Reunite Her

Tender Age

*House Near South Wells*

Adam and Kim had tried to return a young girl they found wandering out in the street to her rightful home. Upon doing so, they found something that required the presence of their two Sergeants on scene.

"Burgess took the girl to Med. They're checking her out." Jay informed, ducking underneath a stip of yellow tape with Hank and Ana walking on either side of him.

"Witnesses?" The older man inquired.

"Not yet. We're working the block." The Detective replied as he led them towards the house.

"Have you ID'd the victims yet?" The brunette wondered, adjusting her mask when it fell a bit.

"So they're all members of the same family, the Wards. They all live in the house and the little girl, Makayla?" Jay paused, waiting for Hank to grunt in response before continuing in a grim tone. "She's the only family member that survived. "

"All right, let's keep a cap on the media as long as we can. Means no one but the techs and us step foot on this property." The male Sergeant commanded, ducking under the red tape and bounding up the front steps.

Ana followed him inside while Jay ran off to carry out his orders. The couple peered around the corner to find some bloodstained glass and the body of a woman in a pink robe lying on the floor underneath it. Standing next to said corpse, was Adam writing in his notepad.

"Hey." The Officer greeted once he looked up and caught sight of the two Sergeants. "It is absolute overkill in here. Had to be personal. This is Claudia Ward. She's the matriarch of the family. House is in her name. One GSW to the back of the head. Looks like she was running to the front door. Her kill is the cleanest out of all of them." He explained, leading them into a small hallway where Kevin was crouched next to a second body, upright and slumped over against the wall. "This is her son, Benny Ward, he's got bruising, defense wounds. Looks like he was pistol whipped. His sister's here in the kitchen."

Hank and Ana paused to look at a picture of the little girl before following Adam into the next room. Kevin wasn't too far either as they caught sight of a third body, lying on its stomach, and it was accompied by even more blood spatters on the wall.

"Gabrielle Ward, Makayla's mother. One GSW to the stomach, two to the back. She. . .bled out slow." Adam muttered.

"No sign of robbery yet. Cash was left on the table in the front. Purses and wallets in plain view." Kevin listed.

Hank grunted and moved towards the back door, Ana following him every step of the way.

"No forced entry?" He observed.

"No, doesn't look like it. Front and the back door were unlocked." Kevin confirmed.

The brunette suddenly glanced at the table next her, finding a half eaten bowl of cereal. Her gaze fell to the floor, where several small bloody footprints painted a clear path from the body to the door.

"Was this from the little girl?" Ana swallowed.

"Yeah. Prints match Makayla's shoes. We think she was inside. She was probably hiding, maybe here in the pantry. Shooter makes his way to the front. She finds her mom bleeding, takes off out the back." Adam speculated.

"Mom told her to run." Hank sighed, crouching down to examine the footprints.

"Yeah." Adam nodded, quietly.

The brunette wanted to bring a hand up to her mouth but her mask was in the way so she settled for leaning against her husband when he stood back up. The older man just silently wrapped a comforting arm around his wife in response.