Mistakes of our past | Rhekker

Chapter 77- Key

"How did you get in here?" Hank asked, coming up the steps to the bull pen.
"Trudy let me in" Connor scratched his face.
"Why'd she do that?" Hank put his coffee on a nearby desk.
"I can be persuasive" he sighed, relaxing his shoulders.
Hank looked Connor up and down, "how long have you been here"
"Just a few hours, something like that" Connors voice trailed off, never taking his eyes off the board.
Hank walked up to Connor, holding up his cup. "You need this more then me"

Connor reached out and took the cup, but didn't move to take a sip from it.
"What are there's" Hank gestured to several more books on the counter.
"More business logs" Connor mumbled.
"Anything good?"
"No" Connor sighed, taking a sip from the coffee, coughing immediately.
"You and Ava take your coffee the same way" he winced at the sour taste in his mouth.

Voight stood next to Connor, starring at the board. The photos spread across it of the crime scene, the car, and in one corner was a recent photo of Ava; you couldn't see it in the cropped image but Connor knew from the background that it was taken the day they moved into their new home, and that Connor had his arm around her waist.
"Any thoughts?"
"About a million" Connor ran a hand through his hair, taking a piece of paper from a desk.
"I was trying to think of where they could have gotten the chloroform from"
"It's easier to get if you know where to look" Hank told him.
Connor nodded, knowing Hank knew more about this then him.
"Anything about Martin Wheeler?" Connor asked, taking another sip of coffee, despite the bitter taste; the smell reminded him of Ava.

"He's story checked out" Voight confirmed.
Connor furrowed his brows and stared at the floor.
"Do you think this is connected to the home invasion?"
"It was an angle we were looking at, yeah" Hank nodded.
"What were you looking into that set them off, the day you were shot?" Hank started putting more pins into the map of potential locations.
"I was looking into the car that hit Avey when she came back to Chicago, I thought it was a lead but I never got anything"
"That'll do it alright" Hank finished putting his pins in the wall.

Connor's phone buzzed on the table before shutting its self off.
"You going to get that?" Hank turned to him.
"It's been going on and off for an hour, it's probably nothing" he shrugged it off.
His phone buzzed again and Hank picked it up from the counter.
"Hello?"
There was some chatter on the other side of the line and Connor contained to stare at the map.
"No, who's this?"
Hank pulled the phone away from his ear and handed to him.
"It's your locksmith"

"Frank?" Connor said into the line.
"Hi Mr. Rhodes, I was ringing you and your wife but you weren't picking up. I know what things are like with new borns, I just wanted to know if the new key was working out for you?"
"New key, I haven't picked it up yet?"
"No, but your wife came in a few weeks back and picked it up"
"My wife- Ava did?"
"Yeah, a day or two before your daughter was born. I saw it in the papers, congratulations"
"She picked up the key?"
"Yes.... is that an issue?"
"No, no, no. That's amazing, did she mention to you who she was going to give the key to?"
"No, nothing like that"
"Okey, okey. Thank you so much, Frank, you have no idea how great this was to hear"

"There's a fifth key" Connor bursts out.
"I gathered as much" Hank walks over to the board.
"So Ava picks up the key, and then the same night goes into labour. So who did she see between Amelia's birth and her disappearance that she would have wanted to give the key to"
"We got it cut to give to family, it was probably meant for you or Sharron"
"Well neither of us got it, so who did you see. Did anyone stop by?"
Connor paused for a second and thought, "Carlota. Carlota and Nat we're the only people she saw. Nat already had a key, she must have given it to Carlota" Connor pulled on his jacket, binning his now empty coffee cup.
"Come on" he urged Hank, who grabbed his keys.
"I'll drive" Connor said, taking his keys from Voight's hands. Hank followed behind his without protested and got into the car.

They drive in silence for twenty minutes, not knowing what exactly they were driving to. Connor pulled into a street with small bungalow houses and metal fences. Connor got out of the car and walked up the drive way to see Carlota door open a jar.
"Carlota?"
"Carlota!"