Jude POV
"What do you need to know?" I asked Stef, but I thought to myself to keep my expectations low and don't get my hopes up
Stef got up from being crouched down in front of me and pulled out her phone from her back pocket "Can I sit down?" She gestured to the bed. I found that a bit odd, but nodded back. She took a seat on the edge of the bed, next to me, leaving a little bit of space between us.
I peaked a look at the phone in her hand. Stef had opened an app for notes. She touched the screen and the keypad opened up. We started off with basic information like her full name, birthday and phone number.
"On what street was your apartment?" she asked me after getting the basic information
"2974 Redwood street. Apartment 30," Stef was typing everything I said in her phone, making notes
"Can you tell me, where Callie worked? And what was the address?" she briefly looked up to me in between her typing
"She's a waitress at Great Maple," I answered, looking how she typed the name down "I'm not sure about the exact number of the street, but it's on the corner where Washington street crosses Lincoln street,"
I glanced up to Lena, when I heard her make a comment "Oh, I know the place!" She had exclaimed getting Stef's attention as well "I have been there one or two times. It's on Washington street 1451...I think," Peaking a look to Stef's phone, I saw how she added the numbers, but at the end put a question mark
"Do you know what rout she usually takes to walk back home?"
"She takes the Lincoln street, down to University Ave. Sometimes she walks till 29th street and down to Redwood street, but other times she walks to Arnold Ave or even Alabama street down to the park to Jacaranda pl," I explained "She likes to switch up the routs. Other times she takes a bus,"
"Bill mentioned, that she was planning on stopping at grocery store," Stef stated after she was done typing the info in her phone. It wasn't formed as a question, but I understood what she was asking me.
"She goes to either North Park market on the University Ave or Parkside market on Thorn Street. Parkside market is closer to home. We sometimes go to Vons mall as well," After I thought about it for a while I added "She probably planned to go to the Vons mall, because it's a bit bigger and has bigger assortment. The CPS likes to see variety of food, good quality food not the cheep end goods," both of the woman nodded back, with facial expressions, like they understood what I was talking about
"Does she uses credit card or pays by cash?" Stef glanced to me
"Why does it matter?" I didn't see how it could help
"If she paid by credit card, we can track it. Check to see if she bought anything in any store, if she took out cash at AMT or if any suspicious transactions took place before she went missing," Stef explained
"Oh, um...usually she pays by credit card. But she takes out cash, so that she can give me some money for lunch and as pocket money," I answered
"Can you describe her? Body type, height, eye color..." She suggested few ways I could describe her
"Um...she's around 1,70 (5,6"). I guess she's average build. She has brown, slightly wavy...curly hair that reaches her shoulder blades. Her eyes are brown, like mine, but her ears are pierced," I knew that the description I just gave pretty much described about half of the words population. It wasn't much to go on.
"What was she wearing in the morning?"
"Red knitted sweater, black jeans, kind of tight fitting, and sneakers. She had light brown a backpack. Oh and...she has a small necklace around her neck, with a small, coin type gold pendant. It was our moms," I answered easily
"Do you have a photo of your sister?" Stef asked lowering her phone down "Recent one. It could be with the two of you or of her alone. Close up would be the best, but a body shot would work as well,"
"Yeah, I have photos of her on my phone," I said nodding to my phone, which stood on the nightstand. Stef handed it to me. They both waited till I find a picture of my sister. When I chose one of the pictures, I turned my phone to them, so they could see the picture of my sister. They both smiled sadly at the picture.
"Can you send it over to my phone or to my email?" Stef wiggled her phone in the air, suggesting I could do it through my phone. 5 minutes later, after connecting to the Wi-Fi that was in the house and setting up Stef's email address, Stef had acquired few photos of Callie.
"Does your sister have any...distinctive scars or birthmarks…or anything that could help people identify her," These questions that she had - she has clearly asked them before to other people. She knew what she was doing.
"She has few scars," I replied a little bit wary
"Like?" Stef asked softly "Where are they? Are they in any particular shape? Are they faded or kind of...fresh looking?"
I pointed my finger to middle of the forehead by the hair line "She has one here. It's some 1 inch (~2,5 cm) long. She got it some 6 years back," Stef was typing all of that information in her phone
"Anything else?" Stef asked once she was done making notes
To better demonstrate I showed a circle form with my right hand "She has a scar on her right side, around the height of her belly button, from when she was stabbed with a broken beer bottle," After that I lifted my left arm up and pointed to the inside of the elbow "There are few, small burn scars on the inside of her left elbow from when she was burnt with cigarette,"
Both woman were stunned and looked slightly disturbed. Stef hadn't written anything in her phone. Her thumbs were not moving. Lena looked like she was about to cry. She crossed her left arm over her stomach, but with her right palm she covered her mouth as she glanced to Stef, who still looked a bit dazed from the information. I know why they were that way, because the last two were a clear sign of abuse.
"Those are the…most distinctive ones," I added barely above whisper, looking shyly between the two woman, now worried that I might have over shared the information
"That will do," Stef voice a bit wobbly and hoarse as she typed it all down "Bill mentioned you tried calling her friends. Can you give me their names or phone numbers?" She asked after a moment
"There aren't many. There is Daphne Keene," I said scrolling through the contact list to find her number. Once I found it, Stef wrote down the phone number.
"And then there is Lisa Fields," I said opening up her contact information "They work together. She had a day off today, but usually they have shifts together,"
"Oh and Rita Hendrick, she was the mentor at the group home. Callie sometimes talks to her," As I watched how Stef added the last name I commented "What are you going to do with the information?"
"I'm going to use a photo of Callie, her description you gave me in the missing person report. We will send it to all of the police stations, hospitals and..." she suddenly stopped talking and looked up to me
"Morgues," I finished in her place, with no emotions in my voice. That's what she and Lena were talking about before they both came in the room.
"To see if anyone has seen her," Stef continued on without commenting on the morgue part "I will ask my colleagues to check if she used her credit card recently. Maybe we can see her on some security cameras that are on the streets she could potentially had been taking yesterday. And we will see where her phone was last time on. I'm also going to talk with her friends to see if they might know anything," Stef patted my knee gently "You were really helpful, Jude,"
Stef stood up "I'm going to go the station, get the paperwork started," Stef told Lena, when she had turned to her
"How long will that take?" Lena asked, I was wondering about that as well, but didn't have the courage to ask it
"A while. Don't wait up," Stef replied "Love you," Stef gave a quick kiss to Lena and then walked out of the room. At first she walked in one of the rooms upstairs, but after that I heard her walk down the stairs and leave the house.
"Stef will do everything possible to find your sister," Lena assured me, when I was still looking to the hallway where Stef had walked off
Lena walked up to the bed and lifted up the corner of the blanket "It's late. You should try and get some sleep, Jude," Glancing to the phone, I unlocked it and I noticed that it was only 10 minutes before midnight
I obliged, placed my phone back on the nightstand and slid underneath the blanket, even thought I knew I won't get any sleep tonight or any following nights, not until I find out what happened to my sister. When my head hit the pillow, Lena lowered the blanket down. She tucked the blanket around me. I turned on my left side, turning my back to my foster mother and the doors.
"Good night," Lena whispered to me, she leaned down and kissed the side of my head. She's the first foster parent to ever do that.
Before she left, Lena turned off the light on the nightstand. After that she left the room and closed the doors behind her quietly. When I heard my foster mother walk to her room, I rolled on my back and stared up to the ceiling.
It sucks – to be a foster kid again. The 6 months that I lived with Callie was the best and most happiest time of my life in the last 9 years. We were together, no one was ordering us around, we were safe, no one was hurting us or yelling at us, we were responsible about our own lives and we loved it.
Callie had managed to do exactly what she had promised me. Ever since our 4th year in foster care, when we realized that the chances of us getting adopted, getting a forever family were slim and most likely won't happen – Callie promised, when she would grow out of foster care, she would get guardianship of me and we would live together, just the two of us.
My life seemed empty without Callie. I didn't feel like I could go on. She was the only one that mattered to me. She was the only one that loved me, she was the only one that cared about me. When we were separated the first time, after she got arrested, it was easier. We weren't together, but I knew she was alive and for a while, I knew exactly where she was. I knew we would find a way back to each other. Now, I don't know her fate. That's the worst part of it. I have no clue what happened to her. Hope is the only thing I have left. But if I don't get any kind of information about her anytime soon, that hope will soon be gone as well.
My sister is missing or gone, possibly dead. My mother is dead. My father is in jail. I haven't heard from for years. He wanted nothing to do with us. Basically, my family is gone and I'm all alone. I have never felt this empty and lonely like I do right now.
Closing my eyes, I prayed that Callie was out there somewhere. Alive.