A Time For Love (A Time For Love Series-Book 1)

A Gut Feeling

STEF POV

My eyes suddenly fly open, and I realize once again I am up at two in the morning, struggling to fall asleep and stay asleep. This had been happening all week, ever since Bird ran from us, and I could not put my mind at ease.

Being a cop for over a decade, I ran into various kinds of heartbreaking situations involving children that had kept me up over the years. But for some reason, this was troubling me even more than usual, and I just couldn't seem to shake it. All of it was leaving me with a terrible, terrible feeling, and I wasn't fully sure why.

Call it my gut feelings or instincts, Bird was running through my mind constantly. Sitting up now, I reach for a glass of water, hoping to calm my nerves for a bit.

My mind knew I had done everything I could to try to locate this little girl. Everything, but considering I didn't know her last name or the school she attended, it was like a needle in a haystack. Knocking on the doors of the residents of the housing projects Bird lived in proved to be a dead end as well, because at this point I wasn't even sure if she lived there.

No one had seen her, or if they had, they were wondering why I was looking for her, and I was met with many cold shoulders.

Mike and Tess tried to help me track her down as well, and we went everywhere we could think of. All the basketball courts, the Y's, bodegas, playgrounds. I contacted Social Services as well, asking if they had any cases that involved a little girl by the name of Francesca, who was nine years old. There were none, and this little girl had fallen through the cracks like so many other children.

By this point, I was low on sleep and feeling it in my body and mind. Pulling the sleeping pills out of Tess' nightstand drawer, I wash them down with a cup of water, even if I was preferring booze at this point.

"What's wrong, baby? You can't sleep?" I hear Tess' soft voice, feeling her rub my naked back up and down. Running my fingers through my long blonde hair, I turn to look right at her, shaking my head. "What has you up, baby?"

"I can't stop thinking of that little girl, Tess."

"I figured. You've been racking your brain and yourself ever since she ran. I know I've helped you and Mike look for her but, you haven't told me much. Why does it feel different to you?"
Affectionally, she rubs my shoulders, and she plays in my hair. "Talk to me, honey. What gives?"

"Just a bad feeling, Tess. I met her twice before, the first time she was with another little girl and I caught her stealing a small bag of chips that I ended up paying for. I figured she was hungry and had no money. The second time I caught her at the YMCA, where Mike and I play ball during school hours. I took her for pizza and showed her a few moves if she promised to not ditch school. I don't know, baby. Even then, something about it rubbed me the wrong way. The way she spoke about her home, avoiding it, but not. She had a black eye that she said she got from playing ball. Her clothes were a mess. I walked her home, and I didn't go upstairs. I should have gone upstairs with her and I don't know why I didn't."

I sigh as Tess allows me to continue to talk.

"And she's in danger, I know that. And, I failed. I failed Tess and I should have done something." Shaking my head, she moves closer to me, tucking my long blonde hair behind my ear.

"Baby, you and I both know it's not that black and white. You told me many times how you got into fights with boys at school on the court and how you were a tomboy, so maybe that's what you felt at the time with her. You didn't wanna flat-out accuse her parents of abusing her. It's not always that easy or easy to ask and get an honest answer. Yeah, sometimes you can tell right away, but it's not always cut and dry, babe."