CHICAGO FIRE — “What Happened to Courtney” Episode 417 — Pictured: (l-r) Miranda Rae Mayo as Stella Kidd, David Eigenberg as Christopher Herrmann, Jesse Spencer as Matthew Casey, Christian Stolte as Randy “Mouch” McHolland — (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC)

Name of the Episode: “What Happened to Courtney”

Beware – spoilers!

Truck 81 is called to a carbon monoxide house alarm. The security company called the home and no one answered. The monoxide readings were alarmingly high and everyone searches the house. Severide and Cruz find the leak in the basement. The multi purpose chimney had a block and seems to be an easy fix. Once Severide is looking into the chimney, his device shows there is a skeleton blocking the way. Cruz and Severide pull the body out of the chimney. The body was wrapped in a beach towel and looked like the size of a child.

Detective Bianca Holloway comes onto the scene and accuses everyone of compromising the crime scene. There are only six days until the Alderman election and Gabby is spearheading the campaign. Mouch shows Casey a video of Alderman Becks slamming Casey’s desire to work full time even if elected. The Alderman position would be using taxpayer’s dollars and so does the fire fighter’s salary. Casey said if elected he would defer the Alderman salary. Later, Detective Holloway comes by to see Severide with photos from the crime scene. She was wondering if he could see anything that would be suspicious. The family was out of town and only lived there for a few months. However, the child skeleton seems to have been there for a couple of years. No identification has been made, but Severide sees a Saint Nicholas pendant in one of the photos; and makes the startling revelation that he knows who the child is.

Courtney Harris, a little girl who was thought to have wandered off from her family at a lake picnic site. She was thought to have drowned and her body taken into deeper waters. A writer from the Sun Times, Amy came by for a quote from Casey; he was hoping to fix what Becks said in the interview earlier. But he possibly made it worse when he calls his firefighter job his real job.

Detective Holloway comes by the firehouse 51 to talk more with Severide. She is not convinced the child is Courtney. She does confirm with the medical examiner that the child died from a broken neck. So, Severide decides to visit with Courtney’s mother, Emma hoping she had gotten the messages from Detective Holloway. Courtney’s parents had divorced and her husband moved back to Michigan soon after. Severide recognizes he broke protocol but he just wants to help. He was able to bring a hairbrush that belonged to Courtney to confirm a DNA match.

A final debate is set, and no one notified Casey. It would require him to miss part of his shift and he doesn’t want to compromise his job. His first responsibility is to being a firefighter and the Alderman is a side job. He decides to not do the debate to keep his word to the chief about not missing any shifts.

Amy once again sees Casey as the team rolled up to an auto shop; but Casey had to ignore her to get to the mechanic. A vehicle had fallen off its jack and onto another car while the mechanic is underneath. The first car fully fell beside Casey and the mechanic; everyone was able to work quickly to safely evacuate the mechanic and Casey to safety. In the process, Amy snapped a photograph of the incident and wrote up a wonderful article about Casey saving the people of Chicago.

Severide gets the confirmation from Detective Holloway that the body found was in fact Courtney’s. But Emma is not answering calls or her front door. Detective Holloway asks Severide to go by because Emma trusts him. Severide once again visits Emma and he sees her brother, David is in the home and yelling.

David, in an argument, says Emma shouldn’t be talking to the cops. He then suggests that the cops would blame Emma saying she went crazy and snapped Courtney’s neck. However, that detail has never been released to the public. Severide tells Emma to call Detective Holloway as he tries to defend himself from David. David uses a fire poker to beat Severide. The two fight in a huge altercation going from the living room to the dining room; breaking furniture and falling through glass shards. In the end, Severide was able to subdue David and the police were there to pick up the pieces and place David under arrest. Severide asked for Courtney’s pendant to he could return it to Emma. In the end, Emma has now lost two members of her family.

At the end of the episode, everyone gathers at Molly’s awaiting the final tally on the election. Casey receives the call, he won the election to become the newest Alderman. Despite all the dirty political fighting and doubts, he is ecstatic about the win. Amongst the celebration, he is unsure what the next step is.

Next week: Brett attends to a patient only to witness him be shot. The shooter takes her identification and becomes the fixture of his attention. He warns that the police can’t protect her forever. What will become of Sylvie? Stay tuned for more after takes!