Strong Enough

Chapter 6

"Tell me that isn't her gym bag" Jay said as he watched Erin go through the contents of the bag, "Erin?"

She zipped the bag back up and stood, "I think it is, Jesus, Jay do you think she went for a run this morning?"

Jay crouched down, "Son of a bitch" he cursed, "Where's Ruzek?"

Erin scanned the lot, "I'm assuming on his way"

They started to canvas the parking lot, "Jay, come here"

He jogged over to her, "Find something?"

"Yea, this" she held the cell phone up, ear buds still plugged in, "I'm pretty sure it's Kim's"

Her eyes fluttered open, her head screaming she tried to bring her hand to her face only to feel the rope dig into her wrist, "Help me, please" she mumbled, "someone help"

Jeremiah plopped on the bed beside her, "Oh, little lady no one is coming for you" he laughed running his hand down the length of her arm, "we had some fun earlier, though you couldn't be bothered to stay awake"

"You didn't!" She screamed trying to put distance between their bodies failing miserably, she felt sick when she realized she was naked, "No!!" She began to sob, her stomach heaving as she vomited all over the blanket.

"Shit, that's nasty!" Jeremiah stood, "Jesus, you couldn't warn me" he pulled the vomit covered blanket off her, "That wasn't very smart, it gets pretty cold at night in here and that was my only blanket"

"Screw you!" She spat.

He returned to the bed, "No, it's more like, screw you" he covered her body with his.

"Anything?" Adam asked as he raced to Kim's car, "tell me you found something" he pleaded with them, no longer caring who knew about his relationship with Kim.

Hank went to him, "Adam, you need to calm down" Jay already having filled him in, "any chance Kim went running this morning?"

Adam covered his face with his hands, "I guess she could have, I haven't spoken to her today" he kicked himself for not spending the previous night with her, but she had plans with friends and he had spent some time with his brother and sister in law and the kids.

"Do you know where she runs?" Hank asked him, "any idea?"

"Yea" he told them, "I sometimes go with her, this is where she ends. She follows the pier starting at main dock and ends here, it's about three miles" his voice trailed off, "you think he grabbed her?"

Hank hated how Adam sounded, he was vulnerable "I don't know, but we can't rule it out"

Adam turned from them and vomited in the grass, "Adam, it's gonna be alright" Erin told him, "Kim's tough and she's smart"

Kim shivered as she laid on the bed, her body sore. "Let me go, please?"

He lit the cigarette, "Now, why would I do that. We've been having fun, why end it?"

She could feel the tears spring to her eyes, "My boyfriend, he is going to be looking for me, he's a police officer"

"I'm scared" his voice filled with sarcasm "as are you, and it didn't stop me" he headed towards the kitchen, "you hungry?"

Kim ignored him, "Bitch! I asked you a question" he hit her.

"No, I'm not" she cried.

"Suit yourself , but you're gonna need to eat sooner or later" he retreated to the kitchen.

Kim listened as he moved about in the kitchen she could hear the cabinets being opened and closed along with pots being moved around. She scanned the room she was in, it wasn't very big. It had one window, though it was covered by a black tarp, she assumed it was to help cut down on the draft coming in. The walls all had numerous holes, the paint peeling and only Sheetrock in some sections. She knew the house was old, very old and in horrible condition. Every so often she could hear the whistle of a train, it wasn't close enough for the house to shake but she knew a train station wasn't far away. The floor was oak but like the rest of the house is was in poor shape, she had noticed a few small holes in it and assumed a basement was below them.

"Last chance?" He offered her a bowl of soup "it's good stuff"

"No!" She yelled "You killed all those women, didn't you?"

He smiled, "Sure did" he rubbed his chin, "Just like my daddy, I take care of bitches, one at a time" he sat beside her, "you're number seven"

Adam sat on the hood of Kim's car unable to function, "Hey, Adam" Al called him.

"Yea?"

"You should go home, let us deal with this" Al said his hand on Adam's shoulder.

"I can't Al, she's counting on me to find her. I won't let her down" he wiped his eyes, "what's our next move?" He watched as the sun dipped below the horizon, "if he's got her, we don't have long before" his words trailed off, Al could hear him choke on his words.

"Don't Adam, don't go there" Al embraced him, "let's go back to the district see what the patrol units have found"

Adam grabbed Kim's phone off the hood of her car, "yea alright"

THREE DAYS LATER

"Hank, nothing?" Trudy asked him as he entered the district.

He shrugged his shoulders, "Not a thing. Ruzek upstairs still?" He hadn't left and was almost useless, finally agreeing to stay in the bullpen and help with leads that had been called in to the tip line.

"Yea, I tried to get him to eat but he refused" she leaned across the counter, "I don't know if you know and normally I would mind my own business but you should know"

Hank cut her off, "I know. It was pretty obvious by his reaction when we found her car"

"We need to find her, she's a good kid" Platt told him, "I like to bust her chops but she's good police"

"We will find her" he promised though as the hours ticked by he feared for her safety.

Adam grabbed her phone and opened the camera roll, "Son of a bitch!" He screamed and immediately raced down the stairs, "Boss!, you gotta look at this!!"