BLUE - Caitlin Szmerling

TEN

It has been a week since the last letter arrived, which we believe is good news and bad news. We haven't been able to find out who the person is. We have asked some of our neighbours who have security cameras if we could view the footage, but it was either too dark, fuzzy, or the person was hiding their face.

"What are we going to do? We have almost no evidence and whatever evidence we do have can't be used." Bella groans. I sigh, leaning my head on the table in front of me. Jo has been helping whenever she can as well as Marie, but there is only so much they can do when they aren't at work. I am still on maternity leave whilst Bella has just gone back to work from paternity leave. "There isn't anything we can do right now, both Marie and I have to go back to work and I'm sure Bella is supposed to as well." I hear Jo say. I lift my head up to see Marie and Jo getting ready to leave.

Once they left, Bella went to get ready for work whilst I started cleaning the house as it hadn't been cleaned since Jamie arrived. "Alright, I'm heading off. Jamie is asleep in bed, I just checked on him. Call me if you need anything. Okay, beautiful?" Bella gives me a small kiss before heading out the door.

I have the baby monitor near me whilst I continue to clean around the house. After a while, I notice that I hadn't heard anything from Jamie, so I decided since I had finished cleaning the kitchen, I would go check on him. I walk into the bedroom I share with Bella only to find no baby in the baby carrier. Without much thought, I walk over to his room, thinking that Bella might've put him in his room to get him used to it. But once I arrived at his room, I noticed that he wasn't in his bed, or anywhere. I looked all over the place, even under furniture just to humour myself, but it did no justice. He was nowhere to be found. I go back into his room to check again, looking inside his crib and finding a letter rather than Jamie in his place.

I immediately notice that it was the same as the other envelopes we have been receiving. I open the letter, reading it carefully, looking for some clues.

'If you are reading this letter, that means I have your son. There is nothing you can do, he is mine now. Good luck trying to get him back. Xoxo P.S.'

Tears immediately well up whilst reading the letter. Who can be so heartless as to steal my baby boy? I couldn't believe what I was reading. As soon as I was finished, I immediately went to search for my phone to call Bella.

...

"Hello?" Bella answers her phone, still focused on her work that she was currently in the middle of. "Bella?! Something has happened!" she hears on the other line. She pulls the phone away from her ear, looking at the caller ID to see who she was talking to. Once she realized that it was her wife, she immediately places the phone back on her ear to see what she has to say. "Cassandra? Baby? Tell me what happened." She hears Cassandra's sobs on the other side of the line whilst she tries to speak. "I was just cleaning the house when I noticed that I hadn't heard anything from Jamie through the baby monitor so I went up to check on him. He wasn't in our room or his room. I checked all over the house and when I went back to his room I found a note on his bed saying that this person that has been sending all these notes to us has taken him. The note says 'If you are reading this letter, that means I have your son. There is nothing you can do, he is mine now. Good luck trying to get him back. Xoxo P.S.' Somone has taken Jamie and I don't know what to do." She sobs through the phone. Bella listens to Cassandra very carefully, trying to stay calm as not to freak her out anymore. "Okay, don't worry. I will leave work now and come home. Call the police, call Jo, I will be there soon, okay. I love you." Cassandra replies before they hang up the phone.

Bella immediately stands up as she begins to put her jacket on. As she picks up her bag and is about to leave, her boss comes around the corner. "And what do you think you're doing, young lady? You are not to leave, you still have -" She checks her watch before continuing. "3 hours left of your shift. Sit down." Bella immediately intervenes. "I'm sorry, I understand but my wife just called me to say that someone has kidnapped my child, and unfortunately for you, my child is more important than this job. If you have a problem with that then I quit. Please move out of my way." Her boss steps aside, apologizing. "I'm sorry about that Bella. If you need any help, please call me."

Bella doesn't answer her, she just runs passed everyone, and straight to her car. She immediately turns the engine on and drives off, beginning the half an hour drive back home.

...

I was sitting at the kitchen table when I hear a knock at the door. I immediately run to open it, finding Jo there, still in her police uniform. "Thank you so much for coming. I was too afraid to call the actual police." Jo shakes her head. "No need to thank me. This is my job, you just happen to have my personal number which is why I came here." I notice that there is another officer behind her. Jo notices my confusion, before answering the question I was yet to ask. "This is my partner, Isabelle Khan. She can help us." I nod my head before I begin giving information to Jo.

"Okay, so all you know is that someone with the initials P.S. has kidnapped Jamie, between the hours of 8 and 11 am. That might not seem like a lot but that is plenty of information to start the investigation." Isabelle tells me. We hear the front door open, and in walks, Bella who's hair was a mess probably from running her hands through it. She tends to do that when she is frustrated. She immediately walks over to me, embracing me in a tight, comforting hug. "So what do we know so far?" She asks. "We know that the person has the initials P.S., Jamie was taken between 8 and 11 am and that we will find and get Jamie back, alive, Jo tells us. Bella nods her head, letting out a shaky sigh. "Okay, what do we do now?"

Jo informed us that because this is a serious crime, we have to alert the police properly. Isabelle called it over the radio and almost immediately, police, as well as investigators, began arriving outside. Jo lets in only the investigators, whilst the police begin the investigation outside. "Bella, Cassandra, these are the investigators that will be running the investigation. This is Martha Thompson and Sarah Davis."

I immediately look up when I hear that name, but before I could speak, Bella interjects. "You. You're the one who tried to take my son. I will not allow you to run this investigation, not on my watch." Bella looked like she was about to lunge at the investigator who looked a bit scared, but I held onto her arm to stop that from happening. It was almost like you could see fumes coming out of her ears that she was so angry. This is going to be a difficult interaction.