Empty Spaces

Phone call

Breath Sylvie, just breath.

The monologue continued in her mind as she stared at the text, trying to convince herself to hit call. She knew she needed to, know she needed to know what was going on but she couldn't bring herself to hit the button. The last day had gone so well, after Bella had settled and slept she had laid away in the arms of her crush, unable to sleep with the fear she'd wake up and it'd all be a dream. Now she sat on her bunk, phone in hand at the thought it could all come crashing down.

Sylvie looked around to see if anyone was around, she knew if the call was bad she'd want it to be done in private so she could speak freely and truly react without embarrassment or judgement, not that she thought anyone at 51 would she wanted to take precautions. She slipped her phone into her pocket and moved quickly along the hall and slipped out the back door, the cool breeze hitting her suddenly and she pulled her jacket tighter around herself. Although the storm had broken sometime over night it was still cold outside, the sun only making its appearance every so often.

She grabbed her phone back out from her pocket and immediately hit the call button, bringing the phone to her ear as she let out a breath. It was answered almost immediately, not even getting a second ring in.

"Sylvie, I'm glad you called." Hailey said, her voice almost sounding relieved?

She was slightly confused by how chipper the detective seemed, expecting a bad call. "Hey Detective Upton, I'm sorry I didn't answer earlier. We were on a call and I didn't have use of my phone. Whats up?"

"No you're fine I get it trust me. I just wanted to let you know that we've picked up one of the perps that came by the firehouse. Well actually, he handed himself in. Said some tiny blonde paramedic scared the crap out of him. " Hailey spoke with amusement, they both knew who he was talking about. "Now, I'm telling you this as a friend, I shouldn't even be telling you this. But his name is Thomas Walters, he has a list of petty misdemeanours and a few drug charges. He was on parol for distribution, so when he rocked up here he was escorted straight to lock up in protective custody. He said he'll write a statement on everything he has witnessed, this includes the child trafficking ring, this is good for us."

Sylvie released a breath she didn't realise she was holding, the weight in her chest dropping slightly. Her mind wandering back to the memories of the morning before she spoke again. "So what does this mean for us?"

This time the silence on the end of the phone was notable, causing Sylvie to anxiously bite her lip. She could hear some shuffling around on the other end of the call and hoped she wouldn't be getting bad news. "So, although we have him, we have to wait for search warrants to be filled with probable cause as well as not letting on that he's told us anything. The last thing we need is a hit put out a hit, it could be on just him or on Bella, Ava and even you. Just keep your eyes peeled okay? Call PD if you notice anyone suspicious lingering around or watching you or Bella. This could takes weeks, even months to build enough evidence and leads to shut the ring down but we have all available officers working on it okay?"

"Okay." Was all she replied with, her mind instantly playing her words back over and over.  A hit could be placed on Bella. On a six year old little girl who had already been through enough. On her Teeny. "Thank you Hailey, i'll be sure to watch out. Call me back when you find out anything else."

Just as she was hanging up Herrmann popped his head out the door, obvious he was looking for her. "The social worker is here. Conference room." Is all he states before he heads back in, giving Sylvie a few moments to collect her thoughts before she headed back inside and to the conference room. She couldn't get the call out of her head and knew she needed to speak with Matt, but wouldn't be able to until after their meeting. She did not need anymore bad news today so she was hoping the meeting went well.