Partners in Crime; A Jay Halstead Fanfic

Emotional Proximity

Yn's POV

"Hey, mom" I say and walk into her hospital room. "Yn! What are you doing here" she asked as I gave her a hug. "I was here and just wanted to stop by to say hello" I say. "You here about that warehouse fire, aren't you" my mom asked. "Yeah. One of the guys in Intelligence, his daughter was in that fire" I say. "Well, I guess you better get on the case then" she said. "Yeah. I'll talk to you later" I say.

At the district, the case was already underway. "That was a parole officer in East Garfield Park. She has an ex-con named Nathan Delano who did 18 years for arson and attempted homicide in Stateville because he lit his family on fire back in 1998, including three of his own children. So this guy failed to report in yesterday. She marked him down for the violation, but his last known address was 4133 South Wells. That's six blocks from the Kimball Factory. There's an active warrant out for his arrest" Adam said. "Yeah. Let's go" Kevin said.

At Delano's house, Adam and I walked up to the front door while Kevin went around back. "Nathan Delano? Chicago PD! Open up" Adam shouted and knocked on the door. That's when I heard a shotgun being loaded, and both Adam and I moved to the side and covered our faces as a bullet ripped through the door. "5021, Ida emergency. Shots fired at the police. 4133 South Ida. Advise responding, there are plain clothes officers on the scene." Adam then kicked the door down, and we headed inside. We followed the man towards the back of the house, and when Adam and I turned the corner, he fire on us. Adam pulled me back against his chest instinctively, and when the gunfire stopped, we continued our pursuit. However, when we got to the back door, Kevin had already knocked the man down. "Bad news, guys" I say as Kevin hauled the man up. "That's not Delano."

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The guy we captured at the house was named Lane Cromwell. Apparently, Delano left just a few minutes before we arrived. Cromwell told us what he new, which was really only the type of car Delano had. "Okay, Sarge, we've got a statewide BOLO out there on Delano and the stolen Toyota" I say. "So here's what we're up against, boss. The warehouse was without any residential permits, so there's no records, no lease agreements, no video cameras and the person who knew the most was the owner, Barry Kimball, who shot himself in the face yesterday at Firehouse 51" Adam said. "Right, Delano's previous arson, he tried to kill his own family members. So it's a good bet if he's behind this one, he has some personal connection to someone inside" Voight said.

"Hey, this is interesting. Barry Kimball took out additional commercial property insurance on the warehouse six months ago. He doubled his policy" Erin said. "Insurance scam? Somehow he crosses paths with Delano, and then gets him to torch the place" Jay suggested. "It says he has a live-in girlfriend, Stacia Mulaney. We can check his apartment" Erin said. "Do it" Voight said.

A bit later, while Jay and Erin were talking to Stacia, we got something. "I got a hit. I ran the Wisconsin plate on Delano's stolen Toyota through NVLS plate reader and got two consecutive hits, both indicating the 3400 block of Pulaski" Kim said. "All right, Lindsay and Halstead should be right there. Have them respond" Voight said. 

Adam and Kim then went to talk to some people who had found some videos of the fire, and they got a picture of a guy leaving the party pretty quick. He was our killer. "So based on the proximity of the suspect to the stairs which we measured at the warehouse, he should be about 5'9, figure 150 pounds" Kim said. "And how tall was Delano" Voight asked. "Delano was a little over six feet" I say. "Hey, guys, there's going to be a candlelight vigil tonight at the warehouse. At 8:00, FYI" Kim said as Platt brought in a scale model of the warehouse.

"This is the block the warehouse is on. The strings signify security cameras from private companies and what angles they access" Platt said. "All right, I want footage going back one month, and I want access to all these cameras" Voight said as Kevin's phone chimed. "It's my C.I. I'll be right back" he said and left the bullpen.

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Voight walked out of his office, phone in hand, and I could tell something was wrong. "That was Al. Lexi died 20 minutes ago" he said. For a moment, we all sat in silence, but Voight soon spoke up. "We can mourn when the scumbag who did this is in cuffs. Until then, what do we got?" "The lab did an enhancement on the suspect leaving the warehouse. They were able to identify the logo on the right shoulder of the suspect's jacket. The brand is ForeRange. The cargo jacket looks like the one the suspect is wearing. There's five retail stores in Chicago that carry the brand. They're sending me the last six months of security footage and all their cash and their credit card transactions" I say. 

"All right, Kev, what's up with the tip you got on K.D." Voight asked. "Yeah, we got 85 registered gang bangers with those initials in our database" Kevin said. "And I cross-referenced the initials K.D. with everyone who's contacted Kimball's phone. Nothing" Jay said. "These are all in-service calls and any paper generated on the warehouse. Most of the calls came from the same landline. Same woman. Claire Burke. She's made over 40 suspicious persons calls. The last was three nights ago and she lives down the block from the warehouse" Platt said. "You and Jay" Voight said to Erin.

Jay and Erin went to talk to Claire, who said Barry Kimball was having an argument with a guy a few times right before the fire. She even got his license plate number. "Boss, I ran the plate. It came back to a Kade Davis" Adam said. "Kade Davis" Kevin questioned. "Yeah. 26 years old, 5'8, 170 pounds. No criminal history, though" Adam said. "Lock him into the area, dump his phone, run his vehicle. I want everything on this prick before we move on him" Voight said.

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All right, Davis is denying setting fire to the warehouse, so I want a full work-up on him. Search his apartment. Let's tie him to that brown ForeRange jacket" Voight said. "That was patrol. Tamra Collins just woke up in the ICU at Med, and she wants to talk" Erin said. "All right. Kim, you go with" Voight said.

Erin and Kim talked to Tamara, and they sent back the information they got. "All right, we're looking for a male, white, 20-25, owns a brown ForeRange cargo jacket. He wears a silver skull ring on his right hand, he's about 5'8, and he has blue eyes" Voight said. "We'll run everyone in the city with that description. All DMV, city, county, and state employees, anyone with a public record" Platt said. "Should we kick Kade Davis" Jay asked. "Charge him with the gun first" Voight replied.

At the vigil that night, we just so happened to see a kid, around 5'8, wearing a ForeRanger cargo jacket. He also wore a skull ring and had blue eyes, matching Tamara's description perfectly. The boy's name was Dylan Coates, and when we searched his apartment, we found some metal wedges that were the exact same type used to keep all the exits of the warehouse closed.

Once the case was solved, I headed back to the hospital to visit my mom. "Hey, Will. Is my mom in her room" I ask. "Yep. She's been waiting for you" he replied. "Great. And um, thanks for trying your best to help out Lexi. It means a lot to the team" I say. "It was no problem" Will said. After talking with Will, I headed to my mom's room and took a seat on the edge of her bed.

"Hey sweetheart. I was wondering when you were going to come back" my mother said. That's when I burst into tears, and my mother pulled me in for a hug. "What's wrong" she asked me. "So many people died in that warehouse fire, and it just made me think. I don't want to lose my mom" I say. My mother smiled and used to thumbs to wipe the tears from my face. "Don't worry, Yn. I'm going to do everything in my power to kick cancer's ass" she said.