Case by Case Love

Chapter 26: Interogation Room

Jay takes a deep breath as he opens the door, making his way inside of the small stone room. Even though the wall was very boring and bare, it was better to be focusing on right now.

He didn't need to be here right now. Everything should have been done the moment he picked Patrick Dempsey out of the line-up of people. Being identified, combined with his partner throwing him under the bus following the arrest, and the evidence found, they had everything to put him away for many years to come. The district attorney figured it would be life in prison once you combined everything together, including threatening the life of a Chicago Police Department detective.

However, a single question asked and his own curiosity getting the best of him landed him here instead of being done with the situation. Patrick had agreed to talk and detail the reasons behind the attack, but only to one individual - the very Chicago Police Department detective's life he had threatened that day. 

Jay knew he could have said no. He knew he should have no. It was never good when you gave a criminal satisfaction by allowing them to do something they want. However, when he heard over the conversation in the room, he immediately went for the door handle in acceptance. Hank tried to talk him out of it. Will tried to talk him out of it. Erin tried to force him away from the situation. None of them won out, though, as he was determined to hear the words of this individual.

He wasn't sure of the reason, but he knew there was no way he could live with wondering what would've been said if his answer was not yes. Perhaps he needed closure for his own situation. Perhaps if he was looking answers to the questions he had in hopes of being able to sleep at night. Perhaps he was looking for closure for the other victims injured in the process. Maybe this was a piece of clarity in a case riddled with questions, including Erin's actions on scene out of her own fear.

He kept his eyes off of the individual, not wanting to test the emotions he would feel. He knew there would be anger in what happened. He didn't want to deal with that on top of everything else. It was already enough the physical pain he was enduring because of this man before him.

He only turns back to the door when it is opened, and closed by the one person that would join them in the room. It was the only way Hank would allow this meeting to happen in the first place.

"Why is he here?" Patrick asks as he immediately points to the sergeant standing in the corner of the room. "I told you that I wanted to have this conversation with the detective, and the detective alone." 

"So that way you can take advantage of me and hurt me again?" Jay questions, biting his tongue as soon as the words slip out of his mouth. Among the several lessons in training, you never allowed the assailant to know they had harmed you in anyway. It was about showing pure strength without any degree of reprieve. Why was he forgetting the basics today? 

"He is not allowed to be with you in here alone," Hank states as his eyes don't leave his detective the entire time. He was ready to call it off even before they got the answers they were supposed to be offering if he seen anything even a bit off with Jay's behavior. "He is still recovering from the injuries sustained and technically has not been cleared to return to duty yet." 

"I am sorry to hear that," Patrick states, as his apology immediately falls on deaf ears. Hank and Jay had heard that line tons of time. They were just trying to buy sympathy in hopes of a lighter sentence. "That was never my intention, Mr. Halstead. I hope you are feeling better and able to return to your job soon. The city of Chicago needs hard working and brave officers like yourself. Not many would run into a building knowingly with a bomb, or enter the room and try to talk down the individual. Clearly there's few that would be disarming the bomb themselves. I commend your bravery against anything else." 

"Cut the bullshit!" Hank's eyes stuck to Jay like glue, surprised there hadn't been a word spoken by him through the whole speech that Patrick just made. He was used to Jay cutting the person off, and getting straight to business as intended. What was different in this situation? Sure, there was Jay's physical injuries and how they that changed his actions, but this seemed beyond that. Maybe this was a total bad idea that should be needed sooner than later. "You stated you wanted to share the reason behind your attack, and the only way you would so is to Detective Halstead yourself. How about you stop wasting our time?" 

"I told you that he owed me a ton of money, and he wouldn't pay you up. You then asked me how much money, and do you remember what I told you?" Jay takes a deep breath, as he tries to block out every single thought that tried to break through at that moment. His mind was almost taken back to that very office building and the room they were in. He focused on his breathing techniques, rather than allowing the panic he was feeling that day to set in. 

"Millions," was all he said in response, quietly and timidly. It was the only word that Patrick had used on that day when asked the question. He remembered the debate he had internally then about asking for the exact amount or how, but knowing that would just taste time. There was a bomb and he needed to figure out a way to get it dealt with. 

"Millions of dollars is not a lie," Patrick reveals as Hank crosses his arms, his patience growing thin with how this was being drawn out. 

Jay didn't take his eyes off of the wall before him, still not giving Patrick the satisfaction in seeing what was going through his mind in the simple reminder as to what happened. 

"I could tell you that it was probably around $6 million," Patrick finally began telling the tale. "But it wasn't just about that. It was about my 15-year-old daughter Raquel. You may know Clark Henderson for the accountant firm owner and great charitable honorable man that everybody should respect for his business ethics. But how do you think he got that money? How did he become a multi-millionaire overnight? 

"He was a pimp. He would take on cases. My case was one of those who took on as I fell behind on payments on credit cards and owed money on a loan I had taken out to buy a house. I was desperate. So I took his offer. He would pay off the loan, if I worked for him. He would pay it off quicker if my daughter helped. Some photos of her naked, a video of her posing different ways nude and playing with toys to help him jack off. A kiss on the lips, but nothing sexual beyond that. The kiss, though, led him to fall in love for her. She was naive, not knowing what she was getting to, and accepted it all. 

"I found out she was skipping school. Do you want to know why? She enjoyed it with him. She then enjoyed meeting his business partners, and performing for them - naked lap dances, make-out sessions, and a gang bang. When she realized that she did not want it anymore, there was only one solution - murder. 

"She's one of the many unsolved cases that the Chicago Police Department keeps swearing to people they'll solve, but never do. She was a lost case. I knew he was responsible, and should've done something sooner. But knowing his power, I went into hiding in knowing I would be next to cover all of his tracks - sort of ironic as you would've been dead to cover mine.  But the whole time I was away, I began planning my revenge and what I would do. I figured it was only appropriate to take his precious business down with him. It's just too bad that didn't happen as I intended.

"I am sorry for your injuries that you sustained and your involvement. I am sorry for what did occur there between us. But in a way, I am not. There's now someone that understands the pain that I deal with every day. The pain that you endured in getting involved, and saving a sick monster like him that day is just tiny compared to what I deal with on a daily basis. I hope you get satisfaction in knowing you saved a monster that day, and it was only because of me trying a second time he is dead and my daughter gets the justice she deserves.

"Now, the truth is out there. May I be released to my sentence to suffer my pain in silence?"