I walk into the district next morning and sigh at the thought of the rough day ahead. We have no leads as to where this family might be and we've already spent an entire day on the case.
When I take a seat at my desk Erin turns to me and says, "I may have found something."
She motions me over to her computer so I stand and take a look. On the screen are divorce papers for the stepdad. I read them over and then say, "How come we never heard about an ex-wife for the stepdad?"
Erin shrugs and says, "Legally, no one needs to know if you have an ex and remarry. He probably didn't think that it was necessary that the kid's school know about it."
"Do you think she's worth taking a look at?"
Erin thinks for a moment and then says, "It never hurts. I'll go talk to Voight about it."
I nod and go print a picture of the ex-wife for the board. I put it up and then Erin lets everyone know what we've discovered. Once everyone has been debriefed Mouse finds us her address and Voight tells Erin and me to go talk with her. We suit up and head out to the car.
When we arrive I knock on the old, wooden door. A few seconds later a woman answers so Erin says, "Melanie Baker?"
She nods and says, "What can I help you with officers?"
I smile at her and say, "Have you talked to your ex-husband recently?"
Her posture becomes more rigid and she says, "No. I haven't talked to him let alone seen him since we finalized the divorce."
While Erin asks her a few more questions I look into the foyer behind her to see if I can spot anything unusual. I spot two backpacks on the floor and say, "Do you have kids?"
She chuckles and says, "Of course I don't. He left me for a reason."
Erin realizes that Melanie has just broken her cover so she grabs handcuffs and says, "Melanie Baker, you're under arrest for the kidnapping of four people."
Melanie doesn't try to fight us so we quickly load her into the car and head back to the district.
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Thank you all for 771 reads! Have a good weekend. -Becca