The Anatomy of You

Chapter 17 - The Note

A mess. That's what Safi walked into when she opened the door to her apartment. Everything was overturned and looked through.

She walks in carefully, holding Braxton close to her. She could not believe her eyes as she saw all her personal belongings had been broken, displaced, or possibly stolen. Safi walks into her bedroom and notices all of Aaron's belongings were taken.

She lays Braxton in the packnplay next to her bed and makes sure his stuff wasn't also stolen. In the midst of that she finds a note on her dresser:

He's mine now. Leave us alone.

A knock at the door shakes Safi back to reality. She walks to the door and opens it to find Eman standing there.

"Safi, are you okay? Your place is a disaster," Eman says, stepping into the apartment.

"I need to call the police. I think the kidnapper left me a note," Safi trembles, holding the piece of paper in her hand.

Eman takes the paper from her and reads it, his nostrils flared in fury. He pulls out his phone and dials a number, pacing the kitchen floor as best he could. Safiya watches him, unsure of what to do.

"Hello, can you please connect me to the Special Victims Unit, Detective Casper or Grant."

He pauses, still pacing the kitchen. What was going to happen? The kidnapper knew where she lived. They ransacked her home. They took the child under her care. Would they come back for the baby? Would they come back for her?

Safi's frantic thoughts were interrupted by Braxton's fussy cries. She runs into her room and picks him up to soothe him.

"It's okay, it's okay. I'm here. Don't you worry, I'm here." She whispers in his ear, bouncing him gently in her arms.

"Safi, we need to head to the police station right away. Leave everything as it is. The CSU is gonna come by and try to find any evidence," Eman informs, popping his head in through the doorway.

"Okay, let me pack a few more things for Braxton, just in case," Safi replies, grabbing diapers and another pack of wipes. She grabs the blanket in the pack n play, puts Braxton in the car seat despite his small protest, and heads out the door with Eman.

——————

The chaos of the police department was overwhelming. The smell of stale coffee and rising tension fill the air as Safi and Eman walked into the Special Victims Unit.

"Hi, this is SVU, how can I help you?" A young woman asks, walking up to Safi.

"Um, we called earlier about my apartment getting broken into? I'm the foster mom with a missing child, Aaron Baker," Safi sputters out.

"Oh yes, Detective Casper is waiting for you in his office straight over there!"

The young woman leads them over to the office.

"Detective Casper, it's the foster mom with the missing child, Aaron Baker."

"Ahh yes, I've been waiting for you! We have CSU heading to your place now. We're going to put you and the baby up in a hotel for now until we're certain that nothing will happen to either of you."

Detective Casper gets up from his desk and walks up to Safi. He puts his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, we're doing everything we can to get Aaron back to you and his mother. For now, we need to get you to a safe place for the time being," he tries to reassure her.

After that, the transition from the police department to a hotel seemed to go by like the blink of an eye. Safi and Braxton were brought to a Courtyard Hotel with security detail standing outside the door.

It was a simple room, queen-sized bed with not much else besides a desk, TV and side chair. Safi gets Braxton ready for a nap when a knock comes to the door. She carries him over to the door and looks through the peephole to see Detective Casper standing outside.

She opens the door and he barges through.

"We may have located Aaron."

A/N: Hey y'all, I know it's been awhile since I've updated and this is a short update but I needed to get something up. This book is taking an unexpected turn, so I'm trying to navigate that. But I've left y'all hanging for too long, so I needed to put something up! I'll have a lot more time to get some chapters up now so be on the lookout!