I’m not furious at him, he did nothing wrong, but I don’t want to leave the station. Twenty-four hours is too long to wait and Emily could be in danger somewhere without me there to help. As her mother, it’s my job to protect her, and I failed. The signs were there; he wanted to see her so bad. I should have picked up on that and put precautions in place. Damn it, I tell myself, hitting my forehead and leaning forward in the seat. Why the hell didn’t I see this coming?
Damon’s hand flies over and grabs mine tightly. “Don’t hit yourself. This isn’t your fault. We’ll get her back.”
Most of the night is spent with me calling Chris every five minutes and not letting up. Eventually he’ll get sick of me calling and either answer or turn it off. The only way I would get him to answer me is to bug the crap out of him. He always had a temper, so I wanted to focus on that. After the three hundredth call, he turns his phone off and it goes straight to voicemail. Damn it. He isn’t going to bring her back to me. Something in the pit of my stomach knows if it were up to Chris, I’d never see her again. He told me his parents want to see her, and without him saying it, I bet that’s the only reason he wants anything to do with her right now.
Chris’s parents are not very smart and remind me of those parents who could never believe their child could ever do anything wrong, like ever. Even when he was eighteen, and still getting in trouble, they bailed him out of jail when he would get public intoxications. How the hell did they expect him to learn any kind of consequences if they just bailed him out of everything?
When Chris left, he tried to get his parents to believe I wasn’t the same person he fell in love with, and my focus was on work, not Emily. They kept in touch for a little while after that, but then no communication, just like him, for years.
We move to the couch, and Damon tries to keep me occupied with some TV, but it doesn’t work. My phone is glued to my hand, and I continue calling and texting him. Emily is probably wondering where I am, and he’s spreading some lies about me. She’s never been away from me this long.
We both end up falling asleep on the couch in the wee hours of the night when our eyes just couldn’t stay open any longer. Nightmares take over, seeing Emily trapped in a warehouse, screaming out for me, but I’m nowhere to be found. I’m not closing my eyes again until she’s in my arms, period.
***
“WE’VE ONLY GOT AN HOURuntil the time is up. Do you want a sandwich or anything before we head down there?” Damon asks, making himself one to tide him over until later. “You really should eat something, anything. It’ll help with your energy level.”
He’s right. No one knows what will go on today after going back down to the station. Especially after last night. “Okay, I’ll take one.”
We sit at the dining room table, but it’s missing Emily. Normally, she’s chatty when we sit down to eat and always making jokes. It really kept meals interesting with her here. But now, it is just us, and neither of us say a word while we eat our sandwiches, preparing for what will come next.
The twenty-four hours are up, and I still have heard nothing, so Damon and I arrive back at the police station. The woman from yesterday isn’t on duty anymore.
“I need to speak to someone about my child. Her father took her from school yesterday, and we aren’t able to get ahold of him. They told me to come back after twenty-four hours.”
The man behind the desk jerks up and grabs another officer. “He’s familiar. She filled him in before she left early this morning.”
The officer extends his hand. “I’m Officer Jeffords. You still have not heard from the father about her whereabouts?”
“Correct. Can we do something now? I just have a horrible feeling she’s in danger, and I can’t shake it.”
“I have the picture of her. Emily, right?”
I nod. “Please help me get her back.”
His eyes are sympathetic. “We’ll do everything we can, ma’am. An amber alert has been issued and we will start searching for them now.”
All I can do is cry. Damon tries to hold me, but I push him away. Right now, I want Emily in my arms. To know she’s safe.
“Is there anything I can do?” he asks. “I don’t know what to do.”
My mind is running all over the place. Why would Emily have gone with him in the first place? He abandoned her. But she’s a child who just wants to see her daddy. I have to remember that. It isn’t her fault he shows up and talks her into leaving with him. She knows not to go with strangers, but technically he isn’t one. I fidget and cry for the next few hours with no sign or word on Emily. They try to talk me into going home, but that is a no go. I’m not leaving. The police are out looking for her everywhere, but I have no clue where he would take her.
I pull out my phone and look him up on social media. He lives in Houston. “Sir, he may have left the city. It looks like he lives in Houston. They could be there.” My tears start up again. What if they can’t find her? What if we never get her back?
“We issued an update to go out statewide. All hands on deck to find your little girl.”
I watch plenty of stories of kids going missing, and the investigators always say that if they aren’t found within the first forty-eight hours, then it usually doesn’t end well. He is her father; surely he won’t do anything to harm her.
“If she got away from him, where do you think she would go?” Officer Jeffords asks.
“His house.” I point to Damon.
“You should go back there, just in case she shows up. We’ll call if we find anything. I promise we are doing everything we can to find Emily.”
As much as it makes sense to go back to Damon’s, I don’t want to leave. If she gets separated from Chris, she will go somewhere she feels safe.
“Tess, I think he’s right. She’s always felt safe at my house. It would be the place she’d go,” he says, staring into my eyes, knowing how much I don’t want to leave.