Chapter 11

Sleep did not come easily for Hailey that night. She tossed and turned for hours before finally falling asleep. A noise she recognized as a garbage truck hoisting a dumpster now jarred her awake. She rolled over and grabbed her phone from the nightstand.

4:15 a.m.

Really? Four-fifteen. When did the city start collecting garbage at such an insane hour? She laid there a few more minutes and mentally replayed the message she'd received last night from the IT guy at the Ivory Tower.

"Hailey, whoever is sending these is good. I mean like scary good. This is almost government-level encryption. I'll keep trying, but I can't make any promises."

"Okay, I appreciate your efforts, Tony."

"There is one other thing."

"Yeah?"

"I could hit up my old college roommate. He's a cyber geek at the NSA now. He might have some ideas."

Hailey squeezed her eyes tight. If they escalated it that high up and somehow word got back to the Tony's boss and Voight, it could open up a whole new can of worms. Worms she did not need crawling all over her.

"I thought you were a cyber geek."

Tony chuckled. "There's CPD geekiness, then there's the NSA. Those guys probably know the last time your suspect brushed his teeth and what kind of toothpaste he used."

Hailey sighed. "I hear you. Don't contact him yet. Let me see if I can dig up anything else on this end."

"Will do. But I'm here if you need me."

Hailey got up and stumbled into the shower. As the hot water cascaded over her face and torso, she contemplated her next move.

Hailey nodded briefly at Reynolds, the overnight desk sergeant, as she passed the front desk. He was on the phone and raised a hand in greeting. She crept up the stairs to the bullpen.

Even though she wasn't a morning person like Jay, she liked the quiet before the rest of the team arrived. Especially if she needed to do some serious thinking. And this situation definitely demanded that.

She hung up her jacket and secured her weapon. She started a pot of coffee while waiting for the computer to come to life. Then it happened.

The phone rang.

Hailey came out of the breakroom and stared numbly at the blinking red light on her desk phone. No, it can't be. It better not be. She clenched her fists. I took a totally new route to the District today.

She stalked over and looked at the caller ID. The number looked like an internal CPD one. But that really didn't mean anything. Scammers had endless ways of duplicating legitimate phone numbers.

Four rings, five rings, six rings. On the seventh ring, Hailey snatched up the receiver. "Intelligence," she said in a firm tone.

"Upton, I just found an envelope addressed to Voight. It must have come by overnight courier. Feels like it might be files," said Reynolds.

Hailey exhaled heavily. Thank goodness. "Okay, I'll come get it. Thanks."

"Uh, are you okay? You sound kinda frazzled."

"Yeah, I'm good. Didn't sleep well, that's all," she said.

"I have that problem from time to time. Anyway, it's here whenever you're ready."

Hailey took a big gulp of coffee and began scrolling through cases from the last six months to see if anything jumped out at her. Unfortunately, there was nothing. She got up and went over to the window and peered at the dark street below. Various patrol cars and officers were coming and going.

Are you out there watching even now?

After a few minutes, she returned to her desk. What the hell. I'll look back a couple more months. Thirty minutes passed. She massaged her forehead as if that would stimulate a memory. She was about to declare the search a bust when a name floated to the surface.

Sergei. But Sergei what? Come on, Hailey. Think. She drummed her fingers on the desk for a moment, then typed the name into the database. Surprisingly, there were a lot of guys named Sergei in Chicago who'd been busted for one thing or another. She scanned the list, which took up three screens. The very last one was Sergei Zhurov.

Yes! That's him.

Details began flooding back. Once a high-flying IT entrepreneur and fixture on the Chicago social scene, Zhurov was currently enjoying an extended visit to Stateville for the murder of a business rival and attempting to order a hit on his ex-wife.

She remembered him in the interrogation room as she and Jay questioned him:

Smug bastard in a designer suit acting like he was the smartest guy on the planet. When he wasn't giving smart-ass answers to their questions, he directed a steady stream of lewd suggestions to Hailey.

After a couple minutes, Jay half rose out of his seat. He was ready to strangle the guy right there. Only her grip on his forearm kept him on their side of the table.

Zhurov sneered. "Ooh, must have a thing for your sexy little partner. Blondes turn me on, too. All except that bitch ex-wife of mine."

"We're done here," said Jay. "Stand up."

Zhurov stared intently at Hailey. "I won't forget you, Detective Upton. Our next meeting will be . . ."

"There won't be a next meeting," grumbled Jay as he hustled him out of the room in handcuffs.

Hailey read on and a bad feeling came over her. Conviction overturned on technicalities and improper jury instructions. Defendant released and awaiting new trial. That was two months ago. Plenty of time for him to get up to some computer harassment and stalking.

Pushing back from the computer, Hailey sighed. Suspects were often full of false bravado, so she usually dismissed their ramblings. However, her gut told her this might be her tormentor.

A week passed without any more e-mails. Hailey was relieved since Intelligence was busy chasing a Serbian smash-and-grab crew targeting high-end jewelry stores in and around Chicago. They managed to nab one robber, but he was being a jerk and not cooperating. For that, he got to spend the night in one of the holding cells in the basement.

"Think that guy will give it up tomorrow?" asked Torres. He and Hailey were doing some paperwork. The others were discussing going to Molly's. "We could go for a little while. Makayla's at a sleepover with school friends," said Kim.

"A date night then," smiled Adam as he slung an arm around Kim's shoulders.

Kevin looked over at Hailey and Torres. "You guys in?"

Hailey gave a brief nod. "Sure. There must be more to life than paperwork." Her mind did need a break and she couldn't always give her friends some lame excuse.

"Amen to that," said Adam.

"I'm in. Give me five minutes to finish this report. Don't want Platt on my case in the morning," said Torres.

"Nobody wants that kind of heat," said Kevin. "But if you aren't at Molly's in 20 minutes, I'll come back here and drag your butt over."

Torres chuckled. "I hear ya, bro."

As soon as the gate clanged behind the others, Torres logged off his computer. Hailey looked up in surprise. "What about your report?"

"I sent that thing half an hour ago."

"Someone's mastered the art of deception already," said Hailey.

"Comes in handy from time to time in my neighborhood." There was a pause of anticipation. "Earlier you said you wanted to talk to me. Is it about the emails?"

Hailey glanced over her shoulder. She didn't want anybody creeping up the stairs and possibly overhearing their conversation.

"Yeah. I've uncovered some interesting things." Briefly, she related everything she knew.

"And you got an LKA. That's good. What's your next move?"

Hailey studied the young officer for a moment. "Dante, were you serious?"

"Serious?"

"When you said you wanted to help."

He responded without hesitation. "Absolutely. If you need help, I'm gonna help you. In any way I can. It's what Jay would want."

The mention of her absent husband's name gave Hailey a jolt. She looked away for a moment and took a deep breath. She needed, and wanted, some backup. But Torres was almost too eager.

"Okay. But this would be strictly off-book. I want you to think carefully about this because your career is just starting. If you don't want to do it, there's no hard feelings. I swear."

"Look, these computer nerds can prey on anyone, not just cops. I'm gonna tell you a story. Couple years ago, my niece Lourdes was dating this guy. He seemed okay, really into computers. But when they broke up, he started sending her a bunch of bad shit online. He found these nasty pictures from the dark web, Photoshopped her face onto them and threatened to send them to everyone she knew. Well, he did leak a couple of them."

Hailey's eyebrows lifted. "Wow. What happened?"

"Here's the fun part. Nobody outside our family knows this. Late one night, me, my brother and two cousins went to his house for, uh, some quality time."

"Did this 'quality time' perhaps involve a visit to the ER afterwards?"

"Only for him. A week later, we heard he'd bought a one-way ticket back to Bogotá. So, if we can take down another perpetrator like that, it's a good day in my book. One more thing, if you repeat this story, I'll deny it up one side and down the other."

Hailey nodded in agreement. "It will never cross my lips."

Both were silent for a beat. "If Zhurov is behind this, it would feel fantastic to send his ass back to prison," said Hailey. "For an extremely long time."

Torres nodded. "Now that that's settled, I assume you have a plan."

"A drive-by on that LKA and maybe some nighttime surveillance. We need to see who he's running with. But first we need to put in an appearance at our favorite watering hole."

"You know, I am kinda thirsty," grinned Torres.