Kaitlynn

Tasneem, Tasneem! Wake up, you’re going to be late, time to get out of bed.” “I’m up ma, you don’t have to shout! what time is it?” “It’s 6 am, you know you take forever to get ready, you’re a detective now, you can’t show up whenever you want to.” Tasneem forces herself out of bed and makes her way to the kitchen, where her mother is busy preparing breakfast, Tasneem pours herself a cup of coffee and her mom puts a plate down in front of her containing eggs, sausage, fried mushrooms, and tomatoes with toast. “Here, for my child, eat, you will need your strength.” “Thanks, mom.” “My daughter a detective, just like on TV, you what, I can help you with your cases, I watch that detective shows at night and I always know who did it before they even tell you.” “This job is not like on TV mom, it’s real life and I have to take it seriously. "I have to take a shower." Tasneem makes her way to the bathroom and runs the shower, as she gets into the shower, her mind starts to wonder. " Can I really do this? I will be the youngest detective in the department and the youngest female as well, I know there will be guys who will challenge my authority as a detective and even as just another policeman. No, I worked way too hard for this and sacrificed too much. I deserve and I will make my mother proud every day that I am there. She sacrificed a lot as well putting me through school on her own after losing my father at such a young age." Tasneem's thoughts are disturbed by a call coming from the kitchen. "Tasneem, get out of the shower already! You’re going to be late!"

Tasneem is in her car driving towards the police station, she is filled with a mixture of fear and excitement. A memory springs up in her mind of her and her father. He is teaching her to ride her bicycle and she has just fallen off and scraped her knee. It’s the third time she’s fallen and is feeling very despondent. “I’m never going to ride my bike like the boys do, daddy.” “don’t give up my girl, it is only failing if you stay down. I promise you will be riding this bike just like those boys in no time. Now let me put a band-aid on that scratch and let’s try again.” A tear rolls down her face as realize how much she misses her father at the moment. She pulls up to the police station and pauses before she gets out of the car. “Ok, let’s pull ouser]lves together, these are just normal people, just like your previous department. Not much is going to change.

Tasneem walks up to the front door of the police station, she takes a deep breath and steps inside. The police station is buzzing with activity. The front reception area already has people waiting in line to be helped by a policeman. Some have visible injuries and some look traumatized. She makes her way to the captain’s office but gets lost among the many hallways in the large building. She sees a man sitting by a desk in one of the offices, he is typing furiously on his laptop and not looking up for a single second. He is a middle-aged, blonde, caucasian man, perfectly groomed wearing an expensive, tailored suit.

Tasneem knocks on the office door to get the man’s attention. “Excuse me.” The man looks up from his laptop. “Hi, can I help you?” “Yes, could you point me to the captain’s office, please? I seem to be a bit lost.”The man quickly jumps from his chair and walks over to Tasneem. “Hi no problem, I’m Dr. David Neill and you are?” “I’m Detective Tasneem Johnson, it’s my first day today” “Oh wow welcome, I’m quite new here too, actually just serving out my sentence.” Tasneem looks at him with a confused look on her face. “I’m Dr. David Neill, for the past few weeks I have been providing a type of counseling service for the officers here and victims of crime.” “That is so nice of you, giving back to the community .” “Thank you, but it’s at the insistence of the court, I don't really have a choice in the matter.” “Regardless Dr. Neill, it is still a good thing you are doing. Which way to the Captain’s office?” “Yes, it’s just down the hallway and then turns left, and it’s the first door on the right-hand side.” Tasneem thanks  Dr. Neill and makes her way to the Captain's office. Tasneem knocks on the open door and the captain signals her to enter the office. The Captain is on his phone and another man is standing in the office. He is a large built man with dark skin and a thick beard. Tasneem catches the eye of the man and he reaches out to shake her hand. “Good morning, I’m Detective “Detective Johnson.” “Wow Detective, you must be the youngest detective here.” Tasneem smiles at Detective Kani. “I think so.”

The Captain gets off the phone and looks up at the Detectives. “Hi Detective Johnson welcome, did you find this place easily. “Yes, I found the police station easily. I have family and went to school in this community.” “That’s great so you are familiar with the Mitchells plain community.” “Yes captain, I spent a lot of my childhood here” “Where are you living now?” “I live in the City.” “Ok, have you met Detective Kani, he is your partner and will be taking you out into the community to reintroduce you to the place you will serving.” Detective Kani looks over at Detective Johnson and smiles, he imagines to himself. “I am going to need lots of energy to keep up with this young woman.” They both shake the captain’s hand and leave the office.” Detective Johns looks at Detective Kani with a sparkle in her eye, she is excited and can’t wait for the day t begin. “So what do we do now?” “First a cup of coffee, then we settle you in at your desk.” 

The detectives walk over to a coffee vending machine, Detective Kani selects the coffees and hands a cup over to Detective Johnson, she looks at the cup with a disappointed look on her face, Detective picks up on the look as he asks. “Something wrong?” “No, I just thought there would be a coffee make somewhere in the station.” “We had one, but it broke down and no one has bothered to have it fixed. I don’t really care what type of coffee I’m drinking as long as it’s hot and strong.” “We had a coffee machine in my last department, I think it kind of spoilt me.” “Bring your own coffee then, save yourself from disappointment. Let’s get you settled in shall we?” They walk over to a large open area where there about 8 to 10 desks in the room and someone sitting at each desk working on their computers or talking on the phone. Detective Kani points to an empty desk nearby. “Welcome to your new home, my desk right next to yours. You should check if you have access to all the databases.” “Will do detective Kani, but can you tell me about yourself, seeing that we are partners.” “Well I have been at this police station for 25 years and I have been married for 20 years with 5 kids and a few grandkids, 7 I think. God willing, I will be retiring in 3 years’ time.”  Tasneem looks at detective Kani with a surprised look on her face. “Oh wow, that is so wonderful to have such a big family. It’s just me and my mother, I lost my father when I was still very young. He was a lawyer.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, maybe you and your mother can have dinner with my family soon?” “ Don’t worry about it, I will speak to my mother, she can be very fussy sometimes about where she eats.” The phone on Detective Kani’s desk rings and he reaches over to pick it up. “Kani.” Tasneem looks intensely at Detective Kani as he listens to the person on the other side of the line and nods his head in agreement. He grabs a square of paper and writes something down and puts the phone down. “Detective Johnson, when is the last time you were at the beach. “ “I sometimes do my morning run at the Sea point pavilion.” ‘We are on our way to the beach now, a body washed up there.” 

The drive over to the scene is quiet, and the car’s atmosphere is tense as detective Johnson is anxious about what she is about to see. “How many dead bodies have you encountered in your career Detective Johnson?” “I have been around quite a few dead bodies, securing the crime scene and interviewing witnesses. I’ve just never had to get up close to a dead body or examine it.” “If you need a minute or you are not ready, let me know. You can take your time, it’s your first day.” “ No I’ll be fine, this is what I signed up for.” 

They pull up to the place where Detective was directed to. There are already a few patrol cars with their blue lights flashing and a crowd has formed nearby. The detectives walk up to the scene where the body is laying, the area is marked with yellow police tape. Detective Johnson’s heart starts to race as she walks up to the body. An electric jolt of shock passes through her body the body comes into view and she sees a little girl laying on the sand. The color is drained from her skin and her lips are blue. Detective Johnson tries her best to hold her emotions to herself and portray professionalism.  Detective Kani kneels over the body to get a closer look. The little girl is wearing a blue and white dress and she has shoulder-length hair. Another detective walks over to them to speak to detective Kani “ Someone found her earlier this morning, she must have washed in with the tide during the evening, I’m still waiting for a positive ID from the missing person’s department.” Detective Kani sighs deeply and gets up from the ground. “There is no need, I know who she is.” Detective Kani takes out his phone and scrolls to a picture. It’s a picture of the little girl with a name under it, Kaitlynn.” “Her family attends the same church as mine, we have been praying for her safe return since she went missing at the shopping mall. We need to tell her mother that we found her daughter.”

“I am so sorry Detective Kani.” 

They get into the car and make their way to the little girl’s parents’ home. Tasneem looks over at Detective Kani as he is driving, there is hardly any emotion on his face. She thinks to herself “If this was someone that I knew personally, I would not be able to contain myself the way Detective Kani is right now. I am already struggling with my emotion as it is already.” She decides to ask Detective Kani. “How are you able to hold yourself together right now?” “I have had to share and receive news like this many times over the years that I have been a detective. You develop tough skin over time. It still does not make this part any easier.” “Did you know the family very well?” “ We have had a few conversations, they were new members to the church, about 6 months. She made a plea to the church to pray for her daughter and then she found out I was a detective and I promised I would help where I could. This is going to devastate the parents, that was their only child. You can stay in the car if you want to.” “No, I will be there with you.

The car drives up into the driveway and they see someone peering through the living room window. Detective Kani exits the car and walks up to the front door with Detective Johnson following him closely. Detective Kani knocks on the door and a woman quickly opens the door. She is a middle-aged woman with light complexion skin and short red hair. She smiles broadly but it’s clear to see the pain hidden just behind her smile. “Welcome, Detective Kani. John! Detective Kani is here.” John quickly walks into the living room to shake Detective Kani’s hand as well as Detective Johnson’s. “Good afternoon Karen and John, I do have some news.” Karen sees the sadness on Detective Kani’s face and the tears start to roll from her eyes. “ I am so sorry, but we found little Kaitlynn’s body this morning along the beach,” Karen screams out in pain as her heart is broken into pieces and her legs go weak. “No!” Tasneem watches on, she can no longer contain her emotion as the tears pour from her eyes, she quickly wipes them away but they keep pouring. John tries his best to console his wife. 

Detective Kani and Detective Johnson prepare to leave. "Karen, John my deepest sympathies for your loss. I wish I could have brought her home safely." Karen is inconsolable and can't speak. John is able to get a word out as he wipes the tears from his eyes. " Please Detective Kani, this is not your fault. Someone took our daughter and murdered her, you have to bring them to justice