"Bad Idea"
Chapter Seven: I'm Always Here
3x09: Never Forget I Love You

*Trigger warning*

Becklean had gotten called into work, which wasn't anything new, the circumstances well that's a little suspect. A head washed up on the bank of the river where some rich fucks were boating. They found the other half of the body just a few miles from where the head was found. Now Becklean was on her way to find out the cause of death, she pushed open the door to autopsy, her coat draped over one arm while her other propped the door open for her partner. She was still slowly trying to forgive Erin so it was just her and Jay for a while. And she didn't mind it, Jay didn't betray her.

"Good news. Both head and body belong to the same person." Marg the M.E. says as Jay furrows his brows,

"Was there any doubt?"

She shrugs. "The pieces they pull from the Chicago River, you never know." she pulls back the sheet covering the body. "She was early 20s. And water decomps are tough to pinpoint."

Jay winces as Becklean keeps her stoic demeanor. "Ballpark time of death?" she asks blonde hair falling in her face a bit.

"Best guess, your victim died a week ago from strangulation as indicated by the fractured hyoid in the victim's neck."

"These holes aren't gun wounds." Jay points to the holes on the victim's neck

"You're right. They were made by a power drill. Whoever killed this girl knew what they were doing They drilled holes so the body would sink."

Jay sighs as Becklean nods. "Just get us something, anything we can use to ID her."

Of course, Marge pulls through for them and the partners find themselves in front of the others, explaining the logistics.

"M.E. was able to pull a couple of usable prints off our victim's hand. ID came back as Victoria Wasson, 26. She was in the system for simple possession." Becklean slaps the victim's photo up onto the board.

"She used to be a dancer at the strip club Deluxe."

"It's up on Kingsbury. Raided it a few times when I was in VICE. It's an Outfit joint, totally protected." Antonio explains.

"So, Victoria saw something she wasn't supposed to, and the Outfit killed her for it."

"Given the way the body was drilled full of holes so it would sink, that's a strong possibility," Jay notes as everyone nods along.

"Hey, this Victoria could have crossed paths with all kinds, dealers, stalkers, jealous exes. Let's put the pieces together, and start building a timeline."

Becklean nods, before clearing her throat. "Closest next of kin is Victoria's little sister. She's a sophomore at CCU. She shouldn't have to see her sister's body like this, so me and Jay will do the notification."

"I'll hit the strip club with Antonio."

Jay smirks at Rusek. "Yeah, right after you hit the ATM." Becklean hits him on the arm as he continues to smirk.

"Al, you go with." The trio leaves as Voight starts to head into his office, Becklean stops him at the door.

"Hank. I've got to be honest. Every time a case involves the Outfit, I get a little worried."

"Don't be."

Becklean sighs. "You remember they're a social club, and your father was a member there."

"Nobody's getting special treatment. The Outfit's involved, we hit them with everything we go. Until then, I need more than speculation."

She nods. "Right."

//

Becklean and Jay find themselves sitting in front of the victim's little sister. She was sobbing trying to keep her composure all while falling apart, Becklean knew about that way too much. It broke her deep down but she was keeping her stoic face on all the time. She had to prove just how hard she was, which didn't matter to her partner as much as thought it would.

"We didn't see each other a lot. Vickie worked nights, and I had class most days."

"When was the last time you saw your sister?" Becklean asked.

"Last Friday. She came home, and she said a friend was flying her down to Cabo for the week."

Jay nods. "Did your sister mention his name?"

"Vickie had a lot of friends, guys she met at work. I never knew their names. Our parents died in a car wreck six years ago, and... and Vickie stepped up and decided she was gonna take care of us both. She worked all kinds of jobs. She... she even started dancing at that club to help me pay for school." the sister explains. She seemed hesitant to say anything about Victoria's jobs as if the partners would judge her sister, but they weren't.

"Listen. We don't care how your sister lived her life. We just care about finding out who did this to her." Becklean explains as the sister nods.

The group reconvenes at the precinct, where everyone goes over what they found.

"Hey, so I just spoke to Financial Crimes about the IDs we found in Victoria's locker. They've been looking for the pretty face behind these check-kiting schemes for months now. They just didn't know her real name. As Jen Turner bilks 35 grand from Citibank.As Beth Hampton, 44,000 at Bank of America. And as Lana Del Rio, a cool, clean 56 grand from Chase." Rusek explains.

"Bottom line is, she's cashed over half a million dollars worth of counterfeit treasury checks."

"That's an old-school Outfit scam, using young, attractive women to rip off bankers with that fugazi paper instead of a gun," O explains

"Yep, the girls keep 10%, kick the rest back to their handler. That's how the Outfit keeps their hands clean."

Becklean nods. "So, do we loop in organized crime?"

"I'll do the digging." Voight walks out of his office towards the stairs,

"When?"

"I got to run my schedule by you now?"

Becklean purses her lips, folding her arms over her chest. "Look, whatever this girl was into, she didn't deserve to end up dead at the bottom of the river. We know this was Outfit, so..."

"So now you're gonna tell me what she did and did not deserve like I don't know?"

She makes her signature scowl and lip purse at Voight who almost falters. Before she rolls her eyes. "I'm just asking what the game plan is here."

"Keeping looking into Victoria's known associates." with that Voight walks off as she sighs, tossing her pen on her desk and leaving back in her chair, she was already over Voight's shit and the day hadn't started.

//

Voight gives them a location as to where the person is making the ID and passports. All for the guy to throw him and Rusek off the balcony. This resulted in Rusek whining like the baby he was and mumbling about How if Bex was there he wouldn't have been in this situation. Honestly, it wasn't a lie Becklean had the best takedown record in the unit and she was smaller which would've certainly helped.

Rusek, Jay, and Antonio came back with a potential suspect and a name.

"Charlie Koslow, a Polish kid, grew up on Taylor Street. He was an up-and-coming enforcer for the Outfit." Jay tapes the photo on the board.

"Then he shattered some guy's jaw over a parking spot, and the judge gave him five years. Six months into his sentence, he pissed off some GDs, who dropped a 45-pound plate on his head, putting him in a coma for two months. His prison psych profile says after that, he never fully recovered mentally."

"Who gave us Koslow?" Becklean asks looking towards Voight who was reading over Koslow's file in the doorway of his office.

"Concerned citizen."

"I went back to Deluxe and flashed Koslow's picture. Now, Victoria's dancer friend Sage said that she saw Koslow arguing with Victoria the night she disappeared." O explains.

Antonio and Voight decided to interrogate Koslow while Becklean and Jay watched in the viewing room.

They poke at Koslow for a bit and he cracks open about how he didn't like who Vickie was seeing. It seemed as though he had a crush, everything was working out in their favor Voight slides the autopsy photo across the table to Koslow and he looks at it twitching his lips about to tell all. When Rusek enters the room with his Lower in Tow, he asks to speak with Koslow alone.

After an hour, the lawyer calls Antonio and Voight back into the room, just to tell him how Guilty Koslow feels, and how he wants to confess to Victoria's murder. Only everyone in there knows he wasn't the murderer, the problem now was that the person who did do it was powerful, they had enough power to make Koslow confess to murder. Enough power to put a man in jail for 25 years or longer. And thats where they needed to get things out, where they needed to step in and find out the truth and correct the wrongs of this club before they did this to another innocent person.

"Got a confession from Koslow." Voight and Antonio walk upstairs.

"Fantastic, we'll take it."

"What do you mean? Half an hour ago, he was saying he didn't do it." Becklean furrows her brows in confusion. Antonio hands her a slip of paper with an address on it, before going back to his desk.

"Changed his mind."

She leans back on her desk. "Based on what? A public defender could get him off on what we have right now."

"Guess we're lucky he came clean."

"Did he come clean, or did his mobbed-up lawyer get him to take one for the team?" She says as Voight walks up to her.

"I'll tell you what, you want to volunteer for the Innocence Project? I'll get you that number. Right now, we have a case to close. Roll with crime lab to that address." he points to the paper in her hand and she just shakes her head angrily at him as Jay watches her. Between him and Erin, she was getting a migraine her head felt like it was going to explode and her anger was rolling around in her belly.

//

A deputy Angela, and the crime lab were dusting the tools and boat for prints at the dock, that's where the address led Becklean and Jay. She was shivering from the cold, her jacket was way too thin for the Chicago weather, especially since they were by water.

"You get anything off the drill?" she asks as the deputy steps off the boat.

"Not even a partial. Gotta assume your guy was wearing gloves."

Becklean just sighs, "All right, let's bag everything, and get it to the lab."

Jay reappears next to her after taking a phone call a few feet away.

"Hey, that was the DMV. The last person the boat was registered to died two years ago. Then the title never gets transferred, and all the storage fees have been paid in cash."

Becklean kisses her teeth. "Great."

"And I'm not so sure it was used to dispose of the body."

Becklean seems taken aback by Angela's words. "What do you mean?"

"My techs sprayed the whole cabin and deck with luminol. Not a single trace of blood. If your killer used this boat to transport the body, a body that was drilled full of holes, no way it'd be this spotless."

"Thank you." with that the partners begin leaving the scene.

"Okay really? You're shaking like a chihuahua after a bath," Jay takes off his jacket and hands it to her.

She rolls her eyes specifically at the shit-eating grin on his face, "No, thank you." she replies walking past him which causes him to kiss his teeth now.

"Stubborn." he shakes his head.

//

"Searched the boat. Crime techs found zero physical evidence tying Koslow to the boat or to Victoria's body." Becklean was now telling Voight their findings he was leaning back in his chair, with his signature look on his face.

"They had a week to clean it up."

She shakes her head in irritation as Jay begins to speak up. "Forensic says the way the body was desecrated, then that'd be impossible, so if this was Koslow, he..."

"If? He confessed."

Becklean tears her glare off of Voight for a second. "Will give us a minute?" Jay just leaves as she turns her gaze back to Voight. "You remember the summer I moved in with you? The cartage warehouse over on Cermak got knocked off, and the guard on duty got killed. Half the neighborhood saw Tommy Posato at the Italian Day Festival when it happened, and he still went to Joliet for murder."

Voight gets up standing in front of her now the two are almost face to face. "And?"

Becklean makes a grimacing face. "And it wouldn't be the first time the Outfit sent somebody up the river for something that they didn't do."

"Careful what you're implying."

She purses her lips and folds her arms over her chest. Her chest was high and her jaw was squared out. "I'm not implying anything. Whoever gave you Koslow, you're getting played."

Mouse comes into the office seeing the two in what seems to be a Naruto-style standoff. "I can come back."

"What do you get?"

He nods looking to Becklean who gives a him that indicates he can continue talking. "I ran Koslow's telephones, and there are a bunch of calls to Victoria Wasson, but the odd thing is, there are even more calls to Lauren Wasson. That's Victoria's younger sister. I mean, it looks like Charlie...He was in a relationship with both girls."

"Which Lauren neglected to mention," Becklean replies walking out,

She and her partner were now interrogating Lauren in the breakroom.

"Lauren, why weren't you straight with us from the beginning?" Becklean starts.

"I already told you everything I know."

"You left out the part where you're dating the guy who's scammed treasury checks with your sister, who also just confessed to killing her," Jay explains Lauren's eyes go wide at the thought of Charlie confessing.

"Wait, Charlie confessed? No, no, no way."

"So how about you tell us the truth then? Unless you want your boyfriend going to prison for a murder he didn't commit." Jay sasses as Becklean shakes her head at him, she was rubbing off on him entirely way too much.

"Okay, I wanted to tell you, I swear, but you saw what they did to Vickie."

The two partners perk up at the word They. "Who's they? Did someone threaten you?"

Lauren looks between both of them. "I don't know their names. They're..." she exhales. "Okay, look, all you need to know is that Charlie was with me the night Vickie disappeared. I swear."

"And you can prove that?" Becklean asks.

"We... we went to the silent movie theater on Clark, and then he stayed the night at my dorm."

"Did he sign the guestbook at the front desk?" Jay asks.

"Guys aren't allowed past 10:00, so Charlie always sneaks in through the garage."

//

Voight left before they could give them new information. he returned just in time to hear the news about the autopsy report. Victoria Wasson was 16 weeks pregnant. And Victoria's little sister Lauren was with Charlie Koslow... Who she was banging. The night that he supposedly killed Victoria. Which was confirmed by two of Lauren's dorm mates.

"All right, get Koslow back up here, and tell Platt we haven't officially charged him yet. Still an open investigation." Voight orders as everyone nods.

Becklean pays a visit to Koslow with Voight down in booking.

"I know why you confessed to Victoria's murder, 'cause you were protecting Lauren. You eat the charges, and she doesn't get hurt, am I right?"

"You talked to Lauren? Is she okay?"

Becklean nods. "Yeah, she's in police custody. I'd say right now you need to think about helping yourself."

"Charlie, we know you were with Lauren the night Victoria was murdered." Charlie was staring off into the distance. " You listening? Hey. We need to know who put you up to this."

"I tell you, they kill me. Better off going back to Stateville."

Becklean looks to Voight who nods for her to go ahead and say it. "Did you know Victoria was pregnant? We think that's the motive here. You said you didn't like the guy she was seeing. So, who is he, Charlie? Who could be the father here?"

Charlie hands his head low. "Charlie." Voight comes and sits down on the bed next to Charlie. "Charlie. I know how manipulative these guys can be. Family. Loyalty. Honor. And they're... they're all fine words until it's their neck on the block. No matter what promises were made...This isn't right. And I got to tell you, Lauren... If you're in prison, they'll just see her as a loose end. She'll never be safe."

"Tafani."

Voight and Becklean look at one another. "Carlo Tafani?"

"Victoria was sleeping with him. I told her never to get into bed with the boss."

Voight looks back at Charlie. "You sure about this?"

He nods. "Yes, sir."

Before long they head back upstairs to tell the others. Antonio is taping a picture of Tafani on the board. "Carlo Tafani. He's a boss for the Outfit's Bridgeport crew. Tied to money laundering, racketeering, and suspected in the disappearance of several witnesses in the family secrets case."

"Financial Crimes just sent over a report detailing recent transactions by Tafani's front company, Vesta Inc. Now, one of the names that showed up on the report is none other than Miss Lana Del Rio."

"Well, that's one of those aliases that Victoria used," Rusek says as Mouse nods.

"Exactly. Now, the check scam paid out in cash, so I'm thinking, you know, hush money."

Everyone looks to Voight. Who sighs. "I'll pick him up." He pushes himself off of the desk he was leaning on.

"I'll come with." Becklean grabs her coat.

"No, you won't."

"You said we'd hit this guy with everything we got." She continues.

"Tafani is not the kind of guy you punch in the mouth."

"Right now, he is suspect number one." Becklean mutters.

"Which is why I'm going to talk to him."

"Hank." she begins.

"Sergeant."

She pushes her chin back as if she is taken aback. "Sergeant, if you don't drag Tafani back here in a set of cuffs, I will."

"That right there is your problem. You keep talking to me like I'm the guy who raised you instead of your boss. Go back to your desk until I need you." she shakes her head no at Voight who smacks his lips together nodding at Jay who grabs Becklean's arm pulling her back. He pulls her into the breakroom she shoves him off of her.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Who does he think he is?" She was pacing before Jay tried to comfort her, and she started shoving him and hitting him a few times. "You're not me leader I don't need to be taken care of or some shit."

"Oh believe me I know that. It was either you Took out Voight's eye or he took your badge and I kinda like having you here."

She just shakes her head at the smirk on his face before laughing a bit, his arms around her waist. She finally felt a bit relaxed but it only lasted a bit before the storm was approaching. The storm is Voight with Tafani. He brought him into interrogation and they talked just as Becklean entered to give Voight some shocking information.

"So it turns out the only other person authorized to wire money out of Tafani's account is the lawyer, Jim Shelte." she starts.

"They need someone to send the bribe, make bail. That's what those guys do."

Becklean nods. "There's more to it than that. I had Mouse run Shelte's financials."

"Get this, if Shelte bills out 600 an hour, he's still living beyond his means. The guy's going through a nasty divorce. He's got debt up to his eyeballs, a condo, car note."

"Boat, a 55-foot Bertram he keeps registered in New Buffalo, Michigan." She continues.

"Yeah, It seems he also likes to live it up room-service style. He keeps a standing reservation at the W Hotel. Well, he's been crashing there ever since his wife kicked him out, so I accessed security footage at the hotel." Mouse turns the computer screen. "And look who's been visiting him the last month. Our D.O.A." The video footage shows the Lawyer and Victoria kissing.

//

This was Beck's favorite part. She gets to put on her charms and make a killer confess. Shelte walks through the door of interrogation while the two partners look at him wearing smirks.

"Where's my client?" He asks.

"Which one? You've had a busy day. Maybe we should assign you a parking space."

Shelte tosses his coat over the chair. "We've been over this from every angle, and we just can't figure out why Charlie Koslow would want to murder Victoria."

The door opens and in walks Voight. Shelte looks around. "What the hell is this about?"

"You're in a lot of trouble, Counselor. It looks like you panicked a little bit when you found out Victoria was pregnant. This one's my favorite." Jay tosses photos of Victoria and Shelte kissing on the table. "So, you paid her 20 grand of the boss's money just to make the problem go away."

"You didn't want to keep that baby, but Victoria wanted to keep it, so you brought her out to a remote location, and told her you were going to Cabo. That's a nice touch. And then you strangled her, drilled her full of holes, little trick you learned from your mob clients, and you go out on your Bertram to dump the body."

"Everything you've got is circumstantial at best," Shelte says as Becklean just smirks more.

"Way I see it, you got two options: one, you cop to the murder right now, no deal, no assurances, or two, walk out that door...And you know what's gonna happen. What's it gonna be?"

Shelte just sniffs "I think I'll be going now."

"No way," Becklean says.

"Bexs"

Shelte smirks. "Good luck with the investigation."

He leaves and she follows him outside only for the mob to pick him up in a Black Suv she knew what was going to happen. They were going to murder him, and no matter what she did nothing was changing that. So she went to the bar and had a drink just as Voight walked up.

"Can I get a Manhattan?" he asks. The bartender nods going to make the drink. "You know, you mentioned the summer you moved in... The thing you didn't know about Tommy Posato, the thing nobody knew is, that Tommy liked underage girls and tender-aged girls. The Outfit found out about it, and they gave him a choice .22 to the back of the head or take the rap for one of their robberies and go away to Joliet...Bexs... I'm not always going to explain what I do, and you're not always gonna like me for that, but... just...I... Never forget I love you." she smiles as he kisses her head.

"I love you too."

And for a second things seemed to be just right. The world seemed to be slightly better than it was when the week started.

Word count: 3,400