Listen to Her || A Chicago P.D. Fanfiction

34- Case 15

A/N: The episode being used for this chapter is called 'Breaking Point'.

Monday, 8 a.m.
"The violence in Chicago has now touched elected officials. Outspoken Alderman James Burton of the 24th ward was gunned down this morning in the financial district." A reporter says into a news camera near the crime scene Intelligence is walking up to, snow crunching beneath their shoes, those present of the team wearing heavy coats or jackets. "Streets and Sanitation worker found him an hour ago. GSW to the house head, T.O.D. (A/N: Time Of Death) between 2 a.m., 3 a.m. based on lividity." A woman who works with the crime lab informs Hank, Al, Antonio, and Danielle who are the only four to arrive so far, walking with the lady to where Alderman Burton is covered with a yellow sheet. "Witnesses?" Hank asks. "No one's come forward." The woman answers. "Yeah, this place is really dead after hours, Voight. I doubt anybody was here." Antonio says. Hank squats down and lifts the body bag cover, revealing the dead man's shot head. "Pockets turned inside and out. Wallet, watch, and cell phone are gone." The woman informs them. "Any signs of a struggle?" Danielle asks. "Nope, looks like a robbery gone wrong." The woman answers. "Know what Alderman Burton was doing here?" Hank asks her as he stands back up. "Drinking at the Crown Pub. Bartender said he was with a banker, Rudy Finnegan, till closing." "We'll go talk to him." Danielle says, she and Antonio making their way towards the direction of the bar. "I heard this alderman said cops only care about white victims. I'd love to tell this jackass I'm working double overtime to help find the guy who killed him." The woman says, excusing herself from the Sargent who just looks at Burton's covered body before he hears his name being called. "Hank." Denny Woods says, walking up to the head of Intelligence. "Burton, huh?" Denny asks, both looking at the alderman. "Yeah." Hank says softly. "You know he and the mayor were very close friends. Yeah, the mayor would like your team to work this quick." Denny says, Voight nodding a bit. "Understood." He confirms. "Detective Olinsky." A woman's raised voice gains most of the working people's attention as Al turns to look at her and a man standing next to her as they stand outside of the caution taped scene. "We'd like a word." The woman says, she and the man wearing serious facial expressions. "What's this about?" Al asks nonchalantly, he and Hank walking up to them, Denny following. Antonio and Danielle make their way back towards their boss but stop a few feet away since they see the group of five conversing, both paying very close attention from where they stand. "Not here. Down at headquarters." The man says, the 61 year old is not buying it. "It's important, Al. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't." The man adds, taking a firm hold of Olinsky's left arm. "Get off me, man." Al tells him very softly as he steps back once, freeing himself from the man's hold. He turns and looks at Hank while ducking under the caution tape, the Sargent just watching his best friend leave with the other two officers before he takes a few steps closer to Denny. "What the hell is this about?" Voight asks him, Antonio and Danielle making themselves known as they walk up behind Hank. Woods just looks at Danielle, and by the way his left cheek raises a bit under his mask, she knows he's smirking at her before he leaves the question unanswered and walks away.
"Thanks for coming in, Detective Olinsky." The woman officer says as she and her partner sit across from Al who's just calmly sitting across the table from them in one of the meeting rooms in the Ivory Tower. "Why am I here?" Al asks softly. "We need to ask you some questions." The man answers. "About?" "Kevin Bingham." The name makes the father-to-be hold his breath a bit, brows furrowing slightly when in reality, deep down, he knows what these two people are trying to get at. "He murdered Danielle Rodriguez's brother." The woman clarifies since to her, Al seems confused. "They dug his body up about six weeks ago at a Super Mart construction sight." The man adds. "So?" Al asks. "You meet the guy?" Al doesn't answer, knowing anything he says could be used against him. He knows how these things work. "Okay, look. Third party DNA was found on Bingham's body. Yours." The woman informs him after seeing he won't budge. "Al. Can you explain how your hair ended up on the victim?" The man asks, leaning his elbows on the table. "Lawyer." Alvin says, looking from the man to the woman.
"I was with Alderman Burton for about two hours. He wanted me to invest in some urban revitalization project in his ward." Rudy Finnegan tells Antonio and Danielle who are questioning him as they walk with him in his work place, the man having been called to a meeting. "At midnight?" Antonio asks. "Oh yeah, he insisted that we meet after dinner. He seemed desperate for cash." "What do you mean?" "Well, he offered to pay 15% interest. That's double the market rate. We're friends, but that made me nervous. So I, uh, passed. Then I got in my Uber at 2:01 at the bar, and Burton went down the street." Finnegan says, showing both detectives his phone with the Uber app opened with his pick up time. "You see anything suspicious?" Dawson asks. "No. There was a guy at the bar earlier. African-American, came in, looked around for a few minutes, left without ordering." "Any details on that? Age, height?" Danielle asks. "Eh, late twenties, average height and build." His phone begins buzzing, the banker quickly answering and telling the caller to hold on. "You think of anything else, give us a call, okay?" Antonio tells him, handing the man his business card which he takes before quickly excusing himself and hurrying to where he's needed. "Hey, why do you think I.A.D. picked up Olinsky?" Danielle softly asks Antonio who can hear the subtle worry lacing her words. "I don't know. With Olinsky, you may never know." Antonio answers truthfully, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as they walk back out of the building to their Unit assigned car to head back to the station and see what everyone else was able to gather.
"So anything you need, anything at all, you have my private number. I know you and James had doubt's about our police, but we're changing things. You'll be in good hands with Sargent Voight here." Denny tells Alderman Burton's wife and son inside their home where people have visited to give the two condolences. Woods leaves, letting Hank and Danielle take over talking to Mrs. Burton and her son. "We're so sorry for you loss." Hank tells them. "Thank you. It's a loss for everyone, the entire city." Mrs. Burton tells him. "It is." Hank agrees. "We're sorry to do this now, but your husband's personal items were stolen. And if you tell me what they are, if you describe them, we may be able to track down the offender who stole them." Danielle tells her very softly, hating to have to question grieving people. "You think this was a stupid robbery?" Mrs. Burton asks, getting a bit defensive. "Mom, she's just trying to do her job..." Her adult son says, looking from his mother to Danielle. "My husband was a leader. A visionary, he was transforming this ward into a vibrant, bustling community. He didn't die over some damn Rolex." She says, raising her voice a bit, the Sargent and detective agreeing with small nods. "My father passed an ordinance last year. Uh, developers of blighted areas don't have to pay property taxes for five years." The son cooperates with them. "Guess some of the locals weren't too happy about that." Hank suggests. "Yes they protested on our front lawn, slashed our tires, made death threats." Mrs. Burton says, having calmed down a bit. "Did you get any names?" Hank asks. "The ward secretary kept track of all the angry calls and emails." She answers softly, the sniper writing everything down on a small notepad. "Thank you, ma'am, sir." Voight says, he and Danielle silently making their way out of the house.
"Hey, we got a list of pissed off locals from the alderman's secretary. There's at least 50 names." Danielle says, coming from Mouse's tech room with a folder in hand, him behind her as they enter the bullpen and walk up to everyone else who're gathered around Antonio's desk, handing her husband the folder. "We weren't able to get video of the male black Finnegan saw at the Crown Pub." Dawson says, noticing his wife is scanning the room for any sight of Al who isn't in the office. "What about the alderman's personal belongings?" Hank asks in general. "His phone has no signal, no hits on his credit cards, and his Rolex hasn't popped up in any pawn shops yet." Kevin answers. "I thought you should know the alderman's wife is on TV expressing deep concerns about Chicago P.D.'s dedication to black politicians." Trudy's voice startles everyone as they find her standing at the top of the stairs leading up to Intelligence. "It's been like what, five hours? Why is she going so hard at this?" Jay asks, he and the boys confused. "She's smart. She wants to keep the pressure on. Alright, so run the names of the angry locals. But don't give up on this robbery angle either." Hank orders everyone, well all but Ruzek who he pulls aside. "Listen, Adam. I want you to reach out to Woods. See if he knows what's going on with Al." He tells Adam who had tried to rat Voight out to Woods a few months ago after Woods baited Adam with Ruzek's sister who had a bad mark on her record. Luckily, Al had made Ruzek confront Hank about what was going on and they were able to fix the sitiation. "You haven't talked to him?" Adam whispers, watching Hank very subtly shake his head. "Still out of touch." Hank whispers. "Well, that's not a good sign. Alright." Adam says, departing from his boss to get ready to go pay Denny a visit, Hank walking into his office.
"Hey." Danielle greets one of the main medical examiners who's called her down to the lab, Antonio right behind her. "I pulled foreign hair and fibers from the body doing the DNA analysis. Cause of death, single gunshot to the head." She tells the decetives, uncovering alderman Burton's head to reveal the wound, both looking at it. "This is the recovered bullet." The M.E. says, handing Antonio a small glass jar with the bullet inside, and he takes it from her. "It's a hollow point .223 caliber from an assault rifle. Most likely from an AR-15." Danielle tells her partner and the M.E. who gives her an impressed smile from under her mask as the 21 year old leans over Burton's body to get a good look at the wound that she wasn't able to see at the scene. "The entry wound is clean. No soot, powder tattooing, internal cavitation. This means our alderman was sniped." The sniper concludes, the M.E. nodding in approval to the information. "So someone snipes the alderman from far away then they get close enough to rob him. That doesn't make any sense." Antonio says, sounding confused. "Yeah, you're right. It doesn't. Unless it was a hit. And a robbery was just to throw us off the scent, right?" Danielle asks him, watching him nod a bit as they think on it for a moment. "Thanks." She tells the M.E. before both leave the lab in a hurry.
"Commander. Commander!" Adam calls out to Woods who's just walked out of the Ivory Tower, Adam catching up to him. "I sent a few texts. I don't know if they went through." He tells Woods who just keeps walking to his car. "No, I got them. Why are you here?" Woods asks. "I, uh, heard that I.A. picked up Olinsky. Does this got something to do with Bingham?" Adam asks as Woods stops walking to look at him. "Look, sir, I'm just trying to help. Just trying to work off my case and Voight, he seems real nervous. I think this could be a good opportunity. So if there's something you want me to do, I'm ready for you." Adam lies to see if he can get Denny to give him some information. "Don't contact me again, ever." Denny warns him before walking to his car, opening the door. "Sir." Adam tries to talk to him again but the Commander looks at him. "If I need you, I will find you." Woods says before getting into the vehicle. "Yes, sir." Adam says, standing alone on the sidewalk.