When we got back to the office, Voight had still not returned and did not look happy when he left. With the trial, we hadn't picked up any active cases today which left us sitting around discussing conversations we had heard about, the evidence collected, what we could possibly do to help Al, most of all how we could make sense of what happened today.
I listened to Jay, Kevin, Adam and Kim bounce ideas off each other for several minutes. Being the newest one in the group, I respected Al, but I also didn't know him as well as everybody else. So I sat at my desk and listened, while remembering I needed to send the information for Eva's friend chat tomorrow. I hardly noticed they had stopped talking, or that Jay was trying to gain my attention.
"You good?"
"Yeah. I was actually just shooting a text to Michelle, one of the girl's moms. They're having a surprise get together for the girls. Something to help Eva feel a little comfortable with moving here to Chicago."
"Did I just hear something about a surprise?" Adam stopped mid-sentence while turning around in his seat.
"Eva is going to be surprised by some friends back it would help her find closure. It might even help me find some answers about her past life."
"Tonight? Is she having trouble adjusting?"
"Tonight. Video conference." Switching to my messages, I quickly sent Betsey all the information for the call just in case, then directed my attention to answering his question. "I'm not getting a lot from her these days. She tried to run away from school the other day."
"What can we do to help?"
"Love her like you all loved me." I said with a tinge of surprise in my voice. Mostly because of the words coming from my mouth.
"I'm sure we already do." Kevin pitched in without a second thought, his gaze meeting mine then narrowed on the stairs as Voight came marching up.
"All right, so what's the next step, Sarge?" Jay asked, standing up from his place by the desk.
"Did you talk to Al or his lawyer?" I couldn't help asking, although when I did I couldn't help thinking how lost he looked, or how with every question thrown at him his lips twisted tighter.
"Is he going to appeal the bond hearing?" Antonio came up beside him. Voight loosened the tie around his neck continuing to walk through the rows of desks."Is he going to appeal the bond hearing? Hey! I asked you a question!" Jay and I shot each other a silent glance for this to get bad before it got worse, then the room grew quiet at our colleague's outburst.
"Okay, um," Voight turned around to face us, his voice barely audible. "Al's gonna be out of there. Soon. Real soon. Okay?"
"What's that mean?" Antonio tried again, hands tucked into the pockets of his dress coat. I know he cared deeply about Al, but he was out of line challenging Voight at such an emotional time. Watching the two of them was like sitting in the first row watching a sparring match.
"It means I'm taking care of things, but I can't get into the details right now."
"Why not?"
"I appreciate your concern, but you've got to back off now." Voight made a move to head back to his office, but Antonio kept pushing his buttons until he practically snapped.
"I wanna know what I need to do to help Al." Antonio held up a finger, stepping dangerously close to him. "And all I'm hearing from you is nothing-"
"Because you don't know what you're talking about!" Voight shoved him back. Jay and Kevin stepped in between them so neither one could advance on the other. Kim placed a hand on Kevin's shoulder to back him up. This whole situation was a mess and tension was high.
"Get off! Really? Everyone knows-"
"Watch yourself." Voight fumed as Jay placed a hand on his shoulders, hand raised for him to step back from the situation before they both started swinging.
"Enough! Enough!" Kim shouted, to which Voight retreated back to his office with the slam of his office door. "Maybe we should just all go home until we know more. It's been a long week for all of us." Antonio sniffed in the direction of Voight's office, then trailed out of sight.
"I have some paperwork to finish up. I'll go home in a bit." Jay sat down at his desk and pulled up a small stack of files piled on the side of his desk. We all knew what he was really doing by staying behind, He was making sure Voight didn't end up doing something he shouldn't.
"I guess I'll go pick up Eva early." I grabbed my stuff, and headed down the stairs. As I did, I sent a quick message to Betsey to let her know I was on my way. If we were going to make it in time, I needed Eva to be ready when I got there.
"Let us know how that all goes and what we can do for you." Kevin offered, his fingers touching my shoulder in a caring way.
"Thanks Kev, I appreciate it." I made it back to the parking lot without being stopped by anyone, which was a miracle because it happened every single time I was headed out the door of the precinct. Most of the lights turned green as I was passing through, which made it seem like I had arrived a lot sooner than I thought I would.
"Hailey." Betsey raised her eyebrow in surprise as she opened the door to put a bag of trash by the hall wall. "I wasn't expecting you for another ten minutes."
"I know, I wasn't either. It just so happened I got out the door for work and all the lights cooperated."
"Well, come on in." She opened the door wider with her foot. "I'll tell Eva you're here."
"Thanks, Betsey." She disappeared down the hall. While I was waiting, a drawing leaning against the window caught my eye. It was of a little girl standing next to a woman. I quickly guessed that Eva had drawn it since both were blonde. However, the third figure standing in the distance had dark brown hair, and looked as if he were watching them.