Bless the Broken Road that Lead Me Straight to You

Chapter 20

By the time Hank moved his SUV to the visitor's parking lot and tracked down Jay's car, he was running late. He arrived at the girl's school at 3:45 pm, and when he walked into the classroom he saw that Maddie and Grace were the only two students left. They were sitting at a table, coloring flowers, clearly distracted, and blissfully ignorant of the events of the day.

Annie, however, had a look of worry etched on her face and she rushed towards him immediately when he walked through the door.

"Did something happen? Where's Jay?" Jay and Samantha were both obsessive about being on time, and the only time Jay had ever been late, he called the phone in the classroom to let Annie know. Forty-five minutes before he was even due to pick Maddie up.

"Jay's fine." Physically, anyway. Hank was glad that Annie didn't seem to think to ask about Erin, so he wasn't going to have to lie. "I wanted to pick them up." Also not really a lie.

Annie scrunched her eyebrows and cocked her head to the side. She knew she wasn't getting the whole story. "The social worker from DCFS called me." She kept her voice low enough that the girls wouldn't hear. "She told me about Grace's placement. How it's going to be permanent." She left the rest of the statement unspoken. The part where she knew there was zero chance Jay would miss picking up the girls on today of all days.

Shit. "It's..." He chose his words carefully. He didn't want Annie to become alarmed in front of the girls. "It's a long story. One he will fill you in on later. But for now, I promise, he is fine." He drew out the last work, partly to convincer her, but partly to tell her that this conversation was over.

He walked over to where the girls were giggling and coloring at the table. "Maddie, Grace!" His voice may be low and gruff, but he knew how to talk to kids. He had a grandson of his own, after all. "Guess who's here to take you for ice cream!" He may not know Grace that well, but he had gotten to know Maddie very well in recent years and he knew that girl wasn't about to ask questions if it meant passing up ice cream.

He was right. "Sergeant Voight!" Maddie jumped out of her chair and rushed over to him. "What are you doing here?" The question came out high pitched and excited, not accusing at all.

"I'm here to pick up my favorite girls and take them for cheeseburgers and ice cream!"

Grace stood from the chair, a little more warily than Maddie had. She had seen Sergeant Voight at the police station the first night with Jay, and a few times since, but she still didn't feel completely comfortable around men she didn't know. For good reason.

"We're not your favorite girls, silly." Maddie said, walking to get her backpack from where it hung on the hook. Grace followed, carefully pulling on her new pink jacket before swinging her backpack over her shoulders.

"You're not?" He lifted Maddie into his arms and began to tickle her, then he reached out for Grace's hand to direct both girls out of the room. "Then who is?" He nodded towards Annie as they exited the classroom, and the three began walking down the long hallway towards the door.

"Erin is!"

Hank almost stopped walking at the sound of Erin's name. And he couldn't help the confused expression that shot across his face. "What?"

Maddie, now holding his hand tightly and walking down the corridor on her own, didn't seem to notice the way Hank's body had slowed. "You said she's your little girl. That means she's your favorite girl. Right?"

Oh, yeah. "Goodness, you are smart." He remembered that first night he had visited Halstead's home. He had walked in on Jay and Erin in the kitchen, the atmosphere charged the way it only was when people were actively resisting each other. That lasted long, he thought now, sarcastically. Except he was surprised at how okay with that he was. Halstead was a good man and Erin could do a lot worse.