Burzek Reunited at Last

Chapter 10: Mark Miller

"Hey guys, Srg wanted to me fill you guys in while he is following up on a lead. Mark Miller, one of the two students who did not show up when we were conducting interviews. He was found dead this morning. His carotids were cut, it was definitely the work of someone with medical training and the coroner thinks the weapon used was a scalpel. It is looking more and more like Nick Elliott is the suspect. Voight is talking with the program director again to see if he can shed any more information on how to find Elliott. He said to continue to dig into Mark and Stacy's life to see if we can find anything that we might have missed the front time around," I explain to the team.

Everyone nods in agreement and heads to their desks to begin another deep dive into the lives of our victims. Sometimes this part gets to me, knowing their lives so deeply. It almost feels as if we are invading their privacy. Though I know we have to do it to find peace for their families and to give the victims a voice for the final time. I see Adam stand up and shoot his eyes from me to the coffee area and back. I got the hint and nod. I follow him and slightly shut the door behind us.

"Everything go alright with Voight?" he asks.

"Yeah, he found out about my financial issues when Nicole filed bankruptcy. He just wanted to let me know that I could have come to him and he would have been more than happy to help. He also let me in on a secret, but I can't tell you that here. To many ears around. I'll tell you at home later," I whisper. He instantly breaks into a huge smile.

"That's the first time you called it your home," he says with a goofy grin on his face.

"I just moved in Adam," I say laughing. He smiles and we head back out to our desks. I can't help but smile as I sit down and I feel Kev's eyes on me. Oh my, I know that look. I am in for a grilling later for sure.

"Guys I think I found something!" Rojas exclaims as she grabs the paperwork off the printer and heads to the whiteboard to start updating it.

"At first, I thought that maybe Mark and Stacey could be related since they have the same last name and somehow that got them killed. That is not the case, apparently, Miller is just a very popular last name in Chicago. Anyways, I did find that Stacey, Mark, and Nick were the top 3 of their class. In that order to be exact. The top student at the end of the year is guaranteed to be the senior resident at Lake Shore which makes them a shoo-in, come time to make attending," Rojas explains.

"So they were killed so Elliott could be senior resident and would have a higher chance to make attending down the road..?" Jay questions.

"Turns out that as senior resident they also get to decide the rotation schedule of the rest of the resident. The top 3 all wanted to be general surgeons, but there are only 2 spots for that. Nick would not have made the cut based on the notes on Stacey's computer. He would have been stuck with a dermatology rotation. Its a 9-month rotation. That is almost an entire year he would have to spend in a specialty he didn't like, not making any money, while Stacey and Mark get to live out their dreams," Rojas continued.

"There's the motive, it would take him even longer to become a general surgeon which means he definitely would not get Lake Shore's attending position," Hailey states.

"I only heard part of what you guys found out, but it fills in the holes of what Dr.Gale was telling me. Elliott had become increasingly hostile and it had began to affect his performance. Doc said he was one bad test grade away from losing his rank as number 3 altogether, which would help make Stacey's case of moving him to Derm for his first rotation even stronger. Elliott was aware and began sabotaging other student's work," Voight explains.

"His cellphone just turned on! His location is the corner of west 9th street and King street," Adam exclaims.

"Wait did you say, King?" I ask. Before he answers I continue "Bella Smith, she was 4th in the class ranking, lives on king street. I interviewed her," I quickly explain.

"Everyone get over there now! Kim put out a flash message," Voight orders.

I nod and key up my radio as we race to the garage. I ride with Kev and Adam while Rojas, Hailey, and Halstead all ride together.

"Dispatch this Officer Burgess, I have a flash message," I say.

"Keep radios clear for the officer's message," Dispatch orders.

"We have an attempted murder in progress at the corner of west 9th and King street. The suspect is Nick Elliott, 6'1 180lbs white male driving a red Volkswagon Jetta with Illinois plates. All units in 5mile proximity please respond. Be advised plain-clothed officers will be arriving on scene. DO NOT engage unless necessary until intelligence arrives. The suspect is considered armed and dangerous," I explain as quickly and clearly as I can.

I finish getting ready in the back of the car as Kev drives. I get my bulletproof vest on and help hook Kev's up for him. I got my earpiece in and ready to go. I hand Adam a long gun and I make sure my clip is full before reholstering it. I can feel my heart rate pick up, it always does before a big incident like this. We finally roll up on the scene and there are already 3 patrol cars on the scene surrounding the apartment building and another unit clearing the streets. Voight had radioed and said that I am in charge of the scene.

"Hailey and Vanessa go around back in case he runs. Adam and Jay, I want you guys across the street with the long guns. Kev, Srg, Officer Manuel and I will hit the apartment. Let's do this quick and quiet, no announcement," I say.

Everyone nods and heads off in their appropriate directions. We head inside to Bella's apartment. We are outside the door, stacked up when we hear a female screaming from inside. I nod at the guys and kick down the door.

"CHICAGO PD HANDS UP!!" I yell.

Nick has a scalpel to Bella's neck. "Come any closer and she's dead," he says.

"There's no way out of this Nick. You are surrounded. Let her go. No one else needs to die," I say to him.

"No shot," I hear Adam and Jay say into my earpiece.

I move closer to Nick and to the right in hopes of drawing him closer to the window in case we need the guys to take a shot.

"I know I am going to jail, what is the difference if I kill her or not?" Nick says testing me.

"The difference is she gets to live and you'll get a harsher sentence. 3 connected murders mean life without parole, but 2 you still have the chance of getting paroled," I explain.

Nick thinks for a minute and lets Bella go, officer Manuel leads her outside.

"Now I need you to put the scalpel down and come with me," I say.

"I'm going to die in prison, I might as well die here and save me some suffering," He says as he pulls out a gun and points it at his temple.

"Come on man, that's not the way to do it. Just put the gun down," I say.

There's a noise outside that distracts Nick for a moment and I take the chance. I lunge at him and grab the gun. The next thing I know is the gun goes off and everything goes black....