To say I had been shocked last night when it was Bella’s father who came after me when I had stormed out of the conference room would be a massive understatement. When I’d heard the footsteps coming behind me, I ignored them figuring it was Emmett coming to try and defend his boss’s actions. But as I’d stood hunched over Bella’s desk staring at the picture of us, begging God for some fucking clue as to where she was, it was Charlie’s voice that spoke when the door opened.
Running a towel through my wet hair, I sat perched on the edge of my childhood bed as Charlie’s words came back to me.
“You need to go home and get some sleep so that you are ready and in the right frame of mind when the time comes to go get her.”
“How?” I asked him, fighting the lump in my throat.
“How what?” he returned.
“How do I go home when she’s not there?”
“Let me let you in on a little secret, son,” he told me at the same time his hand clapped me on my back and planted firmly in place.
“If I for one fraction of a second didn’t believe that they were doing everything within their power to bring her home safely, I would not be sitting back and waiting for answers. As a police officer I am well aware of the fact that sometimes these types of situations don’t unfold nearly as fast as we’d like them to. And it’s excruciatingly harder when it’s your loved one out there missing. I’ve seen it countless times and I would love nothing more than to go find her right now.”
I had responded with a simple nod, agreeing with what he was saying, while waiting for him to continue.
“You aren’t going to be any good when the time comes to go get her if you aren’t able to focus and be ready physically. And you won’t get either of those things if you don’t get some sleep and something to eat. If going home is too hard right now, then surely you must have a friend’s house, maybe your parent’s to go to or even a hotel room nearby. You won’t do either of you any good if you go on like this. There is nothing to be done until we get satellite access and locate her. So use the time between now and then wisely. Use it to be as best prepared as you can for when that time comes.”
“You’re right,” had been my response to him.
“I know, in my line of work, it’s my job to be right. Now I am going to go practice what I preach and see if Renee and Carmen have found us a hotel room.”
No comments:
Post a Comment