The Adopted Voight

Shoplifting

Hank Voight

"To catch a criminal you have to think like one"

The case me and the team had been working on was finally over so I had sent the team home early tonight while I stayed behind to finish some of the paperwork.

The intelligence office was quiet now that everyone had gone home and the time on the clock read 6:00pm. After finishing the paperwork, I grabbed my coat and used my thumb print to open the doors that separated the intelligence office to the downstairs offices. I opened the door after the beep sound and went downstairs, biding a good bye to desk Sergent Trudy Platt. I went into the parking lot and got into my car remembering to grab some groceries on the way home for dinner and breakfast tomorrow.

I parked at the parking lot in the supermarket and went inside picking up a basket and grabbing the items i needed. After, while I was waiting in line to pay, a high pitched cry drew my attention to a small child, most likely 5 or 6, who was crying, presumably because his mother put back the icecream which he had grabbed back into the freezer.

As I surveyed the rest of my surroundings, I noticed a petite girl, who looked to be about 15 years old, wearing an oversized black hoodie, looking around with an anxious look on her face. She was standing in the sandwiches and ready made meals section and from the look in her eyes, which I had seen many times, she was about to do something, most likely run without paying, but instead she looked around at the people at the till, her stormy blue eyes darting around nervously, she tucked the sandwich into the pocket of her hoodie with a quick look around to see if anyone had noticed what she had done. When she was satisfied no one had noticed, she continued on to a different aisle, browsing the products but not putting any into her pocket.

I was curious to see what she would do next and I wanted to give her a chance to go back and do the right thing even though I knew she wouldn't. I had seen that desperate look too many times. I knew there was an anti theft store alarm installed at the entrance of the store and the back entrance door was only accessible by staff so if she tried to go through the front doors with the sandwich in her pocket, the alarm would go off alerting the shop owner and everyone in the store.

The supermarket was one I frequented and as a cop I made it a point of always knowing how many potential exits there were to a place. The lady in front of me finished paying, and I made my way up to the till and greeted the shop owner who I knew briefly, when I noticed the girl walking out the front door triggering the anti theft alarm and causing the owner, Mark, to yell out, "hey you can't leave without paying, come back," Mark yelled before abandoning the till to chase after her when I quickly stepped in front of him raising my police badge, "I've got her, you stay here don't call the cops" I said before rushing out the doors chasing after the girl who although bore no physical resemblance to Erin, reminded me of Erin when I first met her while she was still on drugs and was struggling to get her life back on the right track, but always had a spark inside of her which is what led her to follow in my footsteps and become a detective in the intelligence unit which I lead.

The girl was faster and more agile than I expected and ran through the cold streets of Chicago with ease which could only come from experience and practise. I was catching up to her when I realised I hadn't announced myself to her yet so I called out "Chicago PD, stop running" which caused her to stop right in her tracks looking at me with a fearful expression, similar to the ones i had seen with Erin when I first met her, and victims of abuse.

She stopped running but quickly took a few steps back when I tried to come closer to her. I recognised the look in her face. It was a 'fight or flight' reaction, which happened in situations in which a person felt physically or emotionally threatened. I could still remember how Erin had tried to run when she first saw me and I could see the look of contemplation on the girls face right now. Contemplating whether she should run again or not, but before she could, I grasped her by the elbow firmly but not harshly, and said "listen kid,I'm not going to hurt you, but I need to know you won't run again before I let your arm go". She still looked at me with an expression of absolute terror before meekly saying, "I won't run, please let my arm go". I let her arm go but quickly grabbed her again when she tried to run. "Hey, you said you wouldn't run" I said turning her around to look at her blue eyes which were now turning a light shade of grey, resembling the sky before a storm.