⋆° დ ༄ RISKY BUSINESS
chapter sixty one. she's got us.

"Last time I worked Violence Reduction duty, I wound up chasing some tweaked out Bonnie and Clyde couple across a roof." Jay says, as he and Maxine walked out of a coffee shop wearing patrol uniforms and heading to their squad car.

"Right. The ones who fell through the skylight"

"I told you that one?"

"Yeah" Max says, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Point is, we just became two more targets for them to shoot at."

"A, Platt basically made this mandatory. B, we're getting overtime. It's like a dollar a minute and she knows I need the money to save for the wedding"

"And time i'd rather spend on that walk in shower with the dual steam heads in the apartment I looked at"

Maxine chuckles and says, "uh-huh"

"Units on 21st district, we have calls of shots fired at 1129 West on Madison."

The partners get into the car and they drive off, with the sirens blaring.

"4507 squad, show us responding to shots fired. We're six blocks out" Jay says over the walkie, while Max drives to the scene

As they approach the house, they get out with their guns drawn, along with another patrol car and Jay says, "active shooter. We'll clear downstairs, you go up."

"Copy that" one of the patrolmen says.

"I need you to turn around and go back, now!" Jay shouts to the couple who were walking their dog down the sidewalk.

As they enter the house, they immediately see bodies. Maxine kneels down next to one of the victims to feel a pulse then sounds in her walkie, "squad 4507, we want an ambulance to our current location. We have multiple GSWs."

"Copy that 4507"

Max stands up, gun still drawn as she walks through the kitchen to follow after Jay, when she hears a noise and she quickly turns around, and walks back into the living room where they see a little girl standing up, rolling one of the victims off her.

"Hey. Do you live here?" Maxine asks, the girl who is covered in blood and shaking.

"It's okay" Jay says.

"Can you tell us your name? I'm Maxine, this is Jay" Max says, as Jay kneels down and tries to inspect her to see if she's hurt, "can you tell us your name?"

"Did you see who did this?" Jay asks, and the little girl starts breathing harder then passes out.

Jay catches her and Max puts her gun back into her holster and says, "ooh" then kneels down next to them, "is she shot?"

"I don't think so. We gotta check the others"

~~~

"Carson family residence. Family of six" Antonio says as he and Al walk underneath the crime scene tape.

"One survivor?" Al asks.

"Five dead"

"For what?" Al says then they walk over to Jay and Maxine, "she saw the shooter?"

"Yeah. I think so" Jay says.

"EMTs woke her up. She's just saying random words." Max says.

"Yeah. You guys okay?" Al asks.

They both nod their heads and Max says, "yeah, fine. They're gonna take her to med. I'm gonna go. I wanna be there with her when she wakes up"

"I'll ride with you" Jay says.

"It's alright. Stay with them. Work the case" Maxine says, before walking away.

"Show me inside" Al says.

🪩🪩🪩

"Alright, Darren and Jeni Carlson. Both 48 years old, lifelong residents of Chicago" Adam says, standing in front of the white board, "both their daughters went to public high school. Their son, who was ten years old. Tough kid. Beat leukemia. Lastly, their daughter, Polly, she was 12 years old. She's our only survivor. Darren used to work for the city planning department."

"Jenni was a manager at a commercial printer. But they had about a dozen LLC's in their names" Erin says.

"Yeah, they were definitely hustlers. Darren manages a few rental properties. I got patrol knocking on doors right now. We might just be looking for an aggravated tenant." Kevin says.

"Yeah. Jeni was raising money to buy a fast food franchise" Antonio says, "I'm looking into their investors. They also had a 50,000 dollar advance from a company called horizons."

"Horizons? That's a pyramid scheme" Al says, leaning on his desk, "they do these seminars to teach leadership skills, but it's a total scam"

"So, we got nothing on the POD cameras yet, boss. Neighborhood watch didn't see anybody fleeing" Adam says.

"We got a .40 caliber shells left at the scene. None of them match the ballistics database so far" Kevin adds.

"So, it's either a single shooter, or they only discharge the one weapon" Antonio says.

"There was no sign of forced entry so they knew who the killer was" Adam suggests.

"It's possible" Hank says, walking over to the board, "look, what I wanna understand is who exactly the Carlsons were in business with. These people were scrambling to do right by their family. Somewhere along the line, it went bad. And let's not assume the kids are just collateral damage. They got two teenage daughters"

"The surviving daughter is our only eyeball witness. She's on a three day psych evaluation at Med" Dawson says.

"Aunt and uncle in Saint Louis are her closest family. They're gonna be on the first flight tomorrow" Adam says.

"Polly, 12 years old. Has nobody in this city" Al says.

"Well, she's got us" Hank says.

🪩🪩🪩

Maxine sits in the waiting room at Med, waiting to learn anything about Polly, sipping on her coffee when she sees her fiancé walking over to her with a duffle bag.

"Change of clothes. Erin called, told me what was going on" Maverick says, setting the duffle down next to her, leaning down for a kiss. Maxine smiles and says, "Thank you baby"

"Anything for you" he said, sitting down next to her, placing his hand on her knee, "you need anything?"

"I'm good"

Maverick takes out his phone to show her something and says, "to keep your mind off of it..." then he shows her some pictures of wedding venues, "you like any of these?"

Maxine looks through the pictures and asks, "you've been looking at places without me?"

"I'm helping so you don't stress yourself out over it"

Max looks at fiancé and smiles, "you're sweet. But Um, I was thinking we could just do everything in our back yard"

"Huh, I never thought of that. I like that idea" maverick smiled, "smart and pretty. I picked a good one"

Maxine slaps his arm, "stop. But you're right"

"Wanna get out of here? Erin said she'll come stay and wait for the little girl"

"No, it's alright. I wanna be here when she wakes up"

"I know you do, but there's such a thing as having too much empathy. You leave nothing for yourself."

"You want me to care less?"

"I want you to sleep."

"I'll sleep when we catch whoever did this. Thank you for the clothes. I'm gonna go change" Max says, leaning in for a kiss then gets up and takes the duffle to go change.

~~~

"Polly's awake but she's catatonic. Or one click away from it" Max says, still in the waiting room and on the phone with Jay.

"I spoke to the neighborhood watch again. They're helpful. Too helpful. I'm afraid they're spooking any eye witnesses, because right now..."

"Polly is the only one who saw the shooter"

"We need you in the psych ward, now!" A nurse tells Max.

"I gotta go" Maxine tells Jay before hanging up the phone and following the nurses.

Max takes out her gun and rounds a corner to see a doctor helping a male nurse who was stabbed in the arm.

"Down there" the doctor says, pointing down the hall.

Max walks towards them and rounds another corner to see Polly holding a small, bloody, sharp object she just used to stab the nurse in his arm.

"Get security up here. I need one Haldol and a gurney with restraints." The doctor orders.

"Wait. Wait. Wait. Let me talk to her" maxine says.

"What are you doing?"

"Stay back. Clear the hall."

"Clear the hall, let's go" a nurse says.

"Polly. Polly" max says, putting her gun back in her holster and slowly walking towards the blonde girl, "it's maxine. Do you remember me? Can you put the knife down? Do you know where you are?"

Polly starts breathing heavy and manages to say, "I'm at the hospital"

"That's right. Do you know why?"

"I don't know why. I'm not hurt. I need to help."

"Okay. You can help. You can help me. But first I need you to put the knife down. And then you can help me, okay? Can you put it down, maybe on the floor there? And then you can help me?"

Polly puts the knife on the ground and Max says, "Thank you. Now let's.."

Two nurses rush past the brunette, and grab Polly, sticking her with a needle.

"Hey!" Maxine shouts, "hey, stop!"

"Easy!" Dr Charles says, rounding the corner, as the two nurses bring Polly to a gurney and restrain her.

"What are you doing?" Max questions.

"My job." Dr Charles says, "Make sure she gets her own room."

"Polly Carlson is our only eyewitness, and you just sedated her again."

"She's in a dissociative state. She's not ready to talk to you"

"Her family was murdered, and you're stalling my investigation "

"Detective, she's traumatized. She attacked my staff. She's not making any sense"

"Every hour that I lose makes it that much harder to catch the people who did this. Polly said she wanted to help. What if she can? I need to interview her."

Dr Charles puts his hand on Maxine's shoulder and says, "the problem with the police is that wherever they go, they think they're the police. I will call you when I've determined that she's ready to talk, okay? I promise" then he walks away.

~~~

"No, I'm still waiting" Maxine says, pacing back and forth in the waiting room. Dr Charles walks around the corner and says, "we're ready for you"

"I'll call you back" Max says, before hanging up the phone with Adam and follows the doctor to Polly's room.

"Hi Polly" Dr Charles says as he and max both sit on the end of the bed.

"Hey" Maxine says.

"So, Polly, you said before that you wanted to help."

"Um, I saw the man who killed my family. I just...I can't see his face." Polly says.

"I want you to try, okay?"

Polly nods her head then says, "well, I need to go to the house on the lake. They said I couldn't go."

"Is that why you hurt the nurse?" Maxine asks

"I need to go to the house on the lake"

"Okay. Well, why don't we go to the house on the lake" Dr Charles says.

A minute later the two leave the room and the doctor tells Bishop, "so, this house, she could be fixated. Now, it's a coping mechanism. But the fixation could be based in reality or it could be entirely fictive."

"Okay, which one do you think it is?"

"I don't know. You know, if it exists, it could be that she's got some positive memory she wants to relive there."

"And that could bring her back to reality?" Max questions.

"Possibly. I mean, I assume you got some other leads you're working with here."

"Well, leads, yes. Witnesses? No. Listen, about this morning, I hadn't slept. I'm sorry. This is your shop. I should not tell you how to run it."

"Maxine, do not worry about it. Everybody is just trying to do their job. So, this house. You, uh, think it exists?"

"I have absolutely no idea, but if it does, we're gonna find out."

~~~

Maxine is standing at the nurses station, looking through files when Jay walks over to her holding a take out bag with food in it and a strawberry shake.

"Hey. I gotta find this house"

"You don't have to do it alone" Jay says, setting down the bag and drink next to his partner. Max smiles and grabs the drink and says, "you know I love Chinese food"

Jay shrugs and says, "I do. So, what if the house on the lake wasn't a vacation spot? I went through Darrens financials" Jay says, opening a file and pointing to a picture on the paper to show his partner, "he managed a property down on 47th street"

"That's Hyde Park"

"Right on the lake"

Jay and Maxine head to Polly's room and max sits next to her on the bed and shows her a picture on her phone.

"That's it. That's the building my dad worked on. I helped him redo the floors on weekends." Polly says.

"Alright. Let's go check it out." Max says. Jay leans off the wall to give Polly her sweatshirt and says, "You know what? This is gonna be great, cause max might actually let me drive."

"That will never happen" maxine says, then the three leave.

"Good luck" Dr Charles calls out.

🪩🪩🪩

Maxine, Jay and Polly walk into the house where there are still paint supplies and construction things laying around. Max turns on one of the construction lights when Polly says, "my mom made cookies while we were working. My dad said not to, but she did anyway. Peanut butter chip"

Max looks at Jay then says, "that's good. Can you remember anything else?"

Polly walks forward, past the staircase into another empty room and suddenly stops, "he was here. The man who killed my family, he was here"

Polly starts crying and sits on the floor. Maxine gets on her knees and says, "Polly. Hey, it's okay. He cannot hurt you anymore."

Jay gets a metal chair for Polly to sit in and the two detectives sit on paint cans as Max asks, "so, you can picture him? You can see his face?"

"Yes. He was here. It was cold. It was January."

"Do you know his name?" Jay asks.

"No, I don't know. But, my dad went outside and they had a fight and he wanted money. Someone called the police."

Jay gets up and takes his phone out of his pocket to call Mouse. Maxine turns to look at Polly and says, "you did amazing"

After getting pictures sent to his phone, Jay goes through them with Polly who says, "no, none of these are right. The man who killed my family was older. He was like 50"

"You sure?" Jay asks.

"I'm sure" Polly says, as Jay keeps scrolling through the picture and ends up on Gerald Dorghterys, "wait, I know him. He lives near us, and he likes my sister. His name is Gerald"

"Okay, Polly. Would you try closing your eyes?" Max asks, "and just try to picture the man who came here and argued with your dad? We need you to be really, really accurate"

"He's big. He had a beard. He had a brown jacket."

"We need you to be positive because right now there's other policemen who think it was someone else. Someone younger" Jay says.

"No, I'm telling you. He had a red truck, the kind you can zip the top off of"

"Okay. Red truck. We can work with that" Max says, taking out her phone to call Voight.

After receiving a picture from Mouse, Max shows Polly a picture of Lewis Barrow on her phone.

"That's him" Polly whimpers.

"Okay. You did great"

🪩🪩🪩

Maxine gets off the phone, putting it in her pocket and walks into the office across from trudy's desk and says, "your aunt and uncle are gonna be here any minute, okay?" Then she sits across from Polly.

"I've never been to Saint Louis. Have you?"

"No, but I hear it's nice"

"I think I'll like it. I like most places" Polly sighs, "we used to drive around a lot. One time we drove the whole summer. My dad pretended it was an adventure. But I knew it was because we didn't have anywhere to live. I went to bed in Colorado once and woke up in Oregon. Katie hated it. She wanted to go to camp. But I think my dad was right. It was an adventure. I'm gonna miss him so much"

Max hugs the crying girl and says, "Hey Polly. Have you ever met a person and just known that you didn't have to worry about them? Like no matter where they go, everything's gonna be okay?"

Polly sniffles and says, "I don't know. I guess" when she sees her aunt and uncle walk up to the door.

After Polly gives them a hug she turns around and says, "aunt nancie and uncle Marshall, this is Maxine. She's a detective. She helped me a lot."

Polly hugs max and says, "thank you"

Maxine knees down in front of the blonde and gives her her card and says, "if you need me. If you need to talk to someone. I'm always a call away, okay? And call me Max, all my friends do"

"Okay" Polly says, before walking away with her aunt and uncle.

🪩🪩🪩

As Maxine goes to sit on the couch next to Maverick, she says, "So, my brother Justin.."

"I thought Adam was your only brother" Maverick asked, putting his arm around Maxine's shoulders, pressing play on the movie.

"Adam's my adopted brother. Justin's my half brother" Maxine said then looked over at her fiancé who was making a strange face, "I know, it's hard to keep up. Anyways, Justin's son, Daniel is turning one and he invited me—us to his birthday party this weekend"

"You sure I'm invited? I don't want to intrude"

"Hey, you're family now"

Maverick smiles, "okay, yeah"

authors note;

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