Hog Butcher

Hog Butcher is the second episode in The Chicago Code.

Synopsis
Police superintendent Teresa Colvin reflects on officer Antonio Betts dying in her arms after saving her life, noting that when a cop is killed, the city pays: Police will be rousting everyone for minor infractions until someone gives up the killer's name.

When Colvin and detective Jarek Wysocki visit Antonio's mother - and find Alderman Ronin Gibbons telling her that Antonio gave Colvin his bulletproof vest - undercover officer Liam Hennessey calls Jarek about overhearing a Gibbons-connected thug bragging about last night's events.

As Jarek and his new partner, Caleb Evers, study the shooting scene, Caleb notices fragments of a broken taillight indicate that Colvin's return fire hit the getaway car.

A bartender tells Jarek that Colin Brady just bought three rounds for the house. Then Jarek throws Brady against a wall, questions him, and tells officer Isaac Joiner to cut Brady loose (Otherwise Liam's cover would be blown). Caleb tells Jarek that a neighborhood watch tweet gave them the location of the getaway car.

Colvin would rather be on the street than giving a press conference, but her secretary notes that she should be seen as leading the troops. Colvin reluctantly agrees, adding she'll be the only press contact.

Jarek and Caleb meet the kid who tweeted about the car - he haggles for a $100 reward - and find bloodstains indicating that the driver was shot. Jarek goes to the media with this, but he gives a false description of the car, then stakes out the vehicle. A young blonde woman shows up, then claims her boyfriend, Danny Bellick, didn't do anything. When she takes them to Danny, he's still got the bullet in him, and he dies before talking.

Meanwhile, Isaac and partner Vonda Wysocki stop Brady for a traffic violation and find a baggie of Oxycontin. And Gibbons tells Antonio's mother she won't receive his $50,000 death benefits because he wasn't wearing his vest, adding that Colvin wanted this change to ensure all officers wore them.

The blonde tells Jarek and Caleb that Danny wanted to be a cop and all his friends were cops, such as Sgt. Worthen - the officer Colvin demoted last week. When Jarek and Caleb question a hostile Worthen, he confirms all this, adding that Danny wasn't hired because Colvin decreed only "highly qualified" applicants would be chosen. They tell Worthen that getaway driver Danny is dead.

Meanwhile, Vonda and Isaac discuss a recent hijacking that put $300,000 worth of Oxycontin on the street; they ask Organized Crime Unit officer, Ernie, for permission to look into Colvin's shooting. OK. But call him first.

Worthen admits to complaining about Colvin while drinking with Danny and another wannabe cop on the night of the shooting. But, fearing a total loss of his pension, he refuses to name the wannabe. Colvin, who's been observing, bursts in and the argument gets ugly.

Jarek takes Colvin aside and explains that she can't fight corruption if she's losing the rank-and-file. Colvin returns and guarantees Worthen his full pension. He blames alcohol and stress; he didn't think they'd try to kill her. Then he names Kyle Lynch as the wannabe.

After beat cops tell Vonda and Isaac that they've spotted Brady's van outside a meatpacking plant, Isaac climbs a fire escape to investigate, and finds Brady ordering thugs to stuff bags of Oxycontin into carcasses for immediate transportation out of the city. When undercover Liam spots Isaac, Brady takes off in his van, which gets hit by a police car, and Isaac and Vonda arrest him.

As Isaac reflects on his childhood indignities at the hands of ghetto punks - to him the police represented the power and order he always wanted, which is why he joined the force - Ernie rewards Isaac's Oxycontin bust with a coveted invitation to ride along with the Organized Crime Unit. Great. But Ernie has to invite Vonda, too.

City budget officer Wallace Lippman tells Colvin that Antonio's mother won't collect any benefits - unless there's a special exemption from the police oversight committee, which includes Gibbons. Colvin sighs heavily.

When police raid Lynch's residence, his grandmother says that he went to meet Sgt. Worthen. Jarek and Caleb head for an invited members-only cop hangout - Jarek's a member - where they find a drunk Worthen, who's just killed Lynch (to clean up his own mess, he says), and handcuff him.

Colvin addresses the police and family members, plus Gibbons, at the ceremony where Antonio's star is added to the wall of fallen officers. Jarek goes outside to follow his niece, Vonda, who's overcome with grief at seeing her father's star on the wall. After a teary-eyed embrace, Jarek says that he's glad she and Isaac busted Brady, but he can't always tell her everything. Vonda counters by quoting Jarek's saying that the most important person to trust is your partner. No answer for that.

Afterward, Antonio's mother confronts Colvin about those lost benefits and serves her with a notice-to-appear. Colvin asks Gibbons for his help with this, which he agrees to provide.

Jarek goes to church, lights a candle, and encounters his former Catholic schoolteacher, Sister Paula, who asks why he doesn't attend on a regular basis. Jarek explains that he's divorced, but he's still sleeping with his wife - neither his fiancée nor his teenage son know this - and he couldn't handle the hypocrisy. When Sister Paula persuades him to pray, Jarek's prayer is to find Vonda's father's killer and to take his life..."Amen".