The Picture

Catherine and Warrick looked around Roger and Katie's apartment. The place was tidy enough, but bleak. There was an old, tattered sofa and recliner in the living room and a small television sitting on a crate. The dusty blinds were closed. In the kitchen there were a few dirty dishes in the sink. Bottles and formula were sitting on the counter. This got Catherine's attention.

"Oh god!" exclaimed Catherine. She had a concerned look on her face.

Warrick's head snapped up. "What? Did you find something?"

"No, I just was thinking that I hope whoever took this baby knows how to take care of her."

"Yeah," Warrick snorted skeptically. "If they even care. If it's the boyfriend I wouldn't bet on it."

Catherine sighed heavily as she looked through cupboards. She had grown very close to Nick. Especially after he revealed to her that he had been sexually abused as a child. They would talk on the phone for hours and go out to dinner. He helped her out so much after Eddie's death. He would take Lindsey to arcades and to Circus, Circus. It was never a romantic thing for them. They just deeply cared about each other. Catherine looked at Nick as the younger brother she never had.

"Poor Nick, I can't believe this is happening to him." Catherine said sympathetically .

"I can't believe he has a kid! Do you really think he didn't know about her until just today?"

Catherine was a little taken aback by Warrick's question. Nick is the most responsible, upstanding guy she knew.

"Come on Warrick!" she scolded. "This is Nick we're talking about. Do you think if he knew he had a child he would let her live in this dump?"

Warrick shook his head, "No, you're right. Nick's way too good of a guy to shirk his responsibilities. He's not like my old man."

Warrick looked at the fridge, there were a few photographs of Katie and the baby. There was one 5 x 7 of just Brianna. It had been taken at a cheap portrait studio. Warrick took it off the door and held it towards Catherine.

"Hey Cath, look at this. Maybe we should take this and get it out into the media. Might have a better chance of finding the baby."

Catherine nodded, "Good idea. Have one of the officers run it back to the station. They can scan it and email it out to the news agencies." Catherine paused. "And have them send one to Nick. He needs something tangible right now."

Warrick nodded. His phone rang, and he turned away when he answered it.

"This is Warrick (pause) Okay, cool, I'm on my way."

He hung up the phone.

"That was O'Riley," he explained. "They found the boyfriend in some dive downtown called Sudsy's. I'm gonna meet him down there. You okay here?"

"Yeah, there are a few uniforms outside...and I think we're done here. I'll take Nick's truck back, you take our truck. I'll send out these pictures myself."

Warrick handed her the photo he bagged and took off out the door. Catherine packed up her kit and left too.