Chapter 21

My head was pounding. The pressure in my head was so much. Suddenly I felt sick. I leaned forward and coughed. As I coughed some vomit came out landing on the cement floor. I groaned after coughing a few more times. I leaned back and ran my hands over my face. I blinked a few times and looked up. I had no idea where I was at. I scooted back and banged on the wall. It sounded hollow, it didn't feel like I was in a room or a house.

~

"Wait, so you think that who ever took her was the same guy who committed those murders in Indiana and here?" Antonio asked Nathan.

"It's the only thing that makes sense. That case was always personal to her. But this guy has always been smart, so tracking him down would take some time" Nathan said.

"We don't have time!" Jay exclaimed. He was frustrated, and worried.

"Okay, so where do we start?" Adam asked.

"We start with questioning the suspect we put away" Voight said "Antonio let's go" He said as he began making his way to the stairs.

"I'll begin by reviewing the tape, maybe there is something we missed" Adam said as he stood up and walked away with the drive.

"We will go by the apartment, see if anyone saw anything or anyone" Hailey said "Kim, why don't you come with me?"

"No, no I'm fine" Jay said. He was reaching over to grab his jacket from his chair.

"Jay, I don't think it's a good idea" Hailey tried to talk.

"I said I'm fine Hailey, let's go" He said in a harsh tone as he began walking to the stairs.

~

"Are you sure you didn't see anything? Anyone?" Hailey asked the landlord.

He shook his head "No. If I would've I definitely would've called the police"

"People live in these apartments. Your telling me with all the noise and screaming no one saw anything?" Jay questioned as he slightly raised his voice.

Hailey looked at Jay.

"There's weird stuff that goes on here all the time, weird noise" He said shrugging his shoulders "No one filed any complaints" He looked almost scared.

"She was dragged out of here unconscious. How could nobody see anything?!"

"Okay" Hailey stepped in "We're going to need the keys to that apartment"

The landlord nodded his head. He didn't hesitate to grab an extra key and hand it over to Hailey. She and Jay went up to Kelly's apartment to search for anything that could be useful.

~

"Hey bro, you got anything off the footage?" Atwater asked approaching Adam.

"Nothing that's useful" He finally took his eyes off the screen "I've seen it over and over again" He looked back at the video and watched it as it played.

"There's gotta be something" Atwater whispered.

They stayed silent as they watched the video carefully.

"Wait, what is that?" Adam whispered.

He and Kevin looked closer to the footage.

"Do you see that?" Adam asked him.

"Yea" Kevin whispered "That could be helpful" He said.

~

"So I watched the video over and over until I found something. Turns out our guy has a tattoo on his right wrist" Adam explained to the team. They had just returned. He walked up to the white board and put up a picture of the tattoo.

"We can't make out what exactly the tattoo is but it's there" He explained.

"There are dozens of people walking around Chicago with a tattoo on their right wrist" Antonio said trying to made them compromise.

"It's not much but it's something" Kevin chimes in.

"We don't even know what this guy looks like. All we have is a picture of a tattoo. That's the only lead we have" Jay said.

"It's better then nothing" Hailey said.

"That's right" Voight said "Let's get back to work" He said walking into his office.

Hailey followed Voight into his office "Can I talk to you?" She asked as she closed the door.

He stood on the other side of the desk "What's up?"

"I don't think it's a good idea to have Jay work this case" She said.

He looked at her as he sat down "And why not? He wants to find Cassie just as much as we do" He said. His arm leaning on the arm rest.

She crossed her arms over her chest "I don't think his head is screwed on right. He yelled at the landlord and that look he has in his eyes. I know this case is personal to him, no one wants to find her as much as he does and he will do whatever it takes"

Voight stayed silent for a minute "I'll make sure to keep an eye on him" He said to her.

She stood still. Not quite the answer she was expecting, but she took it "Okay" She lowered her head and walked out of his office.

She sat at her desk as everyone else. She kept an eye on Jay as she began working. The phone at her desk rang and she answered.

She talked for only a minute before hanging up "Hey guys" She said standing up as the attention turned to her "Looks like there was a witness who saw a man carrying a woman out of the apartment building today. There's only two entrances in the building, one in the front and one in the back. The witness saw the man take the women out from the back" She explained.

"Okay, you and Halstead go question this witness" Voight said.

They grabbed their jackets and walked out.

~

A loud creaking sound caused my head to turn. The sunlight beamed through so forcefully. It burned my eyes causing me to look away. The door closed causing the darkness to set it once again. My eyes were adjusted to the dark.

I turned my head back when I heard a flashlight turn on. I jumped when I saw a man standing there, the light of the flashlight hitting his face.

My breathing became heavy. I tried moving backwards but I as soon as I slid back I hit a wall. I couldn't hear anything from the outside. I licked my dry lips and swallowed the nervous lump I felt in the middle of my throat.

"What do you want from me?" I spoke up.

My hands were trembling so I kept them touching the ground. My head was throbbing causing the headache to become worse.

"Hello... doll" He said, a wide smile growing on his face.

❤️