After a messy and painful divorce from her ex-husband, Madeline decided to shift her focus entirely to her career. Her passion for medicine and her patients became her primary motivation-until she crossed paths with a blue-eyed detective who disrupt...
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"Jay, we gotta go," Hailey said, standing in front of his desk, her arms crossed.
"Oh yeah, sorry," Jay said, shaking his head as he stood up from his chair and grabbed his jacket from behind it.
"You good?" Hailey asked, already heading towards the stairs of the bullpen.
"Yeah, I'm good," he replied, pulling his jacket on as they walked together down the steps.
A few minutes later, Jay pulled up to the homeless shelter, where Vanessa was waiting for the two detectives. She stepped toward them as they got out of the car.
"I talked to Platt. She was going through Roberto's priors. He got jammed up last week, here, outside this church," Vanessa said, motioning toward the entrance.
"Why wasn't that in his file?" Hailey asked, raising an eyebrow as they made their way up the steps.
"It was just a contact card. The responding officers didn't arrest him. I mean, this could be where he's been living," Vanessa replied, her eyes scanning the shelter's modest exterior before they entered.
"Excuse us, hey, Chicago PD. You serve?" Jay called out as they approached a blue tent where a homeless man sat.
"Iraq, four tours," the man answered without hesitation, his voice rough from years of exposure to the elements.
"I did two tours in Afghanistan. This is, uh, Officer Rojas, Detective Upton. I'm Detective Halstead," Jay said, introducing everyone as he pointed toward each of them.
The man stood up slowly, tossing his gloves onto the chair behind him. "Alex," he said, nodding toward them in acknowledgment.
"We're looking for information on a Roberto Peña," Jay said, showing him a picture on his phone.
"Yeah, I know Roberto," Alex said, his tone distant but not entirely uninterested.
"He stays here?" Hailey asked, eyeing the surroundings as if trying to gauge how often Roberto might have passed through.
"On and off. Not like you need a key," Alex answered with a shrug, his eyes flicking around as he thought about it.
"When was the last time you saw him?" Hailey pressed, her voice steady and firm.
"I don't know. Maybe two weeks ago?" Alex said, looking between the three detectives, his face unreadable.
"Did he get into trouble around here?" Hailey asked, sensing there might be more to the story.
"Nah, he was all right. He was a big talker. Serious dope fiend. What'd he do?" Alex replied, eyeing them curiously.
"He was murdered," Vanessa said, her voice sharp as she stared him down, waiting for a reaction.
"Damn, what happened?" Alex asked, his eyes narrowing with sudden concern.
"We don't know yet," Jay answered, his tone measured. "Does he have any friends around here?" He looked around the room, noticing the way some of the other people in the shelter kept to themselves.
