Finding Our Real Rhythm

Chapter 5: Can't Stop

I knew this case was going to be rough. I just didn't think it would be this rough. We still had no leads. It felt like we were in a maze hitting wall, after wall , after wall. It seemed as though it would never end. I looked over at Kim who is now sitting across from me. I was getting worried about her. We were all working hard on this one but , she was working herself into the ground.

God my girl is the one who feels everything so deeply and wears her heart on her sleeve. She would rather take a bullet then slow down.
I get up and move to her side of the desk and crouch down in front of her so that I am at her eye level,

"Hey darlin' why don't you take a break... Kev and I have this. Go get yourself another cup of coffee, take a breath and just recharge. "

she looked down at her hands

" Adam I can't. I I can't stop until we put him away."
"Look at me Kim."

she doesn't look up from her hands so I try again

"Darlin' look at me"

she finally looks up at me

"There she is, there's my girl. I promise you we are going to do whatever it takes to put him away this time for good OK?...... But it's not gonna do you or anyone else any good if you run yourself into the ground. You need to take a small break and just recharge.. I promise you I will come find you in the break room if we get anything."

" You promise? "
"I promise now, go."
"I'm going, I'm going."

She gets up from her chair and I hold her there for just a second and kiss her head.

"Hey, thanks for doing that man. I couldn't focus on my work because I kept worrying about how she was. " Kevin comes up to me as we watch her walk away.
"No problem. We know how she gets at times, throws herself into cases and blocks everything else out"
"Yeah that's for sure. I'm glad you guys are doing good again. She's definitely going to need you"
"She's going to need to both of us bro"
"That's our girl in there, she's always got both of us. Now let's find something to help her relax."

I nod in agreement and follow Kev back to our desks. We both just stare at our computer screens for a while trying to think of a new way to run this down.
"I just don't understand how his probation officer doesn't have an address for him." Kevin breaks the silence.
"Yanno, that might be something. You have to have an address when on parole, what if his officer is helping him. What's his name again?"
"Luke Shockey. Let's look him up.... hmm he has a sealed record. Strange. I thought probation officers were supposed to have a clean record"
"They are. Wait look here at his bank account, there's a $10,000 deposit into someone else's personal account!"
"What if he paid Ellis to carry out a hit and in return he acts like Ellis is a model parolee?"
"I think I need to go get Kim, will you fill Srg in?"

Kev nods and heads into Voight's office as I head into the break room. I shut the door behind me and just stand there watching her. She had a cup of coffee in her hands and she's staring out the window. It doesn't take a genius to realize her mind is elsewhere.

"Hey darlin." I slowly walk up to her place my hand on the small of her back, bringing her out of her thoughts.
"Hey Adam, did you find something?"
"Yeah we think his parole officer might have paid Ellis to carry out a hit."
"That would explain why there isn't much on Ellis since he got out."
I turn her around so she's looking at me instead of outside.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah of course. I'm not made of glass Adam."
"Come on Kim, it's me. Talk to me."
"You're right, I'm sorry. It's just this case, it's digging up a lot of past feelings. Almost losing my career, almost losing you and the mistakes I made with Roman"
"Oh baby, you never lost me. I've always been right here"
She pulls me in for a hug and let me tell you, that was probably one of the best hugs of my life. There's nothing more that I love than holding her in my arms. She reached up and cups the side of my face with her hands,

"Thank you. For having me take a break. For having my back. For always being here when I need you. I can't wait for us to finally talk things out tonight baby"

With that she walks back out to her desk. I stand there stunned and smiling like a fool. I can't believe she called me that, lord have I missed it. I'm glad we only have an hour left of the shift because I need to hear what she has to say.

I sit back down at my desk. With the information that Adam just gave me I do a deep dive into the probation officer.

" Hey Kev, I'm gonna go run downstairs and see if Trudy can help us find out a little more about this probation officer. She's got connections that we wouldn't even think about."

he nods and I make my way downstairs

"Hey Sarge"
"What's up Burgess?"
" I was wondering if you can see if Luke Shockey has any priors. His record is sealed which is kind of suspicious so we can't get into it. I was hoping with your connections you'd be able to weed through the red tape."
"I'll see what I can find out."
"Thanks Sarge."

I start to walk away but then I stopped in my tracks

"Thank you."

trudy looked at me confused

"For what..?"
"The little heart to heart earlier it's just what I needed to get my head back in the game. Just knowing that you and the team have my back, whenever I feel like I'm losing my head, is enough for me to know that I'm not alone so...... Thank you."
"Anytime burgess now get your butt back upstairs. I'm sure special sauce and Wonder Boy are worried about you."