You Are My Sunshine

Chapter 23

"Hey, chuckles. Where's your sunshine?" Trudy asks Jay as soon as she sees him walk into the station. He doesn't have to ask her what she means as she understands straight away that she's referring to Emma. 

"Oh, don't look at me like I haven't noticed you come together almost every morning," she says again, and suddenly his eyes widen, which makes Trudy laugh. 

"Calm down Halstead. I know she doesn't have her own car, and you're just acting like a cabbie. It's not like you're sleeping together, yet" she says and seems to know more than they do. 

"She went with Herrmann for breakfast. He'll bring her," he tells her only, leaving everything else.

 Although at the idea of them coming from one's house, his heart beats louder. Before they can say anything else, Emma enters the building, and as Platt did say, it's like sunshine. She smiles at everyone and heads towards them.

"Good morning, Sergeant, Jay," she says, leaving at the front desk the usual sandwich along with a cup of coffee. Jay looks at them funny. 

"It's our thing," Trudy says, and Emma agrees before heading upstairs.

"Who's presenting?" Voight asks as soon as everyone gathers into the bullpen. 

"That would be me, Sarge," Kim says and walks over to the whiteboard, taping up the picture of a girl. 

"Valerie Gilchrist, 19 years old. Just graduated from the Culinary Institute. No priors, no red flags. Her sister died when they were kids, but other than that, she's led privileged life" she says again. 

"Do we buy her dad's story that she was there in Little Village to blog about tacos?" Jay asks. 

"Her social media's mostly about food. Best salsas, hole in the wall. According to 'The Reader', Coto's has the number three ranked taco in Chicago, so..." Adam says. 

"Wrong place, wrong time the wrong," Kevin proclaims. 

"Check this out. We looked at the pattern of previous robberies. The crew knew when these places would be fat and how to slip away without being detected. They case these joints, and probably ate there. It makes sense that they're from the neighborhood" Antonio says. 

"If they're worried about her being a witness, why not just silence her there?" Jay asks. 

"She's a white girl. Maybe they thought she was worth something," Kevin assumes. 

"Or they grabbed her for other reasons," Emma says. 

"When we find this crew, we find her, so search databases for anyone convicted of robberies living around Little Village. Now let's get some extra patrol units in here, and pull every banger with an open warrant," Voight says, and Platt brings him a piece of paper, making him furious. The girl's father gave money to anyone who knew anything about his daughter.

"Guys, I've got something. I checked the traffic cams by Coto's Taco and I got a hit on that blue Honda," Kim says as Voight returns and shows them a photo of the Honda parked with open doors behind a garbage truck. A man was standing next to the car. 

"Good job. Emma, you and Jay head over to Streets and San. Get this guy's name and go talk to him," Voight says and they leave quickly.

While they were in the car, Jay's phone started ringing. 

"Ricky. Irish whiskey and Oban. Yeah, only the finest. I'll see you tonight," he says, turning off his cell phone, making his partner look at him strangely from the driver's seat. 

"So are you going to tell me what that was, or am I going to start making scripts with my mind?" 

"Oh yes, that was for Will and Natalie's bachelor party tonight," he reveals, smiling proudly.