In Too Deep (Agent Severide Book 3)

Chapter 21

21st District Police Station, Chicago 

Zoey stood staring at the board covered in dead discarded women again, the videos from the last case still burned into her mind. "You good?" Jay asked walking over, "Yea, I'm fine," she said softly not taking her eyes off the board. "Hank, Sarah Cartwright's parents are here it's urgent," Sergeant Platt said. "Severide?" the sergeant said as he walked towards the stairs, the blonde turned on her heels and followed him down the stairs. 

An older man and woman were standing downstairs looking like they'd been sobbing hysterically and the agent's heart sank as she looked at the father's hand that was shaking as he held and opened envelope. "Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright, I'm sergeant Voight this is Special Agent Severide with the FBI," he said introducing them. "FBI?" the man said looking at Zoey, "Yes sir, I'm terribly sorry for meeting under these circumstances," she said sincerely. "This was mailed to us, please just find who did this," the man said handing her an envelope before starting to walk away crying. 

Zoey sent the older sergeant a sad look before she nodded back towards the stairs. He got the cue and the two went back upstairs as Zoey opened the envelope pulling out a CD case. Voight's face fell as they walked up the stairs and Zoey walked over to Jay's desk without a word. "This was mailed to the family," was all she said softly before putting the disk in the computer and the video started up. 

It was identical to the ones from Florida the only difference was the woman, background and music playing. Zoey was the one that stood up after a couple of seconds and walked away, "I'm gonna go tell the team," the blonde said after a few seconds of listening to this woman scream in pain while she was violently assaulted. 

Anger boiled in Zoey as she walked into the break room and pulled her phone out to call Morgan. "Hey superwoman, ho- The family receive a disk in the mail," Zoey said letting out a sigh. "Is it- yea it is if not worse" she replied, "We'll be there in the next half hour we're about to land anytime now," Morgan said. "Okay, see you guys soon," Zoey said before hanging up the phone and putting it in her pocket. 

The blonde stood in the break room leaning on the counter for a moment taking a shaky breath before turning and walking back out to the office. Everyone was silent, "So what do you have on this sicko and why are they in my city?" Voight asked Zoey. "Well for starters we gotta figure out a couple of things. Are these the same unsubs from Florida? How'd they get out? if they are. Why Chicago? Is this just a copycat?" Zoey said taking a breath before walking over to the board. "Why did they only send 1 disk when they have almost 5 victims?" Zoey asked herself this time before she pulled her phone out and called Garcia. 

"Speak and I shall dispose upon you my great wisdom," Garcia answered, "Hey Garcia, it's Severide. Can you find something for me?" she asked. "I could find the smallest crumb in the cleanest houses," she replied. "Can you send me everything we have on that really bad serial assault case in- Florida yeah, why? do you want to see those again though?" the tech analyst asked. "I really don't but there's a similar case here in Chicago, do you mind faxing them over to the 21st district as soon as you can please?" Zoey said. "Already sent, Zoey. I'm glad your back" Garcia said causing her to smile. "Thanks, I'm happy to be back. Wish it were a different case though," Zoey replied before she hung up the line. 

Zoey walked over to the fax machine that was already starting to print like crazy. The blonde picked up the stack of papers going through their case notes. The blonde paused noticing something with the victims causing her to furrow her brows before looking at the board. The victims from Florida were all petite women with any and every hair colour the victims in Chicago were all blondes. 

"What's up Zo?" Antonio asked, "The victimology changed," she said. "The what?" Jay asked, "The type of victim they prefer changed, look in Florida each woman was smaller built but all of them had different coloured hair. Brunettes, redheads, etcetera," Zoey said putting the past victims on the board. "The victims here are all blonde," Jay said noticing causing Zoey to nod. "Big change in victimology," Zoey said. "Careful Severide don't need you getting snatched again," Ruzek said earning a glare from the blonde as Jay smacked him in the back of the head. "What? I'm just saying don't need repeats from the past" Adam mumbled as Zoey walked over to the break room setting the file on the table before going to make a coffee. 

Jay followed her into the room before asking, "You good?" Zoey started making coffee. "Yup, fantastic" she replied adding teaspoon after teaspoon into the much stopping after 4. "Zoey, talk to me please don't shut me out," he pleaded as Zoey turned to him. "This case was hard the first time around. After Jack, it clouded my judgment and I let myself get played by this unsub," she told him softly. 

"She led us to believe her husband was an abusive drunk who was assaulting all these women and killing them, she beat the shit out of herself to make it look like she beat her and try to sell this story to us. I fell for it, I opened up about understanding that kind of abuse, and you know what? She was the one calling all the shots. She was the one calling all the shots. Her husband and friend were just pawns she let ruthlessly assault woman." Zoey was shaking in anger and the detective could not only see it as she balled her fists but he could feel her anger radiation off of her. "Those videos, remind me of what Grissom did, I just wanna catch this... asshat and be done with this case," Zoey said with a loud sigh before she took her coffee and walked out of the room as her team walked up the stairs. 

"Hey Superwoman," Morgan said pulling Zoey into a hug, "Hey," she said with a smile as she hugged JJ, Prentiss and Reid. "I'm so sorry," he said again, "No don't, It's not your fault Spence," Severide said as Rossi pulled her into a hug. "It hasn't been the same without you kid," he spoke letting her go as Hotch smiled at her. "It's good to have you back Severide," he said before walking over and shaking Voight's hand. 

"So you think you might have an unsub we've dealt with before?" Hotch asked, "Actually it was your agent who noticed the similarities in cases," the sergeant said looking over to Zoey along with her boss.