It took fifteen minutes for all the paperwork to be completed, it made Erin feel nervous about how official it was all becoming. As they took her thumb and pressed it first into ink and then on to the paper she realised there was really no going back, she couldn't deny what she was doing if she ever got caught. She knew she had to keep this to herself, she couldn't let the adults around her life find out. If they did she knew there'd be hell to pay, none of them had ever hurt her but she'd seen them hurt each other.
"Come on kid," Voight said placing the completed papers into a folder and standing. Erin stood up, slipped her jacket on and picked up her bag; she followed the detective out the room and through the police station. One of the officers who'd brought her in smiled at her, she didn't smile back, she thought it was weird. They paused at the front for Voight to hand the desk officer the paperwork and then they were out the door.
"What do you feel like eating?" Voight asked her, "Burgers, pizza, pasta, pancakes, Chinese, Indian?"
"Whatever you want," Erin shrugged; she didn't care what she ate as long as she had something.
"Okay," Voight said and he thought a moment, "how about we go get burgers, I know a good place. Is that okay?"
"Burgers are good," Erin smiled and she walked with the detective to his car. She still didn't feel quite comfortable riding with the detective. It felt weird sitting in the front seat of his car, but the heat was nice, it felt good to be warm. She still didn't know if she could trust this man, he hadn't given her any reason to suggest she couldn't trust him but he was still a cop and generally speaking she'd seen many reasons why you shouldn't trust cops.
Voight kept one eye on the girl as he drove to the burger bar, he wasn't quite sure what he was doing, he'd never done this before, not like this anyway. He'd taken informants for meals before, lining someone's stomach with food was a great way to get them talking but this girl was different. He didn't really want her as an informant, he had no intension of pushing her hard for information, though he was sure she'd have a lot of useful information. What he wanted was a reason to see her, a legitimate reason to keep tabs on her that wouldn't completely weird her out.
They walked into the burger bar together and sat down in a booth; Erin picked up a menu and started reading. She'd never been to a place like this before; eating out wasn't something her family did often. The menu was long; there were more burgers on it than she thought existed.
"This one is pretty good," Voight said leaning over and pointing to a fancy burger with blue cheese in it, "or if you want something more traditional you can't go wrong with their original."
Erin read the original again and nodded, "Okay, I'll have the original and a vanilla milkshake."
"You like vanilla?" Voight asked looking at her surprised, "I had you pegged for chocolate."
"I like them both," Erin said smiling, "where I'm from it's best not to be fussy."
"Right," Voight smiled at her as the waitress came to take their order. He ordered for both of them, two originals, two vanilla milkshakes, and a side of onion rings. "You'll love the onion rings," he told her as the waitress walked away.
"You like vanilla?" She asked him, throwing the question back at him.
"I like them both," Voight smiled back at her and she laughed. It was the first time he'd seen her laugh, it wasn't a big laugh but it was something and her eyes lit up, it only lasted an instant then the table went into an awkward silence, the menus were no longer there to distract them.
Erin sat across from the detective and eyed him off; she knew one of them needed to start the conversation, one of them needed to get to the point of why they were there.
"So," she finally said, "this CI business, what do I get from it?"
"Well," the detective smiled at her, "what do you want?"
"I don't know," she said shrugging, "what do you usually get?" She didn't know how this CI thing worked; she didn't know how much she could ask for.
"Well," Voight began, "I usually give my CIs cash but sometimes other things they need, like I helped you get out of trouble tonight."
"Okay," Erin said processing the information, she liked the sound of getting cash; she liked the idea of having money of her own, "how much?"
"Depends what information they have, how much they need," Voight shrugged, "sometimes it's just a couple dollars, usually it's more."
"Okay," the girl said taking the information in. Voight could see her trying to process it, trying to work out if she liked the idea. "How's it going to work?"
"Well we'll pick a place, pick a time and meet up. You can pick the place if you want; it can be where ever you want to go."
"Alright," Erin said slowly, she couldn't believe she was actually going to go through with this but she was kind of liking the idea. "How often do we meet up?"
Voight thought for a moment, he didn't really have regular meetings with most of his CIs; usually he called them when he wanted information but Erin was different, he wanted to see her regularly, he'd meet with her every day if he didn't think that would get her into trouble. She was just a kid but he knew there were dangers associated with her talking to a cop. "I was thinking once a week," he said picking a compromise between how much he wanted to see her and what would be safe.
"Okay," Erin said just as the food arrived. Her mouth dropped when she saw the size of the burger, it was huge and so were the milkshakes and onion rings. "Wow," she said looking at all the food, "I don't think I can eat all this."
"That's alright kid," Voight said smiling at her, "just go your hardest."
The conversation slowed down as they ate, they both got sauce on their chins, it made Erin laugh again, and smile. Voight didn't push her to talk about herself, he knew that conversation made her feel uncomfortable instead as they were finishing up he suggested they play a game. It was a game of people watching, they'd pick people around the bar and make up stories about who they were and why they were there.
"Like that couple over there," Voight said pointing is head towards an old couple, eating burgers off to their side.
Erin turned to the couple; they looked ancient, like in their eighties or maybe older.
"They're here for their sixtieth wedding anniversary," Voight began, "he brings her here because it reminds him of their first date. He took her out for burgers because that was all he could afford. He was so worried she wouldn't like burgers but she loved it and here they are still together more than sixty years later." Voight smiled and Erin chuckled, a smile spread across her face, and her eyes shone again, "Now your turn," he said.
Erin looked around the crowded burger bar, there were lots of people, there were so many stories she could tell. Voight watched Erin eye off the crowd, he wanted to see who she'd pick, what story she'd tell. He'd played the game before with people, he often thought he could tell a lot about a person by the story they chose to tell.
Erin's eyes came to rest on a boy sitting by himself, in the furthest corner of the bar. "Him," she said pointing to the boy.
Voight turned his head to see who Erin had pointed to; she'd picked the only person there by themselves.
"He's here because he has to be," she slowly began, "his mom is working in the kitchen and she won't let him go home by himself so he comes here after school every day and does his homework. He's tried all burger on the menu but his favourite is the bacon cheeseburger." As the final words came out her mouth she looked away and reached for her drink, she shouldn't have picked the boy she thought, she should have picked the young couple, she could have made a silly story up about them instead of upsetting herself.
"Did your mom make you do that?" Voight asked, wondering if perhaps Erin was showing a little more of herself with the story.
"No," she said not looking at him, "she didn't care enough to make me do that. I was always home alone."
The words pulled at Voight's heart, he wanted to bridge the distance between them, hold her and tell her that someone cares about her but he restrained himself and nodded. He looked around the table, they'd both finished eating.
"Are you ready to head off?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said reaching for her drink, she gulped down the last of her milkshake and stood.
Voight left enough money to cover the tab and they walked out together. They were both quiet on the drive to Erin's house. Erin was too tired to talk; the whole evening had been overwhelming and exhausting. She still wasn't sure what she thought about being this detective's CI. She wasn't one hundred percent ok with the idea but she was thinking she might like it. His interactions with her so far had always been nice, he sometimes pushed her to talk but he backed off when he sensed he'd crossed a line.
Voight looked over at Erin as he pulled up a few doors down from her house. She'd been gazing out the window, a distant look on her face.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked her.
"Nothing," she said shaking her head and looking at him, "thanks for your help tonight. When are we meeting up again?"
"How about next Sunday? Maybe around noon?" Voight suggested, "you can pick the place if you want."
"Okay," Erin thought for a moment, she didn't want to go to one of her usual hang outs, she didn't want her friends or acquaintances knowing about her meetings with the detective, "how about the front of union station," she suggested.
"Sounds perfect," Voight smiled at her, "take care kid, I'll see you next Sunday."
Erin climbed out the car and ran to her house. Voight watched her until he was sure she was inside and then he slowly drove away. He was already running through his head all the cafés and diners he could take her to near union station. The whole drive home he had a smile on his face, after years of trying to help people, he was finally going to make a difference in someone's life.