Hailey's POV

"Charlotte Wilson," I said as I pinned up a photo of Charlie on the case board, something I never thought I'd be doing. "Charlie."

"She went missing somewhere between late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning," Jay added, "Looks like she ran away."

Voight nodded, "Any idea where she might be."

"It's like she vanished off the face of the earth," I bit my lip, not quite wanting to think about how the teenager could be dead right now.

"We don't have any leads," Ruzek concluded.

Jay sighed, "Nobody has any leads."

"Besides the river," I quickly added, forgetting to mention my stop last night, "They found her student ID in the Chicago River last night near the shore."

There was silence as everyone's brain jumped to the worst conclusion. I knew. I could tell from their faces that all of them thought she had drowned.

I shook my head, "I don't think she's dead. I still think she's alive somewhere."

"You think?" Voight asked me, "Or are you just telling yourself that."

"Look," I took a deep breath, "Maybe I don't know why she ran away, but I know who Charlie is. Maybe not well enough because I never thought she was the type of teenager to run away from her foster home but I know her better than all of you. And I know she's alive."

I looked over at Jay for support and he nodded.

"She's right, out of all of us, she is the one who knows Charlie the best," Jay told everyone but nobody looked less skeptical.

It took a moment but finally, Voight nodded.

"So what do we know?" He asked me and I knew that he remembered how Charlie had gotten in his face that day when he demanded that she looked at the pictures of the dead body.

"Did she tell you of any places in Chicago she liked?" Rojas added, "Maybe some parks?"

I closed my eyes as I tried to recall every little word Charlie has spoken to me.

"She had just moved to Chicago when I first met her," I said, speaking my thoughts out loud so that everyone knew, "Her mom was killed in Afghanistan when she was seven, and when her dad told her they were moving to Chicago, he mentioned it was almost like starting over."

"Where did she move from?" Atwater asked.

That was easy for me to remember.

"Winnipeg," I replied, "She talked about how much she loved it. How it was home. How she loved the museums, the parks, the markets. How Chicago didn't have any Tim Horton's or places that sold Beavertails like the ones at home."

My mouth dropped and my eyes shot open when the realization of what Charlie was going to do hit me like a bus.

"She's planning to head back home," I whispered.

Everyone stared at me.

"She's a teenager," Jay said, "I know Caroline told us she took her money with her but is it enough to get a flight to Winnipeg? I mean, she earned that money from mowing lawns. How much money can you make from mowing lawns?"

"Plus, I mean, it's been a while since you had that conversation with her," Rojas added, "Maybe she warmed up to Chicago a bit since then."

I knew it didn't make too much sense but I was adamant that Charlie's plan was to try to go back to Winnipeg.

To go back home.

"Well, it's the only sort of lead we have to this, so we should roll with it, see where it takes us," Voight said and everyone nodded. Despite not all the pieces fitting together, everyone knew it was better than nothing.

"If Charlie doesn't have enough money, then she'll be trying to make some more right?" Burgess was the first to start thinking, "I can make some calls, see if anyone has been approached by a teenager trying to make some cash. Charlie could be using an alias if she knows people are looking for her."

Voight nodded, "That's a good idea."

A few hours later and we were back at square one.

With nothing.

"So what do we do now?" Ruzek asked. We were sitting around, waiting as if some tip was just going to appear in front of us. Heck, it was as if we were waiting for Charlie to just stroll up the stairs and into the bullpen.

"We ask around," Voight nodded, "Everybody gets an area and a picture of Charlie. We ask around. Somebody had to have seen her because a teenager doesn't just vanish."

So with that, we were all assigned an area and Atwater printed us each a colour photo of Charlie.

As Jay and I hopped in the car and started driving towards our given area. He must have not noticed my tense expression, or maybe he did but just decided to stay quiet about it.

Before I knew it, Jay pulled the car into a stop and I got out, immediately scanning for people to question about Charlie.

"Excuse me," I stopped a mother and daughter duo walking by the car and quickly flashed them my badge, "Have you by any chance seen this girl?"

Jay held up the photo of Charlie to show the pair and a worried expression crossed the mother's face.

"Is she dangerous?" She asked and pulled her daughter closer to her side.

"No," I shook my head, "She's missing, and I am wondering if you've seen her around?"

The mother took another look at the picture but when she bit her lip and furrowed her eyebrows, I knew her answer was no.

"Sorry," The mother apologized, "I don't recognize her."

I nodded, "It's okay. Thank you for your time."

"Of course," The woman smiled sadly, "I can't imagine my daughter going missing. Her parents must be worried sick."

I thought about how Charlie's dad was in jail and how her mom was dead.

"Thanks again," Jay told her when I didn't say anything and the duo walked off.

"You good?" Jay asked, seeing how I was just blankly staring off.

I nodded and briskly started walking away to ask more people.

"Let's just focus on finding Charlie."