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“Hey, ya headdin’ out?”

Erica looked over her shoulder at Officer McCarthy, a young man with tan skin and a nice 5 o’clock shadow. “Yeah, I need to run a few errands.”

“And by errands you mean check up on Jeremy.” He gave her a cocky grin as he leaned against the desk beside him. Arms crossed over his chest he raised a brow in her direction, almost daring her to deny it.

“Shut up,” She whacked him on the shoulder with a file folder before sticking it into her bag.

He laughed then gave her a childish salute, “He’s lucky he has a partner that cares.” From behind, another officer was heard saying “Shut up McCarthy,” from the break room. Clearly, his own partner had heard the complaint.

Erica smiled and shook her head, For all the hazing Drew received, once you made it through that break-in period the other officers weren’t all that bad. Yes, there were some that it was best to just avoid but in general, it wasn’t that bad.

It took about an hour for her to run home, get changed into civilian clothes then make a quick trip to a restaurant to grab some takeout. When she finally arrived at Jeremy’s home it was already getting dark out; not that it was really late but it was just that time of year.

With a closed fist she pounded on his door three times, “It’s the police. Open up!” Erica tried to sound authoritative but Jeremy knew her well enough that it was hard to keep a straight face.

Erica let out a long whistle. “Someone’s grouchy…” Not that he didn’t have good reason to be. But she came here not as a co-worker but as a friend, ok not completely anyway since she did bring some homework here with her.

“At least I come bearing gifts!” She held up the two, very full, plastic bags with enough Chinese food to easily feed the three of them, Myles obviously included, with there being leftovers for tomorrow. “Chao Mein, Fried Rice, General Tso, Broccoli Beef, Orange Chicken, and Hot & Sour Soup. ”

This time it was Erica’s turn to snort, boring…

“I’ll take a beer,” Wasn’t particularly her favorite drink but having one every once in a while, with g ood company of course, was always nice. “If you’re hungry, we can eat now. Otherwise, I don’t mind waiting until Myles gets home.”

Glancing at the fridge she noticed the A- circled in red and smiled. As someone who volunteered somewhat often at the YMCA and Boys and Girls club, Erica understood that proud feeling he must have felt when Myles came home with such a high score. The two had been through a lot, which is why it was nice to see that his younger brother was getting on the right track.

“How’s he holding up?” Nodding in the direction of the paper she set the bags down in an open spot on the kitchen counter and began fussing with the knot they tied with the handles. Give it five seconds and if it didn’t come loose by then she was going to just rip the side of the bag.

“It’s not the role you expected for yourself. But it’s because of you that he’s able to get this far.” She knew what sacrifices he made so Myles had a better opportunity to succeed. For all the things he had listed, Jeremy could have easily had those things too, that is if he wasn’t married to his job.

“You know, if you need help, all you have to do is ask.” It was a sincere offer and one she had made a few times in the past. However, she wasn’t one to often impose herself on others and randomly show up, with tonight being an exception of course.

Erica passed him a set of chopsticks and the box of chow mein to start with.

“Getting out of the house, for one.” To be fair he was under doctors to take it easy so he could recover, but the guy could use some vitamin D. “I’m not here to tell you how to be a parent or how to take care of your younger brother.”

“In or out of uniform you’re my partner. So if that means I make unannounced house visits or kidnap you for a game of bowling, or…” Erica paused as she leaned over to her bag and pulled from it three manilla file folders. “Bring you something to preoccupy your mind with. Then I’ll do what I need to do.”

“Ah, ah,” Erica pulled the files back and put them in her bag. “We’ll go over them once you’re done eating. “They’re a few cases I’ve been working on and one new one that just seemed interesting.”

Erica hummed as she took the rejected pair of chopsticks and broke them in two. “Had a few interesting calls come in. All of them saying the same thing.” She picked one of the random unopened boxes that had a bit of sauce spilling out of the corner; General Tso, one of her favorites.

“Remember when that dense fog rolled in? Meteorologists said that it wasn’t really out of the norm for this time of year with the change in seasons, a sudden drop in temperature. However, we got a bunch of frantic calls all around the same time.” With her chopsticks, she skillfully picked up a piece of meat and chewed it thoughtfully for a moment.

“Apparently there were disappearances all over the city. People claiming that their friend, or relative, that they were with just vanished.” In some places, it was reported that the fog was so thick that you could barely see the next streetlight over. The first few cases were quickly dismissed, assumptions were made that someone was pulling a prank on them and that the person they were looking for just ducked behind a building into a store.

“The calls easily reached over fifteen in about a five minute time span.” Some looked to no avail. “Seems like a scene pulled from Supernatural.”

Reaching for her beer she twisted off the lid and took a drink to wash down that last bite of food. “Here’s the kicker though,” Erica leaned forward so her elbows ere on the table and the end of her chopsticks pointed at him. “Three hours later, all the missing person calls were canceled.”

“Curious what your thoughts are on it.” Was it some sort of flash mob scenario, a random group of strangers picking a place and time to pull a prank on the precinct? Or maybe there was some truth to it. Between the two of them, Jeremy knew weird and figured this amount of strange would be right up his alley.

“Honestly?” She paused for a moment to consider his question “I think there is some truth to it.”

“You’re right, there were several car accidents resulting from the sudden fog and normally we don’t take missing person reports until they have been MIA for at least twenty-four hours. But I kept a record of my calls and did a little bit of follow-up today.”

“As it turns out, shortly after their re-appearance, a few of the victims ended up going to urgent care clinics and one report of someone being admitted to the Destiny City Memorial Hospital.” Erica gave him a moment to digest that little bit of information while she reached across the table to steal a few chow mein noodles from him. “Mild cases of malnutrition mostly, a few minor injuries, and here’s the kicker… anemia due to low iron.” In at least two incidents the person had admitted to not eating any meat for three weeks but the individual that had reported them missing spoke the contrary.