Page 6 of Complicated Past

Linc did a quick canvas of the inside. Everything was in order. A suitcase sat on the floor in Bri’s bedroom with clothesthat had to belong to Regina based on the blouse he examined. Bri would never wear the collared shirt with a large floral print pattern.

The bathroom was clean and empty. He checked the trashcan—no signs of drug paraphernalia. Though Bri would know to dispose of that someplace safe and where it wouldn’t be discovered, the tightness in his chest lessened.

Jalen’s room was empty, and the twin bed was made. He scooped up the stuffed Golden Retriever toy he’d given Jalen before returning to the front door. “All clear.”

Jalen took the dog. “This is Champ.” He held it up to show Kendra.

“Nice to meet you, Champ.” She played along.

“Go put on your PJs.” He steered Jalen toward his bedroom, then took the backpack from Kendra. “I’ll stay with him tonight.” And maybe start calling hospitals. “Thanks for picking him up, but I’ve got it from here.”

“It’s not quite that simple,” Kendra started. “With what happened tonight, there are procedures I need to follow.”

Shit? Really?“I’m his relative.” No way was he letting her put Jalen in the system. Linc’s core tightened as he prepared to battle to keep Jalen with him.

“That will make it easy to appoint you as his temporary guardian until we get in touch with Bri. If you can come to my office in the morning, we can do the paperwork, and I’ll get it signed off by the magistrate.”

“Fine. What time?”

“I’ll be in the office between nine and eleven. And you’ll need to undergo a drug test.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s standard protocol in situations where there’s a family history of drug use. It’s not my rules.”

He knew all about generational addiction. It was why he’dneverdone illicit drugs. He was not following his mother’s path. It haunted him that Bri had. “No problem. It will be clean.” A dirty drug test could cost him his spot on the Bad Karma team. “And if Regina shows up before then?”

“Bring her with you. We’ll test her too.”

While he didn’t expect Regina to be using, the idea of making her undergo a drug test reduced the tension by a degree. But she would have to explain herself before Linc would trust her with Jalen.

FOUR

After getting Jalen to bed, Linc searched the apartment for clues on where Bri had gone and found nothing. It only took him a few attempts to guess her passcode on her laptop, but no emails provided clues.

He called her number, and it went straight to voicemail—again. Trying not to sound pissed, he left her a message that he was in Fayetteville and had Jalen. None of this made sense, and despite his growing unease, he didn’t want to alarm Jalen.

With his mind still coming up empty, he crashed in Bri’s bed. If Regina showed up and found him there, he’d vacate—after giving her an earful.

He woke to his alarm and no Regina at dawn. Still no texts from Bri either.

He mixed up pancake batter before he woke Jalen.

“Is Mommy home?”

“Not yet.” He didn’t even know when she was supposed to be home.

“Where’s Grams?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll find out,” Linc promised. He’d already made a plan and action steps to start once he dropped Jalen offat school. He scrambled eggs to go with the pancakes and added extra chocolate chips to make a smiley face on the top one for Jalen.

While he’d only taken his nephew to daycare a handful of times, he knew the routine and drop-off time. Getting there early should give him an opportunity to talk with Jalen’s teacher. Then he’d go by the police station, take a damn drug test, and jump through whatever hoops he had to for Jalen’s sake.

Kendra tooka breath before exiting her office to greet Linc. She hadn’t heard back from the messages she’d left both Bri and Regina last night or the ones this morning. At least Linc was here and stepping in for Jalen, even if he wasn’t her biggest fan. Just as well. Seeing him in uniform last night was the reminder she needed to avoid military men.

This morning, he wore well-fitted, faded black jeans and a simple black V-neck tee that clung to his body like it wanted to show off all the muscles it hugged. “Any updates?” she asked, trying to project a dispassionate professionalism.

“Jalen’s teacher said Bri mentioned going to Mexico with a friend. But she didn’t know what city or who the friend was. And Mexico? I don’t know how she’d pay for that. If we can contact her grandmother, Mrs. Feldman, she should know more. I called the local hospitals, but they didn’t list her as a patient. Before coming here, I went by the police department and filed a missing person report.”

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