Chapter 5
FIVE
It hadn’t taken as long as he expected to get in for the drug test. From there, Linc went by the dealership and talked to several other service department employees. The males knew little about Bri other than that her clients loved her, and the female customers trusted her not to take advantage of them.
The receptionist was another younger female who sometimes ate lunch with Bri. She confirmed that Bri had gone to Acapulco, Mexico but she didn’t know the name of the resort or friend she’d gone with. Bri had told her co-worker that this friend had booked an all-inclusive trip with her boyfriend, but after the pair split, she invited Bri to go rather than lose the non-refundable booking.
He could understand Bri not telling him about the trip. It’s not like he was her keeper or father—as she often reminded him. Who was this friend, and was her plan to party in Mexico? He could think of a dozen stupid things Bri could be referring to, but were they related to Regina going MIA?
As he left the dealership, he decided to swing by his house to pick up clothes and continue to stay at Bri’s apartment. While he didn’t expect Regina to pop in like nothing had happened, it would be better for Jalen to be in his space with his bed, toys, and therapy items until this situation was sorted out.
Though Bri had gotten clean early in her pregnancy, Jalen had some mild developmental delays. Kendra had been instrumental in getting Jalen into OT and Speech therapy, and then intervention daycare. He admired Bri’s dedication to doing various physical and speech exercises and working on her son’s cognitive abilities. It wasn’t easy, especially on her own, since whoever Jalen’s father was, he wasn’t in the picture. Unlike their mother, Bri had changed the trajectory of her life—for Jalen.
What’s going on, Bri? If she’d call and let him know what she needed, he’d be there. This time, he’d save her.
After Bri had been arrested, he’d ignored Regina’s mandate to stay out of his sister’s life. Someone needed to keep her from flaming out, and Regina had lost control. He’d gotten Bri in a detox program, then brought her to Fayetteville from Atlanta. It’d taken a chunk out of his savings, but he hadn’t regretted it with the turnaround she’d made.
He’d been with Regina several times for a holiday or Jalen’s birthday parties. While she barely acknowledged Linc, he’d witnessed her accept and love her great-grandson—despite him looking nearly identical to Linc. Apparently, Jalen being her blood made a difference.
He needed to let it go. He’d survived. His experiences being in foster care toughened him. In the Army, he’d learned to protect himself and found a family forged by sweat, tears, and choice rather than blood. That didn’t mean Bri and Jalen weren’t his priorities, though.
His cell phone rang as he drove, and Kendra’s name popped up on the display. If she already had the drug test results, she knew they were clean. “I just left the dealership, and it looks like Bri did go to Mexico.”
“Clara just called. They found Regina’s car.”
A chill coursed through Linc. “Did they find her?”
“No. The car was in a grocery store lot overnight. The manager noticed it this morning and checked when they saw it was still there. They called it in when they saw a purse on the floor and found the car unlocked. Clara is on her way over. I thought you’d want to know.”
“Do you have the address?”
“It was in Westwood shopping center.”
“I’ll head over there now.”
“You don’t need to do that. She’ll update me.”
“I can help.” Despite his apathy for Regina, she was Bri and Jalen’s relative and Linc needed to be there. He calculated a new route and turned at the next intersection.
“Just let the police do their investigation,” Kendra continued.
“I did the drug test. Let me know if you need anything else.” He tapped to end the call. Kendra had no idea what he did in the military. And he refused to sit around doing nothing when his sister could be in trouble, and Jalen was affected.
Linc cruised into the lot and headed for the marked patrol car in the middle of an aisle behind a bright blue SUV with Georgia plates. He parked and headed over to where a redhead in a light blue button-down blouse and gray pants talked with a male patrol officer.
“Clara Andrews?” Linc asked.
The redhead turned and looked him over. “I’m Detective Clara Lowe .”
“Lincoln Porter.” He extended his hand. “I filed the report on Mrs. Feldman.” He stepped closer to the car. “Did you find anything inside the vehicle?”
“Her purse was still inside with her phone and wallet, as well as groceries. We’re going to have it towed for forensics to sweep. Do you know when Mrs. Feldman was last seen?”
“She dropped my nephew off at his school. That would have been around eight yesterday morning. She didn’t show up to pick him up, so my guess is she was here before five.”
“That’ll help us narrow down the timeline. We’ll get surveillance footage from the grocery and the surrounding stores in the strip mall to see if she left with someone or if the car was dumped here. That’ll take a while.”
“I can help review footage,” Linc offered.
“Thank you, but we can handle this. At this point, there’s no evidence of a crime?—”
“Mrs. Feldman came to take care of my nephew. She doesn’t know people here, so I don’t see her going off with someone. I came home from deployment because I got a call from my sister indicating she might be in trouble. Now, I can’t reach her, and she told her friends she was going to Mexico. I don’t know if this is related, but it feels off.” Way off. “I don’t believe in coincidences. You can use me to help, but I won’t be sitting on the sidelines waiting for you to find something.”
Detective Lowe and the uniformed officer exchanged a brief look. “Are you in Third Group?”
“No.”
She raised an eyebrow and studied him when he didn’t say more.
“But I have US Marshal credentials,” he added.
“All right. You can review footage to speed things along. But you can’t go off on your own. You need to work with us.”
“Acknowledged, ma’am.” He didn’t have to take orders from a civilian; however, he needed intel, and he couldn’t get it through military channels. Without his team here, he was on his own, and he couldn’t investigate like he needed and take care of Jalen.
Sitting in the police station less than an hour later, Linc reversed the footage from the grocery store’s parking lot security camera that covered Regina’s SUV. He stopped when he reached Regina parking. Zooming in, he confirmed that she exited the car and entered the grocery store—carrying the beige handbag found in the car.
Her purse being left in the car didn’t sit right with Linc. Detective Lowe had already requested a warrant to access the call records and had gone in search of a charger that worked on Regina’s ancient phone.
Watching for Regina to come out, Linc noted the vehicles in the lot and people entering the store. A nondescript white work van that had backed into a space down the aisle pulled out and took the handicapped parking spot next to Regina’s vehicle as soon as the other sedan left.
Hair on his arms and neck stood at attention.
Linc decreased the speed of the playback. His pulse kicked up as he watched. The driver didn’t get out of the van. From the security camera’s angle, he could make out it was a dark-haired Caucasian or possibly Latino male wearing a ball cap pulled low and shielding his face.
When Linc saw Regina push a shopping cart into view, he shifted his focus on the man in time to see him climb into the back of the van. Oh, shit . He leaned closer to the screen and zoomed the image in on Regina, who loaded groceries into the back of her SUV. When she took the cart to the corral, the van’s side door slid open. The man blocked Regina’s path to the driver’s side door.
Because the van’s height obstructed the view below their heads, Linc couldn’t tell from this footage how the man got Regina into the van so fast. In seconds, she was gone from sight. No one in the parking lot appeared to have witnessed what happened based on no one rushing forward to help.
The guy slammed the door closed and tossed Regina’s purse in her car. Smart. No one could track her location via her cell if it wasn’t on her. This guy knew what he was doing. They didn’t have proof—yet—but this had to be tied to Bri’s call.
He did his best to remain detached as he wrote down what he could see of the license plate when the van pulled out. Then, he watched which direction it took to determine what other cameras might give a better angle.
When Clara returned to her desk in the small squad room, he said, “I’ve got something.”
She plugged the charger cord into the outlet built into her desk and stepped behind Linc. He backed up the footage and replayed it, fast-forwarding to the highlights.
She let out a sigh. “We need to review other angles, but I’m going with this as a kidnapping. I’ll get a BOLO out on that van. Did you get the plate number?”
“A partial. Looks like they covered it with mud or something.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah. It’s also the most common make and color, but there’s a dent in the back bumper that could help identify it.”
“Good catch.” Clara picked up Regina’s phone. “She’s got message and voicemail notifications. I’ll ask the judge to expedite the warrant on the phone.”
“Or you can let me have a crack at unlocking it. You don’t need a warrant when it belongs to the victim.”
“Worth a shot, especially since it’s already been nearly twenty-four hours.” She handed Linc the phone.
He couldn’t use biometrics unless he could get her prints from something at Bri’s. Since it was a numbers pin code, he ruled out words. “What’s her birthday?”
“You think it’ll be that easy?” Clara opened Regina’s wallet and read off the date.
“Nope.” She’d never done anything to help Linc. He guessed she’d want something significant that she could remember. Next, he tried Bri’s birthday, then Jalen’s. Neither worked.
He tried to think like Regina. Clifton’s birthday? He might have been a disappointment, but he’d been her son. More than once, Mom had done a combined birthday cake for Linc and Clifton since their birthdays were only six days apart. After trying Clifton’s month, day, and year, he was locked out for the next minute.
“I’ll check footage from the bank opposite the grocery. They’ve got better cameras. What’s the time stamp on the van showing up?” Clara asked.
Linc gave her the time before trying the simple passcodes experts warned against using. He kept a list of the combos he tried. “Got it.” Four-five-six-seven. At least it wasn’t one-two-three-four.
He went to the text messages and opened the thread with Bri.
The resort is gorgeous. Thanks so much for watching Jalen so I could come. Tell him I miss him already.
She’d attached two pictures. One was of the beach, taken from the deck of their room, and didn’t include anything to identify the location. The other was a selfie of her blowing a kiss. He downloaded the images to Regina’s phone and checked the details on the chance that, despite his warnings about protecting Jalen, she’d enabled location tagging. She hadn’t. For once, he wished she’d bucked him.
Regina had three missed calls, all from a restricted number and in the space of about ten minutes yesterday afternoon. Possibly a debt collector or scammer. He hit the play button anyway. “It’s Bri!” he alerted Clara and restarted the message.
“Grams, it’s Bri.” She spoke softly and urgently. “I’m calling from another number because Tonya—she isn’t a friend—and I’m in trouble. She tried to trick me into smuggling drugs back into the States.”
Linc’s heart thumped against his ribcage. She wasn’t using—but this could be worse. So much worse.
“I told her I won’t do it. She’s locked up my passport and claims the police here are on the cartel’s payroll. I believe her. I don’t know how I’ll get out of here. She has pictures of Jalen outside his school and said she’d send her people there after him. I need you to pick him up now ! Take him someplace safe. Don’t go back to your house in Atlanta?—”
“What are you— you damn bitch . Give me my phone.”
It was the same voice as in the message Bri had left him. Angrier this time.
Based on the clank, the phone must have been knocked to the floor, and all he heard was grunts and banging.
Give her hell, Bri. Except Bri had never been a fighter.
“You’re a sneaky bitch.” Tonya’s voice got louder. “Who were you calling? Your brother’s deployed. He won’t come running to help. Your Grams? Right,” she taunted. “Hello. Hello? You just made things so much worse for yourself.” The message ended.
Fuck. This had become the worst-case scenario. Except Tonya was wrong. Linc had come. And he’d find Bri.
He didn’t have a number, and the phone was probably an untraceable burner. At least he had a name: Tonya. Whoever this woman was working with here had to be the one who took Regina. They hadn’t gotten Jalen. The rock in Linc’s gut grew to boulder size. “I need to get Jalen. Now .”
“I’ll send a patrol car to the school until you arrive,” Clara offered.
“Good idea. See what you can find on that van,” he requested then sprinted to the door.
He’d talked to Jalen’s teacher this morning when he dropped him off to let her know he would be the one picking up Jalen. They wouldn’t let anyone else take him, would they?
If Regina had answered or listened to the message, she would have taken precautions, though maybe they would have gotten Regina and Jalen.
What had they done to or with Regina? They might hurt her to motivate Bri to cooperate. Would they kill her? What were the chances they’d let her go?
Shit. How the hell would he protect Jalen and rescue Bri? With his team deployed, he was alone, with no idea where the hell in Mexico Bri even was.