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Ethan pressed the spacebar hard, and the sound coming from the Bluetooth headphones on the desk stopped abruptly.
—I'm sorry.—
He spread his hands awkwardly.
—Someone must have given Jin the wrong thing.—
Not only him. The moment the video image appeared, everyone involuntarily looked away.
An extremely strange atmosphere quickly spread through the room.
Watching it alone was one thing.
—What the hell is this? You're an idiot.—
Erin raised her middle finger, about to return to her seat.
—Wait a second, this isn't right.—
Ruzek couldn't help taking another look and noticed a few problems.
—Keep playing it. We know this person.—
—Who?—
This time, Ethan muted the sound and played the video again.
The camera moved slowly, capturing the face of the man lying beneath the woman, and the image froze again.
—Tony Johnston.—
Antonio also recognized the person and spoke in surprise.
He hadn't expected it to be evidence, but why would Jin show him Johnston's sex tape?
Ethan scratched his face and kept playing the video.
The camera moved upward. The woman's figure was decent, but it was obvious she was already somewhat older.
Her small breasts bounced up and down. The camera focused on her face, which seemed to be enjoying it very much.
A small hand reached in from the side and pressed the spacebar, freezing the woman's face in the center of the screen.
She looked to be in her forties. She was still attractive and gave off the aura of a mature woman.
—Oh my God.—
At some point, Erin had returned.
She looked at the screen and said in surprise:
—It's Jenny, Johnston's lawyer.—
—That's right, it's her.—
Sumner, who was beside her, also looked surprised and quickly added:
—So now what?—
Ethan smiled, shifting his gaze toward Antonio.
Antonio thought for a moment and then said to Erin:
—You and Sumner go find Jenny.—
—Ethan.—
Then he pointed to the Bluetooth headphones on the side.
—We need to figure out who's behind the camera. Watch all these CDs. Maybe some conversation reveals something.—
—Shit.—
Ethan quickly turned his head.
—Ruzek, you'll watch them.—
However, at some point, that guy had disappeared without a trace.
Ethan's lips curved into a smile, and he immediately took out his phone, ready to locate that cunning individual.
Footsteps echoed on the stairs as Hank and Olinsky came up together.
—Sergeant,— Antonio quickly asked, —what did Jenny say when you went to talk to Johnston's lawyer last night?—
—She didn't say anything,— Hank saw them gathered together and walked over. —Aside from knowing that Sims and Johnston had a conflict, she didn't know anything else.—
—What the fuck?!—
When he saw the image on Ethan's screen, he couldn't help cursing.
The rest was obvious.
Erin and Sumner immediately left by car for the law firm.
Ethan easily brought Ruzek back, but despite his strong protests, several discs were distributed among everyone.
Except for Hank and Olinsky, the other three were watching the videotapes.
In the conference room, the computer screens flickered.
As the images continued playing, Ethan couldn't help clicking his tongue until he found what he was looking for.
—Oh,— Ethan exclaimed in surprise. —It's Jacob Sims. Sims was the one who recorded the encounters.—
—I see Sims here too,— Ruzek shouted without turning his head, his voice tinged with excitement.
Leaning over, they could see an office on Ruzek's screen, with Jenny lying on the desk and her hair disheveled.
Now both men were connected to Jenny the lawyer.
In Ethan's opinion, that lawyer was not as simple as she appeared at first glance. At the very least, she was hiding many things.
His phone vibrated with a text message.
Ethan glanced at the message, then quickly pressed the pause button and minimized the window.
—Guys,— Ethan knocked on the table, —our leading lady is at the precinct. Drop what you're doing.—
—Thank God.—
Ruzek quickly turned off his computer screen and took a big drink of water.
At first, it had been interesting.
After a while, it became torture. They were all older people, and those tapes weren't censored.
Watching them for too long was truly uncomfortable.
In the interrogation room, a laptop on the table played shocking footage.
Loud moans echoed through the room.
—Please.—
Jenny's body tensed. She looked away, closed her eyes, and said:
—Please, turn it off.—
Hank nodded to Antonio, who quickly closed the laptop.
After a moment of silence.
—Based on what we have so far,— Ethan said, placing the photograph on the table, —the person who recorded the video couldn't have been your husband, right?—
Jenny looked up abruptly.
Her eyes were red, her face pale, and her hands clutched the fabric of her blouse as if she needed to hold on to something to keep from falling apart.
—Of course not,— she replied, her voice breaking. —It wasn't him.—
Antonio, sitting to one side, leaned slightly forward.
—Then tell us who it was.—
Jenny opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Her gaze fell to the floor. Her fingers tightened over her clothes, wrinkling the fabric between her hands.
Hank watched her without moving. He didn't raise his voice. He didn't need to.
—Jenny,— he said coldly, —if you don't tell us the truth, we're going to call your husband and ask him. Maybe he knows something you don't want to tell us.—
—No.—
The reaction was immediate.
Jenny shook her head several times, almost desperately. Fear crossed her face so clearly that Antonio and Ethan exchanged a brief look.
—Don't call him, please.—
Hank kept his arms crossed.
—Then talk.—
Jenny breathed shakily. For a few seconds, she seemed to struggle with herself, until finally she lowered her voice.
—It was Jacob Sims.—
None of them seemed surprised.
They already had that name on the table. What they wanted wasn't to discover it, but to see how she reacted when she said it.
—They forced me,— she whispered.
Antonio narrowed his eyes.
—Who?—
Jenny looked up, moving her gaze from Antonio to Hank, then to Ethan. Her eyes filled with tears, but this time she didn't try to wipe them away.
—When I was helping Johnston with his appeal, I met Sims. We needed him to testify. At first, that was all it was: calls, interviews, questions about the case…
Her voice cracked.
—Then he started looking for me outside of work. First messages. Then calls at all hours. Then he started showing up near my house, near the office, even in places where I never told him I would be.
Ethan watched her carefully.
—Was he stalking you?—
Jenny nodded, her lips pressed tight.
—Yes. And when I tried to pull away, it got worse.—
She wiped a tear with the back of her hand.
—Sims said I owed him something. That if I didn't help him, if I didn't do exactly what he asked, he would destroy my marriage, my job… my entire life.—
Hank took a step toward the table.
—And the video?—
Jenny closed her eyes for a second, ashamed.
—He used it to control me.—
The room fell silent.
Antonio slowly let the air out through his nose, holding back his anger.
Jenny opened her eyes again, her voice barely audible.
—I didn't want to do it. I swear. I just wanted it to end.—
Antonio asked:
—Why didn't you go to the police?—
—Do I need to explain what kind of people they are?— Jenny said, agitated. —He threatened me.—
—Sims said that if I didn't agree to his demands, he would hurt my family.—
—My husband, my daughter. He also threatened that if I didn't keep having sex with him, he would send the recorded videos to everyone I knew.—
Jenny's fingers trembled.
—Please, everything I'm saying is true.—
—Where could Sims be?—
Hank kept his expression stern as he pushed a notebook toward Jenny.
—Write down every possible place where he might be hiding.—
—I already told you I don't know.—
Jenny waved her hands desperately.
—If I knew, why wouldn't I tell you?—
—Now that Sims is being hunted by you people, do you think I'm not in danger?—
—Anything you can think of,— Hank continued, striking the table, —write it all down for me.—
After giving his instructions, he and Antonio left the interrogation room with the laptop and headed to the observation room next door.
—What do you think?—
Antonio touched his earring, spreading his hands as he asked.
—I don't believe her,— Ethan said, shrugging while looking at the nervous woman inside.
—She's lying. She's definitely hiding something.—
—Why do you say that?— Erin asked, confused.
Jenny's words made her feel compassion. An ordinary woman facing threats from a gang leader had limited options.
And the fact that she was being coerced through threats against her family wasn't surprising.
—In the videos I watched, she didn't show any reluctance at all.—
He pointed to Ruzek and Antonio, who were beside him.
—What about you two?—
—None,— Antonio said, shaking his head.
—It looked like she was even enjoying it a lot,— Ruzek said, clearing his throat and scratching his hair.
—She's a lawyer,— Ethan said, pointing toward the interrogation room. —Do you really think she'd let herself be blackmailed that easily? There's something she's not telling us.—
—And most importantly,— Hank remembered something and quickly added, —Sims and Johnston had no connection to Dr. Elliott before she took the appeal.—
—That's right.—
Ethan thought for an instant and suddenly looked at Hank.
—Dr. Elliott was a DNA consultant for the State's Attorney's Office, right?—
—That's correct.—
—He testified for the State's Attorney, securing convictions against many people who otherwise would have avoided punishment?—
—Yes.—
—And Jenny is a defense attorney?—
—Where are you going with this?—
Hank replied indifferently, then slapped his hand.
Ethan's series of questions made him realize it instantly, and he quickly looked at Antonio.
—Contact the State's Attorney's Office. I need every case Jenny has handled recently, as well as the cases Dr. Elliott worked on in the last six months.—
—Also, send someone to the law firm to investigate Jenny's recent activities. Who knows, we might get a surprise.—
Once they confirmed the connection between their cases, they could follow that lead to find the motive for the murder.
Bang, bang.
Just as everyone had a new idea and was about to move, Sumner hurried over and knocked on the door.
—I have information on Sims. I have a friend in the FBI, and they're building a major case against the gang.—
She handed the notebook to Hank and quickly said:
—Sims killed a cop, so he definitely won't stay in Chicago waiting to die. According to the information I received, the North Side gang uses camouflaged cargo trucks that travel daily from Chicago to Indiana for smuggling.—
—The depot is on the South Side, and from what my contact told me, the next shipment leaves in an hour and a half. This is Sims's only chance. He'll definitely try to escape.—
Hank took the notebook and looked at the single address written in it.
He looked at Sumner.
—Is it reliable?—
—Yes. If it weren't, I wouldn't say anything.—
Sumner's expression was serious.
—I just want to do something for the murdered officers.—
After joining the field unit, it was the first time she had been so close to death.
Sumner thought it over carefully and decided to ask her boyfriend for help.
First, to find the killer of the dead officer, and second, to truly open up opportunities for herself within the Intelligence Unit.
With Stillwell's help, she managed to get that information, but she changed the story a little.
—Everyone get ready. Don't expect a welcoming committee. Sims is going to resist.—
Hank turned to Ethan.
—If possible, I want him alive. No doubt Sims will have a different story to tell.—
Then he looked at Jenny, who was in the interrogation room, and said coldly:
—Our goal is to find the real killer of Dr. Elliott.—
There was no doubt that Hank had already determined that Jenny, the woman inside, was the mastermind.