In Too Deep (Agent Severide Book 3)

Chapter 20

21st District Police Department, Chicago

Jay parked the red Ferarri in the back parking lot before he climbed out along with Zoey. The detective handed her the keys and they started walking towards the back entrance of the police station hand in hand. Zoey and Jay walked through the building past the main entrance and upstairs to the intelligence office. 

"Look what the cat dragged in," Antonio said with a smile as he noticed the blonde, "Hey, how's it going?" she asked as Antonio stood up from his desk and walked over and engulfed her in a hug. "Good, how are you feeling?" he asked as he let go of the embrace, "Good, doc cleared me for desk duty, which is better than watching reruns of Hawaii Five-0 I guess of serial killer documentaries" Zoey replied earning a look from all the detectives. "With the job you have, you enjoy watching shows about it?" detective Burgess asked. 

Zoey shrugged, "It's all pretty tame compared to some of the cases I've worked, More it's interesting," she replied. "What's one of the worst cases you worked?" Ruzek asked earning a smack on the back of his head from Antonio. "Dude" Jay said in disbelief, Zoey laughed at them. "It's alright it's a fair question, and it depends on what you can stomach I guess" she replies. "Cases with kids are the hardest but strangely not the worst I've seen. This years been unbelievably disturbing for cases." Zoey said cringing slightly. "So the weird doll collector isn't the worst?" Atwater asked causing Zoey to laugh. 

"Ha, no. She was actually really tame for a serial killer. She didn't mean to kill those women. Most serial killers look forward to the kill or that time leading up to their kill it's like a ritual to them, the worse would be the cannibal we caught in Florida a few months ago," The blonde cringed at her words as the detective faces turned to disgust. "I'm not gonna go into detail it was. so beyond fucked up, plus I should let you get back to work instead of chitchatting about old cases," she replied. "How does someone just eat other people?" Ruzek asked, "Come on kid, you can't just mention a case like that and expect us to not be interested," Olinki said from his desk as he ate an apple looking at Zoey. 

The blonde noticed that everyone in the room was listening to her story including Voight who was standing in the doorway to his office. "Is it okay with you, I'm not trying to get in the way of your detective's jobs," she said more than asked. The sergeant nodded, "I kinda wanna hear this too," Voight replied. "Alright, well this man was institutionalized at the age of 8 or 9 because he tried to bite the flesh off his 10-month-old sister because his 'friends' told him to" Zoey began. "His friends?" Antonio asked, "Yeah his demon friends, anyways the hospital ended up releasing this patient when he turned 18 despite numerous doctors being against the idea." Zoey said. "They just let him go?" Burgess asked shocked as Zoey nodded. "They thought he'd continue his medication and legally they had to release him. We don't know how long he was living out his fantasies but when we caught him we found this cookbook full of recipes he'd tried some had frowny faces others had smiles," Zoey said visibly disgusted. "He had a huge industrial freezer he'd leave his victims in they died in there of hypothermia after he'd hack off their limbs and store them like meat, that wasn't even the worst part," The blonde said. "How does it get worse than that?" Atwater asked earning a look from the room. 

"We were interrogating him and he refused to talk to us, he only wanted to talk to the priest, and he told the priest that basically the missing woman we'd been looking for for almost a week the one we had search parties out looking for. He hacked her up and put her body in a pot of chili and then proceeded to feed the volunteers of the search party the food, including me and my entire team while I was pregnant" Zoey replied shaking her head as Burgess ran out of the room running towards the bathroom. "I stand corrected," Atwater said. "How'd you figure out you were looking for a cannibal?" Vouight asked. "One of the only victims we found had 10 fingers in their stomach, he force fed them. Each one was a match to a different missing persons report, Killing was only part of his fantasy," she replied as her eyes landed on a board of crime scene photos as horror washed over her. 

There were 5 woman wrapped is shrink wrap and tossed in ditches, Zoey's gut instantly turned as the wheels in her brain started spinning. "Zo, what is it?" Jay asked noticing the agents reaction change. "Is this your current case?" she asked Voight who nodded. "Any signs of sexual assault?" The blonde asked earning a confused look around. "How'd- Did the family receive anything in the mail? If you haven't asked you should" Zoey said with worry in her voice as she turned to teh room of detective who had the same look as Voight. 

Zoey sighed, "I worked a case almost identical to this in Florida almost a year ago," she said. "And you think it's the same suspect?" Jay asked. "I don't know, we put them away. It makes no sense and the details of the case were never released but this and the sexual assault matching their signature," Zoey said pointing to the shrink wrap. "Were all these woman found in ditches?" Zoey asked them. The room fell silent, "So either they got out of prison or you have a copy cat killer on your hands," Zoey said taking a deep breath before walking towards the stairs. "Where are you going?" Antonio asked her, "This isn't my case or my duristiction not to mention I'm still not cleared by my boss to work." Zoey said trying her best to walk away even though everything inside her told her to dive into the case. 

"I was gonna head home and pack some stuff up," Zoey said, "Severide, your sure about this?" Voight asked her. The blonde agent turned to him, "I'm sure, that case was one burned in my brain," she said looking at the board. "Don't be surprised if the victims families get videos of the assault in the mail" Zoey said sadly before she went to head down the stairs. "Severide, Caall your team tell them we could use a hand on this one," Vouight said before walking back into his office. 

That was all Zoey needed before she walked over to Jay's computer unlocking it before she logged in and began faxing over the case and called JJ putting her on speaker phone. "Awww miss us already?" JJ asked answering the line. "Always, are you with the team?" Severide asked still faxing over the case. "Yea, hang on a second let me put you on speaker," JJ said. "Hey, Severide. I got you medical clearance from Dr. Halstead, are you ready to come back?" Hotch asked. "More than you guys know. Anyways so I'm actually calling you on behalf of CPD's Intelligence unit," Zoey said through the line. "Everything okay in windy city superwoman?" Morgan asked. "I faxed over a case their working, could you guys go over it and tell me I'm not crazy," Zoey said more than asked. 

"Is sergant Voight okay with that?" Hotch asked, "If it's what I think it is yes." she replied. "I got the fax." JJ said before the line went quiet. "Why does this look oodly familiar," Morgan was teh first to ask. "Because we worked this case last year in Florida," Reid replied. "Any evidence of Sexual assault?" Prentiss asked. "Yea," was all Zoey said while the detectives stood there listening. "Discared in ditches?" Rossi asked, "yea," the agent said again. "Did the families receive anything in the mail?" Reid asked. "Not yet," Zoey said. "Tell Sergant Voight we'll be there in an hour," Hotch said through the line. "Sounds good, I guess I'll see you guys soon," Zoey said before she hung up.