Case by Case Love

Chapter 23: Meeting the CI

Hank walks into the diner, taking a seat in one of the booths as he looks over at the young lady that sat across from him. He remembered the first time he met her. It was during one of their drug seizure cases. 

It hadn't all gone smoothly - in fact, it was very difficult for every member of Intelligence with Anna's eventual death. It took Hank time to get over in blaming himself for what happened in continuing to push her at times, and also not adhering to warnings to pull her back out from the rest of the team, especially Jay and Hailey. 

Jennifer Lowpowsky was the name of the female before him. She was one of the ladies that befriended Anna at the bakery. She was one of the money runners for Carlos, forced into it via her father due to him having an outstanding debt to Carlos for a drug deal gone bad. He remembered the conversation they had following Carlos' arrest. He remembered how he vowed to get her the help she needed with a trip through rehab, and getting her life back on-track. 

He had been sitting in his office trying to find whatever he could on Dempsey and his partner. He wanted to find him as soon as possible to assure the safety of his detective. He had spoken to Erin that morning to check-in with how he was doing, and hearing about the nightmare he had as a result of the news certainly did not make things easier right now. 

It was at that time Jennifer called and asked to meet with him. He was about to turn it away, wanting to focus all resources on the task at hand. Though when she mentioned Jay Halstead and possibly having information in correlation, he immediately told her to meet him at this address. 

"I thought you were staying away from all of this," Hank comments as he watches her every move closely. He remembered the last time they spoke together. They had talked about how great her new job was and how everything was seemingly falling in place for her. Now realizing she was possibly back in with these people, he wondered how it had turned the tide so quickly.

"Trust me - I am not one bit associated with any of these people," she declares, causing a confused glance on Hank's face. It was not like this information just randomly became available. "I was going to check on my brother. It seems no matter what you've done for me, he can't kick the habit and still connects with them for his kicks once in awhile. I haven't been able to find my brother for a couple weeks so I went to the last place I knew. Before you ask, he's fine. He's just having fun with his friends." 

"I can do something to assure that his friends disap-"

"Just for him to get mixed up with worst peo-"

"Dempsey tried to blow up the downtown core of Chicago. His partner did let a bomb off in the downtown core of Chicago. That very bomb has my detective laid up in the hospital with injuries. How does it get worse than that?" Jennifer lets out a sigh, only causing Hank's frustration to grow. So far, this meeting had been a complete waste of time. He could had been picking apart of people involved in Dempsey's life to go question.

"Dempsey is not part of this group that my brother gets his kicks from. He knows of them through other associations, but he is not part of the group. Trust me, I know what you and your team did for me. I would be slapping my brother right up side the head if he was associating with anyone that harmed you or your team." Hank couldn't help but smile a little in hearing the respect and want to do what would be necessary if that was the situation. However, the fact that this group even knew of Dempsey did not sit perfectly well with him. "Dempsey's partner in the bombing was by when I was speaking with my brother. He openly stated that he was involved and was doing whatever necessary to find an Intelligence Unit Detective named Jay Halstead. He said he was clearing up loose end from what happened." 

"Clearing up loose ends, huh?" Hank knew that went with the theory they had already developed following Clark's murder. It was all about trying to erase anybody that could identify their involvement in the bombing. "What did you tell him? I hope you didn't say the address of the district. I hope you did not give them my name or details." 

"Do you think I am that stupid? I would not anything to put you, your family, or your team in danger!" Hank was not quite certain until he heard the full details as to what she said. 

"Alright, alright. Then just tell me what you said. Then you can tell me where to find him." Hank knew as soon as he got the address that would be the next stop - and perhaps without letting the rest of the team know. It seemed the more people involved, the messier it would get if he got his true way with this individual. 

"I told him that I did not know anything, same with my brother. I figured I'd come give you the information and see what you want to do. I don't know where to find him. But if say you want to pass along a message, maybe my brother's partner can pass along the information. He has a phone number for Dempsey's partner." Hank takes a deep breath, debating how he wanted to go about doing this. He wanted to do it his way. He wanted to find Dempsey and his partner without anyone knowing, and make them pay. He wanted them to feel every bit of pain that Jay was experiencing right now. That was better than justice - but he couldn't do that. 

"I want you to go to this partner and say that you have information for Dempsey's partner in relation to Jay Halstead's location. Tell him that you know who he is staying with right now as he heals from injuries sustained in the blast. Make up some excuse for how you have the information - maybe you crossed paths with him on the street and saw him go to the house. Tell him that for a good payment, you can give him the addre-"

"Please tell me it is for a set-up and not Jay's head on the silver platter." The most shocked expression appeared on the Sargeant's face as he stood up.

"I would not hand over Jay on a silver platter, ever. He is my best friend. He's like a son to me. I care about him a lot. He won't even be there. The friend, though, will be there, and justice can take care of itself."