⋆° დ ༄ UNTIL THERE WAS FOREVER
chapter eleven. don't read the news.

"Okay, so Gracie's favorite toy is her stuffed bumblebee that she got from her godfather. That's in her playpen. What she likes and dislikes and our phone numbers, are on the fridge, um, what am I forgetting. I feel like I'm forgetting something" Sam rambles.

"Baby, Lucy is gonna be fine. She's a professional" Jay says.

"Sam, we're gonna be fine" Lucy says, holding Gracie on her hip, "Right, Gracie? We got this handled"

Gracie nods her head and smiles, then Sam kisses her cheek.

"And Wyatt is in his room playing video games and Denise is in her room playing with a friend"

"I'm good, you guys go and save some lives"

Jay gives his daughter a kiss on her head before him and Sam head out to a crime scene they were just called to.

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Hank walks onto the football field, and is met with commander crowley who tells him how important this one is and all eyes are on them for solving it.

"Rough one" Sam says, meeting up with Hank, "Grace Johnson. 22 years old." then they walk over to the others who are next to her body.

"She's not in the system. No priors. Nothing" Porter states.

"Found her bag nearby. She definitely wasn't robbed. But there's barely any blood here, so she was probably killed someplace else, and then dumped here" Kevin says.

"Well, she fought back. Defensive wounds." Al says, standing up from kneeling next to the body, "She's got skin under her fingernails. Three small caliber bullet wounds."

"There's marks around her neck. Looks like she was strangled. But the M.Es not going to know cause of death till she gets her on the table" Jay says.

Hank looks up from the body to see Kenny Rixton and says, "hey, Kenny, listen. Bag her hands. Have forensics run a deluxe, will you?"

Kenny nods her head and walks away and then a lady behind the crime scene tape starts yelling about something.

"Who is that?" Jay asks Hank, referring to Kenny.

"Kenny Rixton. He's Ruzek's replacement."

"What?" Kim says.

"Ruzek's replacement. Look, I'll fill you in later. Work the case and Kim get that under control" Hank says, pointing to all the yelling from behind the crime scene tape.

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"Adam's replacement?" Erin says, as she, Jay and Sam walk onto the unit.

"That's all he said" Sam says, as they all shrug their coats off and Sam and Jay walk over to Erin's desk, "So, how'd it go with your dad?"

"Fine. Um, I don't know. I don't even know if I want this in my life"

"Do you want us to dig in? Go through his financials, see if he's got a reason to be coming out of the woodwork?" Jay asks.

"No, thanks though" Erin says, as they walk over to Kevin, whos standing at the whiteboard, when Hank and Kenny leave said Sergeants office.

"Okay, this is Kenny Rixton. He's been assigned here from the gang unit. we actually worked together" Hank says.

"Where's Adam?" Kim asks.

"Ruzek's been detailed to an undercover assignment at his request. I don't know what the case is. I don't know for how long. Kevin, you and Kenny are going to partner up. He's up to speed on the case"

"Hey, welcome aboard" Jay says.

"Welcome" Erin says.

"Looking forward to working with you all" Kenny says.

"Hit it" Hank says, so they can start talking about the case.

"Okay, so, uh, Grace Johnson, 22 years old. She was found dead last night based on an anonymous 911 call. The caller did not want to be ID'd. His phone was a dead end and as of right now, we haven't been able to turn up any witnesses" Kevin says.

"It was 28 degrees out last night. Hard to determine time of death. We're trying to locate a vehicle that would've dropped her off where she was found." Brayden says.

"Well, the M.E. noted vaginal tearing, signs of asphyxiation, and three gunshot wounds." Al says, standing up from his desk.

"And no arterial bleeding, which means she was raped postmortem" Erin says.

"Who was she?" Hank asks.

"Yeah, uh, Grace was a hard worker, receptionist at a doctors office in the south loop, raising two younger sisters. Mom's MIA. Dad got knifed in the day room at Stateville last year. Sister's are with DCFS now" Kim says.

"Those sisters need to be interviewed. I want to understand the last day of Grace's life. Every minute. Check all sex offenders in the area. Comb her social media. Dump her phone. Let's go"

~~~

After picking up Vincent Avenel, who Grace danced for, Hank and Jay interviewed him and he gave up the name, Ricky Barnes, who Vincent said was dating the victim. Now the team is surrounding the whiteboard as Kim tapes up a picture of the man and says, "Ricky Barnes. 27. He's been arrested, but no charges as an adult. He was a violent kid, in and out of the juvenile system. No current address. Accurint puts his last two arrests at his parents' house."

"Mom and Dad live two blocks away from where Grace was dumped. Dad's a machinist and Mom works back office for Streets and San." Sam says.

"You and Brayden hit it" Hank says.

"Um" Kim says, then looks at Sam who nods her head, then she walks over to her desk to pick up a couple files to hand to Voight and says, "Two recent murders on the south side. Victims choked, shot then raped"

"Uh huh"

"It's a pattern. Woman at the tape line put me onto it. Deanna Lewis. Her niece is one of the girls"

"If it was, Homicide would've known" Al says.

"Could've fallen through the cracks. They are overloaded as we all know" Sam says.

"Chase it down" Hank says.

"Okay" Kim smiles.

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Sam and Brayden get out of the vehicle and walk up to the door to the home of Mr and Mrs Barnes -Ricky's parents-. Once they get inside and introduce themselves, Sam tells them about the text messages between him and Vincent and that they're looking for him.

"You want to arrest our son off of some text messages?" Mr Barnes asks.

"He made threats. We can't find him. We just want to get him off the street before anything else happens" Porter says.

"Jeanette, does he have a gun?" Sam asks. Mrs. Barnes looks to her husband and says, "Franklin, does he?"

Mr Barnes shrugs his shoulders and says, "I don't know. You tried his friends? Those young men are always strapped"

"Officers are looking for his friends now" Brayden says.

"Well, I'll reach out, but Ricky didn't make it home. He's pretty upset about Grace"

"Do you mind if we search his room?" Sam asks.

"I do mind. If you want to talk to him, I'll try and make it work, but this is our home" Franklin says, before his wife could say anything.

"Sir, uh, if I may, help us out here, okay? Grace was murdered. You knew her. She probably stood right there where you're standing at one point, and what happened to her is as bad as it gets" Brayden says.

"You don't think my baby killed that girl?" Jeanette says.

"No" Sam says, "But we think he might know who did, and the longer he stays out there, the more he does begin to look like a suspect"

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"So, we're trying to link this killer from the 2008 murderes in green, right, to the recent killings in red, to include Grace Johnson" Jay explains to Hank, pointing to the map on the board of Englewood and surrounding areas.

"We lost the ballistics from 2008 to compare to these fresh murders" Kenny says.

"Right, but we do have physical DNA evidence in storage. The problem is, our offender isn't in the DNA database" Sam says.

"So, we spoke to Antonio. He had a great idea. You widen the DNA search to include familial matches, and then you search every felon in the state." Jay says.

"So, you're thinking our guy is smart and never got pinched, but somebody in his family might've been?" Hank asks.

"That's the theory. The problem is, to do a sweep, you got to petition a judge. To get a judge we need a prosecutor."

~~~

"A familial DNA sweep" Kot asks, following Jay, Sam, Kenny and Hank into Hanks office, "That's half science fiction, and a good defense attorney could shred you with it"

"It's the only way to ID him. We got a DNA match from the cold cases and the recent murders. It's the same guy, but whoever he is, he's not on file" Rixton says.

"You want to build a serial killer case off homemade evidence walked in by a civilian? And where's our suspect?"

"Ricky Barnes is still a possible" Sam says, "He was in Grace's life, but we're still connecting the dots"

"Can you put him near Grace's body?"

"Not yet. She was with him the night she was killed. Her cell phone puts her there, but that's it" Jay says.

"Where is he?"

"We're looking" Hank says, "Meantime, I want that DNA sweep. I got 13 families denied justice. You want to stand in their way?"

~~~

"This hand gun was recovered from underneath the carpet lining of Ricky Barnes' trunk" Jay says, taping the picture of the gun underneath Ricky's picture.

"Preliminary ballistics are a match. That .25 is a hit on all three recent murders." Porter states.

"The thing is, if we lost the ballistics from 2008, we still can't tie Ricky Barnes to those bodies" Sam says.

"We got the gun. We got DNA" Jay says.

"I'd just like it better if the DNA was 100%"

"No, see, I think we may have something" Al says, "Now, Walter Wollman had some notes on a girl back in '08, a witness"

"Yeah? Did she actually see the murders?" Kevin asks.

"No. She was raped and shot in the chest, but somehow she lived. So the story goes"

"But all we have is her nickname, Cherry, and this was 8 years ago" Kim says.

"Well, if she's the only one who can tie Ricky Barnes to one of these crime scenes, find her" Hank says

~~~

After Sienna Brody aka Cherry, identified her attacker as Franklin Barnes -Ricky's dad-, she sits in Hanks office talking with Voight about him. Sam knocks on the door and says, "Nothing. His wife hasn't seen him. His phone hasn't moved in 12 hours. He's running"

"Alright, call Kot. Get a search warrant for his house. We need a solid DNA sample. Do a garbage pull. Anything and everything"

"We also need to get Ricky Barnes out of 26th and Cal. He might know where his dad's hiding"

"Just make sure you do it quietly" Hank says, as Sam nods her head and heads to her desk to grab her coat so her and Jay can talk with Ricky while the rest of the team heads out to the Barnes residence to search it.

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"Your dad kills more than a dozen girls. How much would you know?" Jay asks, as they walk down the hall at 26th and Cal to talk with Ricky. Sam shrugs her shoulders and says, "I don't know. Up until recently I didn't think my dad could take part in killing my mom, but.."

"They lived under the same roof"

"You can hide a lot if you try" Sam says, as she and Jay wait at the gate for it to open to get to the room to talk with Ricky.

"How's your new partner, Porter? He solid? Because I don't just want anyone working with my future wife"

Sam chuckles and says, "Yeah, he's cool"

Once inside the room, Sam sits down at the desk, next to Ricky while Jay stands in front of them and says, "Ricky, we think that the reason that your DNA was a false positive is cause you're such a close match to your dad" Ricky looks at the two detectives confused, "Do you understand what I'm getting at here?"

"No. My dad?" Ricky asks. Sam nods her head and Jay says, "Come on, Ricky. I'm telling you, we're telling you that your father killed 13 girls. You didn't see anything? You didn't know anything?"

"Look, 10 minutes ago, it was me locked up. Now you say...now... Now you think my dad did this?"

"Ricky, you loved her. You loved her right? You loved her and he raped her and he killed her. Your dad did that, and then he set you up, so you'd take the ride.Help us out. Where is he? Where would he go?"

"I don't know! I don't know what you're saying. I don't know. I don't know" Ricky says, starting to cry.

"Ricky" Sam says, "I know this is a lot. If your dad were nervous. If he were going to hide out somewhere. Where would he go? Come on, man. Where would he go?"

Ricky takes a deep breath and says, "My uncle's. Not my blood uncle. He's got a shop. They drink there. He's got a key"

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After arresting Franklin Barnes on all 13 murders, everyone says goodnight to each other and Sam gets up from her desk with a file in hand and walks over to Erin's and says, "Want to hear some good news?"

"Yes"

"Jimmy Sanguinetti is a solid, financially stable, charitable individual"

"You ran his financials even though I asked you not to?"

"Pretty much. And now we know what ever reason he's here it isn't looking for a handout"

"You seem very interested"

"Erin, you're my sister, right? I'm just looking out for you" Sam smiles. Erin smiles back and says, "Thanks, Sammy"

🌙🌙🌙

Jay and Sam walk into their house to see Lucy sitting on the couch, holding a sleeping Gracie in her arms and singing to her. Sam sets her bag on the bench next to the door and says, "How long has she been out?"

"A few minutes" Lucy whispers. Sam smiles and says, "I'll take her. Thank you Lucy" then takes her sleeping daughter into her arms and brings her upstairs.

"Thanks, Lucy"

"Yeah, of course. I'll see you guys tomorrow" Lucy says, standing up and going to grab her bag from the bench, then leaves. Jay shrugs off his jacket and walks up the stairs to his and Sam's room and takes off his shirt and throws it in the hamper, then takes off his shield and gun and puts it in the safe under the bed.

Sam walks into the room taking off her shield and gun to put it in the safe along with Jay's and says, "Gracie is asleep and so is Denise, her friend and Wyatt. So, I was thinking, since we haven't had peace and quiet like this in a couple weeks, that we could I don't know" Sam shrugs, taking her shirt off, "Play around, maybe"

"Well, I can't say no to you, can I?" Jay smiles, leaning in to kiss his fiancée, who wraps her arms around his neck. Jay then drags is warm hands down the brunette's side, to her belt and starts to undo it, along with the button of her jeans and unzips the zipper and right on que the baby monitor goes off with the sound of Gracie crying.

The couple sighs and Sam says, "Your daughter's waiting"

Jay pecks his fiancee's lips one more time before leaving the room to get his daughter.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Jay asks, picking Gracie up from her crib. Gracie sniffles and leaned her head on her dad's chest.

"It's okay. I'm here for you, always" Jay whispers, rubbing soothing circles on his daughter's back.

Flash forward to
April 20th, 2017

"It's okay, sweetheart" Jay says to his daughter, rubbing soothing circles on her back, after crying for the last 20 minutes, while Denise and Wyatt sit in the break room eating a snack. Hank walks onto the unit from seeing Sam and Erin asks, "Hank, what the hell is going on? One minute, we're enjoying the wedding and the next, homicide barges in and arrests Sam"

Voight sighs and says, "It's not good. Sam-"

As Hank tries to explain to the team what's going on, Kelly walks onto the unit and asks, "Do we know what's going on? I tried to go see Sam and they said no"

"Listen. It's not looking good, but we're going to do everything we can. Nothing else matters, besides getting Sam's name cleared, got it?" Hank says and everyone nods their head.

a/n:

I just wanted to thank everyone for all the love for this series! 💗
I never thought the first book, let alone this series would get so much love and reads, I just really wanted to write a Jay Halstead book but it bloomed into something amazing and I'm just so thankful to be able to write Sam's story! 😇💖
And another flash forward? Uh oh, they're getting more intense!🤭