⋆° დ ༄ UNTIL THERE WAS FOREVER
chapter twenty five. fork in the road.

Sam and Hank are in interrogation with Bunny, Erin's mom, who had called said daughter while at IA headquarters, saying that her boyfriend had been shot.

"You came home to find Johnny Martelli dying in your bed. You don't call 911? You call your daughter?" Sam asks.

"She's the police"

"She's not an ambulance. Meantime, he's bleeding out. Why don't you tell us who Johnny is to you? Is he a new boyfriend?"

"Johnny...we go way back. Grade school. I mean, nothing happened, you know, but then something happened, and...anyway, there's...he's not who people say he is"

"A three time convicted felon charged with multiple armed robberies?" Hank says.

"Well, he never brought that around me. He was fun. I thought he was the one"

"The one what? Hmm? You haven't asked how he's doing."

"Well.." Bunny says, looking at Hank, "How's he doing?"

Sam lifts her head up from her hand, that she was leaning on and says, "He was shot in the chest! What I want to know it. How does this fit into the scam that you're running on Erin?"

"What scam?"

"You tell us. You came around last week. She's worried. She's talking about you saying you're leaving town. What's going on?"

"Hank, can we speak alone?"

Sam rolls her eyes and leaves the room.

~~~

Once the interview is over, the three start walking down the hall when Erin shows up and says, "Mom, what happened?"

"They think I shot Johnny is what happened" Bunny says.

"Alright, Bunny you're free to go. Stay close. Keep your phone on, please" Hank says.

"Where were you?" Bunny asks her daughter.

"Don't make him say it twice" Lindsay says.

"Sam, why don't you walk her down then stop by Med, see if you can get a statement out of Martelli" Hank says, and Sam leads Bunny out.

🌙🌙🌙

Sam is now at Chicago Med, leaning against the desk of the nurses station with her brother in law beside her looking at his tablet and says, "So, Sam, how are you feeling?"

Sam looks at the doctor and says, "Did Jay put you up to this? I'm fine"

"You sure? Because you went through alot when Montgomery kidnapped you and Porter"

"Will...I said I'm fine okay, stop being such a doctor"

Ethan Choi walks over to them and says, "Sam, sorry, gunshot victim didn't make it. Lost too much blood before we could stabilize him. I'm gonna notify his sister unless you'd rather do it" he asks and Sam shakes her head no, "Okay"

"It's a, uh, homicide now, so I need the time he was pronounced"

"I'll get the records"

"Thanks Choi" Will says, as paramedics wheel a couple male teens by them.

"Two while male teens, both found unconscious. Girl who called said it was oxy. We administered NARCAN, pulled one out, but her friends nonresponsive" the paramedic says.

"Bridgeport?" Will asks.

"Yeah. St. Joe's prep"

Will turns to look at his sister in law and says, "Two bridgeport ODs yesterday, same deal. Kids thought they were taking 10 milligrams. Turned out to be 80"

"Well, there's more coming. Last count was these two plus nine." The paramedic says, walking away.

"Go. Do your thing" Sam says.

🌙🌙🌙

"So, the bad news is, the slugs that we recovered out of Johnny Martelli don't match any guns in our database." Kevin says, standing in front of the whiteboard, "They also don't match the gun we recovered from the scene, which we also believe to be Martelli's."

"However and more interestingly, the SIG we believe to be Martelli's did hit another case, and that case involved this truck" Adam says, taping a picture of a freightliner onto the board, "It was robbed on Racine, back of the yards. 40,000 pills of codeine. Two offenders wearing masks. The SIG was fired three times when the driver wouldn't get out of the truck"

"I just came from Med and kids are ODing and dropping all over Bridgeport, so whoever's selling them these pills, they got the dosage of what they're selling wrong, and this robbery happened about a mile from their school" Sam says.

"Martelli's flooding his own neighborhood." Al says.

"So, how does that get him killed?" Hailey asks.

"Well, the driver said two gunmen, right? Where's the other guy? Work Martelli's associates. Dump their phones. Who was near the robbery? Where are they now? And I want to know how this robbery connects to our homicide" Hank says, before walking to his office.

"Boss, what about Bunny Fletcher?" Adam asks.

"Yeah. Get her back here"

🌙🌙🌙

"Detective Halstead is aware that if she doesn't answer your questions, she can be fired" Sam's FOP rep says, as she and Sam sit across from the review board, "she's here today to cooperate. We'd like the record to reflect that"

"Noted" a woman says, putting on her glasses then looks down at the files, "Samantha Miller, just recently changed your last name to Halstead. Made detective three years after being a patrol officer in New York, then went on an undercover assignment for Robbery Homicide, for two years, whose details are still opaque, even to this board"

"She's an exemplary police officer" the FOP rep says.

"Not finished. You've been with intelligence for 3 years, after coming back to Chicago right after your undercover gig was up."

"I don't see how those two things have anything in common" Sam says.

"Relax" Lugo says, "This won't take long"

🌙🌙🌙

Sam hangs up her uniform in her locker back at the district. Sergeant Platt leans against the doorframe and asks, "How'd it go at the review board?"

Sam sighs and says, "Not good"

"They grill you?"

"No, the opposite. Like they already made up their mind that Erin was at fault."

"They offer you a deal?"

Sam shakes her head no and says, "They just released me. No disciplinary action forthcoming, and they cancelled the interviews for the rest of the unit"

"Something else is going on. They're jerking us around"

🌙🌙🌙

Sam gets out of her jeep and walks towards the district when she sees Erin standing by her car.

"Hey, Sammy. Can we talk?"

Sam looks around and says, "What's going on?"

"My moms in custody"

"How? What district?"

"It wasn't us. It was the FBI. They got a tip on the narcotics, the shipment her boyfriend stole"

"For someone not working case, you're up to speed."

"I tried to stay out of it. Look, it was three men who robbed the truck. Driving was Ian McAuliff"

"That could be out shooter. Man, she opened up"

"I guess getting pinched by the FBI will do that to you. Go. Get McAuliff. I shouldn't be here" Erin says. Sam pulls her sister into a hug and says, "I got your back, E."

"I know" Erin says, detaching from the hug, "Uhm, do you mind if I stop by your house to see Gracie"

"Yeah, of course. I'll call Lucy to tell her you'll be stopping by. Everything okay?"

"Yeah. I, just miss her is all"

"Okay" Sam says, before Lindsay walks back to her car and drives off.

🌙🌙🌙

Erin knocks on the front door of Sam and Jay's home, when Lucy opens and says, "detective Lindsay, hey. Sam called and said you'd be stopping by" then she steps to the side to let the detective in, "Gracie is upstairs in her room"

"Thanks" Erin says, walking up the staircase to her god daughter's room, then stops in her tracks when she sees her standing up in her crib and smiles, "Hi precious"

Erin picks Gracie up, putting her on her hip and says, "I just wanted to come see you. I'm gonna be gone for awhile and I just wanted to see your beautiful face before I left. I love you Grace Nadia Halstead and I'm very proud to be your godmother" then the brunette kisses Gracie on her cheek and puts her back in her crib, who's lip trembles, indicating she's about to cry, and putting her arms out for Erin to pick her up again.

Lindsay wipes the tears from her eyes and kisses her god daughter's head again and says, "I love you, Gracie. Don't forget that" then walks away.

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The team is at the roll up, getting vested up and getting their guns ready when Sam slams a file onto the table and says, "Ian Mcaullif. Did 2 years for agg assault. Three subsequent armed robbery arrests. Somehow never charged"

"Alright, so now we know Martelli's partner blamed him for when those kids OD'd. Said it was his plan, his problem" Kevin says.

"That's motive" Upton states.

"Yeah. Motive" Al says.

"Alright, we move in with barrels up. This guy is a shooter" Voight says.

~~~

After arriving at Ian McAullif's home to arrest him, the team ended up finding him dead on his floor.

Now the team is back on the unit, sitting at their desks, getting a timeline together when Jay says, "At 9 a.m., Ian McAuliff takes one to the chest and one to the head, and then Ballistics matches those shots to Martelli's gun that was found at the scene of his murder."

"And we now have multiple accounts that the shots that killed Martelli were fired at 11 a.m. in Bunny Fletcher's apartment" Upton says.

"Alright, so that's plenty of time for Martelli to murder his partner and get back to Bunny and get himself killed" Al says.

"Yeah. But by who? Pollack?" Porter asks.

"No. His alibi rules him out"

"No. His alibi is that he was being beaten up by a couple of Carmine's guys" Adam says.

"It's not our problem now. The FBI is taking the case" Hank says, working towards his office to grab his coat, "The secured 39,000 painkillers, and Bunny Fletcher has agreed to testify against Pollack in the robbery"

"Are you saying we're just gonna sit out a murder investigation?" Jay asks.

"I guess, they'll look into that, too" Hank says, putting on his jacket and leaving the unit.

~~~

Hank walks into his office to see Erin sitting on the couch and says, "How long you been here?"

"Long enough. They want me in New York like yesterday. What I'm saying...I mean, you know about this. You know about everything, right?"

"I knew I needed to do something. And they told me in no uncertain terms they're coming after you. You needed options"

Erin sighs and says, "You always thought you knew what was best for me"

Hank chuckles, taking out a small black, velvet bag from his drawer and says, "I gave this to Justin to add to his dog tags when he shipped out. Just so he'd have something, to know I was there" then hands it to Lindsay, who opens it to reveal a dog tag with a thumb print on it.

"Is this.."

Voight sticks his thumb out and says, "Well, it's yours now"

"Did my mother do it?" Erin asks and Hank stays silent, "You know, I don't even want to know. What about Sam? Agent Spencer says, I can't tell anyone. She's gonna be heartbroken when she finds out I left and didn't say goodbye"

"Leave Sam to me, I'll handle it"

Erin stands up and pulls Hank into a hug who says, "Don't look back"

Erin detaches from the hug, and leaves Voight's office, picking up her picture frame from her desk of her, Sam and Nadia and walks out.

🌙🌙🌙

"Where is she?" Hailey asks, as she, Will, Jay, Kevin, Brayden and Sam sit at a table at Molly's. Adam walks over to the table, placing a shot glass in front of Kevin, then going to sit at his seat and says, "You know what? I texted both her and Burgess. Kim's on her way, but I never heard back from Lindsay"

"I wonder if she heard back from the board already" Brayden says.

"I don't know, maybe, but that's all the more reason to celebrate, right?"

"Yeah, or drown her sorrows" Upton says. Ruzek looks at Hailey and says, "Jeez"

"Sorry. I'm Greek. I see tragedy in everything"

"I thought you guys were supposed to be fearless" Will says.

"Yeah. And on the streets, I'd like to think I am, but the Ivory Tower, that place is like a minefield with an elevator. And any cop who thinks otherwise is stupid or.."

"Or what?" Kevin says.

"Or stupid. Plain and simple"

Sam gets out of her daze when Jay nudges her and says, "Sammy"

"Huh"

"You okay?" Brayden asks. Sam clears her throat and says, "Yeah, I'm good. Just give me a minute" then gets up from her seat and heads outside to call Erin, who doesn't pick up. Sam sighs and rests her head back on the brick wall.

a/n:

The last chapter of the third book 😔😭
I miss Erin Lindsay so much, she practically made the show ❤️
I just wanted to say THANK YOU to Samanddean18, you're amazing ❤️ and thank you to everyone who has commented and voted!!
This book has been amazing to write, with so many emotions!