I know this is a lot of build up but hang in there...a bunch of Severide is coming. AND we have some Erin on the way. Hope you enjoy.
Dr. Duncan Bernard III was not amused at being woken up in the middle of the night. The Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at one of the most prestigious teaching hospitals in the country did not get called in the middle of the night. That's what they had residents for.
"What?" he snapped as he grabbed the phone.
He had a busy day on Friday...half day in the office, then eighteen holes with some old colleagues he'd known for over twenty years. He needed his sleep.
The caller asked if he was the father of Duncan Bernard IV.
"Yes. I am." the doctor replied.
'What's the boy gone and done now?' he thought to himself.
Probably worried himself into another anxiety attack and gone to the Emergency Room again.
He definitely wasn't expecting the answer he got.
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Voight was still in his office at two thirty in the morning and he grabbed the phone before it even finished ringing once.
"Voight."
He listened to the caller on the other end of the line.
"You don't even know if this is related or not. They haven't even called it 'suspicious circumstances' let alone a homicide."
Then he had to take the phone away from his ear because the caller was yelling so loudly.
"A'right...a'right...we're on it." he said before slamming the phone back in its cradle.
Hank Voight wiped his hand down his face in sheer frustration. There were times he almost regretted his decision to get in bed with Gradishar and IA...almost.
He reached for his cell.
"Why the hell are we gettin' called in the middle of the night to look at some dead kid in his dorm room?" Halstead asked Lindsay as they got off the elevator.
"Cause it's your goddamn job, that's why." Voight answered.
"What is he? Part bat?" Halstead grumbled under his breath.
"That would explain the nocturnal tendency." Erin replied.
"I heard that!" Voight called back over his shoulder.
The team ducked under the tape one by one. The body had been removed from the scene, but that was about it.
Over in the corner a guy about twenty or so was teetering on the edge of hysteria, and another guy, maybe slightly older, was trying to calm him down. And having very little luck.
Voight rolled his eyes. he'd never get anything done with all that blubbering and bawling. He caught Lindsay's eye and cocked his head toward the open door.
Erin got the hint and she approached the uniformed officer in the room with a purpose.
She took the blubbering idiot...oh, the witness...down the hall to the student lounge and curled up in a chair.
She wanted to make this the least intimidating she could.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Tyler...Tyler Slade."
"And you were...Duncan's roommate?"
"Yeah..." Tyler licked his lips nervously.
His mouth was so dry...
"Did you know him before this year?"
The young guy shook his head. He'd really wanted to get an apartment, but his dad hadn't come through with the funding. By that time, he'd missed the deadline to apply for a choice of roommate...so it was the luck of the draw.
Or in his case, not so much...getting stuck with a straight arrow like Bernie.
"Well, what can you tell me about him?" Lindsay asked.
She studied Tyler Slade intensely, watching his body language, how fast he was breathing, how he was sweating like a horse. This guy had something to hide.
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Back in the room, Halstead was clicking around on the dead guy's computer, trying to find a way in. All he'd managed to figure out was the kid had the thing encrypted out the wahzoo.
Ruzek was picking things up off the dresser...lookin' at 'em...putting them down.
There was nothing interesting in here. Just preppy clothes and books. The kind of guy he used to trip going down the hallway in school.
He went over to desk where Halstead had just given up on the computer.
Adam reached around to open the drawer.
"Excuse you..." Halstead said.
But in that drawer, they finally found something interesting.
In the lounge, Erin was still trying to make some headway with Tyler.
"What about relationships?" she asked. "Did Bernie have a girlfriend?"
"The guy studied round the clock..." Tyler said. "He was Pre-Med 'cause his dad's some big hot-shot surgeon."
"The dad put a lot of pressure on him?"
"That's like...the understatement of the century. Bernie didn't wanna be a doctor any more than me...but he was scared shitless of his old man."
Inside the desk drawer was a whole pharmacy. Ruzek pulled the bottles out one by one...Xanax...Prozac...Wellbutrin...antihistamine.
"Got an evidence bag?" he asked.
Halstead reached into his inside pocket and handed over the plastic bag.
"Nothin' like comin' to work prepared, Rookie." Jay said sarcastically.
"So...where'd you go tonight?" Erin asked.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ruzek slip through the door.
But she focused on her interview subject.
"We went to a party...just for an hour." Tyler answered in a trembling voice. "Over on Taylor."
"What was goin' on at this party? Did Bernie take anything?"
"No! Bernie wouldn't do drugs!" Tyler's voice kept rising...cracking at the top. "He had like...two beers! Not even two! More like one and a half!"
Ruzek crossed the room and handed Erin the plastic bag.
Erin looked at the labels.
"Tyler...this is Officer Ruzek...he works with me." she said.
"We found these in your roommate's desk." Ruzek said.
"They're all legal!" Tyler protested. "He was always poppin' pills for anxiety and shit!"
"You just said he didn't take drugs. I heard you." Ruzek pressed.
"I meant illegal shit. He's a basket case! He's got prescriptions for all that!"
"What about you, Tyler?" Lindsay cut in. "Do you take anything? Did you take anything tonight?"
"No!" Tyler spat out.
Oh, God...he was about to have a heart attack.
"You mind if we look on your side of the room?" Ruzek asked.
"You can't do that!" Tyler jumped to his feet. "You can't do that! I got rights!"
"Easy...don't get your panties in a twist..." Ruzek said in disgust. "We can get a warrant if we have to."
"I want a lawyer! I gotta call my dad!"
The two cops looked at one another.
Neither of them would be surprised if the kid peed himself.
"Did you do anything illegal?" Lindsay wondered. "Something you'd need a lawyer for?"
Tyler could hear his pulse pounding in his ears. His mouth was parched. He was sweating so bad he'd need to wring out his shirt in about another minute.
"I gave him two hydrocodones." he confessed. "They're in the top drawer of my dresser, in a white tube sock."
Ruzek turned on his heel and went back to the room.
He went straight to the dresser and yanked open the drawer.
The stash was right where the roommate said it would be.
And it was more than he said it would be.
Tyler had not only hydrocodone...but Dilaudid...Adderall...and a dime bag of pot.
"Hey..." he called out to Halstead. "You got another evidence bag on you?"