Aftermath

Chapter Forty Eight

"Both gone," he said to them. "Secure the rest of the house." He barked, unimpressed with the way the situation had unfolded.

"Yes sir."

"You good?" Jay asked, walking towards Erin as she lowered her gun.

"Yeah, not how I wanted this to go down," she sighed.

"Me either," he said, regret filling his voice.

"Detectives! You're gonna wanna see this," one of the officers called.

Erin and Jay quickly followed the sound of the officer's voice down the basement. It was dark, damp and cold and just as littered with filth as the rest of the house. They both pulled out their flashlights and moved towards the officer. He nodded at them and pointed to the far corner.

"She won't come out," the officer said softly.

Erin followed the beam of light with her eyes. There in the corner amongst boxes and bags, a small child was huddled on an old dirty mattress. They had been expecting the woman in the house, she'd been identified as James girlfriend but this child was a complete surprise. Erin looked back at Jay before pocketing her flashlight and slowly approached the child. She crouched down in front of her.

"Hey sweetie, I'm a police officer. My name is Erin. I know you're scared but I promise you're safe now. What's your name?" Erin gently coaxed the little girl.

"Lily," she barely whispered.

The girl sat shivering with her arms wrapped around her knees, eyes clouded with fear. Erin took off her sweater and wrapped it around the girl's shoulders, being careful to move slowly so as not to startle the girl.

"That's a pretty name. How old are you Lily,"

"Five," she murmured.

Erin continued to speak softly to the little girl until finally she reached out her hand to take Erin's. As soon as the girl stood her eyes rolled back in her head and she fainted. Erin quickly moved to catch her before the girl's head hit the concrete floor.

Jay shouted up for the emt's that were tending to the bodies upstairs to come down. They quickly assessed the girl and loaded her into the ambulance. With the rest of the team now on site Voight allowed Jay and Erin to follow the girl to the hospital. There was a chance she may have seen something that could help their case.

When they arrived at the hospital Maggie directed them to the waiting area. "Nat's just assessing her now. I'll let her know you're waiting for an update," they both thanked her and went to find a seat.

/

"What about this one?" Erin asked, showing Jay a picture on her phone.

"Really? You like that?" He scoffed.

"What's wrong with it?"

"It's so, I don't know, fussy." He scrunched up his face in disgust.

"It's elegant," she countered.

"Yeah like I said, fussy." He laughed.

Erin rolled her eyes. "We have to make a decision."

"Why? What's wrong with the one we have?"

Erin just stared at him.

"I mean the one we have works. Why spend the money on a new one?" Jay asked dismissively. But he couldn't completely hide the teasing smile that threatened to spread across his face.

"Funny, when I said that about the sixty inch tv you wanted to buy six months ago..."

"That was different," Jay stated plainly, interrupting her.