Finding Our Real Rhythm

Chapter 3: Case

I ride with Adam to the crime scene,Voight wants to "shake things up" and try new partners. So it's Adam and I, Erin and Kevin and Antonio and Jay. It's actually a really good pairing, we're one of us lacks the other one picks up. I'm just a little nervous about working with him, obviously I still trust him. I just don't know if he feels the same. The car ride is silent, just music playing in the background. After a 10 minute drive we arrive.

"Alright Voight told me to run point, so Jay and I are going to talk to the first responding officers. Erin and Kev collect witness statements and kim and Adam check out the crime scene." Antonio instructs. We all nod and head off in our directions.

I walk with Adam over to the coroner,
"What do we got?" Adam asks.
"I count 8 gunshot wounds. Separately none of them are really fatal, together he bled out pretty fast. Definitely a 9mm. Vic's name is Matthew Scott, 28 year old, lives over on King street."
"So over kill for sure?" I ask for clarification.
"Definitely, 3 of these would've done him in, the other 5 might as well have been target practice"
"Alright, thanks. Call me if you find anything else when you do your autopsy" the coroner nods and we start to make our way over to Jay and Antonio.
"What did you find out?" Jay asks.
"8 shots. Overkill. All a 9mm. Matthew Scott is the name." Adam fills them in.
"Responding officer said he was cold and stiff when they arrived. A jogger found him. Didn't see anything out of the ordinary" Dawson replies.
"Well maybe Erin and Kev found some leads" I chime. We all just hangout waiting on the other two to finish witness statements and hopefully they get us some leads.I can feel Adams eyes on me. He's bouncing back-and-forth from foot to foot, which I have learned from our time together, that was his anxiousness working overtime. His voice finally breaks the silence

" So how have you been?"

"Pretty good just busy with work and  visiting Nicole and Zoe whenever I can"

"That's good, that's good. How are they?"

"They're good Zoe is doing virtual school and Nicole is ready to pull her hair out. They are surviving taking it one day at a time"

He nods and we fall back into this comfortable yet awkward silence,then after what seemed like forever I hear him say. 

"Would you maybe want to go to O'Malley's to talk tonight after work?"

I nod my head giving him a small but sweet smile that he knows I only reserved for him. The look in his eyes makes my heart melt into a puddle at my feet. This man in front of me could and still does make my heart skip a beat every time he looks at me.

"Hey guys we might have a lead, a witness says he saw a blacked out mustang somewhere near a 2010-2012 around 1am tearing out of the park. He's a big car and says he would definitely remember seeing a car like that around" Kev says.

"Okay so how many blacked out mustangs of that year are in Chicago?" Halstead chimes in.
"Let's head back to the district and find out" Antonio orders. We all nod and make our way back to the tech room, it's been revamped so it's actually pretty user friendly. Which I'm sure Adam and Kev are thankful for, Voight likes giving them tech duty even though they both kinda suck at it.

"Looks like there's 56 mustangs with that description" Adam says briefly looking up from the screen. We all sigh, we have to narrow that down.
"Check traffic pods by the park!" Erin suggests.
Adam does that and after a few minutes of searching,"there it is!" I point to the top left camera. Adam zooms in on the license plate, Illinois tag gho-6181. Kev runs the plate through the system, we all hear the ding indicating there was a match. "Well are you going to tell us who the owner is!?" Dawson is definitely impatient.
"Umm yeah. It's um.." he looks at me and I can tell whatever name he is about to say, I'm not going to like. "Kim, it's Michael Ellis"
"What? No? He's supposed to be in jail still, his time isn't up for another 3 years" I suddenly feel like I can't breathe and then I feel Adams hand on my shoulder, "take a deep breath, I'm right here. We're all right here"
"Wait Michael Ellis isn't that.." Jay starts
"The guy that emptied his clip on Sean and I's patrol car, shooting Sean" I finish for him. I reach up and squeeze Adams hand that's laying on my shoulder, "I need a minute" I whisper to him. I see him nod and he know that I just need a minute alone to get my thoughts straight. As I start to walk away I hear Erin tell the rest of the team that she's going to fill Voight in.

I didn't know where I was headed when I started walking but before I knew it I was standing of front of Platts desk.
"Burgess what do you need? I don't have time to listen to you and specials sauces problem of the..." she starts but when she meets my eyes, her demeanor changes.
"Hey, officer Montoya, cover the desk" she yells to some patrolman I'm not familiar with. She leads the way out to the parking lot,
"What is it Kim? You look like you saw a ghost"
"You know the case intelligence caught this morning in the park..?"
"Yeah guy with a lot of bullets in him, what's special about him?"
"Not him. The shooter. A witness spotted a blacked out mustang so we ran pod footage, got the plate and we got a hit"
"I'm not getting any younger Burgess"
"It was Michael Ellis"
"No! How is that possible?"
"I'm not sure, I walked away before I heard how he got out so early"
"Are you okay Kim? What do you need?"
"I'm fine, I think. I need to put him away, for good this time. Sean took that deal for my sake, for my career. That guy needs to be behind bars."
"I'm working with this with you, Montoya can cover my desk. Should we call Sean?"
"No. I mean I don't even know how to reach him anymore. Besides it's not like he's after us. Thanks Srg"

When I saw his name come across the computer screen I could feel my blood start to boil. Then time just stopped,I couldn't move ,couldn't speak.  I saw red. I was brought out of my thoughts by Antonio asking for his name, I faintly heard Kevin say it out loud. I watched as Kim froze in her tracks unable to move. All I could think to do was put my hand on her shoulder, letting her know that I was there for her no matter what. When she whispered to me "I need a minute", I just nodded and watched her leave down the stairs. I knew right then she was going to break down and she didn't want anyone else to see. When she was ready she would come to me and I would be ready with open arms to comfort her.