Al and Antonio come up the steps, both wearing sullen expressions as the rest of the team looks at them expectantly.
Al speaks up in his mellow pissed off way, "Jay's car was exactly where Bembenek was killed, facing south. Jays phone, badge and gun were on the front seat and along with a stack of photos."
Antonio drops the stack on Erin's desk, spreading them out for all to see.
Voight picks one up and shakes his head; Jay at a crime scene in his vest with the guys, Erin getting into a car in the background.
Voight shakes his head, "They followed him to crime scenes. How did we not pick that up?"
No one answers because they've all seen the picture of Jay and Erin sharing a kiss. They all discretely cast looks at Voight to see if he'll react or if he's even looked at the picture closely. Voight makes a point of picking it up, "This is outside of Molly's..."
Erin holds her breath waiting for the hammer to fall. It doesn't. Voight just moves on to the next photo, trying to identify each location.
XXXXXXX
Ten minutes later, the white board is set up with all of the pictures. Locations they can identify are written underneath, along with any other information they might have about the photo.
The location of the kiss was easy, but they have no way of knowing the date and time except that it was dark.
The picture of Jay sitting by Terry's grave, again at night, has no other information or way to identify the date, so the picture won't help them pinpoint who took Jay.
Adam points to the crime scene photo. "No way to pin it down, there's not enough background to identify a neighborhood, only Erin getting into the car."
There's a picture of Jay sitting at Ben Corson's grave, arms resting on his knees, staring at the headstone. Again, nothing useful for finding Jay, but the picture takes them all back to the day Jay was suspended after Rodiger was found murdered. That one stings. None of them had Jay's back.
Another picture of Jay sitting at Ben's grave. This one five days ago based on the shirt he's wearing with a torn cuff from a bust that went sideways. Two pictures of Jay at Ben's grave drives home how much that kid meant to Jay and how much pain he's still in, so many years later.
The picture of him and Erin on a stakeout is also a bust. Whoever took the picture used a zoom lens, there's no way to nail down the time, date or location on that one.
Jay crouching down at his Mom's grave with a bouquet of flowers, gives them a possible date the picture was taken. Based on the date on the marker and the flowers, it looks like it was his mom's birthday. They put that info down as a question mark.
Jay sitting in Molly's with the guys having a beer, Blackhawks game on in the background. It looks like who ever took it was pretending to do a selfie, but had the camera pointed at Jay instead.
None of the pictures seem useful. Just another way to taunt them.
Antonio speaks up. "Okay, the Bembenek's are either epically stupid or someone is trying to frame them."
"I'm pretty sure Bembenek is epically stupid whether it's a frame up or not."
Voight gives what can only be an affirmative grunt to Al's comment.
"Check your CI's. I want to know what they know. If it's Bembenek someone will know. If it's a rival...someone will know."
The plan grinds to a halt when Erin's computer dings and they all scramble back to her desk, Mouse moving aside so everyone can see.
XXXXXXX
They all spoke or silently raged at once.
"Oh, man..."
"Jay..."
"Those assholes, I'm going to kill them.
The monitor fills with the image of Jay slumped sideways against the wall. He's no longer wearing a shirt, only jeans and there's a constant tremble running through his body. The only thing keeping him from crumbling all the way to the floor is the bloody wrist cuffed to the base of the wall. There is more bruising on his face as well as a split lip and cheek. There is bruising and electrical burns on his torso, a battery and cables nearby. They really did a number on him.
"Jesus...is he breathing?
The asshole in his ski mask fills the screen, "Of course he's breathing...oh, and I've now muted you, so don't bother calling out to your boy."
"He is one sad sack, isn't he? Makes quite a few trips to the boneyard. Seems he likes talking to dead people more than the living. I could have sent you more pictures of his emo escapades, but prints are 10 cents each. It was bad enough I had to spend 80 cents on him. But he was nice enough to pay me back..."
He walks back to Jay and pushes him more upright with his boot, "I took it out of his hide...see...one, two, three..." Jay's eyes remain closed but he winces as the asshole pushes on each burn and counts, stopping at seven. "Oops, looks like I miss counted...math wasn't ever my strong suit." He steps away, grabs the battery cables, then walks back to Jay, "Hmm, where would be a good place for eight...ah ha." He turns and looks at the camera then looks back and puts the cables to Jay's neck. Jay bucks and falls flat shaking, then continues to tremble, even after the cable are removed. "Eight!"
