Chenford Story ✔️

26

Angela's POV

I didn't know what I expected landing in Seattle. Maybe for Lucy to just come running up to me and telling me why she left for four months. That would have been great.

But nope. It was raining. I didn't know where Lucy had gone from here so I just had to hope that people tried to help me.
I had a week here. I had told Wesley that I wanted to 'try something new' by going to Seattle. Well, I had never searched for a missing officer who didn't want to be found before? Did that count?

Either way I started by going to one in a long list of car rental shops. This one looked nicer than the rest, more built up and rented higher value cars. The detective in me wondered why she chose this one, there was one of the usual type she rented from just down the street about half a block. Maybe she just wanted a nicer car for a change? For the last few months she had been riding around the entirety of America in cars that threatened to fall apart every minute. Why upgrade now?

With thoughts I walked up to the counter.
"Um hi, I was wondering if I could see your CCTV footage from a month ago?"
"Uhm sure, if you want to" he spun a computer around to face me and started typing something into it.
Up popped a security feed.
"Which date did you want?"
Crap... Um..... Which day would Lucy have been here?
"Um, try January 5th"
The day Lucy arrived in Seattle according to her motel stays. One month and three weeks ago. She could have come here any time past that.

A/N *sorry if the timeline is a bit off I tried my best to remember*

"Hey lady?"
I looked over to the man.
"Do you just wanna go to the back room? Theres a computer and it's probably more comfortable than just standing bending over mine"
"

Um sure, thanks"
I followed the man down a corridor and into a room filled with computers and employees talking to customers over the phone. Still it was quiet and everyone had their own cubicle.
I was directed to one at the back and given headphones to listen to the audio. Clearly they just let anyone access their CCTV, made my job a lot easier.
I sat there for house, scrolling though day after day of customer after customer, peeking my head up for anyone who looked remotely like Lucy.
"January 11th" I muttered slowly to myself.
Passing through five days of security footage in three hours was a feat few could achieve.
I started looking again, my eyes loosely locked into the screen. One customer, two, three, four, Lucy, five, six. I woke up some more. Wait Lucy?! Yes!
I rewinded the tape. A 2022 lexus. Nothing to fancy but not the usual beaten up cars she rented. I noted down the licence plate. With all luck this car would tell me where she was next, maybe where she still is.

Lucy's POV

I just sat in my apartment. Tamara was out with some of her old high school friends so I was alone. I just turned on the old police radio I stole and listened. Maybe I was pretending I was still there, attacking myself to every call that came through.

I was a detective now sure. But in Vancouver I just wanted to be on patrol, with my friends. Not alone in my apartment wishing I was. I just wrapped myself in blankets. January was good for that type of thing. Why?! Why did my parents have to do that?!

I just so desperately wanted to grab a kitchen knife and start cutting my wrists again. I started stumbling to the kitchen. Trying both to grab a knife and restrain myself. I knew since I started I wouldn't stop. It was to much. Everything was to much.

I was going to be a terrible mother. I could barely keep myself from hurting myself, how would I be able to stop myself when my baby was born?
I just sobbed harder and harder rocking myself back and forward until I fell asleep.

I woke up to Tamara shaking me softly. Apparently I had been asleep for almost 5 hours. Shit. I sat up slowly and looked at the time on my phone. Yeah I was definitely going to be late for work. My back ached from falling asleep on the floor. Beds had made me soft. That's what Tim would say. I chuckled to myself, smiling for possibly the first time in weeks.

Tim could always make me smile. We were only dating the grand total of two months and yet I felt happier then than every before or since. He had such an affect on me. When I was with him it was magical now it was just sad. Fantasising about a guy I could never and would never see again.
I was sad again. Just like that.

Tamara dragged me up and somehow got me into the car to drive to work.

I sat down only a few minutes late. Still people were scoffing and clearly talking about me. I pretended it didn't effect me, that I was fine. The facade was strong.

My pile of cases was always massive, and always filled with the worst ones. Cases where there was violence, people refused to help law enforcement or something else than meant the other three detectives wanted me to do it.

Today I had.......... Robbery, Grand Theft Auto, copyright infringment and... missing person. That last one. I hated that that was what I had become. Missing. At least when someone was dead there was a definite. You had a body, something to grieve.

I was just missing. No body, no evidence I was dead, no closure. Just the slim hope that I might one day come back, a hope that dwindled ever day but never truly left.

God I hated myself for doing it. 'It was the only way.' 'they would have hated you whatever you did' 'you did the right thing' I kept trying to believe myself. I never completely did. At least I wasn't in jail.

M

ost of my cases passed with minimal issues. My colleagues were working on homicides, kidnapping and other difficult cases that meant a detective would be more considered for a promotion. That girl was still missing at the end of the day. Everyone else had been resolved, three in jail, two for the robbery, one for the grand theft auto. Copyright infringment guy didn't even know that was against the law and we let him go with a warning and promise to take it down.

That girl still plagued my brain. What if she was like me?!  Leaving because she had no other choice? What if she had been kidnapped? What if she was dead?

I just drove around after shift. Going no where in particular. Vancouver was nice, cold sure, but nice enough to raise a baby. I didn't even know if I wanted to do that. Raise my baby. I had options. Not many sure, but options.

Option 1 - raise the baby myself
Option 2 - give Tim the baby
Option 3 - give the baby up for adoption
Option 4 - give the baby to someone else,
like Angela

I really didn't want to give my baby to strangers so option 3 was out. From there.........
Whatever I did someone would loose out.

A/N - I am open to whatever readers prefer with this decision. I have a storyline for each option so please comment which one you want. Option 1, 2 or 4