Chapter 23

"Hey, chuckles. Where's your sunshine?" Trudy asks Jay as soon as she sees him walk into the station. He doesn't have to ask her what she means as she understands straight away that she's referring to Emma. 

"Oh, don't look at me like I haven't noticed you come together almost every morning," she says again, and suddenly his eyes widen, which makes Trudy laugh. 

"Calm down Halstead. I know she doesn't have her own car, and you're just acting like a cabbie. It's not like you're sleeping together, yet" she says and seems to know more than they do. 

"She went with Herrmann for breakfast. He'll bring her," he tells her only, leaving everything else.

 Although at the idea of them coming from one's house, his heart beats louder. Before they can say anything else, Emma enters the building, and as Platt did say, it's like sunshine. She smiles at everyone and heads towards them.

"Good morning, Sergeant, Jay," she says, leaving at the front desk the usual sandwich along with a cup of coffee. Jay looks at them funny. 

"It's our thing," Trudy says, and Emma agrees before heading upstairs.

"Who's presenting?" Voight asks as soon as everyone gathers into the bullpen. 

"That would be me, Sarge," Kim says and walks over to the whiteboard, taping up the picture of a girl. 

"Valerie Gilchrist, 19 years old. Just graduated from the Culinary Institute. No priors, no red flags. Her sister died when they were kids, but other than that, she's led privileged life" she says again. 

"Do we buy her dad's story that she was there in Little Village to blog about tacos?" Jay asks. 

"Her social media's mostly about food. Best salsas, hole in the wall. According to 'The Reader', Coto's has the number three ranked taco in Chicago, so..." Adam says. 

"Wrong place, wrong time the wrong," Kevin proclaims. 

"Check this out. We looked at the pattern of previous robberies. The crew knew when these places would be fat and how to slip away without being detected. They case these joints, and probably ate there. It makes sense that they're from the neighborhood" Antonio says. 

"If they're worried about her being a witness, why not just silence her there?" Jay asks. 

"She's a white girl. Maybe they thought she was worth something," Kevin assumes. 

"Or they grabbed her for other reasons," Emma says. 

"When we find this crew, we find her, so search databases for anyone convicted of robberies living around Little Village. Now let's get some extra patrol units in here, and pull every banger with an open warrant," Voight says, and Platt brings him a piece of paper, making him furious. The girl's father gave money to anyone who knew anything about his daughter.

"Guys, I've got something. I checked the traffic cams by Coto's Taco and I got a hit on that blue Honda," Kim says as Voight returns and shows them a photo of the Honda parked with open doors behind a garbage truck. A man was standing next to the car. 

"Good job. Emma, you and Jay head over to Streets and San. Get this guy's name and go talk to him," Voight says and they leave quickly.

While they were in the car, Jay's phone started ringing. 

"Ricky. Irish whiskey and Oban. Yeah, only the finest. I'll see you tonight," he says, turning off his cell phone, making his partner look at him strangely from the driver's seat. 

"So are you going to tell me what that was, or am I going to start making scripts with my mind?" 

"Oh yes, that was for Will and Natalie's bachelor party tonight," he reveals, smiling proudly.

"Jay Halstead, since when do you throw a bachelor party?" a laugh escapes from her. 

"What can I say? I have secret talents," he replies, and they laugh together. 

"So what are you doing tonight?" 

"Kenny invited me for trick-or-treat with his friends tonight," she tells him, and while she's ready to laugh, his reaction makes her melt. The smile he had just a minute ago, now fades and he looks at the road in front, avoiding her eyes. He rubs his neck with one hand. 

"Nice," he says only to her, and curses himself, who doesn't manage to hide his disappointment. Why was he so disappointed that his partner had plans for tonight? Her voice is drawing his attention again. 

"But I don't have a costume. So it would be a pleasure to come with you tonight," his smile returns to his face, revealing his dimple and his eyes filled with hope when he sees her smile. Oh boy, he thinks, that's not good. 

"We're here," Emma announces, stopping the car.

Hours later, they went to an abandoned factory, 'cause the witness told them he saw the girl running that way. 

"Over here. There's blood. It looks resent," Kevin says, illuminating with his flashlight, and Emma, Jay, and Adam follow him. 

"Body," Emma says as soon as she sees the girl on the floor and runs towards her. 

"Victim, gunshot wound," Kevin says as soon as he sees the wound, and at that moment the girl coughs. 

"Roll an ambo," Emma tells Jay when she finds a pulse in the girl's neck. 

"5021, George, emergency. Roll an ambo to our location. We've got a female victim, gunshot wound" Jay says into his radio.

While Valerie was recovering at the hospital, Emma and Jay scouted out some of the other restaurants that had been robbed. A woman who worked at one of them agreed to help them because she was afraid of her husband's life. She pointed them in the direction of Johnny Marquez, who then led them to two men. 

"Pablo Sosa. According to Marquez, he's the leader of the stickup crew. He's got a rap sheet to the floor. He just did four years of Stateville for accessory to murder" Antonio says and places his picture on the board. 

"Yeah, and Marquez says that he think Sosa's working with a young banger named Jorge Luna," Voight adds. 

"Pablo's the fat guy, so that's our killer," Jay clarifies, according to Valerie's statement. 

"All right, we got any leads?" Voight asks. 

"Yeah, Jorge Luna has one prior for possession, sentenced last month; 200 days of community service," Kim replies. 

"Right, and didn't his parole officer say that's he's working off that case at 'Clean up Chicago?'"Kevin asks.

"Well, find out where they're cleaning up and pick him up," Voight tells them, and indeed shortly afterward, Jorge is in the interrogation room. 

"Okay, so Jorge said he was chilling with Pablo at the time of the murder, but that can't be confirmed because Pablo's in the wind," Kim says as they finish the interrogation. 

"Phone records?" Voight asks. 

"Neither one has a registered phone. I'm assuming they have burner phones. Jorge had one when we busted him," Kim answers. 

"This kid's lying. We've just got to push a little harder" Adam suggests. 

"Yeah, but we have no prints, no surveillance, nothing to put Jorge at the scene," Antonio disagrees with him again.

"All we got is the word of Johnny Marquez, which, at this point, isn't worth too much," Kevin adds, and at that moment, Voight's phone rings, and on the other side is Jay. 

"Jay, you find that sanitation worker, Sanchez?" he asks. 

"Yeah, I did, but he won't be much help. Patrol found his body," he replies, looking at Emma, who tries to hold the victim's mother, who is crying and trying to go to his body. 

"Any witnesses?" 

"No, but we'll keep looking." 

"Was that Voight?" Emma asks when a police officer takes over with the mother. 

"Yeah, I told him we'd look for witnesses. Are you all right?" he asks her, and while she smiles at him, her smile doesn't reach her eyes. 

"So, are you taking food to Platt?" he asks, trying to distract her as they walk. 

"As she told you, it's our thing" 

"Now I understand why she likes you so much," he tells her, and this time he manages to make her laugh a little.

Back at the district, Valerie couldn't identify the shooter, so they decided to release Jorge, hoping that he would lead them to Pablo. Jorge, however, entered an apartment building and the team waited outside. But all of a sudden there's a gunshot and they quickly come out with their guns raised. 

"5021, Henry, shots fired, emergency 1200 Race Street," Emma says on the radio. 

Inside the building Jorge shot Pablo and made a run for it, stealing a car along the way.

"We went to the restaurant Jorge drove the truck too, but he's gone, he's in the wind," Ruzek says as soon as they return. 

"Check this out. Valerie works at the restaurant part-time. The manager said he was looking for her," Kevin informs them. 

"He's looking for Valerie?" Emma asks, unable to believe it. 

"Yeah, we've got a beat car sitting on it just in case she comes back" Kevin replies. 

"How does she know where she works?" Jay asks. 

"Hey, guys, they are dating," Kim says looking at her computer. 

"What?" Voight asks, and they go towards Kim. 

"Yeah, they're dating. I found a private DM app that she downloaded so messages stay off the radar. According to this, they've been hooking up for about a month," she tells, showing them pictures. 

"Find Valerie now" Voight orders.

And just like Voight requested, they found Valerie, who eventually admitted hooking up with Jorge, but stated that she didn't know where he was or where he was going. Eventually, she agreed to cooperate and work undercover to catch him. Things were going great until Jorge told Valerie he loved her. 

"It's a trap. You have to drive! Right now! You have to go! You have to go! Go! Go! Go!" Valerie yells into her phone, and Jorge drives away. But they managed to catch him when Adam shot him. 

"Hey. Is Antonio okay?" Emma asks Jay, as soon as they get back in the car. 

"Yeah, he said he hit the door the wrong way. Voight sent him to the hospital to get checked" 

"That's good... So, what costume are you going to wear tonight Halstead?" her eyes shine. 

"Oh, no. I'm not a person who's going to wear a costume. Like... never," he laughs. 

"Oh, come on, not even something simple? Maybe a hat, for example?" 

"Nope," he tells her, emphasizing the p. 

"But it's Halloween" 

"I thought you didn't have a costume for today either" 

"Okay, okay. What are you anyway, a detective?" they both laugh. 

"But we'll see if you don't wear something at the end" she smirks.