Kasual with a K

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Yn's POV

"So things between you and Jay are getting serious" my sister Chloe asked as we were eating breakfast together at a restaurant. "Yeah. I really like him, Chlo. He's an amazing guy" I say. "You said the same thing about Archie" Chloe said. "Yeah, well, you know I don't like bringing him up. Not after what he said to me" I say. "Right. Sorry" Chloe said. "Don't be. It's fine" I say and take a bite of my pancake.

"How's Intelligence treating you" Chloe asked. "It's been great. It's way different from homicide, but a good different, you know? Back then I was only investigating murders, but now I've been exposed to arson and armed robberies and all kinds of other stuff" I say. Just then, my phone buzzed, and I looked to see that I had gotten a text from Adam. "Shit. I've got to go. We got a new case" I say and stand up, reaching for my purse to grab some money. "Stop. I've got the bill. Go and save the city" Chloe said. "I'll pay you back. Breakfast is on me next time. We'll talk later" I tell her before leaving the restaurant.

At the district, the case was already being set up. "According to CPD Special Victims, Jess Saxon takes on the most extreme cases, no questions asked" Erin said. "Yeah, doing a job that must make a lot of enemies" Al said. "Exactly. She's still in surgery at Chicago Med. There's no indication of when we're going to be able to talk to her, but Sharon Goodwin says we will be alerted as soon as she is in recovery. Sergeant Platt already has a protective detail on her room at the hospital" Erin said.

"So, the three missing witnesses. No logs? No contact cards at the shelter" Voight asked. "We recovered a laptop, but there was nothing useful" Mouse said. "The lady from the shelter said that Jess wanted everybody to stay anonymous" Kevin added. "There is a camera at the rear of the building. Footage is stored offsite by a private company. The judge just signed a warrant, so we should have it in about an hour" Adam said. "Jess Saxon has an ex with a laundry list of violent priors. Jarrod Ganek. He broke her jaw two years ago. He recently did 30 days in county for violating a restraining order against her. He was released from Division Six a couple weeks ago" Antonio said. "Start there" Voight said.

I walked over to Jay and perched on the edge of his desk as Al and Antonio left the bullpen. "Just a reminder that we've got dinner reservations at Spiaggia tonight" I say to him. "Shit. That's tonight" Jay asked. "Uh, yeah" I say. "I'm so sorry, Yn, but I promised Erin I'd help her redecorate her apartment tonight. Can we reschedule" Jay asked. "Jay, we booked this table a month ago. Do you know how hard it was to get this reservation" I ask. "I'm sure we can book a table at Spiaggia another night" Jay said. I sighed and hopped off of his desk. "Fine. Whatever" I say.

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"Ganek's alibi held. His supervisor and a handful of coworkers confirmed he was on the clock during the shooting" Antonio said. "And we've been digging through his financials, just to see if he hired anyone, and the guy doesn't have two nickels to rub together" Jay said. "Do you like him for it" Voight asked Al. "Once a wife beater, always a wife beater" Al replied. "So Ganek stays on the board, but we drill down on the other suspects" Voight said. "It's a long list, Sarge. There are a lot of men with a lot of grudges" Kevin said. "Hey, boss, we got the security footage. This is the loading dock behind the store" Adam said and showed us a video of a man shooting the guard out front and coming out with a woman a few minutes later. "Back it up" Voight said. Adam rewound the video and paused it on our shooter. "Who the hell is that" Kevin asked. "One of the women who fled the shelter this morning's downstairs" Erin said as she got off of the phone. "Bring her up. You and I will talk to her" Voight said to Erin.

The woman, Clarissa, was able to give us more of what happened. The girl the shooter took was named Val, and Mouse was able to pull up a picture of her for us based on what Clarissa knew about her. "Valerie Holt. She was our target at the shelter. She's got a file with Special Victims that names her live-in boyfriend, Reed Danzig, as the abuser" Voight said. "Danzig beat her with a blunt object. Responding officers reported he was not on scene. A warrant was issued for his arrest and Valerie got an order of protection against him" I say. "All right, Mouse, what do you got" Voight asked. "It looks like he's got a pretty deep sheet. Possession, aggravated assault, and domestic battery to his mother" Mouse said.

"That was the 34th Tactical Team. They've been looking for Danzig for an outstanding warrant for the domestic battery and failure to appear. They already checked his addresses. They can't find him" Adam said. "Hey, hold on. The last three times Danzig was arrested, he was bonded out by a Matthew Markum. Markum's another valedictorian. He's got felony possession of drugs, battery" Jay said and showed us his sheet. "And an address. Everybody, gear up" Voight said.

As Jay and I went to gear up, we bumped into each other. I didn't apologize and walked around him, earning me a weird look from Adam. "Something wrong with you and Jay" he asked me. "I'd rather we not talk about it. Lets just gear up" I say. "Okay then" Adam said.

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"The guy on the floor, that's Matthew Markum, and the guy dead in the back is Reed Danzig" Al said. "There's no sign of Valerie. I counted half a dozen shell casings for a Sig .357, just like at the shelter" Adam said. "Medford, do you have an idea on time of death" Voight asked the CSI. "The body temp suggests two hours tops" she said. "Whoever kidnapped Val came here after the shelter" Al said. "Hey, that hammer that we found in the bathtub that was used to bludgeon Danzig, can you get that over to the crime lab and put a rush order on it, please" Adam asked. "Yeah" Medford said.

"It looks like they were breaking down a load of heroin" Antonio said and gestured to a table full of dope. "Then why snatch Valerie" Jay asked. "Trojan Horse. No sign of forced entry. Danzig opened the door for his girlfriend, shooter pushes past, rips him off" Voight said. "Then she might have outlived her purpose" Jay said. "Check this. Neighbors say they saw two cars leaving this place and one of them was a BMW. Now, when I ran Danzig earlier, I noticed that he owned a late model Beemer" Kevin said. "Huh. Well, maybe she was in on it? All right, tap your CIs. This is going to lead us to Val's kidnapper" Voight said.

After talking to some CIs, we got the name of a guy Danzig was pretty close with. "I pulled up everything we had on Billy 'Pac Man' Shaw. The guy just beat a manslaughter charge after running over a rival dealer in a Taco Bell parking lot. Here's the problem. Silvar from Narcotics just called. He hasn't left the house. He's no good for the murders, and he certainly didn't abduct Valerie" Adam said. "That was Chicago Med. Jess Saxon just got out of surgery" Erin said. "You and Halstead" Voight said.

Turns out, Val had a son who passed away, so Adam and I went to the cemetery where he was buried and found her staring at his grave. "Valerie Holt" I ask. When Valerie saw us, she stood up and put her hands out in front of her. "It's all my fault" she sobbed.

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"Martin Ainge, club owner at Volume in River North and apparent drug trafficker. Didn't take kindly to being ripped off, so he unleashed the wrath of God to get even" Al said. "That name Ainge gave us when we first interviewed him, Pac Man, just a wank to get us to chase our tail" Adam said. "Get Ainge in here" Voight said.

We got Ainge and talked to him, but he didn't give us anything. "These are the male employees working for Ainge and we've extended it to vendors and supplies" Kevin said. "Yeah, we hit off four. Burglary. This guy's a car thief. He's got assaults, but looks like your typical bouncer sheet. This one though, he's interesting. Greg Sutton. He was hired as a booze provider for the club, although his company name appears to be fictitious and there's absolutely no invoices with his product being delivered to the establishment. Look at his record. Misdemeanor, possession, felony intent to distribute, and five years ago, strong-arm robbery. He beat a truck driver half to death with a tire iron. Back of the head, just like Danzig" Adam said.

So we went out and got Sutton, meaning the case was solved. Because of everything going on, I forgot to cancel the reservations at Spiaggia, meaning they were still on. As I was about to leave the district, I saw that Adam was still here, and I got an idea. "Hey, Adam. Do you have any plans tonight" I ask. "No. Why" I ask. "Well, I've got reservations for two at Spiaggia, and I know how much you love Italian food" I say. "Wasn't that reservation for you and Jay" Adam asked. "Yeah, but he ditched me to spend time with Erin, and I'd rather the reservation not go to waste. Are you in" I ask. "Yeah. I'm in" Adam said. "Great. I will pick you up at 7" I say.

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