A new case led Jay to go to a crime scene early in the morning. Patrol cars were scattered across the street, blocking the last few yards to a small friendly house. The mood was depressing and the faces of the other members grim and serious. Jay entered the living room of the house. A nasty smell came to meet him. Empty packaging and toys lay scattered everywhere.
"Oh my god." Adam almost caught his breath.
"I need to puke." Kim murmured and hurried out in a flash.
"Why would someone do that?" Antonio mumbled and knelt down.
Jay stepped forward slowly. Behind the couch lay four dead white children.
"The oldest child is 8 or 9 years old." Kevin stated in shock.
"And the youngest child was still a baby." Upton said, pointing to a small child covered in dried blood.
"They were all stabbed." Al whispered.
"Where are the parents of the kids?" Adam wondered.
"The mother is outside with the paramedics. She was on a business trip and found her children dead when she got home." Al explained.
Jay closed his eyes in disbelief and ran his hand through his face. Who was doing this? They were little innocent children, who had their whole life ahead of them. He hated this type of case. He hated these cases even before he became a father, but now with two kids such cases were terrible. He knew that he would again draw a parallel to his kids. Especially, since the victims were the same age as his own children. He didn't really know why these cases were the worst. Probably, because he worried too much about his own kids. It took a lot of effort to allow his eldest to go to friends from the neighborhood all by himself. At this moment he wanted nothing more than his wife at his side. She would stand next to him and gently hug him. She would just be there for him and he would be there for her. They would support each other.
While the forensics made photos and profiles of the bodies, Olinsky had joined Voight. The two men watched the work of their colleagues with impenetrable expressions. Even though this was nothing new and only one of many such cases in Chicago, murder cases with children would never been easy to bear.
"3 boys and a girl." Al sighed and shook his head. "Just so-" he snapped his fingers for clarification, "annihilated." Voight nodded affirmatively.
The case came very close to everyone, as it was unbelievable what had happened. For the next few hours and days, they worked hard on the murder motive, the murder weapon, and everything else that would help them solve the case. Finally, they made the cruel discovery. Everything seemed like the father had murdered his children, but it turned out not to be him. He had an alibi. It turned out to be the babysitter who was simply annoyed by the kids. Continuously a child kept asking for something else. The children supposedly would have complained constantly. The children's parents were both on business trips, each of them not knowing it about the other. Besides, the sitter believed she was badly paid. It was always her fault if the children broke something. She had simply lost control and stabbed one child after another.
After a few hard days, Jay grabbed a beer from the fridge and slid slowly to the floor. It felt like he was falling into a deep hole with its depth unknown. Inside, he felt a void. Indifferently, he stared into the half-darkened room. Since Erin was dead and the trusted babysitter quit because she wanted to start a family herself, he didn't care who took care of his little kids. The kids had scared off five babysitters in no time with the help of provocations and pranks. What if he had hired a babysitter just like their suspect? Would he have found his kids dead one day? He felt damn bad. The thought alone made him sick. He had hired the latest babysitter without a thorough background check. If he was being honest, he didn't even know the last two babysitters personally.
"Da-Jay?" Zoey asked, walking up to him slowly
"I thought you were sleeping." he muttered. His gaze moved to his watch. It was 2 o'clock in the morning.
"I can't sleep." She mumbled and stopped in front of her father, "Is everything okay?" She asked softly and Jay nodded hesitantly. He fumbled with the label of the beer bottle. He just could not look into his daughter's eyes.
"But you look sad," she stated, sinking down on the floor next to Jay. Jay felt uncomfortable in the presence of his daughter. She should not see him so broken. But in the end Zoey gave him security. Her closeness felt good.
"It has been some exhausting days." He whispered.
"But everything will be fine, right?" She asked softly and cuddled up to her daddy.
"Yes."
"I love you, daddy."
"I love you too, sweetie." He smiled lightly and clutched his little girl tightly to him.
Together, they sat silently on the ground.
A short while later Jay withdrew. After an exhausting case, he fired the babysitter and asked the elderly friendly neighbor to look after the children. He threw himself into work and made endless overtime. He was rarely home. He had many sleepless nights as nightmares were plaguing him.
"Halstead. That'll be $ 10." Ruzek said, handing out the ordered China food.
"Yeah..." Jay said, rummaging around in his wallet. Strange. Astonished he realized that once again he had no money, even though he had withdrawn cash only yesterday. Only yesterday he had picked up cash.
"You gonna pay be back today?" Ruzek asked impatiently.
"I'll pay later. I have no more money." Jay said.
"Whatever."
The next few days Jay watched again and again as his money disappeared from his wallet. Finally he decided to talk to his kids.
"Do you know what's strange?" Jay asked. Both were lying in Zoey's cave under the loft bed and played their Nintendo DS.
"No." Zach said without looking up at his father.
"Lately, my money is disappearing." Jay said, taking a deep breath, "And I think one of you two is behind it."
"You sure? After all, you're not exactly the youngest." Zach murmured absently.
"I beg your pardon? I'm in my late thirties." Jay said.
"Like I said. Dementia says hello."
"All right. Whoever has taken my money will have until tomorrow morning to put the money back. Either anonymous or you talk to me and I'll try to understand and help." Jay said.
The next morning, the money still wasn't returned to the wallet. So he waited until the kids came down or breakfast. Maybe someone really wanted to talk. He leaned back curiously against the kitchen counter and sipped his coffee, which he accidentally made for two that morning.
"Sorry." Zach muttered, putting $ 50 on the kitchen counter.
"50 dollars? Where's the rest?" Jay asked.
"Spent on a school trip." Zach muttered.
"An excursion? Did you get a letter?" Jay asked, raising an eyebrow. Normally he would have to sign a slip.
"Uh. A theater trip. It's already in the bin." Zach lies.
"A theater trip that costs $ 170? You're going to Broadway or what?"
"Uh. Yeah."
"All right. Out with it. Did you buy a computer game?" Jay asked.
"No I did not!" Zach yelled.
"What then?" Jay asked quietly.
"Nothing!"
"Than where is the remaining $ 120?" Jay asked angrily, as if Zach was a felon during interrogation.
"You care about your fucking money, but you don't care about us!" Zach shouted.
"Then tell me what's wrong with you?!"
"You don't even realize how bad your daughter feels. You haven't been interested in us for a long time, because we remind you too much of Mum." Zach yelled, grabbed his school bag and ran out of the house.
Zoey sat silently at the table. She felt bad. She was so tired of the eternal quarrels. Slowly the tears rolled down her face. She wanted her mommy. She didn't want to be without her anymore. She missed her mommy. Zoey sniffed harder. Only then Jay noticed his daughter, who wept and trembled strongly.
"Zoey, what's wrong?" Jay asked, squatting down in front of his daughter. He brushed his daughter's lock of hair aside and looked into her howling hazel eyes.
"My tummy hurts, but in my head." She cried easily.
"I understand. Then we'll put you down, okay?" Jay said and carried his daughter into the living room, where he gently laid her on the couch and covered her up with a blanket. Then he went back to the kitchen and got her a glass of juice.
"Take a nap, okay? That should help a bit." Jay told her, sitting at the edge of the sofa.
"Will you stay with me?" She asked softly.
"I can't. I have to go to work, but I'm sure the next door neighbour will take good care of you."
"Please," she whimpered softly, "please."
"Maybe I can home early today." Jay tried to cheer her up.
Thank you for the review. I think I will take the suggestions :)