Page 19 of Charming But Reckless

It was then I noticed it held several faces with giant Xs on them and some slightly disturbing images. I had seen worse in my quest to find my son, but it still wasn't something I wanted to look at all the time.

A voice from behind us said, "Memphis, get that shit off the screen. Got civilian company."

The image changed to some odd cartoon image of Bugs Bunny bouncing around in circles. I tilted my head, curious as to why that was the generic screen. It was more distracting than what he already had up there.

I didn't say anything though. It wasn't my place.

I turned to look at the newcomer. He perused my figure from head to toe. It wasn't sexual, but there was definitely curiosity there. This had to be Tank.

"Stabler," he said, addressing the other man. "You don't typically make things my business unless you need something from me. Memphis has been on his best behavior, haven't you?"

Memphis shouted,"Yes, Daddy."

The others groaned. For the first time since walking into the room, I smirked. It amused me to know when things like that bothered people. I had heard the word for years and never put any sexual context to it, though I was aware that the kink community existed.

If I was a betting man, I figured Tank was a part of the group that enjoyed hearing that particular moniker. I hoped to never find out.

“I am here for a bit of a favor,” Stabler said, interrupting my thoughts. “This here is Arick. He came to me about his son, Solomon. He was taken around two years ago. His local police force is shit, and every time he tried to escalate it, no one gave a damn. Sound familiar?”

The big guy, the first one who questioned our arrival said, "Very familiar. Memphis, come out from behind your case. We got a case."

I spoke up for the first time. “You don't even know all the details.”

The man replied, "I don't need to. You look as if you're ten seconds away from blowing over. It's obvious there's been a strain in your life, and if it's your son, we want to help.”

Detective Stabler clapped his hands. “I knew you were going to say that, Ronan. And if you had not, I was going to tell you that Arick here believes his son was trafficked.”

The room went deadly quiet. A man that I had yet to notice because he hadn't spoken up knocked his knuckles on the table. He wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to the guy I now knew was Ronan. He read it and nodded.

“Exactly my thoughts, Takeshi,” he said to the silent man before addressing the whole room. “Takeshi said that we have to take the case, no matter what. We are not going to let any more trafficking victims remain victims if we can help it.”

I gave Takeshi a grateful smile. He nodded back, his lips pressed firmly together. A man leaned into his side, equally as quiet. When Takeshi turned to press a kiss to his head, I felt a blimp of jealousy. I had not had any relationships since before my son was born. When he was younger, I was still focused onraising him. And then after he was taken, the search became frantic.

Why would I date when the only person in my life that I cared for was missing and gone?

“Let's have a seat. Tell us about the case,” Tank said.

Stabler put a hand to my arm and shook his head. “I'll tell you the high points. I made him tell me everything before I agreed to come here. It's a daunting story.”

He didn't wait for anyone else to speak. Instead, he dove into a rendition of my story, though it was very abbreviated. He hit all the high points without the emotional turmoil. By the time he finished, all the men looked ready to murder someone. I suspected they might have if that person was in the room at the exact moment.

Thankfully they weren't. I did not need to add cleanup to my timeline of events. All I wanted was Solomon.

Memphis shook his head. “Why are there no records of him existing? Why did you wipe it all away?”

I squeezed my hands into fists as anger surged through me. Not at Memphis, but at everything I had gone through.

“When no one decided to help me, I took to the not-so-legal way of looking for things on the internet. Because I was working with people who couldn't be trusted, I made it as if we didn't exist. I went off descriptions and the single picture that I allowed to float around. I would delete it off every server once people told me they couldn't find him or didn't know where he was. And it only went up a couple of times before I decided it wasn't worth the risk. What if the people who had taken him saw that and only hid him further? It was counterproductive.”

Memphis's posture changed. “I can respect that. But I will need a photo. I have some facial recognition software I can put it into.”

I reached for the pile of papers I had brought with me. They were in my back pocket, folded enough to not draw attention. Before I could pull out a picture, one slipped onto the table.

The men leaned forward, taking in the image, and once again the mood in the room shifted.

“That’s Solomon?” Ronan asked.

Cohen and Godric, who introduced themselves during Stabler’s explanation of what happened, gave each other a serious look.

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