BLUE - Caitlin Szmerling

FOURTEEN

I walk into the station the next morning, with the newspaper article in my hand. I walk up to the reception desk, not seeing anyone behind it. I ring the bell, indicating that I was here waiting. The door to my right opens and in walks one of the police officers. She looks up at me and jumps, surprised that I was here. "Oh, um, hi there, can I help you?" She asks, "I'm here to see detective Davis about a kidnapping case." She nods her head, "She isn't in at the moment, can I do anything for you?" She asks but I shake my head. "No it's alright, I just have some evidence to give her. I can come back in later. Thank you." I turn to walk out the door, but I hear the officer call out to me to stop. "Wait, you can leave the evidence here. I can put it through for you." She seemed almost desperate to take it, but I ignored that and handed over the newspaper article. "Thank you, we will see you later?" She asks, I nod my head and bid her goodbye, turning to walk out the door.

I then spent the rest of the day running errands, buying more groceries and even went to get my nails done. But during the whole day, I felt that something was off like something wasn't right. Apart from the fact that my son was kidnapped. It got to 3 pm and I hadn't heard anything from detective Davis, but I decided not to think about it too much. Just as I got the thought out of my mind, my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID to see that it was detective Davis calling.

"Hi Detective Davis, I was just about to call you," I speak onto the phone. "Oh really? Okay, I was just wondering when you were going to bring in the newspaper article?" I furrow my eyebrows, "I brought it in this morning, an officer said that you weren't in but I could leave it with her." "Okay, did you get a name? Look at her name tag?" I thought about it and realised that she never had a name tag on. "I didn't see a name tag," I tell her. I heard silence on the phone for a few moments. "I'm going to check the evidence room, and if it's not there, we are going to check the security cameras." She tells me before hanging up the phone.

I decide to head down to the police station, hoping to be of some help. I walk in, and up to the reception desk, seeing a different police officer at reception. "Hi, I'm here to see Detective Davis," I tell her. She nods her head before picking up the phone. I stand there, waiting for her to signal me to do something. She hangs up the phone and looks back up at me. "Detective Davis will be out in just one minute. Go have a seat over there." She gestures towards the waiting area before going back to doing her work.

A few minutes later, Detective Davis comes out and calls me into her office. "So we had a look at the security cameras. It turns out that the person who you thought was a police officer and handed the article to actually doesn't work here." I couldn't believe it. We were getting closer and closer to finding out who took Jamie but now we are further away from it. Back at square one. "Is it my fault?" I ask in barely a whisper, afraid to use my voice in case it cracks. I needed Bella here, she was always better with receiving bad news and waiting until in private before opening up. I, on the other hand, can't hold my emotions back. If they want to be released, they will release themselves. "It is definitely not your fault. You didn't know that she didn't work here. She must have stolen some of the uniforms from the storage room." I nod my head, listening and taking in everything she was saying. "We will do our best to find out who did this, but Mrs Patrick?" She calls my name, as in trying to get my full attention. I look up from my hands towards her, seeing her lean her hands against the desk. "We will find your son, no matter what it takes. And then we will leave your family alone. No testing will be done, no questioning. You will be able to live your normal life. You have my word." She tells me, I could tell that she was being sincere by the look in her eyes. I look back at her confused, furrowing my eyebrows. "But why? You were so adamant before about figuring out why Jamie was born as a boy, now you don't care any more?" I ask her. "We actually spoke to the government, which they told us that obviously they don't encourage this, but they understand that this shouldn't ruin the child's or your life. However, if this does occur more often, we may need your help." I sigh with relief after hearing this "Thank you." I say, giving her a small smile before getting up to call Bella.