BLUE - Caitlin Szmerling

TWELVE

The next day was spent with more questions by the detectives, trying to work out who may have taken Jamie. We spent most of the day at the police station trying to find clues that could lead us to where Jamie is. We ended up leaving the station at around 9 pm, without getting any closer to finding Jamie.

I ended up driving home this time as Bella seemed to be even more emotionally drained then me. She had been working nonstop to try and distract herself from the current events and even when she thinks I'm asleep, I'll hear her get up from bed in the middle of the night to go down to the office to do more work. I guess it's her way of coping and distracting her from all this chaos, but I can tell it is taking a toll on her health as well as her mental health.

It was about 11 pm when I felt Bella climb out of bed. I sit up, leaning over to the lamp to switch it on to be able t see her. "What are you doing, love?" I whisper, still feeling half asleep. "I'm just getting a glass of water, I'll be back soon." She whispered back to me. "You have been doing that every night and I'm pretty sure that it doesn't take 6 hours to get a glass of water." She sighs, realising that she has been caught. "I'm worried about you, Bella. You're up every night for hours and then you're at work all day. When was the last time you slept?" Bella stands there, trying to think when the last time she slept was. "If you have to think about it then it has been too long. Now come to bed." I tell her. She crawls back into bed, rolling over to my side to cuddle my side.

...

The next morning, I wake up still in the same position as last night, with my arm wrapped around Bella. She is still sleeping and I decided to just let her sleep in so that she can earn back all the sleep she has missed.

I walk downstairs quietly, with a plan in mind to make a large cup of coffee, however, as I am about to get to the kitchen, a loud knock is heard throughout the house. I rush over to the door to prevent any more loud noises from possibly waking up Bella, only to find an envelope on the doormat. I sigh because I know that this envelope is from the same person who kidnapped my son. I close the door without looking around to see if I can spot the culprit, knowing they won't be anywhere nearby. I walk into the kitchen and start up the coffee machine before turning towards the envelope that was now placed on the bench.

I walk up to it, and open it, pulling out the piece of paper. I unfold it and begin reading it,

I hAve what is now My child And you will never see hiM AgaiN. xoxo P.S.

I was so confused, what is this? I can tell that it's from the same person who took Jamie, but why have they capitalized random letters?

I gasp, realising that it was a code. I grab a pencil and begin to write the code down.

I AM A MAN - P.S.

I immediately go for my laptop that was left on the coffee table and open it up onto a search page. I look up the man that was supposedly born not long ago. After 5 minutes I found a news article about it. From 23 years ago, when a woman gave birth to a boy not far from here. I looked for the name of the baby, but I struggled to actually find it.

"Babe, what are you doing?" I hear from behind me. I turn to look at Bella, with my eyes wide and the letter in my hand, slightly shaking.

"I think I found out who took Jamie." My voice is shaking slightly from the shock.

"What?"