Perfect Storm

Chapter 4 - Fill In The Blanks

The next few weeks followed in the same pattern and Kate quickly got back into the rhythm of detective work. Voight had partnered her up with Kevin and the two had found a steady beat on the job together. One Thursday evening found all eight of them up to their eyes in intel, the room silent aside from the occasional phone call to chase down a lead or the tapping of a computer keyboard. They had been working for the last thirty six hours solid. None of them had slept and they had barely eaten in that time frame, instead being fuelled by caffeine with the sole focus of bringing the missing little girl home safely.

Kate rested her forehead in her hand with a sigh, using the thumb and forefinger of her other hand to pinch the bridge of her nose in an effort to ease the headache throbbing behind her eyes. Every lead they had ended nowhere. The clock was ticking and frustration was beginning to build for everyone. Kate was no exception, but she knew she had to stay focused. Something in the files she had pulled on the kid's paternal uncle didn't quite add up but she was struggling to put her finger on why; she just had a horrible feeling about him.

"Hey Antonio, who was the alibi for the dad's brother?" Kate hadn't moved from her spot when she asked the question, not opening her eyes to look and see if her colleague had even heard her but she heard papers shuffling from the desk adjacent to hers.

"Co-worker said he'd been at the office all day and was working late into the evening."

"Who was the co-worker?"

"A Marvin Lewis. Why?"

Distant alarm bells began ringing in the back of Kate's mind and her eyes eventually opened. She muttered the name again, fixing her eyes on the stack of papers in front of her and began sifting through them at pace. After about thirty seconds, she found what she was looking for. The co-worker of the little girl's paternal uncle had a prior conviction for child pornography.

"Think I got something." Kate said, drawing the attention of her team. "The alibi for the uncle has a thing for underage girls."

"We didn't check him out in the first place?" Voight asked, his brow furrowing at the prospect of such a big oversight.

"Oh we did. Marvin Lewis has a clean record but Gerald De La Croix doesn't." She held up a mug shot of the man in question and the team immediately recognised him as the co-worker.

"Prick changed his name." Kate could see the fury rise in Antonio's face.

"And guess who had the connections to get him a new identity off the books?" Kate said, adrenaline coursing through her body as the pieces started to fall into place.

"The uncle." Ruzek muttered.

"I want both De La Croix and the uncle in my custody within the hour. Go."

Voight's command had the team springing into action and, as requested, they had both men in interrogation inside of sixty minutes. It was safe to say that De La Croix didn't want to come quietly, clocking Kate with a hard elbow to the face as he tried to flee. He didn't get far when Halstead tackled him to the ground but Kate knew she would have a shiner to show for her troubles.

"Jesus Meadows, what happened?" Voight said when they returned, two suspects in tow.

"De La Croix didn't like my perfume Sarg." Halstead and Lindsay snorted at her flippant answer, the former marching the suspect off to the cage to await questioning. She had caught sight of herself in the car window when they pulled up outside and she knew that her eye was already dark with bruising. "Looks worse than it is." Her tone was soft, ensuring that Jay and Erin were both out of earshot.

Voight surprised Kate by stepping up in to her space, gently taking her chin in his hand and turning her head so that he could get a better look at the injury. His fingers were soft and warm on her skin and Kate couldn't shake the strange feeling that settled in her stomach at his touch. After a few seconds, Voight dropped his hand back to his side and took a half-step back, Kate immediately feeling a pang of loss at the broken contact.