Keeping It in the Family (Linstead)

Chapter 39

The first cold beer of the night tasted wonderful to Halstead. It had been a long undercover operation, and seemingly an even longer day. It was one he wouldn't want to have to go through again, he was certain of that. The raid had gone wrong, Lindsay had lost it with Olinsky, Jay had lost it with her, then it had turned out to be Purrazzo's fault that it had all gone wrong, and she had almost had to leave the unit.

Frankly, Halstead was a little surprised that Lindsay hadn't dropped Purrazzo from Intelligence. He was glad she hadn't, but surprised nonetheless. Firing her would have been justifiable.

Sitting at the bar in Molly's, Halstead was next to Alvin Olinsky, who looked equally grateful for the beer. As instructed by Lindsay, Purrazzo had bought the first round.

"What a day," Halstead said.

Olinsky downed some of his beer. "I've had worse." His tone suggested that there had not been many.

"Yeah. Erin went in pretty hard on you."

"I can handle it. Anyway, I was in charge of the raid. The screw up was my responsibility, not hers. She was outside, being arrested. I'd have been angry if I was her."

Okay, Halstead thought, nursing his beer for a few moments. At the other end of the bar, Atwater and Purrazzo were standing with Sylvie Brett, one of the paramedics from Ambulance 84, based at the 21st. He studied his partner for a bit. She still looked pretty downcast, which he could understand.

"How did Purrazzo do while I was under? Before today, I mean," he said to Olinsky.

"Very well. It was her and Ruzek who did most of the work on the case we just closed. A meth dealer shot and killed another dealer over some kind of turf dispute. We went to question a suspect, and found a hooker in his apartment with him. We brought her in for questioning, and Purrazzo ended up talking information out of her. It transpired that he had been blabbing to her while she was, shall we say, servicing him."

Halstead grinned, then drank some beer. "What a way to catch a break."

"The hooker claimed she has people running their mouths to her all the time. I was thinking about approaching her to be a CI and giving her to Purrazzo. She needs to learn how to work a CI, and she's already got a connection with this girl."

"Sounds like a good idea to me. Hopefully Lindsay goes for it. You think there's anything going on between her and Atwater?"

"Lindsay? I thought you had that covered," Olinsky quipped.

Halstead laughed. "Bad jokes, Al? That's unlike you."

Olinsky took a drink from his bottle of beer. "I want to be a comedian when I grow up. To answer your intended question, I don't know. Purrazzo says they're friends, and I haven't pried. Not my business."

As if on cue, Atwater extricated himself from Purrazzo and Brett and came over. Halstead took it as his own opportunity to mingle a bit. Getting up, he looked at Ruzek, Burgess and Lindsay, who were standing in a group, having a grand old time by the look of it. It was a pleasant sight indeed. He didn't know who had made the first move, but it seemed like there might be a chance for Erin to rebuild the friendships she had trashed after all. He felt glad for all involved. Deciding to leave them to it while the going seemed to be good, he went over to Purrazzo and Brett instead.

"Got any jobs going on that ambo, Sylvie?" he opened with. "Purrazzo here might be needing one soon."

Purrazzo winced. "Too soon, Jay. Too soon."

"We don't do much shooting on the ambos," Brett giggled. "Our job is more about cleaning up after people like Deonna blow through town."

All three of them laughed, then Purrazzo became more serious. "I'm glad you're back. Nothing against Ruze at all, he's a great guy and we worked well together, but..."