A/N: Sorry about the wait between chapters. Life kept getting in the way of writing this last week or so. I made this chapter longer than usual to tr to make up for that. I think you'll enjoy it. :-)
Oliver walked into 15's parade room, which was alive with its usual commotion. He liked getting there a little bit early in case somebody needed to talk to him and just to be around his officers before they got down to business. Sure enough, Gail stood and walked up to him.
"Sir can I talk to you after parade? No big deal or anything."
"Yeah sure thing. Say, in 10 minutes or so."
Gail nodded, "That'll work." She went back to her seat next to Diaz and Oliver took the podium.
"Here's what's on the docket for today ladies and gents. No special assignments. Also, our numbers were up last quarter. Everybody, just keep doing what you're doing, headquarters is happy. And a happy H.Q. makes a happy Inspector. And a happy Inspector makes a happy Staff Sergeant. So, "Oliver said with a smile," keep me happy. Lastly, Detectives Swarek and Epstein caught that antique store robbery from yesterday."
"Right," Sam hopped off the table he was seated on in the back of the room and walked up to the front of the room near Oliver. "Antique store on Queen was robbed in broad daylight yesterday. Small operation that was empty at the time." Sam picked up a remote from the podium and clicked the play button for the TV. The screen came to life showing security camera footage pointed at the door and a counter.
"Or perp walks in, hides his face from both cameras. There were two employees working at the time but there was only one up front. Suspect walks up and she told us that he pulled a gun from his coat pocket and was going to shoot her if she didn't empty the register. She did, and he took off." Sam's narration of the video playing on front of them ended and Epstein took over.
"The employee says he spoke with an accent, she described as southern USA, but she thinks it was fake. It was too put on. Beyond that, he was of average height, slight stubble, probably around 30. She says the gun was a Walther. She's been around guns her whole life. Her family is all hunters and target shooters so she was pretty confident in what it was."
Oliver picked up. "Not much to go on but just keep your eyes and ears open for anything. Guys like this will probably strike again." Oliver let that sit for a moment then said, "Alright, get out of here."
Gail knocked on Oliver's office door. Parade had been over for a few minutes and he waved her in.
"Peck, what can I do for you? Have a seat."
Gail sat down on one of the tables against the windows. "Staff, I need to take some personal days. Shouldn't be more than two or three."
Oliver nodded. "Okay. Everything alright?"
"Oh yeah, it's fine. I just have some things to take care of. I'm getting a new place and I have to finalize that and some other stuff."
"Ah, nice. Where at?"
"Leslieville. You know, it's just time for me to have my own place."
Oliver was curious about the whole story but didn't press. His gut told him there was more to this but with everything that was going on in Gail's life lately, he wasn't going to pry. "Sure, sure. Just tell me or McNally before you do finally take off and we're good to go."
Gail stood up, "Thank you, sir."
"You got it. Just don't stay gone too long. We need ya."
"I won't, sir." Gail left his office and headed for the lot. She was starting to see the light at the end of all of this. Once her apartment was finalized and the adoption officially went through in another couple of weeks, all of the waiting, the struggles of the last year or so would be behind her. She wasn't going to let them hold her back anymore.
Marcy and Jake were cruising when a call came in for a disturbance at a nearby shopping plaza. Dispatch detailed it as two parties fighting in one of the stores. They responded code 1 and were told backup was about three minutes behind them. When they pulled up, from what they could see, nobody seemed to be acting out of the ordinary. I fact, the people seemed surprised to see a police car pull up with lights and sirens. Inside the store were the alleged fight was taking place nobody had any knowledge about a fight.
"This is 1507, disregard incident at location. Slow everybody down and redirect them. It was a false alarm Marcy said into her radio."
"Roger, 1507."
"Well, that was a bust," Jake said as he opened the door of the store.
"That's how it goes some-"
She was interrupted by the distinct sound of two gunshots. Behind them and to the left.
"Those were close!", Jake said, and they scrambled into their car and went in that general direction.
"This is 1507, we have gunshots near our location," Jake said as Marcy turned a corner and they saw a crowd of people gathered down the street. "Send us backup."
The crowd, having noticed the squad car rolling towards them, began waving and pointing at the storefront they were gathered in front of.
Marcy stopped in the street, flipped on the flashers and she and Jake got out. Immediately, the crowd began yelling and it was a mass of confusion that initially was difficult to sift through.
"Please! One at a time!", Marcy yelled over the crowd.
"The store owner, he got shot. He's in there," One man near the front said calmly after everyone stopped talking over each other.
"Who shot him?" Jake asked.
"Some guy," a woman near the edge of the group said. I didn't really get a good look at him. But he ran north and then ducked into that alley," she pointed down the street and they could make out the indentation of an alleyway. "He looked banged up and he was clutching his side.
At that time another squad pulled up and Chris got out with Chloe. Marcy brought them up to speed and Chris put Chloe on the store until medics got there. The three others all took off down the street. Just shy of the alleyway, they spotted some blood spots. They were bright red as opposed to a darker, more purple, tinge which would have indicated a more serious injury.
Jake and Marcy, respectively, stacked up behind Chris and they drew their weapons. Chris counted it down silently and peeked around the corner for a quick check before stepping out into the gap. While held aim down the alleyway, Marcy and Jake flanked him on either side and they slowly moved down the alley, checking every crevice and possible hiding spot.
About halfway down the alley Jake pointed to a dumpster. On it was a bloody hand print near the far edge. On the ground was a blood trail leading around the corner. It led to a solid brick wall. They had the suspect cornered.
Chris and Marcy acknowledged, and Chris indicated for them to stand back from the gap. "This is the police!", Chris said, gun aimed at the gap beyond the dumpster. "You're hurt, and we want to help but you need to throw out your weapon first."
They all stood in a tense silence. After a moment Chris said, "We know you're back there. We're not going anywhere, and you can't hold out. C'mon man, every second you delay puts you in further danger." Jake looked to Chris and shrugged and looked to Chris. If the suspect didn't do anything, they'd have to go and get him, even if he had a weapon on him still. While Chris was weighing that option, a gun came sliding out from the gap. Chris, still aiming his weapon stepped around the corner and was in front of the suspect. He motioned with a tilt of his head for Marcy and Jake to come around and secure the weapon and suspect.
That complete, they all holstered their guns. Chris triggered his radio, "This is Diaz, we have one in custody. We need medics in the alley just north of that store shooting."
"Sending you another ambulance," dispatch said back.
Chris told Jake and Marcy to stay with the suspect and he went back to Chloe at the store. The medics were loading the store owner onto a stretcher when Chris got there. "How is he?", Chris asked.
"He's thready, we need to get him to surgery fast," one of the medics said. They wheeled past him.
"He had a gun behind the counter, there was also a shell casing back there," Chloe said.
"Okay, go with the ambulance, keep us updated."
"Yep," Chloe said and hustled to catch up to the medics before they rolled out.
"Medics are here and prepping to transport," Marcy's voice came over the radio.
"One of you go with them, the other stay there until the techs get there to process the scene. I'll have somebody run some crime scene tape up there," Chris said.
Diaz walked out the door and told the crowd they had to move back. Another squad pulled up, no longer in a rush after the situation was neutralized. Gail and Nick got out and walked up to Chris who was grabbing some tape out of his trunk. Where do you need us?", Nick asked. For now, Chris was in charge since he was the senor that had been on scene the longest.
Chris shut his trunk and said, "Run some tape up to the alley. Tape off the whole area back down the sidewalk to here. Clear these pedestrians to the other side of the street, and set up a perimeter. Basically, we're just holding the scene now until the crime scene guys get here."
"On it," Nick said and got back in his car and moved it up the street near the alley.
Chris taped off the entry to the store and he and Gail ducked under it. "Looks like a botched robbery. They shot each other.
"How's the other guy?"
"He'll make it, it wasn't a deep wound judging from the blood color," Chris said. "But he almost made it worse for himself when he wouldn't surrender his gun. Gail looked around the store for a minute then asked, "What did he look like. How old?"
"Average looking guy, I guess. Early to mid-thirties, probably.
"And the gun, what type was it?
"I'm not sure. "It was black, looked like a subcompact. What's up? Why all the questions?"
"Chris, look around. Small store, I don't even see a camera. Only one employee. ATM in the corner, and no credit card machine at the register, which is very old school."
"So, it's a cash-only business," Chris said. "A good target for a robbery considering everything."
"Just like an antique store that was held up not far from here by a guy that matches the description you just gave."
Chris caught on, "Collins," he said into his radio. "Are you still up at the alley?"
"Yeah, I'm here with Zettle."
"Ask her to bring you to the gun the suspect discarded. Tell us what it is."
"Okay, it's a Walther. Probably a PPS but I can't confirm anything else without disturbing it."
"That's fine, you gave us what we needed."
"Happy to help."
"I guess we better call Swarek and Dov," Chris said.
"Yup," Gail already had her phone out and was dialing.
Sam's phone jostled him out of report-writing-induced boredom. "It's Peck," he said to Dov. "Swarek," he answered. He listened for a couple moments. Then, "a Subcompact Walther? You don't say. Where is this at?" … "And the hospital is Memorial?" … "Alright, I'm sending Epstein to you guys. Let Foxx know I'm on my way."
He filled Dov in and gave him the keys to their car. Sam would take his truck. He was scribbling in a couple last notes on the file he'd been working before when Andy came by and sat down in Dov's empty seat.
"McNally, what are you doing in the barn?" Sam closed the file and put it in a file cabinet next to his desk.
"Same as you, paperwork. You heading out?"
"Yeah, it's a bit of a long story but it ends with our antique store robber possibly down at memorial waiting to have a bullet removed from him?"
"Seriously?"
"Well, it's not 100% but a lot of dots are connected on this one. We'll get a picture to the witness and get a confirmation but I'm feeling good about it.
"I'm glad. Uh, Sam, um…"
"Yeah, what's up Andy?" Sam was putting on his jacket and grabbing his keys.
"Don't worry about it. I just wanted to talk about something, but we can do it tonight."
"You sure?", Sam eyed his wife, but she wasn't betraying anything.
"Yeah, close your case then we'll celebrate tonight. We can talk about it then."
"Alright, we'll crack into a bottle of Wine and do it right."
"Wine, right," Andy smirked.
The next few hours consisted of Sam going to the hospital waiting for the suspect, whose name was Wayne Jensen, to get out of surgery. He pulled up Jensen's record and printed a previous mugshot from a misdemeanor arrest for possession. He put it together with 5 other similar looking shots from the dummy file and ran the array by the address of the antique store employee. She identified Jensen right away. Sam smiled on the inside.
He rendezvoused with Dov and they swung by the hospital. They were told Jensen had been moved to a regular recovery room. An officer neither Sam nor Dov recognized was standing guard outside. He stepped up and raised his hands, about to tell Sam and Dov the room was off limits. They flashed their badges and he apologized for the misunderstanding and stepped aside.
Inside, Jensen was talking to his attorney, a public defender that Sam had run across a couple times.
"Detectives, I'm in the middle of privileged discussion with my client. Please-"
"This won't take long," Sam interrupted. "It's actually good that you're here. We just wanted to let your client know that he's been positively identified as the man that held up an antique store last night."
Jensen didn't say anything, but his face said it all. He was caught, and he knew it. Hell, he was already going down for robbery and attempted murder, what's another charge."
"My client has no comment on that. Now please, let us talk in private."
"Sure thing," Sam said.
"Good night, gents," Dov said before shutting the door behind them.
That night, during dinner Sam pulled out a bottle of wine and got two glasses from a cupboard. He set one in front of Andy and himself and uncorked the bottle. As he went to pour Andy a glass, she stopped him.
"McNally?"
"Sam, I think I'm going to stay away from alcohol for tonight. Actually, for a lot of nights, for that matter."
Sam realized what she was saying, and a big smile grew on his face. "You mean…"
Andy smiled, and tears ran formed in her eyes. "We're gonna have a baby."
Sam almost dropped the bottle, not caring about it anymore, then thought better of it and set it down on the table. He scooped up his wife and cradled her while they shared a deep kiss followed by a tight embrace.