{So sorry for not responding! I had two summer camps back to back and then moved to the States immediately afterward! But now I'm back to being active, so I should be more prone to writing back, lol!}

Mrs. Hawkens watched her sons run up the stairs, sighing. The she turned around and sat down on the couch, resting her head in her hands. “Are you going to sit down?” She said in a shaky voice.

Ajax hesitated for a moment, the sat down across from her. He saw Sorcha lean against the wall, waiting for him to start.

“Like I said before, my name is Officer Ajax Scorcher and this is Officer Sorcha MacKintosh. We’re with the FHPD, and we’ve been placed on your daughter’s case.” He said softly. “We’d like to know more about Jamie, if you’d be willing to tell us anything. It would be incredibly helpful in the case. We’re doing whatever we can to find you daughter.”

Mrs. Hawkens stayed silent for a few moments, and then murmured, “What do you want to know?”

“We’d like to know what happened prior to the kidnapping.” He responded. “Did Jamie tell you anything that roused suspicion from you? Did she seem paranoid or scared?”

“Jamie and I have had a strained relationship over the last couple of months…She never seemed to want to talk or spend time with me or her little brothers.” The missing girl’s mother said sadly. “The only time she was ever around was during meals or when she had to walk her brothers to school. Other than that, she was either in her room or at one of her friends' houses.”

Ajax exchanged a look with Sorcha. She was right. Jamie spent more time with her friends than her family, meaning that they would be a greater help in gaining information about the case than her mother. But, he just wanted to make sure of a few more things here before they left.

“Is Jamie’s father here? I’d like to speak with him as well.” Ajax asked.

Mrs. Hawken’s face darkened. “He hasn’t been in the picture in over two years. That’s one of the reasons Jamie and I had been fighting. She wants to find him and talk with him, but I don’t want her around him, and since I had full custody of her and her brothers, I had the right to refuse.”

Ajax's mind immediately went to the father as a possible suspect, thoughts flashing through his head. He nodded, slightly understanding as he didn't have the best relationship with his folks.

"Thank you for that information. Is it possible that you could give me a name?"

"For what, her father? Sure, James Hawkens." The distraught mother's voice was bitter as she talked about her kid's father. "He was the one who picked out Jamie's name if you couldn't tell. He wanted a son so he could name him James, after him, but he changed it to Jamie after we figured out she was going to be a girl. He was always full of himself." She muttered.

oof, sorry for the long post, lmao! I just wanted to get the majority of that scene over with, lol, and didn't know when to cut it off. It isn't all done, so if you could maybe have Sorcha ask a little more about the father, possibly any drug or alcohol usage and then ask for the shirt or jacket for the dogs, that'd be great :D

And Mrs. Hawkens is your character as well as mine, so you can write whatever you want her response to be.

"Did he have a history of violence or narcotics abuse? Or perhaps he was involved in a gang?" Axel sat back and let his partner take over the questioning. He watched the distraught mother closely as the conversation went on. Sorcha's question was spot on, and Mrs. Hawkens' face darkened further.

“Yes, he did them a little when we first were together. I tolerated it until the twins came along. By then he was addicted and would become violent. I didn't want him to hurt the kids." She frowned, "As for gangs, I'm not sure. Anytime I ever confronted him about the drugs, he grew very defensive and it ended in arguments. But I never found out where he got his drugs." Ajax’s eyes narrowed, and his brow furrowed as he listened. This was definitely important information for their case. The father could’ve taken Jamie as a way to get money from the mother, or he could’ve sold her to a human trafficking ring for cash for drugs. If that was the case, it would be increasingly difficult to find her. He subtly glanced at Sorcha, gauging her reaction to this information. She looked as wary of the father as he did. There were many different situations that may have taken place, but they were almost 100% sure that the father had something to do with the missing person's case.

"Thank you for speaking with us, Mrs. Hawkens. We are working hard to find your daughter. By any chance could you get us a shirt or jacket of Jamie's for our dogs? We're going to see if they can catch a whiff of her." That was going to be his next question. He let a ghost of a smile cross his face at his partner’s efficiency. One of the reasons he didn’t work with other officers too often was that none of them could really keep up. With Sorcha, he didn’t have that issue. He got to his feet and went to stand next to his partner, waiting for Mrs. Hawkens.

“Yes, yes, of course.” Mrs. Hawkens stood up quickly, going to the small coat room that was located. She pulled a dark green jacket off of one of the hooks and hurried back to where the officers were standing patiently. She handed Ajax the jacket and then clutched Sorcha’s hands tightly in her own. “Please, I know we didn’t have the best relationship for the past couple of months, but please…find her and bring her home. I-” She choked out, tears gathering at the edge of her bottom lid. “I don’t know what I would do without her. Please, just bring her back.”

(Don’t worry about it! This is late too, and is pretty short XD Life happens and it’s all we can do to try to keep up with it lmao.)

-

Ajax watched the interaction between his partner and Mrs. Hawkens silently, his resolve to find Jamie and bring her back to her mother and brothers growing. Once the mother took a step back from him and Sorcha, he spoke up.

“I apologize for not asking this earlier, but could you write down the addresses of Jamie’s friends? We’d like the check in with them as well.” Mrs. Hawkens nodded wordlessly and scribbled down two addresses on the notepad that he had given her. She handed it back to them.

“We’ll keep you updated,” Sorcha told the mother. The two of them bid goodbye to her, exiting the house and walking back to their car where their dogs were waiting. The snowfall around them had grown heavier, thick, heavy flakes of snow falling down in a whirlwind of white.

Getting into the car, Ajax reached back and scratched Nyx in between the ears with one hand and passed the notepad and jacket to Sorcha with the other hand. “We should run the father’s name through the system before we visit Jamie’s friends.” He remarked, glancing at her as he began to pull out of the driveway. His brow furrowed as he watched more snow fall, dread pulling at his gut. It would be difficult for even the best sniffer dog to find any sort of scent trail in this sort of weather.

"I apologize for not asking this earlier, but could you write down the addresses of Jamie's friends? We'd like the check in with them as well." Sorcha waits quietly as Mrs. Hawkens scribbles down two addresses on the notepad that Ajax had handed her.

Sorcha nods her head one last time to Mrs. Hawkens as she turns and follows Ajax out. Ducking her head down against the snow which had begun to fall heavier. Sorcha slips into the car, sighing as she brushes off some snow. That had yielded some information, hopefully some that would help them in the long run.

Hades breaks his normal composure by sticking his head forward between the seats. Sorcha lets out a small laugh as she feels Hades' nose nudging her head. Sorcha reaches back and scratches Hades, before giving him a gentle command to sit back. Hades chuffs before obeying, sitting back in the backseat. Sorcha takes the notepad and jacket, letting her gaze skim the two address. "We should run the father's name through the system before we visit Jamie's friends."

Sorcha agrees with a grunt as she turns the built-in computer towards her. Sorcha types in the father's name, tapping her fingers against the keyboard as she waits for the name to pop up. James Hawkens. Sorcha's lips thin as she presses the name. Her green eyes scanning the records.

Ajax sat back and watched his partner pull up the James Hawkens name in the system. The longer his eyes flickered over the report, the further his mouth fell into a frown. Best case, there wouldn't be many issues in his file. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. He had been jailed several times, but never for very long. The longest was several months, but it seemed like he was always bailed out or released on 'good behavior'.

"Drunk driving, caught with illegal substances, acts of violence, vandalism, and... auto theft." He said. "Not the cleanest record in the slightest. But now we know that if Jamie's father is responsible or partially responsible for her disappearance, it's most likely because of the drug and alcohol addiction."

Ajax memorized the important information in the man's file to add to the report once they got back to the station after visiting Jamie's friends. He waited for Sorcha to finish with the file before switching the counsel to the GPS system, pulling out the first address that Mr. Hawkens had scribbled on his notepad. He pulled out of the driveway and began the drive, the windshield wipers working furiously to clear the front window from the snow.

{Hey, so sorry for my absence lately! My school's music program held two concerts on two consecutive days, both of which I was part of, and I spent those days at school preparing and performing, so I never had time to write up a reply. Afterward, I was exhausted, but I'm back up and running now! Sorry about that mate!)

-

Ajax's lips were drawn into a line as he maneuvered the vehicle through the heavy snowfall, turning the windshield wipers up at a higher speed to clear the powder off of the glass. He stayed silent as Sorcha radioed in the APB request, silently thanking once again that he had a partner who could think and work for themself.

"Let's hope so." He said though he didn't sound very hopeful. "They have their work cut out for them. Mrs. Hawkens said that she hadn't heard from him in a couple of months, but hopefully, that's just because he had been avoiding his family and he's creeping around somewhere where our guys can find him."

The more the snow continued to fall faster, and the darker the sky got, the more Ajax's stomach dropped. The snowstorm that they had been warned about but the weather forecast seemed to be coming in rapidly.

"After this, I say we head back to the Department. There's no way we'll be able to search for Jamie like this. We and our dogs don't have the right equipment. We can pick it up in the morning."