I work with missing children. I'm familiar with every face you can imagine. But not hers.

I’ve been involved in a few high-profile cases in my line of work, and my name gets tossed around on the news every now and then.  That tends to bring in a lot of requests from folks wanting advice on their own situation, and I take those calls because the very least I can do is talk to them.<br><br>I usually get a lot of parents who want to know how to work with the police, or first-time reporters who are confused about the process of getting some help on a case.  I’d gotten a few calls like that, and was about to head home for the day when this one gentleman called.<br><br>He introduced himself as Mr. Solomon, though he never told me his first name.  He said he’d heard of me through a news story, and wanted to ask for advice on a situation involving a little girl he’d seen.<br><br>Now, my job is specifically working with kids.  That means I see a whole lot of photos every day.  Every single missing child in the United States has their picture in my mind, and that can be a real mental burden.  A lot of them I can’t get out of my head.<br><br>But this man described a girl I didn’t recognize. <br><br>She had been walking down the street near his house when he’d first noticed her.  She wore a bright pink sundress and her dark hair was a mess of tangles, falling down her back. She seemed small for her age, and Mr. Solomon said he’d figured her to be about eleven or twelve, which put him around six or seven feet tall.  But the thing that really stuck with Mr. Solomon was her face.<br><br>He said it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, with big green eyes that shone like emeralds in a jewelry store and skin as pale as porcelain. She was grinning as she walked, and he could see that a few of her front teeth were missing.<br><br>He only saw her for a second before she’d disappeared around the next corner.  He didn’t think too much of it until he’d seen her again a few days later, walking the same street. This time, she’d been with a man.<br><br>There are a whole lot of red flags when it comes to missing children, and one of the most major ones is seeing a kid with an unidentified adult.  If you were certain the kid didn’t know the person, you were supposed to contact the authorities right away.<br><br>So that’s what Mr. Solomon did.  He called 911, reported what he’d seen, and even stayed outside to keep an eye on the girl until the police showed up.  They asked him a few questions, took his statement, and told him they'd be in touch soon.  He hadn't heard anything in almost a month.<br><br>When I got his call, the first thing I asked was if he’d gotten the plate number off the car.  I was happy to hear he’d thought of that, and I told him I’d get his information sent right over to the police so they could look into it.<br><br>“Sir,” I said.  “I think you’ll hear from them pretty soon.”<br><br>“Thanks, Agent…?”<br><br>“Wright.”<br><br>“Thanks, Agent Wright,” he repeated.  “I guess I just needed someone to talk to.  It doesn’t sit right with me.”<br><br>I smiled.  “It shouldn’t,” I said.  “I appreciate you telling me about this, Mr. Solomon.”  I scribbled a few notes down.  “You said this was a few blocks from your house?”<br><br>“Yes, only a few blocks west on Maple.”<br><br>I nodded.  “Alright.  I’m going to look into this, and we will be in contact.  If you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to give me another call.”<br><br>“Will do,” he said.  “Thanks again.”<br><br>I hung up the phone and got to work right away.  The first thing I did was pull up the missing children database, scrolling through until I’d found the page for missing children in Mr. Solomon’s state.  There were always a lot of pictures on those pages, and scrolling through them took a while. <br><br>But I didn’t see the girl with green eyes and dark hair anywhere.  I frowned, deciding to look in surrounding states.  Maybe she was from out of town.  But again, I didn’t see any pictures that matched her description.<br><br>Finally, I decided to call the police in Mr. Solomon’s precinct.  I identified myself and the woman on the other line said her name was Officer Jenny.  She was very nice, and when I asked her about the report on the little girl, she assured me she’d look into it right away. <br><br>Just as I was about to hang up, she said, “Hey, Agent Wright?”<br><br>“Yes?” I asked.<br><br>“I think I found it.”<br><br>I was taken aback.  “Already?”<br><br>“Yeah,” she laughed.  “I’ve been police for a long time.  I know how to do my job,” she said.  “I also found the report for the 911 call.”<br><br>I frowned, confused.  “What do you mean?”<br><br>“I mean, there is no report on this incident with the police.  It seems like we got the 911 call, but none of our officers responded to it.” There was a silence on the line before she spoke up.  “I think someone may have dropped the ball here, Agent Wright.  Can I get Mr. Solomon’s info from you?”<br><br>I agreed, and she assured me someone would be over to talk to him right away.<br><br>The next morning, I got a call from Officer Jenny herself.  “Good morning, Agent Wright,” she said.  “I wanted to follow up on what we talked about yesterday.”<br><br>I’d been expecting it.  “What did you find?” I asked.<br><br>“Well, we went by Mr. Solomon’s residence right away.  His daughter answered the door.”<br><br>My eyes narrowed.  “Daughter?”<br><br>“Yeah.  A little girl with green eyes.  But she was only around six, not eleven or twelve.”<br><br>My eyes narrowed more.  “What happened to the report?”<br><br>“I’m not entirely sure,” she said.  “The guy who took the original call said it had slipped his mind, and by the time he’d remembered he’d already gone home for the day.”<br><br>I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose.  I had a long day ahead of me, and it was going to be full of paperwork and bullshit. <br><br>But I was just about to hang up when I heard a voice in the background of the call, a little girl’s voice.  It sent chills down my back.<br><br>“I know who you’re talking to,” she said.  “He’s the nice man who helps little girls like me.”<br><br>I pulled the phone away from my face, looking at it in confusion.  Then I’d brought it back.  “What was that?” I asked.<br><br>“What?” Officer Jenny said.<br><br>“That was the little girl, right?”  I asked.<br><br>“Yes, it was,” she said.  “Why?”<br><br>I shook my head.  “I don’t know,” I said.  “She just sounded...familiar.”<br><br>Officer Jenny laughed.  “Maybe you’ve worked too many cases, Agent Wright.”<br><br>I suppose she was right.