Old Friend

The Things You Uncover When You Look

The Next Morning

Delilah's POV

I walk out of the house greeted by Jay. "Hey." I say before kissing him. "You ready to go." Jay asks. "Always." I say. I jump in my car, and we head off to the district. We walk up the stairs and Jay buzzes us in. "If it isn't the married couple." Ruzek says. "Hey Adam." I say before I give him a hug. I greet the others before we get started on the case. I sit down next Jay at his desk. "See this, that's the bomb that killed the most people, because only two people were killed from these smaller ones inside. The outside one went off 10 minutes later when the paramedics arrived and when everyone was outside using the canons." I say to Jay, and he nods. "But what's suspicious is they know the patterns of the firefighters; they know what time the ambulance's will be there and when everyone will be outside. They timed it to perfection, they knew how long after the call the response would be and who would be there." I say and Jay smiles. "So, what you're saying is it was an inside job." Jay says. "Unfortunately, yes, which means we might not be dealing with a copycat, but a serial arsonist, even worse these bombs were remotely controlled so they don't just have to predict they can know." I say and Jay calls over Voight who I explain my theory to, and he agrees. "Where does the convicted fit in then. "Well, he was the boyfriend of a girl who died in a fire the house responded to, we, well I missed her and there was a video a day after his brothers passing where he explained he wanted revenge. Although I never believed it. He was set up. If he wanted revenge, he would of done it sooner and two made sure the one responsible for his brother's death was on shift, which I wasn't. There was also no fingerprint or DNA evidence on scene, only his car." I say and they nod. "So, when you say inside job who do you think, a fellow firefighter?" Voight asks. "Well, when it happened there was this one guy from another shift always wanted his own command, ex-military, bombs specialist, he always stood out to me, pure sexist, he was on Caleb's case for years and he was the first to point fingers at me. He made a stern accusation against me and my whole interview is in a file somewhere as a result. I was obviously clear with the alibi of Brin's doctor's appointment, and they let me go." I say. "Do you have a name?" Jay asks. "Yeah Russel Townsend." I say. "So, your saying motive is wanting his own command and being jealous of Caleb's position?" Jay asks. "Yeah, it sounds stupid, but he hated Caleb, it was never just over command but over me too, and with Caleb gone maybe he thought he had a chance with me." I say. "It's definitely not stupid babe." Jay says. "Just ran Russel Townsend and wow, his regiment specialised in the same explosives that took out firehouse 19." Burgess says. I use Jay's computer and log onto the CFD administration which stores all absences, shift changes and reprimands. I log in and search up Russel. "What time did you say the copycat's bombing was?" I ask Jay. "11:30 Tuesday, during 3rd shift." Jay replies. "He doesn't work that shift, he's first shift, so that means if it's him he can only target people on 3rd shift or 2nd shift without being away from shift. But the bigger question is who he was after, who was a part of the house he bombed? Any women" I ask. "Yeah, Olivia Stewart but she wasn't on shift, she was at the academy." Adam replies. "Was Brent Marshall a victim?" I ask and Jay nods. "What babe?" Jay asks. "They were engaged, I got a wedding invitation a week back. Super-secret thing though, not many people knew about them so they could dodge HR. But Russel and Olivia used to date, it didn't last long but they were a thing." I say and Jay nods. "That matches the pattern, kills the partner to get the girl." Atwater says. "Yeah, but that's what scares me." I say. "What are you thinking?" Voight asks. "So, the women are always away from shift right, how does he know that I can only access this website because of my clearance and it's only up to date you can't see ahead, and I know he doesn't have that, so who is he working with?" I say. "Do you have a list of people with that clearance?" Upton asks. "I don't but I know the only person who does." I say and I look at Jay, he nods. "Upton, Lilah and I will head down to CFD Headquarters to talk to DC Hill." Jay says and he grabs his keys, and we head off. We arrive and we knock on DC Hill's door. She opens it. "Delilah, lovely to see you." Hill says. "You've met Jay, and this is Hailey." I say. "What can I do for you." Hill asks. "Do you have the list of the people who have clearance level 4 and above?" I ask. "Yes I do." Hill replies. "Do you mind if we take a copy of it?" Upton asks. "What is this regarding? Hill asks. "We're investigating the recent bombings and I believe the list will be of help." I say and she nods. She passes me a folder and smiles. "Thank You deputy commissioner." I say before we walk out. I spend the whole car ride back to the district looking through it for someone who is close to Townsend, but the number of names exceeds the amount I thought.

AN: Hey guys, i hoped you enjoyed reading this chapter :)