A/N: I've been sitting on this for a while. I love Linstead and I love reading fics about them. I decided to put my idea into words and before I knew it I had 10,000 of them, so here it goes. All characters belong to Dick Wolf. Hope you like it. :)
The sound of a phone ringing woke Erin from a dream she wished she could continue. It involved her, her boyfriend, and a hot steamy shower. She reached across her pillows and gave her boyfriend a light shove. "Jay...," Erin croaked, her voice thick with sleep. When he made no effort to move, she said it again, "Jay!" This time she said it louder and with more force. And although he rolled towards her, Jay still didn't say anything to respond to Erin. She saw no other way to answer the phone other than to crawl over him to get it. When she was halfway over him, her arms across his chest and one of her legs over his, Jay finally made a noise. "Wha… what are you doing," he said, his confusion was evident. "I'm giving you a middle of the night lap dance," she gave him the most sarcastic response she could think of at a quarter to four in the morning. "What do you think I'm doing, I'm picking up my phone which we conveniently left on your side of the bed last night," she followed up before he could even process her first sentence. She stretched her arms as far as they would go to grab her phone on his bedside table. Once she had it in her hand she collapsed on his chest and answered it.
"Hank, what's wr-." She started to ask because she knew the only way that he'd phone her at that hour was if there was a family emergency or they'd caught a case. It happened to be the second one. "Ok, … yeah …ok, no, I'll let him know and pick him up on my way. Yeah, we'll be there in 25, ok… yeah … ok bye." And although Jay had only caught half of the conversation, he understood what was happening. Jay was already partially dressed and throwing Erin some of her clothes when he said, "caught a case?" Erin responded by nodding her head. The last thing she said before heading into the bathroom was "be ready in five."
XXX
Erin pulled up to an abandoned car park in Gage park. It was still dark outside, and Erin could see her breath every time she exhaled because of the brutal cold of the Chicago winter. The rest of the team were spread out across the area. Al and Ruzek were talking to witnesses, Antonio, Atwater and Hank were all standing around what Erin assumed would be a body and patrol men and women and people from CSI were milling around collecting evidence and setting up a perimeter. The partners walked up to Hank, Antonio and Atwater. Jay was the first to see the victim, and when he did, he stopped dead in his tracks. A young boy, who couldn't have been older than twelve, was wrapped in a plastic cover. He had clearly been held for a period of time from the ligature marks around his neck, wrists and ankles. Jay's face hardened as he took in the scene. His jaw tensed, and his eyes flamed with anger. He couldn't form any words he was so furious. Erin sensed Jay's change in mood and asked a question that she wasn't sure either of them wanted the answer to. "What did the M.E. say?" she cautiously asked her sergeant. Hank looked up from the crime scene and said, "Cause of death was strangulation which is the newest of all the ligature marks, the wrists and ankles make it look like the kid was held for almost three weeks." Jay started to interrupt, getting ready to ask questions but Hank kept speaking, "Halstead I'm not finished. Traces of semen was found on the body and the plastic."
XXX
Mouse identified the boy as Jordan Wheeler from missing persons records and the parents had been notified of their child's death. When Erin and Jay went over to the Wheelers' house, they noticed how normal everything was, from the swing set in the front garden to the white picket fence. They were the picture-perfect American family. When the pair returned to the bullpen, they updated the team. "They are your average family, dad's an accountant, mum's a homemaker. The kid was a competitive swimmer and on the honour roll at school. Everyone we talked to said they wouldn't hurt a fly. None of them had any enemies." Jay said as he stuck Jordan's picture up on the whiteboard. Hank looked around at his squad and said "Hey, I know it's an emotional case, but we'll get this guy. We just gotta put the work in. Antonio, Kevin you two go to the Dad's work and see if he was having any problems. Al and Ruzek, go back to the scene and go door to door, see if anyone saw anything late last night. Halstead, Lindsay, look into Jordan's life – friends, teachers, coaches, anything." Everyone looked at each other, expecting Hank to continue, instead he just said, "Let's go!"
XXX
Jay rushed over to Erin's desk with a file in his hand and then slammed it on her desk. "Martin Lavers." Jay exclaimed. When Erin gave him a look of no understanding, he followed it up with "The swim coach". Erin got ready to ask a question but before she could get any words out Jay started again. "I looked into his background and he has a record. Possession of child pornography, from fifteen years ago. But he has moved from state to state every couple of years since then. Always works with preteen boys but never the same job. He's been a sports coach, a music teacher, even a boy scout leader. He barely leaves a trace Erin, rents apartments six months at a time, doesn't pay with credit cards, he's trying to fade into the background. But we got him. Right?" Erin used her thumb and index finger to turn Jay's head towards her. "Hey… look at me," she softly said to him. She could see he was almost spinning out, crazily trying to convince himself and her that they had found enough evidence to arrest the guy. "We've got him," she slowly said each word as if to confirm it for him, to make it real. And he needed that. She could see it on his face when she said it. She picked up the file and took it into Hank's office, leaving Jay standing next to her desk. They talked for only two minutes but what felt to Jay like two hours. Then Erin walked over to her chair, pulled on her leather jacket, picked up her keys, nudged her head in the direction of the exit and said, "Let's go arrest the guy."
XXX
Hank and Erin had both been around Jay long enough to know how involved he got in cases like this. Jay was particularly amped up that afternoon, pacing across the bullpen as the rest of the team collated all the evidence to get ready for interrogation. Erin glanced across to Hank and subtly shook her head. She knew the worst thing for this case would be Jay questioning this suspect. Hank said that he and Erin would interrogate the coach and walked back into his office before Jay could even begin to protest. Erin walked across to him and tried her best to placate him. "You trust me right," she said to him, lifting one eyebrow as if to question his faith in her. He looked into her eyes and then looked to the floor. "Of course I trust you," he mumbled as quietly as he could. He knew she had heard him though because she replied. "Then let me do this for you. No complaints. No storming in. I guarantee we'll run circles around this guy in there." She gave him a small smile before retrieving Hank from his office and walking out of the bullpen.
XXX
Erin gestured to the stack of papers and files on the metal table in the interrogation room and said "Look Martin… we know a lot of stuff about you. We know you were born in Ohio, we know about your record and we know that you kidnapped, abused and killed Jordan Wheeler." Lavers shifted uncomfortably in his rigid chair. Not making eye contact with Erin or Hank and not acknowledging the accusation she made. Despite the suspect's lack of response, Hank said, "Now this can go the easy way or the hard way. The best way is you confess and then get a reduced sentence." As soon as Hank said the word confess, Martin looked up, his eyes no longer scared like they were moments ago, but now hardened and emotionless. "I want my Lawyer," he spat. Hank continued talking but didn't get more than a few words out before Martin said again, "I. Want. My. Lawyer." Hank turned to Erin and told her to go back to the bullpen. Erin looked at Hank, her eyes trying to convey the words she couldn't say to him- don't do anything stupid. Erin walked out the door but stayed in the hallway, her back leaning against the wall, her eyes closed, and she focused on trying to slow her breathing. She couldn't go back upstairs and face Jay, not without a confession. But she also couldn't go back in that room, not when she was certain of what Hank was doing.
XXX
Martin gave a smug grin to Erin and Jay as he and his lawyer walked out of the 21st district. Jay turned to Erin, furrowed his brow, exhaled loudly, then turned and walked away and into the locker room. Hank looked at Erin and nodded his head in Jay's direction, a silent approval for her to go after her partner. Erin walked as fast as she could into the locker room and found Jay pushing and kicking his locker. He looked up when she knocked on the door. "What happened Erin? We had him. We absolutely had him. How could you let him go? What happened to trusting you, huh? What happened to running circles around him?" Jay said. His voice accusing in tone, and it let Erin know exactly where his head was at. "Jay," Erin said, wanting to get his attention but Jay continued rambling about letting a criminal go and not knowing what crimes he might go on to commit. "Jay!" Erin said, louder this time and it worked because she was successful in gaining his focus. She continued, "He wasn't the same guy we spoke to first time round. This Martin was cold and calculating. His eyes weren't scared or worried, they were hard. He didn't cooperate at all, not even when Hank got all Hank about it. You know how Hank gets. And he didn't say anything. Not even after a black eye and a busted lip." Jay lifted his eyes to look at her when she mentioned Hank's 'special' activities. When Jay didn't say anything Erin kept talking, "We are now certain it's him, we just need more evidence. Ok. And we will get it. We've just got to keep looking." Jay put his arms around Erin and pulled her to him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I just-" Jay started to apologise but Erin cut him off, "Don't even think about it. These cases shake all of us up. Let's see if the others have got anything new." Before letting go of her, Jay leaned in to kiss her. But as his face dipped forwards, she jumped away from him, far enough to be out of his reach. He looked surprised, so Erin gave an explanation for her actions. "I hear footsteps," she whispered. They both straightened themselves up and started walking out of the room when Ruzek turned the corner and said, "Come up quick guys, we've got something."
XXX
Mouse was rapidly speaking about how he found the new lead but was talking in circles and the team struggled to follow what he was saying. Jay turned to his former army buddy and said, "Cut to the chase Mouse." Mouse looked up at the faces of everyone surrounding him and realised they were all clueless, so gave them the run down, "Earlier you told me to look for any properties that Lavers owned. I did, and we found nothing. What occurred to me was that we didn't look for properties in the name of his parents." He looked up and saw some faces still clueless but other showed gratitude for his ability to think outside the box. Mouse continued by giving them the address of a storage facility not far from where Jordan was found. Hank looked around at his team and gruffly said, "Gear up, we roll out in ten." In less than twenty minutes the team were walking up to Laver's storage locker with the manager leading the way ready to let them in. Once they lifted up the door, the whole team were shocked at what they found inside. Photos of boys all over the walls, not just Jordan but also at least six other kids, showing how he'd stalked them before kidnapping them. Boxes of what the team hoped would be evidence to help with the case, and when they opened them up, they found clear bags of locks of hair. Hank looked around at everyone and said, "Bag this all up and take it to the district. We've got enough for a warrant for this guy's DNA."