Detective Love [ON HOLD]

Chapter 11

John reached the last door on the hall. Sure enough, the door was closed. It had a small rectangle pink sign, with white flowers used as a border, on the door. In bold white painted lettering, it said, 'STEPHANIE'S ROOM'. John placed his hand on the doorknob and turned it. The door opened inward showcasing a room with a definite girls touch. He walked in, his feet cascading the carpeted floor. He noticed one particular thing about this room. Pink. Lots and lots of pink with mixtures of white. Girly furniture, pictures of princesses hung on the walls, a princess canopy bed. Basically, it was a princess-like room.

John was surrounded with silence. Nothing but silence, until he heard a tiny sound coming from the closet to his left. Sobbing. Soft sobbing.

'Stephanie', John thought to himself. He shook his head wondering on how frightened this little girl must have been. Then, he heard her little voice speak.

"Mommy. Mommy!"

Poor child. This little girl tugged at John's heart strings. A scared child, yet a brave child, calling 911 in hopes that the police could help her mother escape the violent hands of that monster. John slowly approached the closet hearing Stephanie's heart-shattering whispered weeping. Then he heard her pray through her tears.

"Please, God. Please. Send that bad man away. Please keep my mommy safe."

John swallowed the lump in his throat before tapping lightly on the closet door. He heard her gasp and shuffling of hangers as John assumed she tried to hide further back into the closet.

"Stephanie?"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"It's okay, Stephanie. I'm not gonna hurt you," he quickly assured. "My name is officer John Shaw. I'm here to help you. I'm a cop."

"You are?"

"Yes, Stephanie. You were the one that called the police, right?"

"Yes."

"You did the right thing. Because of you, you saved yours and your mother's lives."

"Where is that man who came after my mom?"

"You don't have to worry about him anymore, sweetheart. Not anymore. He is being taken to the station right now as I am speaking to you. He will never bother you or your mother ever again."

"Where's my mom?"

"She's with a very good friend of mine. Her name is Christa Johnson. She's a police officer like me. She's my partner."

"Really?"

"Yes, ma'am. Now why don't you come out of there?"

"I'm scared."

"I know you're scared, honey. But you're safe now. Nothing will harm you. I won't harm you. I swear to you I won't. If you come out of there, I'll take you to your mother. I'm sure she's very worried about you."

A few seconds passed without another word.

"I don't believe you." Stephanie said.

'Fair enough', John thought. Then he had another thought and reached for an object clipped to the left of his belt. He removed it as lowered himself to both knees in front of the closet door.

"Okay. How about this? What if I show you my policeman's badge?"

A brief moment passed before he heard more movement coming from inside the closet. The door slowly opened. John held his breath as he saw, emerging from the closet, a young auburn-haired, brown-eyed girl, mother's cellphone in her right hand. Stephanie eyed the officer kneeling in front of her. She ran her eyes up and down at his uniform before turning her eyes to his.

"You're really a cop?"

A soft smile graced John's face. "Yes, ma'am." he answered sweetly.

Stephanie stepped closer to John,, not taking her eyes off of him. As soon as she was closer to him, he held out his right hand, extending the badge in her direction. She took the badge in her small hand. She glanced at it quietly before turning her eyes back up towards the officer.

"You sure my mom is safe?"

"I cross my heart," he said doing the motion. "Now...how about it? Are you ready to see her again?"

Stephanie nodded. "What happened to your face?"

"I...had a little accident. Come on. Let's go reunite you with your mom. Okay?"

"Okay."

Stephanie handed the badge back to John, whom clipped it back onto his belt as he rose to his feet. "Mind if I pick you up and carry you?"

She put her mom's cell phone in her pocket before reaching her hands up. John bent down and gently lifted Stephanie into his arms.

"You know, Stephanie," he said looking around her room. "From the looks of things, I would say that your favorite color is pink."

"Yeah," she stated happily. "What's your favorite color?"

"Take a wild guess."

"Blue."

John's mouth fell open. "Now, how did you know that?"

"Cause you're a boy."

John pursed his lips together, bobbing his head back and forth.

"Makes sense."