Strong Enough

Chapter 5

Jeremiah printed the latest 'guest's' picture and pinned it to the board, it was akin to a guest book places have. He watched as she 'slept' she'd yet to regain consciousness and for right now that was okay.

He noticed the sport wallet attached to her pants and pulled it out, chuckling when he found her identification.

"Shit, I picked a winner this time" he laughed, this one he would enjoy, make it last as long as he could. He couldn't wait until they figured out she was missing, it would be all over the news. This one would make him famous.

One bitch at a time.

They huddled around the white board, "So, the description of the suspect seems to be a dead end" Hank explained, "we've run it through facial recognition software and nothing, though we knew it was long shot"

The photos of each victim on the white board, Adam studied each face "they don't have anything in common? A day laborer doing odd jobs?"

Jay shook his head, "Nope, we have checked everything. Not a single connection between any of them, except for early morning runs" he had already gave Erin an earful about running on her own.

"What do we do?" Kevin was frustrated, "I don't want sit here and wait for the next body to turn up"

"We aren't" Al told them, "we are going to canvas the locations where we found the bodies again, were gonna see if we can figure out what each victim did the morning they went missing" he handed each of them a folder, "we will talk to our CI's, this guy has to have slipped up along the way. We just need to find his mistake, because I'm telling you he's made one"

As they cleared out, Platt called Adam to the desk, "Hey Ruzek!"

"Meet you in the car?" He told Kevin.

"Yes, Sarge?" Adam asked.

"Burgess, where is she?" Trudy asked him, she was due in hours ago.

Adam arched an eyebrow "I'm not sure why you're asking me, I assume she's on patrol with Roman. Why would I know where she is, she doesn't report me" he began to ramble.

"Cut the shit, Adam. I know about you two, and I don't care" she explained, "it's just she hasn't shown up yet, she was supposed to be in at six" she turned the clock around so Adam could see the time, "it's now 10:45, and she isn't answering her phone"

Adam felt his stomach flip, and he was certain his breakfast was about to reappear, "you're telling me this now? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I assumed she was running late and time just slipped away, I'm telling you now" she told him.

Adam looked towards the door, "I'm gonna call her, please call me if you hear from her"

"Will do, and you better call me if you get a hold of her" Platt told him, "I'm sure she's fine, Adam"

Kevin was beginning to grow impatient with Adam, he was about to get out when the passenger door opened.

"It's 'bout time, what the fuck did Platt want?" He asked as he put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking spot.

Adam was waiting for Kim to answer the phone, "Shit!" He cursed when it went to voicemail, "Kim, it's me. Listen, I'm a little freaked out right now, you gotta call me or Platt let us know you're okay, please" he ended the call, "Kevin, we need to drive by Burgess' apartment, I need to see if she's home"