Becoming Blue

C H A P T E R 2

Kiera had gone to get lunch, but Jamie was still working on the case. He had gotten hold of the friend called Anna, who was in South Dakota. But when he had tried to talk to her, she had been in tears over her grandmother. Jamie knew he wouldn't get anything out of her now, so he had given his condolences and hung up. Now he was staring at the pictures of again, as though somehow they would give him all the answers.

"Hey." Eddie said, putting her hand on his shoulder and looking at his screen. "Trying to replace me already?" She giggled.

"Ha ha. Very funny." Jamie said in a sarcastic voice. "No, I caught this case about a girl who's gone missing. Her father reported her missing but doesn't seem to care, the school thought she was sick and her friend, who seems to know about where she is is mourning for her dead grandmother." Jamie sighed, not knowing what he was going to do about the case.

"Harsh." Eddie said, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of his seat. "Come on, let's go grab lunch, maybe that will cheer you up." She said, grabbing his hand while walking backwards and starting to pull him towards the precinct's exit.

"I expect it'll cheer you up more then me." He said laughing, allowing her to pull him towards the exit.

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"I can't believe we went to have tacos, and you didn't even have a taco!" Eddie exclaimed as we were leaving her favorite Mexican place. Jamie looked at her.

"I wasn't that hungry so I got guacamole salad instead." He said shrugging.

"Seriously, Reagan. Who goes to a Mexican restaurant and has a salad?" She said, shaking her head.

Jamie was about to reply to her remark when he noticed a girl walking along the side of the street. To anyone, she would look like an ordinary teenage, skipping school or just walking down the side walk. But Jamie saw the ombre hair, the perfect teeth as she flashed a smile, and the brilliantly green and golden hazel eyes. Half of her face was bruised and purple. She was wearing sneakers and had jeans and a jacket on, with a backpack on her back. "That's her." Jamie looked down at Eddie, then nodded his head towards the girl who was walking towards them. Eddie turned and looked at her as Jamie started towards her.

"Emily Martin." He called, showing his badge to the girl, making her freeze mid-stride.

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Emily heard her name and saw the badge of an NYPD detective. For a second she was frozen to the spot. How did they find me? She wondered. She knew her father must have reported her missing. But she couldn't think about that now. The detective and who she assumed must be his partner were starting to walk towards her. Emily looked sideways at the alley and dived into, running as fast as she could.

"Police! Stop!" She heard the detective shout. But she didn't stop. She raced out of the alley out onto the street. She could hear two sets of feet running after her, and the occasional "watch where you're going!" or "hey!" as the detectives pushed people out of the way.

"Emily Martin, stop!" she heard a higher voice this time, and knew it belonged to the pretty blonde detective with ocean blue eyes. But she couldn't stop. She couldn't go back to the household. So instead she took a right and crashed into a man in a suit. "Sorry!" She yelled back to him. Suddenly she noticed that the weight on her shoulders was gone. Darn it! She must have dropped it when she crashed into the man. Behind her she heard the detective yell "Eddie cut her off!" But she wasn't going to let them get her that easily. She saw a cross walk with people crossing and sprinted across the road. Doesn't look like they cut me of- She started to think. But then someone crashed into her and she was knocked to the ground. Her head started to spin just as the man who was chasing her appeared beside the woman.

"Is that her?" The woman called Eddie asked as they both looked down at her. Around her she could see people stopping to look, and walking on.

"That's definitely her." The man said. Emily sat up and started to back away from them. "Hey, hey, hey. It's okay. My name's Detective Jamie Reagan, and this is my wife, Eddie. We just want to help you get home." Jamie said, trying to get her to come closer to them.

"You dropped this while you were running." Eddie said, handing Emily her backpack. "Now come on, we'll take you back to the car and drive you to the precinct so your father can pick you up."

"NO!" Emily exclaimed, grabbing her bag and getting ready to run again. But Jamie was too quick. He grabbed her other arm, making her cry out in pain. She dropped her bag and used her other arm to hold where Jamie had grabbed her.

"Are you alright?" Jamie said, looking at her with concern. But she didn't want his concern. What she wanted was for him to leave her alone so she could get as far away from her father as possible.

"I'm fine." She said through gritted teeth, glaring up at Jamie as he tried to help her again. Her arm was still stinging.

"Emily, why don't you come back to the precinct so you tell us what happened to your arm, and your face, and you can tell us why you don't want to go home." Eddie said gentle, nudging Jamie out of the way so she could be eye level with Emily.

Emily kept her eyes to the ground and thought about her options. If she went with them, she would either end up with her father again or somewhere worse. But if she tried to run, they would grab her again. Slowly she nodded to Eddie. She ignored Jamie's hand and pushed herself up. She walked just behind Eddie and Jamie. They got to the car and she got in the back with her backpack. The ride back to precinct was quick. She got out and Eddie put her in the office to wait while Jamie went over to a desk where a woman was sitting. A few minutes later Jamie entered, followed by this woman. Eddie was not with them.

"Emily, my name is Detective Walkins." The stranger said. "Jamie and I need to ask you a few questions." She said gently. Emily just nodded.

"Why did you run from Detective Reagan earlier?" Detective Walkins asked.

Emily waited a few moments before replying. She was trying to figure out if there was any other way out of this situation. Finally she sighed. "Because he is gonna make me go home." She mumbled.

"Why did you run away in the first place?" Detective Reagan asked.

"Because of my dad." She muttered, not looking at either of them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Detective Walkins look up at Jamie and exchange a look.

"How'd you get the bruises on your face?" Jamie asked her. She didn't look up. She didn't answer.

"Emily?" Detective Walkins asked. Still silence.

"You know," Jamie said, sitting down next to Walkins, "we can't help you if you don't help us to understand what's going on." Jamie continued to look at the girl sitting across from him, even though she continued to look down at her shoes. "Could you please tell us how you got the bruises on your face?"

"My dad." Emily barely said the words. It was almost as if she hadn't said anything at all. "My dad hits me." She choked out.

Detective Walkins looked at her. "Do you have any other bruises?" She asked gently.

All Emily did was nod. She knew the detectives were trying to be helpful, but all this was doing was making her feel pain. She was actually admitting that she couldn't defend herself against her father. Before Walkins could ask where her other injuries were, She unzipped her jacket and took it off, revealing a purple patch on her left collar bone and another on the right side of her neck. Her right arm, the arm Jamie had grabbed, also had bruises along it. She just continued to look down.

"Excuse us for a moment." Walkins said quietly. "We'll just be outside if you need us." She smiled at me then left the room with Jamie. 

A/N: Let me know what you think of it so far!