AN: so updates from now will be not as often as I started my Master studies today. But I have some 5 chapters written up front, so the posting will mostly depend on my schedule in university and the work load. I hope you enjoy this. Thank you for reading. And thank you for your nice reviews, means the world to me :)
Callie POV
When I woke up I kind of expected mom to be on the other end of couch also snuggled under the blanket. But the other end of couch was empty, only two pillows were sat there. I stretch out and turn on my other side.
The first thing I see is my new camera. This was the best gift even. My eyes light up and I can't help, but to smile. Silly, it is just a camera, but it means so much to me, because Amy bought it for me. And it truly is the best gift I have ever gotten.
As I listen closely, I hear busy footsteps coming from upstairs. I put the blanket aside and make my way up. The doors to Amy's room were open and I peak in.
"Mom?" I ask and saw that she was showing a red file in her bag
"Morning Callie. You sleep well?" she asks and grabs some more papers from the table and takes them with her.
"You going somewhere?" I ask as she takes her bag over her shoulder and walks pass me and down the stairs. I quickly follow her down.
"I need to go to work real quick" she briefly looks over her shoulder to me
"You said you had vacation till January 3rd" I say as I clearly remember her saying that after we drove home from the finale. She hurries to kitchen and grabs bread and tries to make quick breakfast.
"Something came up. Stef and I were called in. It is just for today" she says, but somehow I don't believe her. Mom wasn't even looking to me. She just cut the cheese up and put it on the bread and made another sandwich. Something was wrong.
"Why you and Stef? You both have families. Couldn't they call in someone who hasn't?" I question her now that she pours coffee in her thermos that before stood right next to sink
"I'm sorry Callie. I have to go. You can be on your own for one day, yes?" she asks putting the cap on
"Yeah, I will be fine" I say and follow her to front doors , she stops at doors
"Can you…open please?" she asks me standing with bag over her shoulder, thermos in one hand, two sandwiches in other
I reach and open the doors for her "I will be back in few hours" she says and leans to kiss my cheek "Love you"
"Love you too" I mumble back and watch as she goes to car, puts the sandwiches and thermos on top of the car and unlocks the car. She looks to me before she gets in, I wave briefly to her and then watch her drive out and away from my sight.
That was definitely weird. I don't usually do this but I hurry up to her room and walk up to her desk where she took the papers from. I have no idea what I am looking for, or what is missing from her desk, but I know one thing…something was off. I felt it. And I also knew that she kept the files on me in here. I sat on the floor and went thought all the papers in the drawers. My files are no longer here.
Time went by and I just sat in the house alone. Waiting for text or call from mom. Or her coming back. It was now around supper time and I started to get a bit worried. She said she would be back soon. Usually she texts me at least to tell me how long will she be away. The fact that my birth mom left for night out and then never came back is adding some more fear to me. What if the same thing happens to Amy. What if she was in a bad car crash? Or something happened at work? Something bad?
I sit in the kitchen for a while just staring at the clock on the wall. How the seconds pass, making minutes. Time goes by so slowly, so painfully slow. And when the clock hits 8 I am starting to pace around the house, biting my nails and I start to call her. But I get no answer.
I don't like the feeling of the unknown.
Lena POV
We were all sitting with popcorn bowls in our hands as we were watching a Christmas movie all together. Something that Frankie hadn't seen yet – Grinch. Other kids, Stef and me included had seen it hundred times. It was one of Jude's favorites. We all knew the song lyrics now by heart. And as I looked to Jesus, even he was mumbling along the words, moving his head lightly in the rhythm of it. That is very rare of him.
"What is that noise?" B asks and we all look to him
"What noise?" Mariana asks back. Brandon reaches for the remote and hits pause.
"That!" he says as we know all hear this vibrating sound and a tone coming from kitchen
"I think that's my phone" Stef says and kisses Frankie's head "I will be right back, love" Frankie watches mom walk away and now snuggles up to my side.
"Play…play!" she says to B and he hits the play button and the movie continues
5 minutes later Stef shows up in doorway and waves me over.
"Go snuggle between your brothers" I whisper to her and she crawls over me and Jesus to sit between Jesus and Jude on the other end of couch.
I look around all my kids before I head over to where Stef was. She was no walking up the stairs as I walked out of living room.
"Babe?" I ask and follow her up
"I need to go out for a while" Stef says without looking back at me
"What? Why? Who called you?" I ask and follower her in our room. She unlocks the safe and takes out her gun and badge.
"Stef!" now I start to get really worried
"It was Callie. Amy is not picking up. She though me and Amy were at work. Working on some case together. Callie said Amy left like 9 AM and said she would be home soon. She is not. It is almost 10! She sounded really worried." Stef explains
"Have you tried calling her?" I ask worried as she puts the gun in her holster
"I did, it went straight to voice mail. I will drive to their house and talk to Callie, then I will try and find where Amy is. Maybe call work, Captain…" she takes her brown leather jacket and puts it on
"Just be careful OK. And call me. Or text so I know how it is going okay? Put on your vest if-" I say still concerned
"Don't worry love. I won't make the same mistake again" last time she took her gun and run out like this I got a call that she was shot by the twins birth mothers boyfriend. So to say the least - I was terrified.
Stef stopped before me, kissed me "I will be careful. I promise. I will text or call as soon as I know something. I love you"
I followed her down and from the doorway watch as she explained the kids she will leave for a while. Hugged and kiss every one of them. And then gave one last kiss to me before she run out to her car.
Stef POV
I drive up to the house and as I look over to it, I see through the windows, that Callie is just pacing around the living room. I quickly make my way to the house and ring the bell. I hear footsteps over to the house, but the doors don't open. Instead I see how the curtain move on the small window on the right from the doors.
"It's me, Stef. You called me" I call out so she knows it is me and then the doors open. A very scared looking girl is standing in front of me. Callie steps aside and I walk in. she closes and locks the doors behind. She turns to me and keeps biting her lip.
"Okay….tell me everything she said to you this morning" I say and get straight to the business as I see this girl does not need some warm up to the theme. She explains everything quickly to me just there in the corridor.
"Did she acted weird before? Like when did this started? Just this morning?" I question her
She shrugs at first "I think she was a bit weird after the music thing before Christmas. In the car on our way home. I don't really know…she just look like she was deep in her thoughts…but, the anniversary of Aaron and Markus death is coming so I don't know…"
"You said she took all your file?" Callie just nod back "Can I go up to her room and look around?"
"Okay…but it is not like there is something," she walks pass me and up the stairs.
Callie shows me to Amy's room "She took the red file, that had all my files in, I don't know why. But I knew it was in there, and now it is not," then she adds quietly "I made the mess" she says and now looks around the room too
"Has she said anything to you about the search for your brother?" I ask looking at the room. To the papers that were all around the room.
My eyes stopped on the laptop on the bed "Did you check her laptop?" I ask her
She shakes her head "Should I," Callie asks back to me, and now looks like she feels guilty that she hasn't
"May I check it?" I ask carefully
She hesitates "There is nothing on there. But okay" she says opening it and typing in the password to unlock the screen.
First thing I do is check her history on internet providers. Something catches my eye.
"What is it?" Callie asks as she stood at the end of bed as I was sitting on the bed with the laptop in my lap.
"I'm not sure" I say and open the page that caught my attention. I looked to the downloaded file and opened the file. I take a quick glance to Callie, she was now picking up the papers that were tossed around, cleaning up the mess.
I look back to the laptop and open the picture - Amy had downloaded a picture of Jude from the Anchor Beach homepage. Why? I look at the time stamp it had been done around 2 Am at night. That is clearly an odd time to do that.
I close the photo and look at the last pages. Page of Lompoc Federal prison caught my eye next.
"Callie?" I ask and the girl quickly stands up with now many papers in her hands "Do you know anyone who is in Lompoc Federal prison?"
"Um…" she rubs her nose "well, my da-…my step-father. But he is getting out in few months" she says and looks embarrassed about the fact that she knows someone in prison. And that being her father was probably even more embarrassing than anything else.
"What…what is his name, if I may ask?" I ask and I think I already know the answer. I think I put it together. I connected the dots after I saw the photo of Jude in the laptop.
"Donald Jacobs" she confirms what I was thinking just here and now.
