Chapter 12

"Emma, honey, do you want more salad?" Cindy asks the young woman as they sit around the table. 

"I'm fine. Thank you" she politely refuses and turns to Annabelle, who talks to her about her week at school. 

"You have to eat kiddo," Christopher tells her. 

"Always worried about everything. But seriously, don't worry about it. I eat," she reassures him. 

"Well, Emma, what do you think about working in Intelligence?" Cindy asks again. 

"It's very nice. It's a very close-knit group" I'm glad to hear that" 

"And your partner? From what I understood, it's Jay, right?" This time it's Christopher's turn to ask. 

"Yeah, Voight put us together. He's really nice" 

"Oh, I agree with that. He's very kind. And between us, he's handsome too," Cindy says, making Emma laugh. 

"Yeah, I suppose he's handsome," Emma admits, and the two women laugh while Herrmann rolls his eyes. The rest of the night passed in the same way, laughing around the table. Emma talked to them mainly about New York, and Christopher commented on some incidents that happened at the station. 

"I am very glad you came. You have to come for dinner at least once a week," Cindy tells Emma as they walk to the front door, giving her a taper full of food. 

"I would love to" 

"You know, and Christopher is very happy, that you are back. I'm sure he will be thrilled with the idea," she whispers to her, and after they say goodbye, Emma gets in her taxi and leaves. She rests her head back on the seat and smiles, looking out the window. She missed being home.

"Hey, Voight wants us straight on scene. They found a body. Do you need a ride?" Emma reads Jay's message and smiles unconsciously this time. The streets outside are covered in snow, and she's sure the air is as cold as she imagines. So the choice to walk is erased directly from her mind. But also the option to show up in a taxi in front of everyone does not seem very attractive. She definitely needs to buy a car, she thinks. 

"That would be great," she replies. 

"Okay. I'll be there in 15," he writes back, and Emma starts getting ready. A pair of blue baggy jeans, a black blouse, and one of her favorite coats. It is plaid in shades of orange and green, with a few fringes at the bottom. She quickly makes tea for herself, but also coffee for Jay, and she goes down to wait for him.

"Good morning. You save me," she tells him as she opens the passenger door and gets into the vehicle. 

"Here," she tells him again and gives him the cup full of hot coffee. Jay raises one eyebrow looking at her. 

"It's the least I can do," she explains. 

"Thank you," he says, smiling. They don't say anything the rest of the way, but the silence isn't uncomfortable at all. The exact opposite.

The body that was found turned out to be the Alderman James Burton, who was shot in the head. But what terrified everyone was the fact that Internal Affairs took Alvin to headquarters. 

"What was that?" Jay asks Emma as they get in the car to meet the last person the victim saw alive. 

"I have no idea. But it's going to be okay," she replies. 

"Always so optimistic," he tells her, laughing.

"Hey, we've got a list of pissed-off locals from the alderman's secretary. There are at least 50 names," Kim says and passes each of them a piece of paper. 

"We weren't able to get a video of the black male Finnegan saw with Burton at the Crown Pub," Emma informs them. 

"What about the alderman's personal belongings?" Voight asks. 

"His phone has no signal, no hits on his credit cards, and his Rolex hasn't popped up in any pawn shops yet," Kevin replies. 

"I thought you should know the alderman's wife is on TV expressing concern about Chicago PD's dedication to black politicians," Platt tells and walks into the bullpen. 

"It's been like what, five hours? Why is she going so hard at this?" Jay asks. 

"She's smart. She wants to keep the names of the angry locals, but don't give up on this robbery angle either," Voight tells everyone and then approaches Ruzek.

Forensics was able to pull some DNA from Burton's body, which turned out to belong to a man named Darius Brown. However, even though he was the one who robbed the alderman, he didn't kill him. Instead, he claimed to have seen a car drive away from the scene. 

"Sarge, there's 5,260 blue Chrysler sedans in the city of Chicago," Kevin says. 

"All right, run the ones registered to people living in the 54th," Voight replies. 

"I did. That narrowed it down to 832" 

"It is what it is. Run the names, see what you found," he says again and goes to leave, but Jay's voice stops him. 

"Hey, guys, check this out. This is a voicemail from Alderman Burton's phone," Jay says and plays a message. 

"You are a greedy, opportunistic hypocrite and deserve to die" 

"That was left last night just before 11:00 p.m., and the call came from a payphone at a Douglas Park diner," Jay informs them. 

"Grab Spencer and check it out," Voight instructs.

"This is the place," Jay says while standing next to a phone. 

"No security cameras," Emma observes, and they go towards the man behind the counter. 

"Excuse me, sir. Are you the owner of this place?" Emma asks, pointing to her badge. 

"I am" he replies. 

"I'm detective Spencer, and this is detective Halstead. We're investigating a homicide," she reveals. 

"Did you see somebody use that phone home last night just before closing time?" 

"Uh, I can't say that I did," the man says. 

"Will you take a listen to something for us?" Jay asks and plays the voicemail for the man. 

"Do you recognize that voice?" 

"Can't say that I do," the owner says again. 

"All right. Thank you for your time," Emma says, and Jay looks at her curiously. He realized that the man was lying to them, and he believed that his partner understood the same thing. But as they were about to leave. Emma abruptly stopped him, resting her hand on his shoulder. 

"Uh-oh. I just saw a rat. Looks like it ran right into the kitchen. You know what they say, when there's one rat, there's always more," she tells him and looks at him, hoping that he would understand what was on her mind. Jay, of course, understands and agrees. 

"Yeah, and then we got to call it in, to the Health Department" 

"Uh, let me listen to that message again. Maybe something will click this time," the man says. 

"I like where your head's at," Jay says and plays the message again. 

"It kind of sounds like Coleman Lewis. He's a regular. Very passionate about the neighborhood. Wants to keep things the way they are," the owner says. 

"Great. Thank you," Emma says, and they leave.

Eventually, the suspect's alibi was checked out, meaning he didn't commit the murder. In the meantime, the counselor's son, Arthur Burton, was shot and killed in the same way that his father was, right in the middle of the heroin highway.

"We pulled video surveillance from Arthur Burton's shooting. Blue Chrysler sedan. Just like the Rolex thief said, sped away from the crime scene," 

"We ran the plates, and we put out a BOLO. The car is registered to Keon Walters. We're trying to find his home address," Jay and Emma inform the rest of their team. 

"The car was just spotted behind Landon's Market on Ancher," Adam says. 

When they found the new suspect, he got into a car, so now they're after him. Jay was briefing the center via his radio about the situation, with his foot constantly pressed on the accelerator. But after a while and after many turns, they managed to catch him. Still, Keon wouldn't talk. Although, he managed to reveal information about Lamar's cousin. Luckily for them, after they let him go, he fell into the trap and called straight away to protect his cousin. They spotted the house, but when they got there, they didn't find anything suspicious until they heard a strange sound from the garage. Lamar was on a motorcycle about to disappear from the scene. However, Emma reacted quickly and managed to throw him off the bike by falling to the ground. Something she wasn't happy about at all since a sharp pain straight from her knee made her close her eyes abruptly.

"See you tomorrow," Kevin greets them as soon as they close the case with the necessary charges against Lamar. They get out of the district, and each of them leaves in their cars. Even Emma leaves, taking a taxi before Jay can see her. But later, a knock on the door makes her get up from the couch, leaving the ice pack that rested on her knee on the coffee table. She walks slowly, limping towards the door, and when she opens it, Her partner's emerald eyes are in front of her. 

"Jay?"