Page 11 of Complicated Past

“No. A work-type van. It could have been a facilities maintenance van, but, while I was trying to get ahold of someone for Jalen, a man tried our front door. He didn’t buzz but walked back toward the school and went off-camera. The van was the only vehicle there that late, and it left right after Ms. Andrewspicked Jalen up. That he’d come to the door made me uneasy, but I didn’t want to sound paranoid.”

“No. You’re right to be cautious. Did you get a look at the man?” Linc’s training enabled him to project a calm demeanor as the director summoned the teacher and told Jalen to get his backpack.

“Mostly from behind. I think he was white, wearing jeans or dark pants, a gray shirt, and a black baseball cap. My guess is maybe five-foot-ten, average build, and late twenties or early thirties.”

It sounded like the same man who’d taken Regina. If he’d followed Kendra last night, Linc needed to let her know as soon as possible.

“I get to leave early?” Jalen asked. “Is Mommy coming home?” His face lit up.

“Not yet, J-man. But we’re going to have a little adventure.” He hadn’t thought beyond getting to Jalen, but these people knew where Bri lived. Tonya knew Bri had a brother. It wouldn’t be hard to find out where he lived simply by checking property records. That complicated things.

Once Kendra concludedher client interview, she checked her phone on her way to her car. Both the missed call and one of the text pings were from Linc. Before calling him back, she logged in to her email and verified his drug test results were clean. With that box checked off and him in charge of Jalen, she could focus on other things.

Linc answered before the second ring. “Have you talked to Clara?”

“Not since she called to say they had found Regina’s car. What did they find out?” Why hadn’t she told Clara to call Linc directly? She’d done her job with Jalen, and it would be better for her to limit her interaction with Bri’s brother, who stirred up too many complicated emotions. His dedication to Jalen and commitment to helping his sister were unexpected because of her Grandma Ruby’s repeated warnings.

“The footage showed a man putting her into a van.”

“Oh my goodness.” Even with what Linc told her about Bri’s call, she had not expected that.

“I need you to think…”

Linc’s commanding tone didn’t calm her.

“…when you picked up Jalen last night, did you notice a white van in the school lot next door that may have followed you?”

“Not then, but a white van?” Kendra’s mouth went dry, and her breathing became labored.

“Yes. Why?”

“Because there was one parked next to me when I left the fast-food restaurant. The man sitting in the van had been eating near the play area, but he didn’t have a child with him when he left.” What if the man had tried to take Jalen? Thank goodness she’d sat right near the entrance to the play area and kept an eye on him while she’d made calls trying to arrange respite care. Had Regina been in that van?

“Did he follow you from there?”

She closed her eyes and thought back. “He turned out the same way I did. I was headed to the office, but when you called, I cut over to Bri’s apartment. I don’t remember seeing it after that. But Linc, I swear a white van followed me when I left my office this morning.”

“Where are you now?”

“Leaving a client’s home on the south side of town.” Why would they still follow her? Studying the street, she didn’t see a white van, but the man could have changed vehicles. “This was my last appointment of the day. I was headed back to my office, but someone needs to get Jalen.”

“He’s with me. Don’t go to your office. Not with the possibility he was staking you out. Meet me at the police station. I’ll fill you in there.”

Good idea. Clara would know what to do. Kendra called her office to let them know she would be working from home the rest of the afternoon and drove to the police station gripping the steering wheel and checking her rearview mirror every few seconds.

Kendra enteredthe police station only a few minutes after Linc and Jalen had settled in to wait.

“Keep finding the matches while I talk with Ms. Andrews.” He left Jalen doing one of his cognition exercises on the tablet and moved out of earshot to join Kendra at Clara’s desk.

“We’ll need your keys so they can sweep your vehicle just in case they put a tracker on it,” Clara told Kendra, who handed her keys to a uniformed officer.

“What is going on? Do you think they’d track me?” Kendra cast a wide-eyed glance from Clara to Linc.

“It’s possible.” Clara filled her in on the phone message Bri had left for Regina.

Kendra sank into the chair next to Clara’s desk. “This sounds bad.”

His sister had done a great job conveying information about the situation, except for the vital piece Linc needed—whereshe was—so he could save her from being beaten, killed, or trafficked.

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