One Call Away

Chapter Thirteen: Disbelief

Climbing out of his car, Hank pulled on his sunglasses as he stared at the crime scene ahead of him; it was the middle of the night and he had not been expecting this call while he was relaxing at him. 

It had been a quiet night and he had been relaxing watching the game with a beer when the call had come in; he had known straight away that something was wrong. 

Hank walked forward, his eyes taking in the crime scene which was filled with people doing their jobs; he approached the police tape and ducked under it before he approached the place where the body was. 

"What have we got?" Hank called spotting Erin and Alvin standing beside the partially covered body, he was pleased to see that he wasn't the first member of his team here. 

Jay was across the way speaking with the couple of teenagers that had found the body while they had been messing around under the freeway. 

"Our worst nightmare," Alvin murmured shaking his head, he turned away from the body and didn't look back as he made his way across the gravel; he knew that someone had to break the news to the man's family. 

Hank frowned watching Alvin go, the look on his old friend's face as he left said it all and he feared just who was under the tarp. 

Erin pulled the tarp back to reveal the body to Hank, she had no idea who it was but apparently Alvin had known him but she hadn't been able to get anything else out of him. 

Hank stopped walking at the sight of the body, he had been battered and bruised; a mark around his neck and he seemed completely naked from what he could see. 

"Who is it?" Erin asked seeing his reaction, she stepped back from the body as Hank ducked down to get a closer look for a moment; she wasn't sure how personal this case was going to get.

Jay made his way over having finished talking to the teenagers, they had told him that they had been coming home from a friends party and were taking a short cut when they found the body of the victim just dumped down here. 

"Richard Jones," Hank murmured with a shake of his head, he should have seen this coming after what he had heard from Laura; the man's disappearance had been far from easy to trace. 

Jay came a complete stop at the name, his stomach twisting as he stared down at the dead victim; his mind racing knowing that this would break Caitlyn's heart. 

She had spent weeks trying to get a hold of Richard wanting to talk to him about what had happened; hoping that things hadn't been completely ruined by her mother's revelation. 

However, there was no going back now, she would never get to make amends with him or talk things through; it had all been taken from her now he was dead. 

"Sarge... I have to go. Someone has to break the news to Caitlyn," Jay pleaded stepping forward, he couldn't imagine how she was going to react but he needed to be there for her when she learned about this. 

It didn't feel right letting anyone else on the team do it, Alvin might have been called her uncle but they didn't seem that close if he wasn't going to help her find her biological father. 

It took a moment, Hank slowly turned to look at Jay and eyed him for a moment before he agreed; he couldn't imagine how Caitlyn would react to this. 

He ignored the look on Erin's face, the frown already appearing as Jay thanked him and started to head back to his own car; this case was personal and they had to get to the bottom of it and quick. 

There was no way that it was a coincidence and Hank feared that if he was right about this then they were dealing with Edward again.

***

"Jay? What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night," Caitlyn asked wrapping her dressing gown around her as she opened the door; her hair was a mess and Jay felt bad for waking her up. 

He hesitated not sure how to do this, he'd broken bad news to people before but this felt different; he hated that he had to tell her and he wished that there was some way that he could fix this. 

"Can I come in?" Jay murmured, he glanced behind her seeing no sign of her roommate; he wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing, she was going to need all the support that she could get. 

Caitlyn nodded her head, stepping aside to allow him in; she wasn't sure why he was here but he looked upset and she hoped that everything was alright with his father. 

She recalled that he had said that his father had a bad heart, he wasn't a well man and he was arguing with him about going to see a doctor. 

Jay took a deep breath, he peeked around the apartment almost disappointed that there was no sign of her roommate; he wasn't sure how she was going to react to his news. 

"Is everything okay?" Caitlyn asked taking a seat on the couch, she watched as he took a seat opposite her and the look on his face was making her worry; her mind raced with reasons that he might have come here. 

Jay stared at her as he tried to find the right words to say to her, he didn't know what to say or how to explain to her what had happened not too long ago. 

"I don't know how to say this so I'm just gonna say it," Jay told her, he reached out and took her hand knowing that this was going to break her heart; he wished that things could have worked out differently. 

"Earlier this evening we found Richard. I am so sorry Caitlyn," Jay said, confusing filling her face and his heart broke wishing that there was some way that they could get around this.

Caitlyn stared at him, the room silent as she wondered if she had missed heard him and that this was some sort of horrible joke; she shook her head, trying to dismiss what he was saying. 

She slowly started to shake her head, she didn't believe him; there was no way that Richard could be dead and she felt sick as she saw that the expression on his face wasn't changing. 

"He can't be..." Caitlyn whispered as the tears started to fall, she got up and moved away from Jay as she tried to process the fact that the man that had raised her was gone. 

This wasn't meant to happen, they were meant to talk things through and get past what had happened; she had never thought that would be taken away from them. 

Jay slowly got to his feet and made his way over to her, he hesitated as he watched her fall apart before he wrapped his arms around her; she fought against him as she cried unable to believe what was happening. 

Richard's death was something that had come as a complete surprise and Jay dreaded to think how he would explain how Richard had been found. 

There would be no hiding it from her especially since it was an active investigation; he was sure Voight would insist that she took time off so she didn't have to watch them find her father's killer. 

Caitlyn cried into his chest as she gave up trying to push him away, her head resting on his chest while she cried; none of this made sense and she feared what would happen when she asked questions. 

For Jay to turn up and tell her that Richard was dead meant it had been ruled as a murder not a suicide and she couldn't imagine who would want to kill him. 

"It's gonna be okay," Jay whispered closing his eyes, his heart breaking for her and he wished that he had come with better news. 

He couldn't imagine what she was going through and he wished that he could take away her pain in some way.