seven.

Scanning over the files that laid in front of her. Pru had begun to organize through the file cabinet to make sure everything was all together and everything that needed to be signed was signed. Surprisingly it was something she didn't mind doing. It kind of put less stress on her going through the files. Keeping things all in check and all neat was soothing to her. She had two piles on her desk. The finished pile of folder files that were checked and then a pile of the unchecked ones. She had to highlight a line at the top of each paper which held a number code. Making sure it corresponded with the written number bar on the outside of the folder.

The rest of the team was working on a case that involved two dead children and a third one who was kidnapped. Pru hated to admit, but when she first heard about the case she cried in the bathroom. Her emotions were extremely heightened and hearing about those poor children, she was beyond sad. The things she could only imagine those children went through. How scared and confused they must have been with everything. No child deserved to go through something like that.

Kim had come walking up the stairs from the lobby with a bag of food. The smell had drifted around the room. Pru's mouth watered at the delicious smell, wondering who had gotten the food. The girl was craving tacos but whatever the smell overpowered her want for tacos at that moment. She sat up a bit straighter, curious to see who would get up to grab the bag. Wondering who she would have to sweet talk into letting her have a bite of whatever it was.

"Platt said someone ordered from Royal Siam?" Kim announced as Adam stood from his spot at his desk. Pru looked at the man who quickly moved to grab the bag from Burgess. Adam. Easier said than done. The man practically loved her already. They already began to bond over the last few weeks. The two hung out a few times after work to get to know each other and talked about some of the funny moments they had experienced in the academy.

"Right here." Adam called out a bit eager to get the bag of food.

"Smells delicious." Kim commented as Adam gripped the bag handles then placed it down on his desk. He began to rummage through the bag to see the contents of his order he made.

"Okay. The house with the storm shelter is registered to an LLC in Grand Cayman. They have about 200 units here in Chicago. This one was red-tagged for foundation problems. It should be empty." Hailey spoke as she explained what she had found from her research. Pru was listening when she felt something hit the side of her face. She blinked in slight confusion before her eyes fell to the crumpled up paper ball by her foot. The girl turned her focus away from the paper ball to the culprit. Jay pointed to the paper on the floor then whispered,

"I think you dropped something." That only led the girl to roll her eyes before she bent down to grab the ball of paper.

"So our suspect is squatting?" Hank stated, a little unsure.

"Sounds like it." Al said. Pru un-crumpled the paper to read Jay's rough handwriting. It looked like a first grader scrawled the sentence out. Pru turned slightly offended towards Jay to see him watching her closely. When they locked eyes he cheekily smiled at her. The note had asked,

"What are you making me for dinner?"

The girl shook her head. Unamused by the man as she grabbed a blue sticky note from the top of the stack on her desk. She began to write her response out quickly but nice and clear to read.

"You are making YOURSELF a microwavable dinner. Do I see a ring on my finger? No. I'm no housewife. Make your own dinner." Pru finished writing out on the sticky note. Still shaking her head in disapproval.

"So we got no name, no number, no nothing." Hank listed off all the things they still had yet to find. Pru got up to throw the paper Jay threw at her into the recycling bin. On her way back she walked over to Jay, smacking the sticky note onto his forehead then walking away.

"Huh. Unbelievable, it's chocolate." Adam spoke up. He was clearly surprised at the food in the bag. Jay frowned as he read over the sticky note then pouted. He stuck his bottom lip out as he stared at Pru who glared at him.

"Quan said the house he lived in smelled like this. Hey." Adam tossed the wrapped chocolate to Kim.

"Sweet." Kim caught the wrapped chocolate then began to unravel the aluminum wrapping.

"So, it must be around one of the chocolate factories." Adam said. Kim moved from her desk and headed over to Pru, giving half of the chocolate to her.

"Did I ever tell you that I love you, Kim?" Pru brought up, appreciating the women who shared the dessert with her. More than pleased with the chocolate, she shoved a piece into her mouth. The two women shared a look of pleasure at the taste of the chocolate. They both agreed that it was good. Pru couldn't help but chuckle at Adam's revelation. She was very much appreciating him curiously ordering from the place now.

"Alright. So it's a hunt to find the Willy Wonka factory to find the house the kid started off in." Pru said with slight amusement.

"Nerd." Jay coughed out as everyone began to move around to start following this new lead in the case.

"Oh, bite me, Halstead." Pru snapped as she began to break another piece of the chocolate off and toss it into her mouth. Spinning her chair partly back and forth.

"I might. It's a tempting offer." Jay told her as she scoffed. Jay stood up from his seat and began to slide his jacket on.

"Bite." Jay begged like a child.

"Nope. It's mine." Pru told him.

"Please." He pleaded with his puppy dog eyes. The blonde girl groaned as she moved the chocolate in front of his mouth. He took a big bite making her gasp. She shoved him away in bewilderment at his actions.

"How could you?" Pru exclaimed as Jay smiled mischievously. Pru had a look of hurt in her eyes as she got up from her spot, shaking her head in disapproval. She walked away from the man who laughed at her look of betrayal. The girl headed for the break room with her nose scrunched up.

+

"So what Kate Smith did has a name. It's called 'rehoming'." Jay spoke as he sat at his computer with Hank, Kim, and Pru surrounding him.

"It's called 'unforgivable'." Kim corrected what she felt the situation should be called.

"I just don't understand. Why adopt a kid if you can't handle it? Why treat this 'rehoming' thing like it's so casual? It's like treating a child like a pet that you don't want anymore. That's just cruel." Pru thought.

"Yeah, but it's legal in the state of Illinois. Parents transfer the care of foreign adoptees to someone else with a power of attorney. It started a few years back in chat rooms." Jay informed them as Kim shook her head in disapproval.

"What about the website Kate Smith used?" Hank questioned.

"It's a sham. It's been around for six months. The IP address is routed through the dark net. And the origin is listed in Iceland." Jay told Voight.

"This Marsden couple does not exist. There's no record of a John or Penny Marsden in the Chicago land area." Kevin announced his findings that he had in a folder.

"Shocker. Someone who is trafficking children is using fake names. Clearly they know what they are doing." Pru sighed as Jay glanced at her for a split second.

"So we need to make contact. Find this Marsden couple and the mystery man they gave Quan to." Hank instructed, ready to make his way into his office.

"Yo, Sarge. Let me and Kim have a shot at him. We can pose as a couple wanting to give a kid away. Send a message out there to the website. I bet we could draw them in." Atwater proposed.

"Alright, good." Hank agreed as Kim and Kevin were ready to begin their task.

"Hey, I don't want these 'rehoming' punks thinking we're onto them, you understand?" Hank told Burgess and Atwater.

"Copy that."

"Yeah." The two replied before they left. Hank had headed into his office to start making up a plan for if the people messaged back. And Pru sat on the edge of Jay's desk, looking out the window. Watching the blue sky outside with birds fly by the glass. The girl was deep in thought as she spaced out.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Jay spoke up, catching the blonde's attention. Directing her back to the real world. She shook her head then shrugged her shoulders.

"I just don't understand how easy people think it is to just pass off a kid like that when they get tired of them." Pru said in disbelief.

"There's a lot of screwed up people out there." Jay told her.

"Yeah." Pru agreed as she stood up from her spot and walked over to her own desk.

"Hey, when do you have your appointment?" Jay questioned as the girl clicked out of her account on the computer.

"Tomorrow. Why?" Pru responded as she glanced over at the man.

"Do you want me to go with you? I mean just so you're not alone?" Jay tried to play it off.

"No. I should be fine. Anyway, you still have this case to work on. Something tells me that tomorrow you guys will be busy." Pru said as she grabbed her jacket and keys.

"See you later?" Pru wondered as she looked over at Jay who nodded his head.

"Yeah. I shouldn't be late tonight." He replied to her and she sent a small smile his way.

"Okay."

Edited: 5/15/2021