Regrets (Complete)

Chapter Seven

"Chief! Chief I found something!"

Lin turned from the board of papers and photographs she had set up across one of the wall of her office to see Detective Chen come running into the room, nearly sliding across the floor as he came to a stop. It had been two days and Lin hadn't slept at all as she flung herself into researching everything she could about the case. Chen held a small black book in his hand.

"What did you find?"

Chen was catching his breath as he handed it over to her.

"It's a diary. From Jia, the woman who..."

Kidnapped my daughter.

Lin finished the sentence in her head as she flipped through the pages. It appeared to be a diary or sorts. There was an entry that had evidently been bookmarked, most likely like her detective.

"I worked at the hospital part time and was approached by a man to kidnap a baby after it was born. At first I said no but he offered me more money than I make at the hospital in five years. I knew how horrible it was but figured I could just treat it like a job and tried not to think about it too much after I said yes.

The day came and there were complications. I had the opportunity to say the infant didn't survive. I thought this would make things easier for my boss. But then I couldn't follow through. I couldn't hand this perfect little girl over to him. I don't even know what organization he was from.

I didn't know who the baby belonged to before I agreed to the job. And I'm ashamed to admit that even after I found out I couldn't bring myself to come forward. She was my daughter now.

The Avatar's son moved on and had kids of his own and I saw how busy the Police Chief was with her job. She didn't have time for a child anyway."

Lin stopped reading, flinging the book across the room before she damaged the evidence. There was a pressure building inside her and thought her heart was going to beat out of her chest. This was undeniable proof that this missing girl was... that her daughter wasn't...

She slammed a fist down on her desk, the whole thing buckling in on itself as the metal crunched and twisted. Chen didn't say anything as he stood quietly, waiting for his Chief to gather herself. It took a couple minutes of slow, steady breathing before Lin found herself able to speak.

"Are there any leads on the girl's location or who may have taken her?"

"No, Chief. I'm sorry. We haven't found anything."

Lin walked around her mangled desk and slumped into her chair.

"Thank you, detective. Let me know if you get any leads."

"Yes, chief!"

He left and Lin carefully picked up her phone from the ground. It only took two rings for Kya to pick up which meant she must have been waiting near it.

"Lin?"

She felt a lump in throat, trying to steady her voice but it still cracked when she spoke.

"Kya, it's her. It's really her."

Lin let out a gasp, quickly pulling her face from the phone and covering her mouth to stop the sob that threatened to open a dam of emotions she was struggling to contain. Kya didn't speak for a moment and when she did her voice was soft and kind.

"We'll find her, Lin. I promise. Will you please come home? Just for tonight?"

Never promise the victim's family that you'll bring their loved one home safe because that's not a promise you can always keep. The bitter thought was automatic. The very basics of dealing with missing persons cases. Lin never imagined she'd be on this side of things and yet here she was.