07x20 - Try Like Hell

[bunniefuu]

I have loved spending time with you, Sylvie.

But I am here to counsel rescue workers.

By dating a colleague, they won't open up to me.

Is that what happened with Casey?

I can't see you anymore.

We need you here, and I don't want to get in the way of that.

Where you been, Severide?

We haven't seen you in Molly's lately.

Just been slammed.

Kelly's my blind spot.

When it comes to him, I sort of just go off the rails.

Einstein had, like, six versions of the same clothes, 'cause he didn't want to have to think about that kind of thing.

So are you calling yourself a genius then? Mmm-hmm.

What's this?

Thought I'd brighten up the place.

Spring is here, you guys. Summer's on its way.

These are so pretty!

A little early in the morning for perkiness, don't you think?

You need to get them out of here, allergies.

Yeah, hydrangeas don't have pollen.

I think you might be getting a cold.

I do not have a cold.

Hey, uh, Lieutenant?

I parked next to your car this morning, saw all those boxes.

Are you moving? No, Benny's house sold.

Had to clear the place out. Oh, well...

I happened to notice a classic George Foreman Grill in there.

All yours.

Thanks, boss!

Yeah.

That must not have been fun, clearing out Benny's house.

It wasn't too bad.

The place I haven't touched yet is his cabin up north.

I'm heading there after next shift.

I remember you talking about it.

You spent a lot of time there, right?

Some. Probably gonna sell that, too.

That's got to be messing with his head.

Anything related to Benny does, let alone going through his belongings.

I don't have to get rid of the flowers because of Mouch, right?

Hell, no. No way.

You think first shift will ever get their inventory straight?

Yeah, that'll be a first.

Hey, Franz is here.

I love this guy. Heart of gold.

Yeah? Well, I don't know him.

Hey, Franzy. To what do we owe this pleasure?

Nice try, Herrmann.

Let's have it. Have what?

The piercing nozzle you guys borrowed off our rig at that attic fire in East Garfield.

What are you talking about? We returned that on the scene.

Like hell you did. Come on, cough it up.

What do you think we are?

A bunch of kleptos? If it walks like a duck...

That's uncalled for.

That piercing nozzle belongs to 27!

Klinginpill, what do you care? You don't belong to 27.

Yeah, mind your own business, floater.

Hey, I got to back up Herrmann on this, Lieutenant.

We returned that nozzle as soon as we were finished with it.

All right, you guys had your chance to come clean and now you can explain yourself to my battalion chief. Bring it.

Engine 51...

Getting that nozzle back one way or another.

Get your heap out of my way.

Battalion 25. Structure fire...

I hate that guy.

Fire's in the salon on the first floor.

Let's make sure it doesn't spread.

Residents coming down the fire escape.

Okay, truck, primary search. Copy.

Engine, lead out a line into that salon. Copy.

Squad, get those people down safely.

You got it, Chief. Tony, Capp, help people down the ladder drop.

Cruz, we're going up. Copy that.

Kidd, Otis. Clear the units above. Mouch, you're with me.

Hose line will be ready in a minute, Captain.

We'll make this quick.

Fire department! Call out!

All right, keep moving, everybody.

One step at a time. Be careful.

Okay, ma'am. Nice and easy.

Come on.

Cruz.

Fire department! Call out!

Fire department! Call out!

Fire is spreading fast!

Hey, ma'am?

My name's Kelly. We're gonna get you down from here, okay?

Just try not to move.

Hey, guys, I need a half-sked up here, and rig a basket to the aerial.

Coming right up.

Back room's all clear.

Captain!

Those are about to pop!

Let's go!

All clear, Chief.

Do your thing, Herrmann. All right.

Let's go, Ritter. Copy.

We're going to lower you down to our medics.

They're going to take good care of you.

Here we go. All right, let's bring her up!

Bring her down!

Careful.

She took a nasty fall. Possible neck injury.

Let's check her vitals on the rig.

Got it.

Oh, my God! Is Miriam all right?

Are you family? No, I own the salon.

She's a customer and friend.

What happened? Is everyone okay?

Where's Miles? Is there someone inside?

Is there someone inside? I don't know!

My dog, he's a Shepherd mix.

He watches the place at night. Where's Miles?

Miles! Ma'am, you can't go in there!

Hey, come here. My whole life is in that salon.

I can't... This can't be happening.

This can't be happening. Ma'am...

Ma'am... No!

I'm sorry. Miles!

I'm sorry.

The flowers are still here.

You sneezed on the truck, too.

And in the bunk room.

Yup. Maybe it's a cold.

I don't have a cold! Can somebody please explain why I just got a $1,000 invoice for a piercing nozzle?

Chief, I'm telling you, we had the piercing nozzle for five minutes, tops.

And wasn't one of Franz's guys with us the whole time?

Yeah, he took it back the minute we were done with it.

Plus, we've cleaned out our rigs twice since that shift.

If the nozzle ended up in one of our compartments we'd have found it.

We're not thieves, Chief.

Franz called us a bunch of kleptos.

Chief Boden calling for Chief Lydon.

Afternoon, Steve.

I received your invoice for the piercing nozzle, and I am filing it away in the appropriate location.

Now, I don't know what Franz and his crew were up to, whether they lost the nozzle somewhere or they're just trying to stir up trouble, but I don't appreciate anyone impugning the integrity of 51.

And the next time you have an issue with my house, instead of sending me a fax, pick up the phone.

Talk to me man-to-man.

Get out of my office. Yes, sir.

Copy that.

Thanks, Chief.

You used to spend all day at the salon?

At least four to five hours minimum.

But my hair was always laid thanks to the magic of chemical relaxers.

Growing up, it was like a rite of passage.

Then I grew out of it once I found out that stuff could chew through Coke cans. No bueno.

Hey, Kyle. How's it going?

Not bad. How are you, Em?

I'm great, thanks.

We're running low on gloves, so we need those.

I'm gonna go get them.

Hey, how you been? Good.

Really good.

I haven't seen you around the firehouse lately.

Yeah, I know. Things have been busy, but I'll swing by soon.

You'll never guess what I found myself watching the other day.

Pet Sematary?

Property Brothers.

Oh. No way. Yeah, it was the one where they turned an old barn into a sleek modern townhouse, but they still had their pet pigs.

Yeah, that's my favorite episode.

Excuse me, Chaplain Sheffield?

You have a visitor waiting in your office.

Sorry, I got to... Yeah, no, go ahead.

Okay, well...

It was nice to see you, Sylvie.

You, too.

You wanted to see us, Chief?

Yes, Captain Hubble wants to get your statements on the salon fire.

Yeah, sure thing. The ashes are still warm.

What's got OFI moving so quick on this?

Well, we found plenty of indication on the scene to call this one an arson.

Damn.

That's too bad.

The salon owner's a sweet lady.

She was pretty devastated by what happened.

I feel for her. I wouldn't.

Looks like she's the one who did it.

I'm not buying it. Flammable hair products were dumped all over the back office.

File cabinets left opened so the documents inside would burn...

I'm not saying this isn't arson, but she didn't set the fire.

No way. How do you know?

You should have seen her reaction at the scene.

She was crushed. The victim is a friend of hers.

Well, she may not have intended for anyone to get hurt.

We see this all the time with insurance scammers.

They underestimate how much damage or injury a fire can cause.

You think this was an insurance situation?

Several neighbors said the salon was underwater and the owner was very upset about the possibility of losing her business.

Her dog was inside.

Not a chance she left her dog in there to die.

We didn't find any dog.

Okay, well, maybe he got out somehow.

Or maybe it was never there.

I've seen a lot of people watch their home or their business burn.

She isn't faking it. That much I can tell you.

Have you questioned the owner?

She's at Chicago Med visiting with the victim.

I'm heading over there right now to talk to her.

I'll come with you.

You're on shift. Chicago Med. I'll be back in an hour.

Okay, who are you trying to help, me or her?

I can aid your investigation, Captain.

I connected with her.

She'll open up more if I'm there with you.

He has a point.

One hour.

Never let it be said that Benny Severide wasn't the real deal.

This is a full-on OG George Foreman Grill.

That's like strutting around with first-generation Air Jordans.

Isn't it basically just a steamer?

No! Next shift, I'm going to grill up some Cuban Reubens and I'm gonna make a convert out of you.

Okay. Oh, my God!

What?

Here they are. All right.

Why all the secrecy?

Show 'em, Joe.

Where the hell did that come from?

It was just leaning behind a storage crate.

Guess it must have wound up on one of the rigs after all.

One of the other shifts must have found it and set it aside. If Boden finds out about this after the way he stuck it to Chief Lydon...

He is not going to find out about it, because we're going to get it back to Engine 27 without anybody knowing.

A caper. Exciting.

It is not a caper.

All we have to do is sneak into their house, return the nozzle, and then just sneak back out undetected. Yeah, that's a caper.

You call it whatever you want, but we are doing this first thing after shift.

I am really good at this stuff, Herrmann.

Once, in high school, my friends and I stole a human skeleton from the bio lab and we propped it up behind the wheel of Mr. Gazaway's minivan...

When you get out of surgery, I'll be outside in the waiting room.

I'm not going anywhere, Miriam.

I'll be right here.

Let's get her prepped for intake.

Ms. Curtis, I'm Captain Alexa Hubble with the Office of Fire Investigation.

I believe you've already met Lieutenant Severide.

Yes, hi. Thank you so much for what you did for Miriam. And for me.

How is she doing?

I guess it's a pretty serious spinal injury that the doctors need to get in there and see what they can do. I'm just praying for her.

It's nice of you to look after her like this.

She doesn't have anyone else.

Her husband d*ed last year.

Was there any sign of Miles in the salon?

My dog?

No. Well, that's a good thing, right?

Maybe he got out.

I need to ask you a few questions about the fire.

Is that okay?

Yeah, sure.

Where were you when the fire started?

I don't know when the fire started.

I came in early to take Miles for his walk and my salon was in flames.

When I checked my security cameras, Miles was in there.

He was sleeping by the door.

I was trying to find out how the fire started but... See?

The camera stopped working, I guess because of the fire.

I don't know. It had cut out at least a half an hour before the fire started.

How often do your cameras shut down like this?

They're just wi-fi cameras.

You know how that stuff goes in and out.

It's a little strange, though, isn't it?

The timing?

You think I b*rned down my salon?

It is too soon to make a determination, but we are looking for the truth.

Well, here's the truth.

I loved that salon.

It wasn't ever going to make me rich, but it was my dream.

My own place where my clients could come and hang out, and feel like they were at home with family.

Miriam is family.

I would never put her in danger like that.

Niya, no one's accusing you of anything.

She is! We're just looking for answers, and this is helpful, what you're telling us.

You're not going to get railroaded here, I promise you.

You have to find whoever did this.

We're gonna try like hell. That's a guarantee.

Can you... Can we get a copy of that whole video?

Of course, yes. I can send you the link.

Hey. Hi.

Everything all right? Yeah, totally.

You sure? Yeah, it's...

It's not a big deal.

I saw Kyle at Med.

And he gave you flowers?

Oh, no. I got these for the common room but Mouch keeps complaining about his allergies so I was going to stash them under his bed.

It was weird seeing Kyle.

But it was also nice, which is hard, you know?

Yeah, I do.

It's strange he hasn't been around here, right?

He used to come by once a week.

Has to be because of the break-up.

Could be.

I feel responsible for all that.

I'm sorry, Brett.

If I hadn't been spinning out after that call...

If it hadn't been you, it would've been someone else here.

It's not your fault, Casey.

Truth is, the relationship was a bad idea from the start.

Seemed like you two had a good thing going.

We did.

But it's time for me to move on and...

It's just taking me longer than I thought it would.

Tell me about it.

I still can't walk past Gabby's locker.

Ambulance 61, person injured, 552 Webster A venue... Here.

You can put these in your office instead.

Hey, I know this place. I take spin classes here.

Olivia!

Oh, my God, Sylvia, I didn't know you were a paramedic.

Come on, you guys. You have to help this girl.

She fell off her bike. It's bad.

Okay, guys. Give us some space.

Come on. Clear out, please.

Look out, look out, look out.

Let us get in there, guys. Come on.

I don't know what happened. One minute I'm spinning and the next thing I know, this chick next to me goes flying forward off her bike, and there's blood everywhere.

We got it, all right? Just step back.

Honey, can you hear me?

What's your name? Claire.

Claire? Okay, we're gonna get you out in just a second, okay?

All right, looks like we're gonna to have to cut her hair.

Let's wipe up some of this blood so we can get a good look.

Can you give me some towels?

Hello?

I got it.

Excuse me.

Coming through. Here you go.

Thank you, thanks.

Just hold her steady.

Almost there.

All right, she's clear.

Gonna have you lean up for me, okay?

Good.

You can hold on to me.

Keep your chin up for me, sweetie.

Here we go.

You good to go? Yup.

Okay, just like that.

Excuse me.

Thank you.

I'm gonna have you stand up for me, okay?

Good, good. Good.

All right, let me just get you in there, okay?

You're doing just fine. Okay.

All right, Brett. On three.

One, two, three.

Is she gonna be okay?

Um, yeah. Her vitals are stable.

Poor girl.

The way you handled it, total badass.

Well, thanks for the towel assist.

Sorry about Jason. What a wuss.

Where are all the real men in Chicago, you know?

Not in spin class, I guess.

Red One, what do you see?

All clear. Hey, Otis.

Red Two. Right.

Yes. What do you got?

Red Two is in position. Are we a go?

Repeat, are we a go?

Yes, you are a go.

Wait! Whoa!

Hold up, hold up.

Go. Okay, you are clear.

Go, get it done.

Go, go, go.

Nice.

Hey, where do you think they keep it?

Who cares? Just pick a compartment and dump the thing. How's this one?

It literally doesn't matter.

Go, go, go!

Mouch, don't!

Gesundheit!

Hey, what are you guys doing here?

I told you it was a cold.

You had it all along. Klinginpill, this does not concern you.

If you breathe a word of this to anyone...

What's it worth to you?

Red One, report.

Red Two, what's your situation?

All right, this operation went sneakers up.

Pull the ripcord. Don't got to tell me twice.

Let's go.

So, I was thinking... Hi.

We should totally be dating.

Oh, no. No, sorry.

What I mean is, we are more than capable of moving on.

We just need to be more proactive about finding dates.

Okay. So there's this woman who teaches my spin class whom I think would be perfect for you.

A blind date?

No, we could make it, like, a group thing.

I'll set up a little game night at my place.

That way you get to know her, see what you think about her.

No pressure.

You'd do that, right?

Kelly must still be at that arson scene.

He is really throwing himself into this investigation.

It's all he talked about on shift.

Because it's the perfect distraction so that he doesn't have to go through Benny's stuff.

Yeah.

Honestly, I'm worried about him.

Do you think it would be dumb if I were to reach out and let him know that I'm here to talk, just as a friend?

You know I'll support you no matter what, but every time you have tried the friend route with Severide, it has gone south.

Well, maybe third time's a charm?

So much for, "Leave no man behind."

Caper didn't go so well?

I don't want to talk about it.

There's another one.

To your right.

These cameras are still connected.

Niya could have disabled it from her phone, though it'll probably take a subpoena to find out.

I don't know why you have it in for her.

I'm just going off of the evidence.

Why are you taking her at face value?

Because I trust my gut.

Who do I sue? Hey, you can't be in here.

This is an active investigation.

That's okay, I just want to know who to sue, the power company or the landlord?

What are you talking about? I live upstairs.

Got smoke damage everywhere.

I mean, I know this was an electrical fire.

I just don't know whose fault it is.

What makes you think it was an electrical fire?

Well, there was that outage before the fire.

So your power went out?

Yeah, for like five minutes.

How long before the fire? I don't know.

Maybe 20, 30 minutes?

Okay, well...

We're not sure who you should sue just yet, but we'll let you know.

Awesome. Thanks.

That explains the cameras going out.

Yeah, but who k*lled the power?

The case is intact, so unless someone had a tag tool...

Well, that narrows the suspect pool down to pretty much everyone at ComEd.

Hang on.

Rust.

Fresh cut on the locking tab.

Somebody stealthed their way into the meter.

They turn the power off, the cameras go down, they get inside, they do what they need to...

And they turn the power back on.

And no one's the wiser.

Do you guys smell that?

Does this look familiar to you?

I don't know. Why, should it?

Oh, God.

Arsonist cuts the power, kills the dog.

Cameras, alarms.

Everything goes offline.

They're free to get inside, douse the place with accelerant.

And set a timing device. That's the key. They found one?

No, but it was probably destroyed in the fire.

Point is, the guy can set everything up, turn the power back on, put the locking tab back in place.

It makes it look like an inside job...

And the arsonist is in the wind.

Exactly.

We've seen this before, right?

What do you mean? Same M.O.?

Yeah, not the dog necessarily, but the electric meter?

Refresh my memory? I don't know.

It just feels familiar somehow.

Well...

Whoever this guy is, he's a nasty piece of work.

We still keeping the old arson files in the blue office?

Yeah, lumped in with all the non-arson cases.

It'll take a while to go through it.

I got time.

Kevin Klinginpill?

Yeah, he filled in for Ritter a few weeks back?

No, I remember him. Here's the thing, Chief.

He's been stuck in the floater pool for ages, and he'd just really like to find a permanent home.

And?

And, well, we just thought, you know, maybe 51 would be a good place for him?

Herrmann, you hated Klinginpill.

In fact, his mere presence was an issue for you.

I didn't really give him a fair shake.

What's going on here?

Franz was right about the piercing nozzle.

We had it all along, and we didn't realize it.

We tried to sneak it back over there, but Klinginpill caught us.

Yeah, thanks to Sneezy over here.

So now I have to give Klinginpill a home in order to keep him quiet.

I'm afraid so.

It's that or you get to call Chief Lydon and eat crow.

We're real sorry about this, Chief.

Me, too.

You know, Klinginpill probably won't last too long once he finds out what a busy house this is.

Hey, Steve. Wallace.

I owe you an apology.

Turns out my men had your nozzle after all.

Should be back in your hands now, though.

Let me extend an olive branch by sending these knuckleheads over to wash all your rigs from stem to stern.

Sound good?

Yeah.

You take care.

Will there be anything else?

I guess not. Thank you, Chief.

Next time, try an antihistamine.

Hey, what is all this?

Every arson 51 has ever responded to.

Something about the salon fire, I've seen it before.

Isn't OFI looking into it?

Yeah, but you know. Two heads better than one.

What?

Nothing. You just...

You said you were gonna head up to Benny's cabin after shift.

Cabin's not going anywhere.

Well, and all that stuff in your car?

What about it?

I don't know. Maybe going through it, getting up to the cabin might be cathartic somehow.

I'll get there, but I want to figure this out first.

Okay.

I'm around, you know, if you need any help sorting out the cabin or whatever.

Okay. Thanks.

Okay, let's get this party started!

All right! Where's Chloe?

She had a work thing. She'll be here later.

Ooh!

What year was Pluto discovered?

A, 1922, B, 1925, or C, 1930!

Are you serious with this?

Yeah, how about music and film questions?

Thirty seconds. Oh, my God.

Any geography questions? I'm pretty good with those.

Oh, me, too. I used to have a globe by my bed when I was little, and I'd spin that thing around when I was falling asleep.

What about you? What's your category?

Definitely not geography.

I still get lost in Chicago all the time and I grew up here.

The margaritas are so good, Sylvie.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They really are.

Ten seconds.

Ugh. Fine, fine.

B, 1925. C, 1930.

Have none of you taken a single science class?

Easy, k*ller. Game night is supposed to be fun.

Um... Okay. Let's switch to charades.

Yes! All right, come on.

Mmm. TV show. Oh! Okay.

Now we're talking.

Wait! Uh, no, that's one word.

I mean, never played charades before?

You know, you're really mean on game night.

That was a genuine question! I wasn't being mean.

All right, let's keep going.

TV show, one word.

Driver... Riverdale!

Speed Racer! No, it's Top Gear!

Uh, you are climbing something.

Oh! Emergency! Yes!

What?

There's a TV show called Emergency!?

How in the hell...

That was impressive.

He's great, right?

Really great.

All right, ready?

Hey, Severide. Someone here to see you.

Hey, Niya.

I'm really sorry about your dog.

I didn't start that fire. I know.

We're way past that theory. You have to find whoever did.

We're going to do everything we can, I promise.

No, you have to find him.

The surgeons couldn't help her.

Miriam.

She'll never walk again.

Hubble. Lieutenant.

Something about this case was nagging at me, like I've seen it before.

But I've gone back over every arson case at 51 over the last 10 years and I can't find it.

I was hoping I could go through your system, maybe...

What's that?

Oh, the timing device.

We actually overlooked it at first thinking it was just something the salon used for color treatments.

Then we noticed that insulated wire taped to the side and the charred remains of a matchstick preserved under tape on the pointer.

So start the timer and the matchstick rotates and then hits the wires and...

Son of a bitch. What? What's wrong?

Nothing, I just...

Need to check something.

Hey, guys, make sure you get the wheel wells.

Lotta road salt up in there.

Buzz off, Klinginpill. I'm just saying.

Hey, you know, we're real sorry we couldn't get you a permanent spot over at 51.

That's okay. Franz brought me on full-time here at 27.

Seriously? Yeah.

He thought I was full of it when I told him you brought back the piercing nozzle, but Boden confirmed it.

Suddenly, I'm looking pretty good.

Oh, That's great. Really, good for you.

Sorry. Careful there.

You guys are the best.

Thanks for all you did for me.

Having a permanent home, it's gonna change my life.

That was an amazing class.

Thanks! I just heard from Claire.

Stitches are coming out next week.

She swears she'll be back.

Oh, good for her.

Um, look. I know it got a little rowdy at the end of the party the other night, so I'm not sure if you had a chance to exchange numbers with Casey, but I'm sure he'd be cool with me giving you his info.

Uh, he is an awesome guy.

You were right.

See, I told you I wouldn't steer you wrong.

Yeah, the thing is...

Oh, he's not your type?

Sylvie...

You're the one who should be with Matt Casey, not me.

You know that, right? What?

Oh, no! No, no, no.

He was married to my best friend.

Okay. No, he's definitely...

Come on! Come on, I sat next to the two of you the whole night.

You were meant for each other.

Matt. Hey.

Come on in.

Uh, how are you?

I'm good.

Glad to hear it.

What can I do for you?

When you and Sylvie broke up, the whole point of that was so the relationship wouldn't interfere with your job.

Right? That's right.

But I haven't been checking in on the folks at 51 very much, have I?

That's not good.

I was just trying to be sensitive to Sylvie.

I get that.

But she's tough.

And she can handle a little awkwardness from time to time.

And the g*ng at 51 needs you.

It would be good for us and for Sylvie.

Then I'll be there.

Thank you.

She is tough, isn't she?

She is. She's a great girl.

The best.

I know who torched the hair salon.

Someone my dad was hunting for 15 years.