Chapter 184 Running Away From Home
In the following days, Fiona devoted herself completely to perfecting the project for RH Company.
Chicago painted, Charles coded, and the family of three stayed busy with their tasks, not getting in each other's way.
Until one day at lunchtime, Wendy pushed open the door to Chicago's studio to call her for lunch and discovered that Chicago was gone.
At first, Wendy thought Chicago was probably playing somewhere in the house.
After searching the house without finding her, the severity of the situation began to sink in.
She quickly called for Stuart, and when Stuart realized Chicago was missing, he hurriedly checked the home surveillance.
What they saw nearly scared them to death.
The footage showed Chicago going to the park at 7:30 am, returning home at 8:40 am, and twenty minutes later, changing her clothes, donning a little hat, and taking her favorite little backpack out the back door.
"Oh my God! It's been three hours!!" Wendy was on the verge of panic.
Stuart, who usually showed little emotion, was also visibly distressed, his face turning red.
He immediately called Fiona.
Unfortunately, at that time, Fiona's team was in a closed meeting, with all their phones on silent.
"What's going on?" Charles, hearing the commotion, came downstairs.
Wendy's face was covered in tears as she turned to look at Charles, sobbing, "Miss... Miss has run away from home!" After saying that, Wendy burst into louder cries.
"It's all my fault. The Miss told me not to come near the studio, and I didn't check on her for three hours! How could I be so stupid?"
"Does crying help?" Charles furrowed his brow, a rare display of displeasure crossing his features.
"Don't worry, I'll assign more people to search everywhere right now." Stuart stated with a grave voice.
She disappeared while he was at home in Chicago. It was a black mark on his professional record. Three hours... So much could have happened. Car accidents, abductions, organ harvesting... Stuart felt like he was suffocating!
"What happened at the small park this morning when you went with her?" Charles asked calmly.
Chicago wouldn't have run away from home without a reason.
At breakfast, she was fine, chattering away like a bird, excitedly telling him about a beautiful new color she'd mixed.
Why would she suddenly run away?
"This morning... this morning..." Wendy struggled to calm herself, "It was the same as usual. We greeted the elderly, said hello to the dogs and cats... Oh, that's right!"
"That's right!" Wendy and Stuart exclaimed in unison.
Then Stuart explained, "On the way back, we found a litter of kittens in the bushes. We heard their mother had been run over by a car. Some kind souls took three of them, but one didn't look very healthy... Chicago crouched there for a long time, trying to get people to take the last one, but..."
Charles's brow was tightly knotted. If not for the circumstance, Chicago would have surely brought the kitten home.
"And then?"
"Then we came back home."
Chicago had watched the kitten for a long time, wiping her tears over and over. Suddenly, she said, let's go home, and the three of them returned. Twenty minutes later, she had run away from home!
"Where exactly were the bushes?" Charles asked.
Stuart carefully recalled the location.
Immediately, Charles went upstairs, turned on his computer, hacked into the small park's security office, and projected the surveillance feed onto his screen.
"Is this it?" Charles searched and pointed to a window on his screen.
"Yes! That's the spot!" Stuart nodded.
Calmly, Charles opened that window and quickly rewound the time.
At 9:14 AM, wearing little rain boots, overalls, and a small hat, Chicago appeared on the surveillance feed.
"Chicago!" Stuart shouted, "She really did go back for the kitten!"
Charles didn't speak. His gaze grew even more intense.
He watched as Chicago kneeled on the ground, carefully lifted the kitten with her favorite little towel, whispered something to it, and then placed the kitten into a small bag.
The surveillance was silent, however, after everything was done, Charles saw Chicago take a deep breath in and then made a gesture of encouragement as if to pump herself up. She must have been scared, trying to muster courage.
"Wendy sobbed, asking, "The kitten was found just after nine, why hasn't she come home? Could she have been abducted by human traffickers?!"
Charles found her annoying and remained silent.
The footage followed Chicago as she left, but soon reached the rumored blind spot of the surveillance. When they tried to find her again, there was no trace of Chicago.
"What are we going to do?" Wendy was distraught.
Charles sat with his gears turning fast in his head. His sister had just arrived in Armie Country, had no friends, and didn't even know the workplaces of Mommy and Ashton. Who could she turn to with her kitten in tow?
Quickly, a name leaped into Charles's mind. It seemed he was the only choice...
His gaze turned steely, and he immediately composed some code and found a phone number. With the code written, he keyed the number in.
"Go out," he paused, then added, "and don't contact Mommy for now."
"Huh?" Stuart looked puzzled.
"Do as I say." Charles commanded, leaving no room for resistance.
Stuart nodded, taking Wendy out of the study.
Charles, unsure if they would follow his instructions, locked the study door. Then he put on his headphones and dialed the number.
A moment later, the call connected. "Henry?"
"Darwin?" Charles spoke up.
Darwin paused, taken aback. Caller ID clearly showed Henry... Why was a child on the line?
It was then that Charles realized he should have used a voice changer.
"Kid, is this a prank?" Darwin asked coldly.
"Are you at the Solomon Building?" Charles asked. "I'm Chicago's brother, she's run away and she might have come to see you."
"When did this happen?" Sounds of a chair dragging were heard from Darwin's side as he stood up.
"She left around 9:20. She should have been there by 10:20. Aren't you there?"
"I'm nearby at a meeting. Heading over now."
"If you find her, please call my number back." Charles said.
"Okay."
Charles ended the call first.
He checked the time, still anxious.
Determined, he sought the Solomon Building's address, intending to hack into Solomon's security system.
But the Solomon's system's defense was leagues above the park's equipment. With some effort, Charles finally broke in.
He switched to the lobby's surveillance perspective. He began to search through each camera feed. Oddly, there was no sign of Chicago in the lobby. Could it be that she wasn't looking for Darwin? Or was she lured away en route?
Even the usually composed Charles began to grow anxious.
Charles's hunch was correct. Chicago had indeed set out to find Darwin.
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