Glass Heart

1. Getting Close

 I yawned loudly as I arose from my deep slumber. I watched as the sun slowly rose over the distant horizon, birds softly singing to the beautiful orange and red hues of the endless sky. I tapped the top of my loudly buzzing alarm clock and cracked my aching neck. I pulled pale white sheets from over my body and climbed out of my pillow covered bed. I had to have at least 15 pillows on my bed. It was quite ridiculous, as my mother reminded me frequently. I grabbed my police uniform off of my dresser and put it on. 

   

   I wasn't ready for work, my case was only getting more and more stressful. Every one of my coworkers was evasive like it was some sort of taboo to speak about it. I couldn't understand why the case was passed to me.

   Many children had gone missing under the same circumstances and they decided to put me in charge of the case. I was scared that human trafficking was involved. The idea that your child could just disappear and you had no idea where they went was horrifying. There were decades of records that indicated that the children who were taken had different illnesses. Sick children were plucked right out of their hospital beds. The first disappearance was dated back to 1964. A girl named Lily Summer, aged 14. Her mother was given an offer that could fix her back, a spinal implant. Of course, Lily's mother agreed. The child was never seen again. It was like she was erased from existence after that. Her mother died two years after because she couldn't stand the grief of losing her child. I had almost no witnesses. But I had found the company. Its name had been in every file. Including the one in 1964. Blackwood. There was money transferred to the parents of every single victim and they were all here in New York. That's how I knew there was a connection and I wasn't basing everything off of a whim.

   What I needed to figure out was who authorized these experimental implants. Why had the children never come home? Were they dead?

   I walked down the stairs and heard a voice coming from a phone, I guessed my mother was on the phone. It sounded like she was talking to someone from her bank. I didn't want to disrupt her so I quietly slipped out of the house and into my black car. I started the engine and lightly set my hands on the steering wheel. Just what am I getting myself into? I began to wonder if I should have rejected the case. The problem is that if I had rejected it I could've jeopardized my career. This was my only chance to prove my worth in the NYPD.

I grabbed my laptop bag and slid it over my shoulder, I turned my car off and got out. I looked up at the sky and watched as the birds flew by. I walked through the parking lot and waved my badge in front of the scanner once I got to the entrance. I walked inside and there weren't many people working. I guess it was only normal because it was early, and a Saturday. I yawned as I entered my office. I was ready to seize the day. I may have been a little too excited about cracking the case. I set my laptop bag down and headed into the break room to grab some coffee. I always had my coffee black. My co-workers ridiculed me, they called me the tasteless woman. I found it quite amusing. I continued on, pouring the coffee into my mug I kept at the station. I took my coffee and walked back to my office to set up.

   I heard a knock on my office door as I was going through the different files I'd recently come across. "Come in," I said, not sparing whomever it was a glance. I wasn't really interested in anything but my case, I may have come off as rude but it didn't really matter to me how I was viewed amongst my peers. I was just there to do what needed to be done. The tasteless woman wasn't my only unflattering nickname. I was also called the heartless woman. It bothered me at first but eventually, I stopped caring.