Hailey's POV

All the other teachers repeated pretty much what Duran had told us.

Charlie was a good student, she mainly kept to herself, but she could be spotted hanging around Nicole quite often.

We returned the list to the secretary, thanking him as well, before hopping back into the car and heading back to Micheal and Caroline's house.

When we rang the doorbell, I could hear a pair of feet shuffling to the door before it was opened by Caroline.

"She's in the living room," Caroline opened the door wider to let Jay and me in. I noticed that she had a strained look on her face and I wondered if she had already asked Nicole some questions.

I followed Jay who was following Caroline into the living room where Nicole was seated on the couch.

I quickly snagged the armchair, leaving Jay to stand. He scowled at me but didn't say anything about it.

"We just have a few questions," I told Nicole who nodded stiffly in return.

"Would you say that you and Charlie were close?" Jay asked.

Nicole nodded, "Yeah."

"Was Charlie acting differently before today?" I questioned, "Did she seem off in any way?"

"I guess," Nicole replied and started twiddling her fingers. In a way, she sounded bored and like she couldn't care less right now about the fact that Charlie had run away and was missing.

"How so?" Jay sounded a tad annoyed by Nicole's answer, or maybe it was the tone of her voice that ticked him off.

Nicole shrugged, "I don't know. She seemed distant."

"Do you know what could have caused that?" I asked.

Nicole squirmed in her seat and an uncomfortable look formed on her face.

"Word got out at school that her dad killed someone," Nicole's voice was quiet, "And that's why she's living with us. Because her dad's in prison for life."

Jay and I shared a glance but we didn't ask how that information was leaked, though, I had a good feeling on who was the culprit of that.

"So she was hiding it when you guy first started high school?" Jay inquired and Nicole nodded.

"She didn't want people to know," Nicole added.

I nodded, "Do you know where she might have gone? Or where she might be right now?"

Nicole shook her head.

Jay sighed, "Alright. Thank you for answering our questions. If you think of anything, your mom has our number."

Nicole nodded again and got up before heading upstairs, probably to her room. Jay and I thanked her parents before leaving.

The drive back to the district was silent. I kept wondering if Charlie really did run away. Did she run away because the other kids knew her dad murdered someone? They must have been giving her a really hard time. Hard enough that she figured running away was the best solution.

When we got to the district, Jay and I headed up to the bullpen, just barely managing to escape Trudy's questioning eyes.

"Did you find her?" Burgess immediately asked when we walked in.

I sighed and pursed my lips, "Nope."

"Did anyone find her?" Ruzek questioned.

"Nope," Jay replied and I flopped down in my chair at my desk.

Charlie was smart. If she really wanted to, she could probably find a way to not be found by police. Though there was a bunch of people looking for her and right now, I could only hope they found her soon.

"Upton, Halstead," Voight said as he walked into the bullpen from his office, "A word."

Jay and I shared looks on what he could possibly want to tell us before following Voight and into his office before he shut the door behind us.

"You know we can't take this case," Voight told us, but he was looking at me and I had a feeling it was mostly directed towards me.

I nodded, "I know. Busting Harris is our biggest priority right now. I just had to do something."

"There are plenty of well-trained people looking for her as we speak," Voight said to me, "They'll find her."

Voight then dismissed us and Jay and I went back to our desks in the bullpen.

Even though we couldn't take in the case, I couldn't stop thinking about Charlie. Where was she? What was she doing? I also had a feeling that Nicole knew more than she was telling us and that made me uneasy.

My thoughts were interrupted by Jay.

"I just got a text from Harris," He said, which caught everyone's attention. "He wants to change the time on Saturday."

Atwater beat us to asking Jay the question we were all wondering.

"What time?"

"Eight at night," Jay replied.

We all looked up at Voight who had come out of his office when he heard that Harris had texted Jay.

Voight nodded, "Tell him alright."

Jay texted Harris that he was okay with the time change and then asked for confirmation that the place was still the same.

"Eight PM, behind the old factory on Ashburn," Jay updated all of us on the new time again just so we were all on the same page.

Everyone nodded to show they had heard and understood before slumping back in their seats.

"Good-night Sarge," I said to Trudy as I left for the night. Tomorrow was Friday. We would probably run over the plan for Saturday a few times and the next day we put the plan into action and hope for the best.

"Hey, Upton?" Trudy stopped me as I was heading out, "I heard about Charlie."

I nodded, "I just hope they find her soon."

Trudy nodded as well and I wished her a good-night again before leaving the district.

Vanessa had left a little earlier than I had so it wasn't a surprise that she was already at home.

"Nice to see you made it back," She joked when I walked into the kitchen.

I laughed lightly and poured myself a glass of water before taking a seat at the island.

"Yeah, I figured I should leave," I said, "It wasn't like there was anything else for me to do."

Vanessa nodded and took a seat next to me. For a moment, it was quiet while I silently drank my water.

"They didn't find her yet have they?" Vanessa asked though it sounded like she already knew the answer.

"Yeah," I bit the inside of my lip and nodded. "They haven't."

Vanessa looked over at me, "I'm sure she's okay. Charlie's smart. She tough too."

"But is she desperate?"

Vanessa didn't reply right away and I had to wonder the same thing.

Was Charlie desperate right now?

She had to have been desperate enough to get away from whatever was happening that she ran away from her foster home. At the same time though, did she choose to run away?

"I think I'm going to call it a night," I told Vanessa who nodded. I headed upstairs and washed up before changing out of my clothes and into something more comfortable for bed.

I went to sleep with the teenager on my mind.