⋆° დ ༄ UNTIL THERE WAS FOREVER
chapter twelve. you wish.

Sam, Jay and Erin are in the break room grabbing a coffee when Trudy walks in and says, "Someone here to see you, detective"

Erin turns around and says, "Hey" as Jay turns around to hand his fiancé a cup of coffee. Jimmy Sanguinetti takes something out of a plastic bag, handing it to Erin and says, "Hey, this is the photo album I was telling you about"

"Hey man, you want a coffee?" Jay asks, handing him a cup. Jimmy smiles and says, "Thanks" going over to sit at the table, where Sam had just gotten up to look at the photo album with Lindsay, "Your mom was always really good about sending them"

"Wow" Erin says. Sam smiles and says, "Aw, look how cute you were"

Erin playfully glares at her friend when Hank walks by and stops when he sees Jimmy and the brunette says, "Hank. This us uh.."

"Jimmy Sanguinetti" Hank says, walking into the room to shake hands with the man. Jimmy stands up, accepting the hand shake and says, "How are ya?"

"Hey"

"Looking good, Hank. Still at your fighting weight"

"Yeah"

"I just wanna say, you did a real good job raising her"

"Happy to help" Hank says, then looks over at his detectives, "We caught a case" then leaves the room.

"That means we gotta roll" Erin says.

"Oh" Jimmy says, as Lindsay starts to hand him back the photo album, "No, no, no. That's uh, that's for you"

"I kind of like that you kept them all these years"

"I'll text you"

"Okay"

"Take it easy" Jay says. Jimmy waves bye and says, "You too" leaving the room.

Sam picks up the coffee mug, dumping the coffee into the sink and says, "This is me running it for DNA, not you" then walks to her desk to put it in an evidence bag.

"Sammy" Erin says, following her sister to her desk, followed by Jay.

"Erin. We gotta know if this guy is who your mom says he is. Because we both know how she is"

~~~

"We've printed the DOA at the M.E's office. The name's Sandford Greg" Porter says, taping his picture onto the board. Kim walks onto the unit, handing files to everyone and says, "Registered sex offender. Five arrests for possession, three drunk and disorderly, two counts strong arm robbery, and, uh, four different restraining orders, including one from his mother"

"In and out of prison since he was 16." Al states.

"According to the M.E, estimated time of death was midnight. Initial tox screen show a cocktail of different narcotics in his blood" Kenny says.

"Okay, so this cat either OD'd or bled out from the severed..you know" Kevin says.

"Well, given his rap sheet, I'm sure there's no shortage of people who'd wanna do this to him. And we find out who, and whether or not it's a hate crime, sex assult, or self mutilation"

"Uh, Erin and I started canvassing all the pharmacies and the urgent care in the area. No walk ins, no drive ins, no ambulance runs" Jay says.

"But we checked every place that stocks gauze and plastic wrap, and we found a retail theft report. Basically says, 'a man covered in blood stole bandages and medicine from a corner store'" Erin says.

Hank looks at Al and says, "You and Kim"

🌙🌙🌙

Sam and Brayden head over to the home of George Higgins who had called 911 about the incident involving the victim, Sandford Greg and Sam knocks on the door and a couple minutes later George opens the door and steps outside lighting a cigarette.

"Tell us what you saw Mr. Higgins and the more detail, the better" Sam says.

"I went out to the Lincoln to get my cigs, right? My old lady don't like me smoking inside. When I heard this howling sound, like an animal or something. It scared the hell out of me"

"Where was that?" Porter asks.

"Uh, right over at the park"

Sam looks over her shoulder and says, "Now, the 911 call said you suspected a sexual assault"

"Hmm"

"Why'd you think that?"

"I seen this girl running off the other way. Well, somebody screaming, somebody running, one male and the other female, you know"

"Did you get a good look at the female?" Porter questions.

"Oh, nah, it was dark, and she was hauling ass. Uh, kind of golf type chick, maybe. Looked like she might have tossed something in the bushes, there" Higgins says, pointing to the bushes across the street.

"Did you go and check out what she threw?"

"No, man, did one better. Called 911. Rest is your job, bro. People walk their dogs over there. Can't risk the shoes"

Both Porter and Miller chuckle. Higgins then -carefully crossing the street- shows the two detectives, where he thinks the female tossed whatever she did into the bushes.

"Should be right around here" Higgins says, pointing to the bush.

"Alright. Just take a step back, please" Sam says. Brayden searches the bush, then he looks back at Sam and says, "Knife. Blood on the blade"

"Yeah, told you. Didn't I tell y'all? Ain't there some kind of reward for that? Helping y'all do your jobs?"

"A firm handshake and a sincere thank you, that's your reward" Brayden says, making the dark skinned male lightly scoff.

"We should get the crime scene techs out here to photograph that" Sam says.

"Yeah. Which way did the girl run though?" Brayden asks.

"Oh, down 41st towards the boys and girls club" Higgins says.

🌙🌙🌙

Sam and Brayden head to the boys and girls club to see if they got any surveillance footage of the female in question.

"Can you back that up a couple frames?" Sam asks and the man nods his head, backing the footage up a little bit to get a look at the girls face, "And also, do you know the IP address of that camera? Cause we're gonna need it for the evidentiary record"

"I can get it" the man says. Brayden takes out his work phone and takes a picture of the girl and says, "I'm gonna circulate this to all the patrolmen in the area"

🌙🌙🌙

Sam walks over to Erin who is sitting at her desk and says, "Can we talk...in the break room"

Erin raises an eyebrow and follows Sam into the break room and says, "What's up?"

"Jay had his guy at the lab fast track Jimmy's DNA" Sam says, taking out a paper from the envelope and showing it to her sister, "Erin, he's not your dad. I'm sorry"

Erin sighs and says, "Are you happy?" then hands the paper back to Sam and walks away.

~~~

"Emily Vega is claiming she was attacked around 9:45 p.m. at Pulaski Park" Kim says, taping her picture onto the board, "After she cut Sandford Greg, he wandered over to the corner store, arrived at 9:57, left again two minutes later"

"Yeah, the metadata from the clerks cell phone corroborates the timeline" Rixton says.

"The blood work from both locations confirms his movements" Al states.

"Okay, so, according to the M.E, the time of death is around midnight, but...at around 7:45 a.m. the body is discovered here.That's 8 miles from where the incident took place. So, if Emily didn't do it, who killed him, dumped his body and why?"

"Why are we ruling out Emily?" Sam asks.

"She's 105 pounds soaking wet, and this guys 6'2", 220. I don't buy that she choked him" Erin says.

"Sure, but she could have had a friend finish him off. People lie through their teeth all the time, don't they?"

"She's not ruled out. We're looking at everything. Let's take another run at her" Hank says.

"Got it" Kim responds.

~~~

"You guys kept pushing for it even after I told you I wasn't ready" Erin says, pacing in the break room. Sam folds her arms over her chest and says, "You know what, E, personally, I would wanna know"

"Easy for you to say, you know who your dad is"

"Yeah, and he's a killer"

"Is there something I need to be aware of?" Voight asks, peeking his head into the room. Jay stutters and says, "Uh, Yeah, I went back through Sandford Greg's rap sheet. He got pinched nine months ago for trespassing and drunk and disorderly at an apartment complex a couple blocks from where he got sliced up. It's called the Linden Homes"

"Check it out"

"I need a personal to handle something" Erin says. Hank looks between the three and Jay says, "Me and Porter will take it"

🌙🌙🌙

Jay and Brayden walk down the sidewalk from their car to head to the apartment complex when Porter asks, "So, Sam, what do you know about her?"

"Uhm, well, she's nice and she's good at her job"

"That's cool. She's gorgeous too, huh?"

Jay chuckles and says, "Yes, she is"

"Do you know if she's seeing anyone?" Brayden asks, as they approach the door to the complaining apartment. Jay rings the doorbell and says, "l'm not sure, actually. We're not that close"

"I think I'm gonna ask her out for drinks or something"

Jay tries hard to hold back a laugh and says, "Yes, you definitely should"

The door to the apartment opens and the guy asks, "Can I help you?"

"CPD. Can we talk to you for a second?"

"AFK" the guy says, taking out his head phone.

"This your place?" Porter asks. The guy opens the gate and says, "Yeah. Why? What's up?"

"Do you remember filing a complaint about nine months ago against a man named Sandford Greg?" Jay asks.

"Before my time guy. I just moved in 2 months ago"

"What about the previous tenants? You know where they are?"

"Nah, but, if I was you, I would talk to the special police. If something went down here, those cats would be up and in it"

"The special police?" Porter questions.

"Yeah, They'll lock you up for smoking a cigarette. You'd get along great" The guy says, then puts his headphone back in and closing the gate, "Alright boys, I'm back in"

🌙🌙🌙

"The special police are trained and sanctioned by Chicago PD, but they operate independently. On private property, they have full police powers. Carry firearms. Make arrests, but they're not subject to our rules and regs" Hank says, standing in front of his office, informing the team about the 'special' police.

"How is that legal?" Kim asks.

"There's 2,000 of them in the city and more coming if Alderman MacKenzie has his way. Pretty soon, they'll be patrolling Lincoln park" Al says.

Rixton folds his arms over his chest and says, "I think it's complete BS. That said, if I ever get fired cause somebody gets me on video for one of the million things they come after us for now, I'll be the first one in line to get an implication"

"Copy that" Kevin says, hanging up his desk phone, "that was ASA Kot. He said we don't have enough probable cause for a subpoena on the rent a cops"

"So, that means we go out and get some" Hank says.

~~~

"Hey, Sarg" Sam says, walking into Hank's office.

"Yeah"

"There's two homicides in the Linden homes. Both were ruled domestics and cleared by Area Central Homicide. I came across this, though. A male OD'd in an abandoned apartment" Sam says, showing Voight the paper, "He had no drug priors. Found with a needle hanging out of his arm. Guess what officer found the body"

"Lowdell?"

"Yeah, the body's still at the morgue. Hasn't been claimed yet"

🌙🌙🌙

"There's your boy" The M.E says, leading Voight and Miller to the body of the male that 'OD'd', "Got in here just in time, too. Death certificate came in yesterday. Otherwise, you'd be doing an exhumation"

"What'd the original autopsy say?" Hank asks.

"The detective who responded said it looked like an overdose. Walks like a duck"

"Mind if we take a look?"

"Have at it" The M.E says, before pulling down the zipper of the body bag. Sam points to the discoloration of the man's eyes and asks, "What's with all these spots around his eyes?"

"Petechiae and tracheal bruising. Like your other guy"

"So, he was strangled?"

"Odds are"

🌙🌙🌙

"This guy" Hank says, pointing to the picture of Lowdell.

"I talked to a former officer for the special police, who's now in CPD with us. He spent a couple months in Linden homes, claims Lowdell has a bounty system. Says cash bonuses are paid out when problem tenants are evicted" Rixton says.

"Can he prove it?"

"No. He said it was an open secret, though"

"Doesn't do us much good" Al says.

"Well, thing is , though, I mean, we ran backgrounds on them.Everybody who works under Lowdell seem like pretty good cops to me." Atwater says.

"Cops run in packs like wolves. If the alphas a bully..." Porter says.

"So, I checked the residence rolls for the past 12 months at Linden. The woman who made the original complaint against Sandford Greg, She's still there. Just in a different apartment, apparently, never reported the address change. Charmagne Stewart, 966" Burgess says.

"Kevin, you and Kenny" Hank says.

~~~

"James Moony. He's 22 years old" Sam says, taping his picture onto the board, then walks back over to her desk and leans against it, "He grew up in Garfield park. All city wrestler, and he studied criminal justice at city college. He's currently number six on the hiring list for Chicago PD"

"He's been with the special police how long?" Al asks. Sam looks at the file and says, "Three months and change"

"Alright, grab him up. Don't go in hard. He's practically one of ours" Hank says.

"Hank" Platt calls out, walking onto the unit, "Bunny Fletcher is here. She says she's not leaving until she talks to you"

Sam and Jay look at each other.

~~~

After the paramedics took James Moony to the hospital after he tried to hang himself in interrogation, the team is back on the unit sitting at their desks when Kot says, "You don't try to hang yourself unless you're guilty"

"I think what you meant to say is, 'thank god he's alive' counselor" Al says.

"Of course I'm glad. But after his psych eval, we're charging him with the murder of Sandford Greg"

"What about Emily Vega?" Kim asks.

"Kick her" Kot says, leaving the unit.

"Sergeant Lowdell" Hank says, seeing him being walked onto the unit by Sergeant Platt.

"You got a minute?" Lowdell asks.

"I do" Hank says, walking to his office, followed by Lowdell.

Sam grabs Moony's picture off the board and leans against Porter's desk and says, "He was six spots closer to being one of us"

"Yup and he just got into the wrong crowd" Porter says, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. What's up?" Sam says, fixing her necklace, so it lays on top of her shirt.

"I was wondering if-" Brayden says, stopping mid sentence. Sam looks at her partner and says, "you were wondering what?"

"Wondering... where you got that necklace?"

"Oh, this? It's just my engagement ring. I don't like wearing it on my finger, in case I lose it, so I wear it around my neck instead"

"Oh, you're engaged. Congratulations"

"Thanks" Sam says, placing the picture of Moony on her partners desk and walks into the break room. Porter gets up from his desk and over to Jays, who was watching the whole thing and says, "She's engaged"

"Really?" Jay says, trying to hold back a smile, "Huh, I wonder why she didn't say anything?"

"Do you think it's anybody here?" Brayden asked, looking around the room. Jay looks around as well and says, "You know what, I have seen her hanging around with Atwater"

"Really? He doesn't seem her type"

Sam walks out of the break room, smiling from ear to ear, grabbing her coat and says, "Baby, come on. Lucy just called, said Gracie just took her first steps"

Jay smiles, getting up from his desk, grabbing his coat and watches Braydens expression go completely blank from confusion. Watching the couple leave the unit, Porter walks over to Kevin and leans against his desk and asks, "So, Halstead and Miller?"

"They're getting married in April" Kevin says, looking up from his paperwork.

"Hmm and Gracie is..."

"Their daughter"

"Oh" Porter says, walking back over to his desk to sit down. Kevin watches the new guys actions and chuckles shaking his head.

a/n:
I can see Brayden and Jay being close friends in the far future 😂💖
Also, just a little side note: I'm not fully caught up on Chicago Fire (I'm only on season 3, which is season 2 for Chicago Pd), so if something happens with Kelly, and I don't write about it, it's because I'm not caught up on it!
(I'm fully caught up now)