?"
"Hot coffee. He threw it at me. I came home late from the gym." Her voice was so weak and broken. Domestic violence always got to him, it was one of the worst parts of the job but when it was happening to someone he knew and cared about it made it very real. To some degree you could distance yourself from it all when you didn't know the victims but this he couldn't. He knew it was going to shock a lot of people he cared about. "Your hand?"
"I went to leave and he grabbed my arm and slammed the door on it."
"Anything else?"
"Not physically. He locked me in the bedroom one day and he checks my phone everyday for messages, emails and phone calls. He wants to know where I am all the time."
"Kim, did he ever force you to have sex with him."
"No." Jay wasn't convinced but Kim had turned her head away and for now he knew not to push her. What he had to make sure was that she wasn't going to change her mind and try and protect him. It happened all too often, the victims started blaming themselves, convincing themselves that it was their own fault and that it only happened because the abuser really did love them. Smart women, women who knew better could become so powerless. He needed Burgess to stay strong.
"You know this stops now. We can make it stop."
"He's coming back to take me home."
"No he's not."
Halstead rang Voight while his brother and Maggie worked out how to get her out of here. They thought about transferring her to another hospital but Roman had the necessary contacts to find out where she was and the chance that someone would let it slip was too great. She was reasonably well known around the hospitals. The burn still needed regular dressing changes and IV antibiotics so they decided that she would go home with Maggie. Will and Maggie could manage her at home. Maggie had kept her distance from Kim since she had been in and hopefully Roman wouldn't make the link.
"Boss." Voight knew what Halstead was about to say by the tone of his voice.
"Are you sure?"
"Yep." He relayed Burgess's admissions. "She's terrified, she's scared that he is coming back for her. Maggie has agreed to take her home to her place for safety. They are just getting that organised. Is Roman still at the District? We need to get her out of here first."
"I'll find out. Get her out ASAP." Voight hung up and sat for just a moment hoping that his rage would lessen. It didn't. He picked up a folder from his desk and threw it across the room. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked into his office. Al approached him and Voight held up his hand to stop him and he backed off.
"Trudy. Is Roman still here?" he called downstairs.
"I couldn't stop him leaving. He's going back to the hospital. Hank?"
"I'm sorry Trudy." He heard Trudy's sharp intake of breath. "Halstead is getting her out of the hospital, somewhere safe. Don't worry about that right now. Kim's safe and we'll get Roman for this."
"Hank." The last time he'd heard that much emotion in Trudy's voice was when Nadia was murdered.
"Trudy. We are going to get him. He's not going to hurt her again. You have my word."
He beckoned Al. "We need to go make an arrest and I need you to make sure I don't lose it. This is going to be done by the book."
"Sure, who?"
"Sean Roman."
"For?" Al felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck. He had his issues with the guy and never really trusted him or liked him and by the look on Voight's face he knew that he wasn't going to like what he was about to say.
"Domestic Violence." Al felt his heart fall and he glanced over his shoulder at Ruzek and Voight followed his eyes. "He doesn't know and I want to keep it that way for now."
"Where is Kim?" Roman stormed from her room and leant over the nurses' desk. He got back from Platt's ridiculous paperwork crap and found her room empty. His heart thudded a little in his chest but everyone seemed not to notice or care that he had a problem. He should never have left, especially since he'd made that stuff up about the burn and the flu. He was confident though that she didn't have the guts to do anything about it, she was weak like that.
Jay had gone with Maggie to make sure that Burgess was safely away from the hospital. Voight texted him as soon as he got off the phone with Platt. 'Get her out of there now.' She cried all the way to Maggie's. Jay let her fall against his chest but she didn't say much and he didn't want to push her just yet. First of all they needed to make her feel like she was safe.
"What's going to happen now?"
Maggie handed her a glass of water and sat down on the opposite side to Jay. "You are staying here for a bit." Maggie told her. "We need to look after that burn for starters."
Jay added. "Roman will be arrested. We will need a formal statement from you. Are you ready for that?"
"I don't know."
"Kim." Jay made her look at him. "You can do this. You have too. This is not right and you know that. As a woman and as a cop, you know this is not right. I know you can do this, you are a strong beautiful woman who doesn't deserve this."
"It's just.." her voice was shaky. "..he gets angry and a little insecure. I don't think he means to hurt me."
"Don't do this Kim. You know better than this. How many DV cases have you been too? It is never the victim's fault, never. It's not love, he doesn't love you."
"He does."
"No. You don't abuse the ones you love."
"I love Adam." She had no idea where that came from and a fresh round of tears trickled down her cheeks. "I'm sorry. Does he know?"
"I know you do and no he doesn't know."
Roman banged on the Nurses' desk. "Where the hell is she?" he roared.
"Not here." The nurse replied calmly. It was then that he knew that they knew. Burgess had opened her stupid mouth and that's why they were hiding her somewhere. It also meant that he had to get out of here. No doubt they would send fucking Intelligence.
Al and Voight arrived just after he left. "Where is Sean Roman?"
"He took off as soon as he realised that Kim was gone." Voight banged on the desk making the nurse jump. He apologised immediately.
"Did he say anything? Where he was going?"
"He was angry, but he didn't say anything."
"Is there anyway he knows where she is?" He asked Dr Halstead.
"No and Jay is with them."
Voight called Halstead. "He's in the wind."
"How?"
"He must have realised that we've got Burgess and knows he's cooked." Voight told him to sit tight while they checked Burgess's place and Roman's.
The last thing Halstead wanted to do was tell Kim that Roman was still out there, looking for her. Returning to the couch where Maggie was comforting her she searched his face for an answer. She didn't like what she saw. Just then her phone rang and it was Roman. They didn't have time to track it nor did he have to tell her that Roman wasn't in custody. They sat and looked at the phone while it rang, eventually going to message bank. The first thing Halstead had done when they were getting Kim out of the hospital was turned off her GPS and Find my Phone App.
'Baby, where are you? Kim I'm worried. Let me know where you are and I will come and get you. We'll sort all this nonsense out. Baby, I will find you.'
It rang again a minute later. 'Kim, come on don't be stupid. Don't play games with me. You don't want to play this game.'
"I'm sorry."
"Kim, it's not your fault. You have nothing to be sorry for."
"I do, I have to take my share of the blame."
"No you don't."
Maggie took Kim down to her bedroom and after giving her another dose of anti-biotic she left her to rest a while.
As soon as Maggie had taken her out of the room he called Voight. "He's started calling her. Can you get someone over here and grab her phone. See if Mouse can track the calls. I don't want to leave Kim." Voight didn't want her left alone either. They wanted her in Police Protection until they found him. He promised to get Mouse and Erin over there the moment they got back to the Station. They had just arrived at Kim's place.
There was no sign of Roman although when they talked to her neighbour he had been there. He wasn't happy and had banged on the neighbours door demanding to know where she was.
"Is Kim in trouble?" Her elderly neighbour asked.
"Not anymore. Call us is he comes back. It's important." Al handed her his card and reassured her that Kim would be fine. "Just don't open the door to him okay?"
They checked his place next, not that they thought he was stupid enough to go home. Voight was getting more and more agitated. "I think it's time we called it in."
Al tried to be a voice of reason, after all that's why Voight bought him in on this. "We call it in and his name is all over the radio and the news."
Voight knew he was right but he just wanted to find him. He didn't really care about Roman's reputation at this stage "We need more eyes looking for him. Do you believe Burgess?"
"Absolutely, without a doubt." Al answered without hesitation.
"I feel like we have one shot at it. He's already got wind of it I'm sure and the more people that know the more he's likely to run or worse. And if she backs out…"
"Do you think she will? Even then we have enough surely."
"No, she's not backing out." Voight wouldn't let her. There was no way he was walking away from this. "Let's get Lindsay out to see her and get a statement. Until then it stays in house."
"What about Ruzek?" For Al, aside from worrying about Kim and finding Roman his concern also extended to his young partner.
"He worries me." Voight nodded. "How do you think he'll react?"
"Not well." Al adjusted this beanie, a sign that he was worried. "Not well at all. You know the kid still loves her. He tries to pretend that he doesn't but the only person he's fooling is himself."
When they got back Voight called Erin and Platt into his office. "I need you to take Mouse and Ruzek with you and get a statement from Burgess. Mouse, I need him to track Roman's calls and Ruzek I just need him to stay away from here until we find Roman."
"So it's true?"
"I know you and Halstead had some concerns about what was going on with Burgess. We have Burgess somewhere safe now with Halstead but Roman is in the wind. He knows he's cooked but we have no idea where he is."
"Oh god." She looked from Platt back to Voight. "What do I tell Ruzek?" This was going to send him off the deep end. Hell, given half the chance she wanted to face Roman herself. Her heart broke a little bit more for Ruzek. He had taken their split hard and the hook up with Roman even harder. Finding out in court was such a gut punch for him but he'd done his best to stay on track at work and respect her decision. Behind closed doors she was pretty sure it was a different matter, he was gutted by it. And then there was Burgess. She'd obviously been hurt, confused and tried to move on from Ruzek and she didn't believe she'd made good choices but no one deserved to be physically abused and it was all a little surreal.
"Nothing yet. We are playing this straight down the line. That's why I don't want him involved."
"He's going to flip out." Erin reminded them.
"We know but we are hoping that if he hears it from Burgess he won't want to leave her. That's also up to you and Halstead to make sure he doesn't leave. The last thing we need is him flipping out completely and doing something stupid."
"Okay." Voight stood in the centre of the bullpen. "We have a woman in protective custody at the moment. She has been the victim of Domestic Violence and we have some concerns for her safety. The guy we are looking for knows he's probably in our sights and is currently in the wind. Lindsay, Ruzek and Mouse head over to relieve Halstead and get a statement. Mouse, we need to find out where this guy is. He's still calling her." He kept his voice as even as he could but he couldn't look at Ruzek.
"Do we know anything else?" Ruzek was following blindly behind Lindsay and Mouse. Lindsay had been unusually chatty on the way over and he just zoned out. She was talking to Mouse about some bar they hit up on the weekend.
Lindsay stopped on the stairs. "We know enough."
"Okay, seems weird. Is this one of Voight's blasts from the past?"
Lindsay ignored him and knocked on the door and was greeted by Halstead. "Hey."
"Where is she?"
"Lying down. She's had a tough morning."
"What's going on?" Ruzek's palms grew sweaty and he could feel his heart starting to race. It was the way they were all looking at him. All day they had a feeling that something was going on, something big and they were being kept out of the loop.
Halstead put a hand on his shoulder. "Mate. Burgess is here. Go see her."
He shook his head; this wasn't making sense. "What for? What's going on?"
"Adam." Lindsay closed the door behind him. "You need to see her."
"Why?"
"We thought that you could help her. She's had a rough few weeks."
He crossed his arms across his chest. He was doing perfectly well not seeing her; it was just starting to hurt less. Getting up each day was getting easier. "I know what that feels like. What has this got to do with the DV case?"
There was no easy way to say it so Halstead just blurted it out.
"Burgess is the victim."