Page 34 of Complicated Past

Working on it

Couldn’t get in daycare

Black woman picked him up

Followed them to restaurant

“Then, about a half hour later, he texted this.”

Lost her. Have her plate #. Sending it to Taz to run.

“If he had followed me to Bri’s . . .” Kendra shivered.

“He would have had to deal with me.” Linc had been on alert because of Bri’s phone call and Regina being missing, but he’d been unarmed.

“He texted the picture of Mrs. Feldman to the number.” The tech moved quickly past the photo of Regina tied to a chair. “The next texts were from another number. Probably this Taz because it’s, um, Ms. Andrews name, address, and that she’s a social worker.”

“Just like that? He found out who I am and where I live and work?” Kendra’s voice shook. “You were right about me not going back to work or home.”

Linc placed a hand on her lower back, and she leaned closer. He wouldn’t let them get to her any more than he’d let them get to Jalen.

The next texts involved Malloy saying she didn’t have the boy with her, and Tawnya replying that Kendra would know where the kid was but not to take a risk in daylight. Later that night, he’d messaged that Kendra’s car was at her apartment but that she didn’t appear to be home.

“Didn’t you have a surveillance camera put up?” Linc asked Clara.

“I did. Its motion activated, and I haven’t seen anything suspicious,” she said. “I’ll review it again, but he might have kept clear and looked for lights on.”

“This voicemail came in this morning.” The tech hit play.

“So much for loving her Grams. She’s still not cooperating. You’re gonna have to get her kid. We have him, and she’ll do it. She’s a one-and-done. Maybe none-and-done. We could have had some fun here. Instead, she’s ruined this trip. But, if you can’t get the kid by tonight, I’m not risking her narcing us out. I’ll get an experienced courier for this size load. It’ll cost as much as I can get selling this pain in my ass to Inez.”

“What does that mean?” Kendra asked.

“That they’ll sell her to sex traffickers.” Linc didn’t sugarcoat it. He couldn’t deny the reality pounding in his brain. He didn’t have time to get to Mexico and save Bri.

FIFTEEN

“We got a match on prints from the house.” Officer Logan read off the computer screen. “Randy Spivey. Younger than Malloy. No real record, but he’s been traveling to Mexico regularly.”

“Probably running the same scam as Tawnya with finding unsuspecting mules. See if you can get a location on him. If he’s here and goes back to the house, he could alert Tawnya.” Clara didn’t need to finish her thought.

Linc had called Angela Hoffman and looped her in. So far, her contacts hadn’t turned up anything new on Tawnya or Heath Malloy. For the past hour, he, Kendra, Clara, and Clara’s partner had called hotels in Acapulco on the off chance they’d find a reservation in Tawnya’s name. They’d called over a hundred hotels. The futility grew heavier with each call.

The clone of Malloy’s phone vibrated a short while later. “Another text from Tawnya asking for an update,” Linc announced. “I need to walk around for a few minutes and think.” He’d been spinning up plan B while making the phone calls, but he needed to concentrate.

Under the cloudy sky, he hoofed it around the police station’s parking lot, working through scenarios. He’d beentotally focused on getting to Mexico to save Bri personally. Now he knew that wasn’t going to happen. This time, it was he who was wrong. He hadn’t listened when Dev or Clara suggested the option he kept circling back to. Bri’s best option was to save herself.

He racked his brain, trying to think of a way he could communicate that to her and let her know she’d be okay.

Duh!He had made this too complicated. Bri needed to see they had Jalen. They could make a video and work something in. However, Malloy’s unconsciousness in a hospital bed presented a problem, as Tawnya would expect to talk with him, even see him.

But Clara said they’d interrogated him. What if . . . That could work. It was their best shot.

He jogged to the entrance and into the squad room. “You said Malloy was questioned recently. Did you record that?”

“We always do,” Clara answered.

“Do you still have the recording?”

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