Relapse

I Think we Have a Problem

Jay's POV:

As I approached the park it became very apparent that something was amiss. For a couple reasons. One, Erin was very noticeably absent from the scene. Two, police tape sectioned of an area of the park. And three, Nadia and Henry were sitting on a beach with another lady and her child crying. As soon as I got remotely close to where they were sitting Nadia and Henry ran over to me. I gently embraced them to get them to stop crying. After their sobs became dulling sniffling I knelt down to see them.

"Hey guys, where did your mom go?" I asked.

"We don't know where she is, she left," Nadia wailed.

At first I thought she had run off and left our kids again, but deep in my gut I knew something was wrong. After our sorta kinda apology earlier I knew she wouldn't throw that down the drain.

"You must be Nadia and Henry's father," the lady that had been sitting with kids smiled as she walked over to us.

"Yep, Jay Halstead," I extended my hand for her to shake.

"Trish Johnston."

"Do you have any clue where Erin disappeared to?" I inquired.

"Yeah actually, there was a scream from over in the wooded area over there. So your wife..."

I cringed, "Erin um isn't my wife."

"Oh, well in any case she went to check it out. Asked me to watch the kids while she went over there. After about thirty minutes when she still wasn't back I tried calling her. It went straight to voicemail. I tried looking for her with Fallow and your kids too and I couldn't find her. It is a big woods you know. After looking for a while though we did find a gun on the ground. That's when I called the police. They said that since she's literally only been gone an hour that there's not much that they can do, but they would search the woods in case she got lost somewhere," Trish finished.

I nodded.

"Can you watch the kids a little bit longer or do you need to go home?" I asked.

"No, no I'm good here you go look for Erin," Trish assures me.

I went and faced Nadia and Henry again.

"I'll  going to be right back. I'm going to go look for your mom. Stay with Trish okay?"

Henry nodded, but Nadia protested.

"No, daddy I don't want you to leave us too," she cried.

"I promise I'll be right back," I promised as I made my way over to the tapes off area.

I tried to get through into the woods, hoping to be able to find Erin where the others hadn't been able to.

"I'm sorry sir, this is restricted area," a patrol officer stuck his arm out to avoid letting me through.

"Detective Jay Halstead, intelligence," I flashed my badge.

"This isn't an intelligence case, it's most likely just someone who managed to get themselves lost," he retorted.

"Oh, so maybe I should just call my sergeant down here. I'm sure he would let me through."

"Um, you're in Hank Voight's unit right?"

I nodded and the officer squirmed clearly having a moral debate.

"Okay, go right ahead, but don't say I didn't tell you this is just some lost lady in the woods when you come back with no issue."

"Yeah, yeah whatever," I ducked under the police tape as I dialed Voight's number.

As I ran deeper into the woods Voight finally picked up the phone.

"What do you want Halstead I'm trying to have dinner in peace?" He grumbled.

"It's Erin, she's missing."

"What do you mean she's missing? What did she do this time?" Voight asked.

"I don't know,  she was at the park with the kids. Apparently there was a scream and she followed it into the woods and now no one can find her. The only thing they've found so far has been a fully loaded gun," I explained. Slightly out of breath from the running.

"So, how do you know she's not just lost somewhere?" He questioned.

"They've been looking for twenty minutes now. I mean sure it's a big woods but she's smart enough to find her way out. Besides we were partners for four and a half years. When you have a partner for that long you just get a feeling in your gut when you know somethings wrong. Please just trust me on this one."

I heard a dejected sigh on the other end of the line.

"Fine, I'll be there in ten."

I hung up the phone, relieved that someone was coming to help me. That relief quickly disappeared when I saw something that I definitely wasn't to excited to see. A broken necklace and a bloody crowbar both laying in a mixture of blood and snow.

"Voight," I called him again "I think we have a problem"

Instagram @ cpd.bdavis