"What the fuck?" He picked up the two photos. "What? Kevin, what is this?"
"That's the night we found Kim."
His heart thudded in his chest and he dropped them both quickly like they burnt his fingers. The implications of that sentence bounced around in his head. The night they found Kim, the night they were trying to find Roy. That night? "What the actual fuck?"
"There is more."
"You've got the video?" Kevin pulled it out of his pocket and slid the USB across the table. "Watch it in private."
"Give me the cliff notes."
"Some people know a lot more than they've let on."
Adam exhaled slowly and sat back in his seat. Kevin could see things churning over in his mind which was unusual because if anyone was going to jump in without thinking things through it was his buddy. "So you and Halstead were at the hospital with Platt, I was with Mack, so I guess that leaves two."
Kev nodded and tapped the USB. "Watch it. You met with Miller?"
"Yeah, she told me to leave it alone. Agent North told her it was a dead end." Adam started flipping the USB over, making it click against the table. "Roy was most likely at the bottom of the Chicago River and they had bigger fish to fry."
"And she's happy with that?" Kevin had always been perplexed that she didn't want to find out what happened to her son's killer. "Seems odd."
Adam shook his head, his gaze still firmly on the USB beneath this fingers. The rhythmic click against the table mirrored the cogs in his mind… tick.. tick.. tick. "Oh she's not happy…"
It had been a strange conversation. Miller hadn't wanted to talk to him and told him officially that the case was closed but then she gave him a note to meet her at the café on the next block.
"This conversation is not happening. The FBI want this to go away. Agent North wants this to go away and I find that a little unsatisfactory to be honest. He came to me all gung ho and suddenly after interviewing your team he told me it's a dead end, Roy is probably at the bottom of the Chicago River, that he had a lot of enemies and we should just be grateful that he's not doing what he was doing anymore."
It had always nagged at him at how quickly North wrapped up and disappeared. He interviewed them all and then nothing. "He told Kim he wasn't going to stop."
"And then he did. After talking to your team." She emphasised that point again. "I can't investigate this. I don't want to know what you are doing."
It left him with more questions than answers and more determined to find out what went down. Now he had this USB and whatever the video was going to show him.
"Kev, man, I don't like this."
"We can stop anytime."
"No we can't. This isn't about anything other than giving Kim closure. She needs it, I know she needs it." Adam slid the USB into his jacket pocket. "Wherever it takes me."
"Us, wherever it takes us." Kevin reminded him. "I've got your back."
Adam finished his beer and declined another. "Kim wants to find a new apartment."
"I'm surprised she's lasted this long in that place." Once Makayla left he was sure Kim would want to move out. It tore her heart out and the ringside viewing wasn't that great. "With you?"
"For now. " He sat back a little and scratched his beard. "You know, something in me says that she might toss it all in and leave Chicago."
"And are you okay with that?"
"No, I'm not but this isn't about me."
Kevin flicked the toothpick back into his mouth. "Yeah it is, a little bit."
Adam pushed his empty glass away and reached for his jacket. "Gotta go."
"Take it easy Ruze." He knew the conversation was done. One thing he had noticed was that Adam never talked about what was next for him. As far as he was concerned Kim was it, but it wasn't up to him. Whatever Kim wanted to happen was going to happen and all he had to hang onto was hope.
He shrugged into his jacket as he headed out, acutely aware of the dead weight in his top pocket. As he got in his car his phone beeped with a message from Kim giving him all the times for their home viewings she had lined up. He had left it up to her to choose what she wanted to see, although he did put in a few light hearted requests.
It was curious that she was looking at two bedroom places. "A room for Mack & a room for us?" he queried.
"No."
Reaching over he grabbed her computer and changed the search parameters to 3 bedroom. "For when we get her back."
"That's never going to happen."
"Yes it will."
He opened his glove box and placed the USB inside and then locked it. Until he'd had the chance to look at it there was no way he was letting Kim find it. He did worry though that someone would break into his car and steal it, he was starting to become that paranoid.
It certainly wasn't the first time that Kevin had been made an offer in exchange for turning a blind eye. More often than not people always thought they had something so valuable that they could make their fortune or at the very least save their asses.
Stevie was no different. "I've got something you might want?"
"Really?" Kev shoved his hands in the armholes of his vest and leant back against the car. "I highly doubt that."
"One of youse asked me to delete a video, so I sent it to my cloud just in case."
"If this is indeed true, when did this happen."
"About six months ago."
"And what would I be looking at, let's say if it's real." It clicked something in Kevin's mind but not enough to make him join any dots.
"Nah, you want this, but I ain't givin' it to ya for nothin'." Stevie jiggled the handcuffs locked around her wrists in front of him.
Kevin shook his head. "No deal. I would get fired if I let you go for nothin'. It ain't worth it."
"Surely Voight would back you up."
"Voight?"
"He's on the video." Stevie grinned at him. It was very clear she was only as loyal as she needed to be to save her own skin. "And some blonde."
Suddenly those dots connected.
Now they had something and Kevin just had to wait until Adam had watched it too. He'd watched it over and over again. In disbelief which slowly gave way to anger. It didn't give them all the answers but it at least gave them a hell of a lot of questions to ask.
"How was Kevin?" Kim asked on the way to the first apartment they were looking at.
Adam slowed to a stop at the intersection. "Whining about pulling OT."
"He never complains about extra money."
"I think he's got some shit he wants to get done at that derelict joint he bought. Doesn't want to pay someone else to do it, you know what he's like. Tight as a fish's asshole."
"You could be a little more like him."
Adam scoffed. "What tight as?" It was nice that a little of the banter was creeping back in. Perhaps last night wasn't one step forward and two steps back as he'd come to expect. "I like spreading my love around."
Kim just hummed. They checked out a few places and only two ticked all their boxes. A couple reminded Kim of her current apartment and she would squeeze Adam's arm and disengage from the realtor and he'd make an excuse and they'd beat a hasty exit.
As they jumped back in the car after the last apartment Kim reached for his glove box and was surprised it was locked. "Locked? I just want some gum." She knew he kept numerous packs in there, Adam was never short on gum although some had questionable used by dates. "Hiding something?"
"Yeah." He laughed, despite the irrational way his heart was beating. "Your engagement ring. Do you want it?"
"No." It was brutal and swift.
In the end he decided to drop into his sister's place to borrow her computer once he'd dropped Kim off at home. "Why?" Kate asked him. "What's wrong with yours?"
"It's broken."
Clearly, by the look on her face she didn't believe him. "Broken? Sure, what are you doing Adam?"
"Don't worry about it." He waved his hand dismissively. He really didn't want to get into it with Kate.
"Is it illegal?"
"No, it's not illegal. I just need it to be off book. I'm looking into something." Adam looked at his sister, almost pleading. "Please don't ask. It's not something I can talk about right now."
"Is it about Kim?"
Adam set his mouth in a grim line. "If you don't know you'll never have to lie."
"What the hell does that mean?" Kate shrieked. Ever since he had confessed that he was caught up in a nasty web of lies to cover her drink driving charge Kate had been adamant that he needed to keep his nose clean. She knew he had pushed the line pretty hard when Kim was missing and was glad she was found alive because she knew what he'd do. Her brother had never hid his love for Kim, even when they weren't together. He would do anything for her and it made her a little jealous. Didn't every girl dream of a man who would walk through hot coals for her? Her ex certainly wouldn't, he barely did anything for his son. "Adam, don't do anything stupid."
"I'm not." He argued. "Look, it just needs to be not talked about right now. So you don't know anything."
If anyone knew how far some people's networks extended it was him and he just wanted to keep people out of it, protect those that needed protecting. The less people that knew the less likely things would come out before they needed to. He didn't want Kate involved and he was regretting coming here. He knew enough though to disconnect her computer from the internet and remove any trace of what he was about to watch.
He had prepared himself for the worst.
And it delivered more.
