Silent Screams

Dog Tag

"Jay. I found your dog tag. It was next to the sidewalk." Kim explained.

"I didn't know Ethan has the Dog Tag yet." Jay mumbled in surprise, picking up the necklace and gently running his thumb over the letters.

"Mouse should see if there is a camera. Ruzek and Al, asked again the residents. Someone must have seen something. A child doesn't disappear just like that." Voight grumbled, "Halstead and Lindsay, you're driving back to the precinct. We have to start from a possible ransom demand."

Jay was about to protest when Erin put her flat hand to his back and whispered, "Let it be, Jay. Hank is right."

Reluctantly, Jay settled in the passenger seat and Erin drove to the precinct.

"Where did Ethan get the Dog Tag from?" Erin asked curiously. She loved to hear details about Jay's and Ethan's life. Both could be really silent. Like father, like son...

"I gave him the necklace. There was a time when Ethan fought with monsters under the bed. I told him the chain protects him." Jay told her, "Ethan... he always talks proudly, his dad was in the army and now he's a detective. At home he likes to play cop and robber."

"Sounds like Ethan wants to look up to you and follow in your footsteps." Erin smiled and looked at her worried boyfriend, "But you don't want it, right?"

"I don't know. He should definitely go his own way. He doesn't have to impress me and he certainly shouldn't go to the army. But I support him no matter which way he goes."

"You're worried that something might happen to him... your worries are justified, Jay. Ethan is still a young boy, who knows what's going on in 10 years. Maybe he wants to become a doctor or a lawyer."

"We'll have to find him first," Jay swallowed hard. He still can't believe that Ethan was gone... alone in a big city like Chicago.

CPDCPDCPD

"What message do you want to hear first? The good or the bad one?" Mouse asked.

"Spit out what you have." Jay said annoyed.

"The bad news is that there is no camera at the street."

"Are you kidding me? This is the kidnapping site and you have nothing? There are cameras in every fucking corner of Chicago!" Jay yelled angrily.

"I can't help, okay! I searched for all cameras, but I didn't find anything in this street!" Mouse shouted.

"Okay guys. Stop yelling. We are all in the same team and we want to find Ethan." Erin said.

"Yeah, well... uh... I found a camera in front of the school. Ethan went along with a strange woman." Mouse explained, opening the scene and enlarging the woman's face, "I still identify her."

"Did you enlighten Ethan?" Erin asked carefully and reaps dirty looks of the two men.

"Of course we did." Both said simultaneously.

"Why is Ethan going with the woman?" Erin asked irritated.

"I have no idea!" Jay got excited and slammed his clenched fist on the table, "Fuck! That's all shit! Why should he go with a stranger?"

"Calm down. You need to keep a cool head." Erin said.

"Calm down? My child is missing!"

"Listen to Lindsay." Mouse murmured.

CPDCPDCPD

Mouse completed the identification. After a four-hour search for the woman, she was sitting in the interrogation room. Jay got his arms crossed behind the glass. He was forbidden to question her.

"Do you know this boy?" Antonio asked, discovering a picture in front of her.

"No, I don't know this boy," she said.

"Are you really sure? We have here a record of 3:12 pm, which you showed with the boy." Antonio said and also put the picture in front of her.

"Maybe I talked to the boy, but I really don't know him."

"The boy's name is Ethan Halstead. He is 7 years old and is missing since then." Al grumbled.

"Oh my God. That's terrible ... but what does that have to do with me?"

"You are the last person to be with the boy before he disappeared without a trace." Alvin explained, poking a toothpick in his mouth.

"You don't think I kidnapped the boy?" She asked horrified.

"Then what did you want from him?" Antonio hissed.

"Nothing, really ... I live in Chicago for only a few weeks. I asked him for directions. You know my cell phone battery was empty and I had to go to Downtown."

"And then the boy went with you?" Al asked curiously.

"No. Our paths separated at the next intersection."

"In which direction did he go?" Antonio asked curiously.

"Left side. I don't know what the street is called, but there was a small kiosk."

"A few meters further, the Dog Tag was found." Antonio whispered to Al.

"Mrs. Patton, you found something strange? For example a person or a vehicle?"

"No. I'm so sorry. I can't think of anything so fast as that." she said and at the same time Jay entered the room.

"Jay." Al warned.

"Where did he want to go? Did he tell you something?" Jay asked desperately.

"No, that is..." she stammered around, interrupted by Jay, "what, what did he tell you?"

"He should have been picked up, but he was forgotten again and he goes home by himself."

"Again?" Jay asked horrified and became very pale in the face.

"Yeah, even bad parents can do that." she shook her head in disbelief.

Jay glared at her before leaving the room without comment.

"What was that?" She asked confused.

"He is the father of the boy. "

"Oh. I'm so sorry. I didn't know that..."

"All right. Please stay at our disposal and if you remember anything, contact us." Alvin said.

CPDCPDCPD

"What do we know?" Voight grunted and saw his assembled team at the whiteboard, which read Missing Ethan Halstead. Next to it was a picture of the dark-blonde-haired boy, who was blinking at the camera, laughing.

"We're walking on thin ice, every time we take a step closer to finding out what happened, the ice breaks. The only thing we know is that Ethan disappeared one street away from school." Erin explained.

"No success with the classmates. I also interviewed the babysitter. It often happened in the last few days that Ethan had to wait because she was stopped." Kevin said and Erin spoke again, "We assume that Ethan was purposefully kidnapped and Mrs. Patton happened to pass by. Despite everything, she is shadowed by Burgess and Roman until we can completely rule her out."

"Hank! At the reception there is an alleged witness." Platt shouted, trudging up the stairs.

What do you think, what happened? Is the boy doing well? Will the witness be able to help?