"So, what do we know", Hank asked as he came out of his office and stood in the center of the unit.
At the sound of her boss's voice, Erin perked up, sitting on the edge of Jay's desk, and watched as Ruzek and Atwater shuffled around the whiteboard putting up evidence to their newest case.
It had been a little over a week since Jay had told Erin the story of Maggie and she had been brought into his other life outside of the Intelligence Unit. He had yet to tell everyone else in the unit or bring by Maggie to meet everyone. Erin wouldn't admit it, but she was dying to see that little girl again. She had barely even gotten the opportunity to speak to Maggie and already she wanted to know all about her. But, of course, they were deep into another case, so the possibilities of Jay bringing her by were slim to none.
"Victim is around twenty years old. Contusion to the head and her throat slit open", Jay announced. "There are also several stab wounds in the abdomen, which means that it is safe to say this was an overkill", he gave his opinion.
"Our main suspect at the moment is a guy who goes by the name Jackson. Not sure if that's a last or first name. No criminal record", Ruzek began to explain, pointing to a driver's license picture on the whiteboard.
"So, why is he our suspect", Voight cut him off quickly.
"He owns the warehouse where our victim was found lying next to one of the dumpsters", Adam backed up all of his previous statements.
"At night the warehouse converts to a hangout place for runaway teens to do pretty much whatever they want", Atwater added to the conversation.
"Was there any legitimate business coming from this place", Voight asked.
"Doesn't look like it", Antonio answered, as he flipped through a couple of files on the arrests and activities noted by other officers at the location of the crime.
"Where's Jackson", Voight continued to press questions on his detectives, turning in the Halstead's direction.
"According to Mouse", Jay began to say before his old friend cut him off at the mention of his name. "Since we only have a nickname there is no way to locate an address or vehicle registered in his name, so he's in the wind", Mouse quickly explained.
"So, this case is going cold fast", Olinsky finally piped up from his seat at his desk.
Everyone knew Olinsky was right the second the words came from his mouth. At the moment, all they had was the body of a young girl who was brutally murdered. No witnesses and most likely no DNA. With nothing but a corpse on their side, it was incredibly possible the case would go cold in less than a week.
Just as everyone began to digest these thoughts and fell into a comfortable silence, the telephone at Mouse's desk rang. He quickly answered it and, in usual 'Mouse style' quickly hung up.
"They've transported the D.O.A's body to the morgue and are running her prints for any type of identification now", Mouse announced the message.
"Lindsay and Halstead", Hank announced looking at the two detectives. "Find out her name and notify the relatives", he instructed.
Both detectives nodded their heads, as Erin walked over to her own desk to grab her jacket and Jay followed closely behind. As the left the district, Erin noticed Jay was sending a text on his phone that could only be about one person.
"Everything okay", Erin asked as soon as the got in the car and she started the engine.
"Yeah, I just hope this isn't going to be a long one", Jay said as he hit send on his phone and turned his head to look at Erin.
"I promised Maggie we would go to the zoo this weekend and I really don't want to miss her first visit", Jay explained. It felt so great to be able to tell Erin all of this, instead of just pushing all of his worries about Maggie to the side.
"She's five and she hasn't been to the zoo yet", Erin asked shocked.
"I'm always working and this weekend was supposed to be one of our weekends off", Jay explained his faults. "And she's four. I still have a couple more months before she's five and begging me to go to real school", he laughed.
Erin laughed, in almost some sort of admiration, as she listened to Jay talk about his daughter. "Who would have to take her if we get a case", she asked.
"Her nanny. She's a graduate student at Northwestern. She watches Maggie when we can't leave the district because of a case", Jay explained.
"But, I will be taking her this weekend", he reassured mostly himself as they pulled up to the morgue and Erin parked the car.
The partners walked silently into the morgue, flashing their badges to the woman at the front desk and heading towards the back.
"Ah, detectives. Good to see you", the doctor greeted them as they walked in. "I've run your victim's dental records through the system and it appears her name is Victoria Evans", she immediately launched into conversation about their victim that laid as a barrier between them.
"I have yet to run her name in the system, because I believe you guys like to do that", the doctor said, glancing up to both Jay and Erin.
"I can call Mouse now", Jay said excusing himself from the room.
"Anything else you can tell me about her", Erin said as she looked up at the doctor and then back down at their victim. She was so young. Every time Erin saw a young victim like the one in front of her she thought of how she was able to literally dodge that bullet.
"She had a mix of alcohol and prescription drugs in her system, which I am guessing, because of the reputation of the place where you found her, was recreational", the doctor explained.
"Your suspect is definitely inexperienced", the doctor pointed out. "He could have simple stuck with just these stab wounds, after she was knocked out", she pointed out.
"But, he cut her neck postmortem", Erin cut the doctor off.
"Seen too many of these", the doctor asked. "Way too many", Erin answered.
"Bad news", Jay said as he re-entered the room. "Mouse ran her name and she has no family located in Chicago", he announced.
"Possibly no family at all. Mouse said he was having a hard time locating even a distant cousin", Jay explained looking towards Erin, who just looked more miserable than when they had first arrived.
Erin let out a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry there's nothing I can do to help you detectives", the doctor apologized as she covered the body of the victim again.
Both Jay and Erin shook their head, a silent signal that she couldn't have done anything more in this case than what she had already done. They both knew this was going to be too long of a case.
A/N: Remember me?! I know, I know - it's been literal AGES since I last updated but I have had a lot of personal projects to work on (such as moving into college) and work to attend to (such as keeping up my grades so I can stay in college) Not to carry on this note for too long, but I hope you all liked this short little chapter and leave some reviews to show how much you loved it/what you want to see in the future and I will get the next chapter posted ASAP! Thank you all for sticking on this crazy writing journey with me :)
xoxo - anotherlifeontheinternet
