Adam exhaled slowly as he turned off the engine and took just a moment to focus. His mother had been less than enjoyable. She asked him in front of Sam about his missing mother and why Adam hadn't done anything about it and had another dig at his family.

He had called Kate's ex, Sam's Dad Dylan on the way in from his mother's. He was already in a bad mood so he may as well rip the band-aid off.

"Well this can't be good." Dylan wasn't exactly excited to talk to Adam. Whenever they did talk it was never just a friendly chat about the weather or a game. Even back when he had just started dating Kate they never really got on and hung out together. They were just too different and Adam had been a protective brother and it annoyed both Dylan and Kate at the time.

"Probably not. Hey, have you heard from Kate lately?"

"Lately. If you call Christmas lately then yes, if you mean in the last six months, no." He had quickly realised this wasn't social call by Adam's direct questions and 'serious cop voice' as he had already remarked.

"No text messages, you haven't talked to Sam?"

"No. Is she okay? Is Sam okay?"

"I'm just trying to find Kate. She's proving to be a bit hard to track down." Adam had to give him some context to keep him on side. "Sam said he hasn't talked to you."

"I've had a couple of messages from Sam."

"When?"

It was a few weeks ago. Sam had reached out to his Dad once he had his own phone and Dylan always responded. "He's a good kid. Is he okay?"

"Sam's fine. Look, if you hear from Kate can you let me know."

"Sure. Adam? What's this about?"

Adam blinked a little slower. "We just haven't seen her for a couple of days? Did Sam say anything? Like he wasn't happy at home, or she was seeing someone that he didn't like? I can't get much out of him."

"Nah, nothing, He was just telling me about school and soccer and stuff."

"Okay, cool." Adam muttered. "I am assuming if I ran a check on you I'd find that you haven't been in Chicago lately?"

"Not for years." He was a little annoyed and Adam tried to appease him by reminding him he was just doing his job and trying to find the mother of his child, anyway he could. They had already checked Dylan out last night, and there was nothing to suggest he was lying. They would check with his employer to make sure he had been turning up as he should. He did get the feeling that he was perhaps in touch with Sam more than even Kate knew but that was for another day.

His phone buzzing in his pocket bought him back to the task at hand. It was Kim, asking him how far away he was as the team was waiting. Both Kim and Kevin had already briefed their Boss when they got in with what they had found out so far, which was little.

Voight was a little miffed that it had been more than twelve hours since they became aware of Kate's disappearance and he was just hearing about it but he was comfortable that all the usual steps had already been put in place so once they bought everyone up to speed it was full steam ahead.

Adam briefly stopped to talk to Platt on his way in. She had called out to him as he tried to sneak through. "Anything you need?"

"To find my sister." He tilted his head a little and gave her a wry smile. Not for the first time either, she'd seen this look on him before. "Find Sam's mom."

Platt reached for his arm and gave it a quick squeeze. "I'm right here." Adam nodded his thanks and gave her another sad smile. Yep, she'd been there done this with him a few times.

As soon as his foot hit the top step all eyes were on him and Voight came straight out of the office. "How's Sam?" he asked quickly.

Throwing his jacket over the back of his chair he turned to the white board which he could tell by the writing Kim had arranged. "Loving the thought of spending the day with Grandma." He perched on the edge of his desk as Voight, hands in pockets, nodded at him to continue.

"Kate took Sam to school last Friday morning as usual, he caught the bus home and Kate wasn't there and didn't come home. He stayed at home alone all weekend, actually took himself to school on Monday." Adam had been surprised by that. "And then went to his friend's house, Jack after school where he told his mom that he had been alone all weekend."

"She's never done this before?"

"Nope, not once. She's a bit helicopter. Her phone is off or dead, bank accounts not touched, nothing disturbed in the house. Her car is missing. I have a BOLO out on it but nothing so far apparently."

Kevin shook his head. "Nothing, just checked the system. I checked out the house, nothing unusual. Insanely neat, un-Ruzek like neat." A quick glance made it clear that he wasn't in the mood. "Suitcases in the wardrobe, I don't know how many she had but it all just looks neat. Like she just walked out of the place."

"I'm still waiting for tech to get back to me trying to pull anything from her socials, gps and all that. I've been through her socials from my end, nothing jumps out. Her last post was three weeks ago and it was of Sam's soccer game." Rubbing his hands up and down his thighs. "It's all just Sam or a couple of girlfriends. Tech is looking deeper though, seeing if anything has been scrubbed."

"You talked to them, any of her friends?"

Kim held up her notebook. "I've called them, they haven't heard from Kate but are coming in any way to be interviewed. They all sounded pretty shocked, worried about Sam and said this is out of character. They want to help."

It was like a brick wall in front of them. They did not have one single lead.

Voight flicked his wrist towards Adam and he followed him into his office and closed the door behind them. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good Boss."

He sat behind his desk and leant back and gave one of his questioning looks. "It's your sister."

"I know and I know her better than anyone else here. I promised Sam I'd find his Mom."

"And if it doesn't turn out the way we all hope?" Adam knew what he was asking. All the signs so far were not point to a happy ending. "You can do that?"

Adam squeezed his hands together and shook them towards his Boss, almost begging. "I have to do it. It's my family. Don't bench me yet."

Voight promised he wasn't going to bench him but he would be keeping an eye on him. He didn't need a repeat of the carry-on when Kim was missing or when Makayla was. He made it clear he was on a leash, a long leash right now but a leash all the same. "Head over to her house. As you said you know her, see if Kev is right. We'll follow up with all the feelers you've got out."

Kim went with him as much for emotional support as a second pair of eyes. Platt did comment, when she saw them coming down the stairs together about taking Burgess with him to make sure she had a girl's look, not a boy's look. She may have been working the desk but she was all over what was going on upstairs.

"How was Sam and Diane?" Kim was very well aware that his mother didn't approve of her. She was well known for holding a grudge considering her decades long hatred for Bob. The fact that Kim called off their initial engagement was something she would never let go of, even if Adam had.

Adam exhaled and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "Painful. Gotta make sure that she makes her 3pm Yoga class. All the important stuff."

"She did not?"

He eyed her quickly as he checked the traffic before turning the corner. "Diane doing Diane things." Forcing a smile on his face. "Sam is trying to hold it together. I don't know what to tell him, or how much to tell him."

"You gotta tell him the truth, as much as he needs to know. He's a smart kid Adam."

"Yeah it's not that easy is it? I keep trying to rationalise this, but shit Kim it's been four days and we've got nothing so far." Again he tightened his knuckles on the steering wheel and Kim was taking note. Adam was clearly stressed and he had every right to be. Voight had made it clear to her before Adam even arrived this morning that she needed to keep him from charging over the line. "This isn't Kate. Are you sure we've got nothing?"

Kim looked at her phone, even though it hadn't buzzed with any messages. "Nothing yet." She reached out and rubbed Adam's forearm. "As soon as they hear anything they will let us know."

"I swear to god if this is Dylan he'll never see his kid again."

"Do you think she's been back to touch with Kate. She was always a little besotted by him right?"

Adam hummed to himself for moment and Kim could see his mind whirling. "Yeah, yeah. I get it right?" He shrugged his shoulders. "She wanted Sammy to have a Dad," slipping back into his nickname. "…every kid deserves that right? Except he was always a dick. They were both better off without him. But I talked to him this morning and he says he gets messages from Sam but hasn't heard from Kate in six months. So we need to check that out, but he hasn't been in Chicago for years, so…" Adam sighed. "… I don't know."

"So you don't think he's involved."

"Probably not. Didn't seem all that bothered about Sam really. Hopes he's okay but didn't ask if he needed anything or where he was."

"Poor Sam."

Suddenly Adam chuckled. "He'd be over me like ants on a picnic calling him Sammy."

When they pulled up outside Kate's house Adam was annoyed to see his mother's car in the driveway. "What's she doing here?"

"Who?"

"My mother."

He stormed from the car and Kim followed him quickly. This had the chance of going off the rails quickly and Kim wanted to get in front of it. She needed to tug on his leash.

"Mom." He yelled as he came through the door. "Mom." She appeared from the kitchen. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" She countered.

"What the hell?" Adam spluttered. She was wearing an apron and was holding a cleaning cloth. "What have you touched?"

"What do you mean what have I touched? I haven't touched anything, I was just cleaning up the kitchen."

"So you have touched things. You shouldn't be here. Where is Sam?"

"Tidying his bedroom. I don't want his mother coming home to a mess."

Adam tucked his hands into the arms of his vest to give himself just a moment to catch himself. "You need to leave. We don't know what this is yet? We want to take a look around. Where else have you been?"

Kim was in the lounge room, quietly keeping an ear on the discussion while scanning the room for anything unusual. She could hear both of them getting frustrated, Adam's tone was clipped and he was clearly exasperated. Funnily enough it was the exact same tone his mother was giving back to him.

"Don't talk to me like a criminal Adam."

"You are potentially interfering with a crime scene."

Kim appeared suddenly when Diane started getting louder.

"A crime scene? What crime?" She was starting to sound a little hysterical and Adam inhaled sharply.

"Hi Diane." Kim interjected when Adam took his breath. It wasn't the first time that her presence wasn't welcome and she didn't take it personally. "How about you come show me the kitchen and if you noticed anything out of place or missing." She put her hand on Adam's arm. "Why don't you go see what Sam's up to."

"What are you doing here?" She snapped at Kim.

"My job." She responded calmly and stepped forward and indicated that Diane needed to come with her. "We all want to find Kate."

Kim got straight to it, she asked what she found when she came in, if anything looked unusual or out of place, if anything was missing. "Even the smallest thing might help."

"How's Adam doing?" Diane suddenly asked.

"He's been awake most of the night trying to find something." Kim assured her. "Anything to find Kate, he's trying to reassure Sam and Kevin and the rest of the team are back at the District trying to find her car, trace her phone, talking to her friends so if you can think of anything it might just be the piece we need."

"You think I'd keep something from my son?"

It was clear that Diane was going to continue to be combative. "Not at all, it's just that you might notice something that we don't."

"Perhaps if he wasn't so busy playing house husband to your kid he'd have more time for his family."

It took all Kim's energy not to bite back. "When was the last time you spoke to Kate?" She responded calmly.

"I've already told Adam all this. I don't need to repeat myself." She snarled at Kim.

"You can leave." Adam appeared in the doorway. He was on edge enough and had just about reached the end of his tether with his mother. Kim had often talked to him about his relationship with his mother and that perhaps he should try again and he was always reluctant to talk about it. She could now see why. "Officer Burgess was just asking a question. If you can't help, or chose not to help then you are just getting in the way and might actually destroy some evidence and make this harder than it already is. We will take Sam back to District with us. Wouldn't want you to miss your Yoga class."

Walking over the kitchen table he picked up his mother's handbag and held it out for her. "We'll keep you and Dad in the loop." Kim saw the pinched look on his mother's face at the mention of her ex-husband and she snatched the bag from his hand.

Kim rubbed his back lightly and silently and then went back to work, now wasn't the time to hash this one out. Going through a pile of bills and letters on the bench. She flicked over each page and envelope and then set them aside until she found one with a phone number scrawled on it.

"Is this Kate's handwriting?" She showed it to Adam.

"Not sure."

He took the paper from her and called Kevin. He did contemplate calling the number himself but didn't want to spook the person on the other end. The last thing they needed to do was let people know they were coming for them. Whoever this may turn out to be. "Hey Kev, can you run a trace on a number?" He rattled it off.

"What is it?"

"Don't know. It's just written on the back of some mail in Kate's kitchen."

He waited while Kim flicked through the rest of the mail but there was nothing else that jumped out of them.

"Robert Berendorf." Kevin came back. "Got an address. I'll send it to you. He's got a clean sheet though." Kevin had quickly checked him in their system. "Want us to meet you there?"

"We need to bring Sam back to the District first. See what you can find out." He hung up quickly and indicated to Kim that they had to go. Calling Sam he explained that they were going back to the District and he could hang out there for the day.

While they were waiting for Sam Adam filled her in on the very little information they had. "Robert Berendorf."

"Who's that?"

"That is who that number belongs too. Kevin has an address, I'll just grab Sam." Adam urged Kim to head out while he called Sam.

"We've gotta go."