Second chapter up! Thank you to Hollie, Meg and Em for the reviews. Hope you enjoy :)
Jess took a seat next to Sally in the briefing room. Her day was not going well. First, Luke had woken up grumpy and wouldn't get dressed, and then he threw his breakfast on the floor. And then Dan came in, angry about being woken up so early, and then when he saw the mess Luke had made he started to shout at him, making Luke cry. Jess had taken Luke into the living room away from Dan, getting him ready for nursery. While Luke waited in the living room for Jess, Dan was laying in her in the kitchen.
"You can't let him get away with throwing his food on the floor and not doing what he's told!" Dan had shouted at her.
"I didn't let him get away with it! I told him off before you came stomping down. He said sorry and that was that! And then you start shouting at him and it just made it worse!" Jess retaliated, crossing her arms.
"I didn't start shouting at him!" Dan said, throwing his hands up.
"You did, and then he started crying. You scared him, and I'm not going to stand there doing nothing while you shout at him and make him cry." Jess hissed.
Dan grabbed her by the arms, "You do not walk away from me while I am talking to you. Do you understand?" Dan said in her ear.
Jess gritted her teeth. She didn't want to give in, but she had to get Luke to nursery and it would do more harm than good if she argued with him. "Yes Dan." Jess replied. She wrenched her arms free from Dan's vice grip and stormed out the kitchen. She walked into the living room where Luke was sat on the floor crying. Jess immediately went over to him, picking him up and holding him tight. "What's up honey?"
"Daddy shouted." Luke said between tears.
"I know baby, but he's not shouting anymore is he. Let's get you to nursery so you can play with all your friends shall we?" Jess said, plastering a smile on her face. She wiped away Luke's tears, kissing him on the head before picking up their bags and leaving the house.
"Pc Waite? PC Waite are you listening?" a voice said. Jess was pulled back to the here and now, and she saw that everyone was looking at her. "Jess?" It was Callum talking to her.
"Yeah sarge, I'm fine. Sorry." she said apologetically.
Callum looked at her closely and then repeated what he had said, "You and Sally are in the patrol car around the Farmeade ok?"
"Yep fine." Jess replied quickly.
Sally nudged her, "Are you alright? You seemed a bit out of it then."
"Yeah, no, I'm fine." Jess said, nodding.
"Ok, well you know you can talk to me don't you?" Sally said, getting up after Callum had dismissed them.
"Yeah I do, thanks Sal." Jess said, following her out.
*
They had just done a full loop around the Farmeade when they spotted a young girl running away from an older man.
"Sal stop the car, look." Jess said, unbuckling her seatbelt and pointing.
Sally stopped the car by the kerb, and Jess jumped out, taking chase after the man. She heard Sally not far behind her.
"Oi stop! Police!" Jess shouted, but the man ignored her. Jess could see that the little girl was getting worn out, so she pushed herself to run faster. The girl darted across the road, and Jess and Sally held their breath as a car screeched to a halt in front of her. The girl looked at the car, startled, but then saw the man catching up so started running again.
"Why the hell is he after a little girl?" Sally panted as they ran.
"God knows, but it doesn't look like he wants to give her sweets does it." Jess replied, starting to gain ground on the man and girl.
"Any units around the Farmeade estate able to support in a chase, over." Sally said into her radio.
"Me and Nate are just around the corner in the area car. We'll be there in a minute. Where are you, over?" Callum asked.
"Between the two highest flats, heading East towards the park over." Sally replied.
"Received." Callum said, the radio going dead as he sped up toward their location.
"Are you deaf? I told you to stop!" Jess shouted. She was pleased to see that the man was slowing, but so was the girl. Jess knew she wouldn't be able to run full blast that much longer either, or just hoped that either Callum and Nate got him first or that he slowed down enough for them to catch him.
"Jess look, the girl's stopped." Sally said, pointing to where the girl was hunched over, not far from them. Just as the man was about to catch up with them, the area car with Callum and Nate in swung to a stop in front of her, standing in the way of the man. Nate opened his door as the man ran, knocking him to the ground.
"Is this him?" Nate asked, yanking the man to his feet.
Jess and Sally were breathing heavily, trying to catch their breath, so they just nodded.
"What's your name?" Callum asked him.
"I no speak English." he replied.
"Really? Right then, let's get you down the station shall we." Nate said, pushing his head down and placing him in the back seat of the car.
"You can't arrest him for anything can you?" Jess asked, "Because technically he didn't do anything except chase her."
"Yeah, we didn't see him lay a finger on her." Sally chipped in.
"Well no, but we can find out who he is to keep an eye on him. Will you two be alright with the girl?" Callum asked, looking to where the girl was still hunched over. Jess took a closer look, and ran over to the girl. She wasn't breathing right, her breath kept hitching in her chest.
"Call an ambulance, I think she's having an asthma attack." Jess shouted to the others. Callum ran over and joined her.
"Hello darlin'. Can you tell me what your name is?" Callum asked.
"Sarge, she can barely breathe let alone talk. Don't worry honey, just try and follow my breathing ok. Deep breath in, then out." Jess said, breathing along with the girl trying to get her taking deep breaths again. The ambulance arrived just as the girl's breathing had returned to normal.
"Ok, the paramedics are going to take you to hospital, and Jess is going to go with you. Then we can ring your parents and let them know what's happened ok?" Callum said, crouching in front of the girl. She nodded and looked to where the man in the back of the area car was. "Jess, stay with her at the hospital. Make sure the parents know what happened, ok?"
"Yes sarge." Jess said with a nod, "Come on, let's get you into the ambulance."
*
Twenty minutes later, Jess had just been told that the girl would be able to talk. She followed the nurse down the ward until they got to the end.
"She's in this one. Try not to get her worked up or anything." the nurse said with a smile.
"Thank you." Jess said, opening the curtain. The girl was sat cross legged on the bed. She had vivid red hair which was thick and didn't look like it had been brushed. Her eyes were a dark brown, and her face was covered in freckles. She looked up as Jess came in, and smiled. Jess smiled when she saw that the girl was missing her two front teeth. "How're you feeling?"
"Better thank you. I like you, you caught the bad man." the girl said with a toothy smile and a slight lisp.
"Oh, I didn't catch him, my colleagues did." Jess said with a laugh, sitting on the bed next to the girl. "I want to ask you a few questions, is that ok?" The girl thought about it for a minute, and then nodded. "Good. First, what's your name?"
"My name is Rosie Eleanor Lawrence and I'm eight. What's your name?" Rosie asked innocently.
"My name is Jessica Grace Waite." Jess replied.
"That's a pretty name. I don't like my name." Rosie said, her small shoulders sagging.
"I think it's a lovely name. Now, do you think you could tell me where you live and what your phone number is? We need to let your parents know that you're here." Jess asked.
Rosie looked worried, "I live in flat 12 Mayweed House. My phone number is 478209, but my mummy and daddy aren't there."
Jess frowned, "Where are they?"
"I don't know. Well, my mummy is dead, but my daddy went away yesterday and he hasn't come back yet. I miss him." Rosie said, her lower lip trembling.
"Oh honey, it's ok, we'll find him." Jess said gently, putting her arm round Rosie's shoulders. "I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to ring my friend at the police station and get her to try and find your dad, and then I'll take you to the police station with me until we find him. How does that sound?"
"Am I being arrested?" Rosie asked in a panic.
"No of course you're not. But then I can ask you some more questions as well. Does that sound ok then?" Jess asked, hopping off the bed.
"Ok then. But can I only talk to you?" Rosie asked.
"Of course. I won't be a minute." Jess smiled at Rosie as she pulled back the curtain, stepping onto the ward. She pulled it closed behind her, thinking what kind of parent would leave their eight year old on their own. Unless something had happened to Rosie's dad to make him not come back, he didn't have any excuses for leaving her.
*
Jess took Rosie's hand as they walked up through the front doors of the police station. Jess was just about to walk into the soft interview room when she heard Smithy calling her.
"Er, PC Waite, what do you think you're doing?" Smithy asked, coming to stand next to her.
"I'm taking Rosie into the soft interview room." Jess replied.
"I can see that, but this isn't a crèche. Where are her parents?" Smithy asked, keeping his voice low.
"I don't know sarge, Sally is trying to find her father. He left yesterday and hasn't been back since." Jess answered, turning so that Rosie couldn't hear what they were saying.
"Right ok, but if you can't find him, you're going to have to ring social services." Smithy said with a nod before walking off. That was the one thing Jess didn't want to do.
"Come on Rosie, let's go sit in here." Jess said, smiling brightly at Rosie. She opened the door to the soft interview room, and watched as Rosie entered cautiously.
"Am I in trouble?" Rosie asked, climbing onto the sofa.
"No you're not. Don't worry." Jess said, "Can I ask you a few more questions now please?"
"Uh huh." Rosie said, swinging her legs.
"Did your daddy say where he was going?" Jess asked, getting out her pen and pad.
"No, he just said he had to go away cause it was very important. He gave me a little key and said that if anyone knocked on the door and wanted it I had to give it to them." Rosie said slowly, remembering what her dad had said.
"A key?" Jess asked, confused.
"Yep, it opens the special treasure chest in daddy's wardrobe. He won't tell me what's in there though, he says its for grown ups. That's why the man was chasing me, he wanted my key. But I like the key so didn't want to give it to him." Rosie replied.
"The man wanted the key? Have you got the key with you?" Jess asked slowly.
Rosie nodded, producing a small key on some string from the neck of her top, "Here." She took it off, giving Jess the string. Jess held it up, looking closely at the key.
"Thanks Rosie. What we're going to do is I'm going to take you to your flat with some friends of mine, and we're going to open the treasure chest. Do you think you would be able to show me where it is?" Jess asked, placing the key in an evidence bag.
"Yeah I could." Rosie said with a smile.
At that moment the door opened and Sally walked in, "Can I have a quick word?"
Jess looked from Sally to Rosie, "Sure. Do you want to play with the toys Rosie while I talk to Sally?"
"Ok." Rosie said happily, jumping off the sofa and immersing herself with the toys.
*
"What is it?" Jess asked as soon as she had shut the door behind her.
"I looked up Rosie's dad. His name is Lloyd Lawrence, and he's done time for drug dealing. Last known address was flat 12 Mayweed House on the Farmeade. Her mum is dead, and there are no other family members listed." Sally recited from what she had read.
"Well that's interesting. Rosie has told me that he dad left yesterday on "business" and said he would be back soon. He gave Rosie a key to what he called a treasure chest which had grown up stuff in. And that man who was chasing Rosie this morning wanted the key. Lloyd told Rosie to give whoever the key if they asked for it, but she liked it so kept it. Now I think there must be drugs in the safe, so I'm going to quickly run up to CID so we can get people over there. Rosie will show us where the safe is." Jess said, watching Sally's face drop in shock, "I know, it's disgusting."
"It's worse than that! What kind of man leaves an eight year old on her own in charge of a key which opens a safe full of drugs?" Sally said incredulously. At that moment Callum walked past, but stopped when he heard what Sally had said.
"What was that?" he asked, intrigued.
"Well..." and Jess and Sally repeated the story again.