I are, or will be, with each other. I have to navigate the two of them having a relationship. And they’ve never even met.”
He pulled over in front of the house. Behind a pickup that presumably belonged to the manager of the property, or the owner, who’d called it in.
“Sorry.” Jess unclipped her seatbelt. “But you are going to figure this out.”
He pushed open the car door. “I hope so.”
They hit the front walk together, and he ran it down in his head. Owner called the non-emergency line. Failure to pay rent, so he wanted to go inside and talk to the tenant. See if there was a problem. Start the process of eviction by informing them of his intentions.
Aiden understood why the man wanted an escort. Desperate people could react in a lot of different ways. It could be completely peaceful, or they could end up having to arrest someone.
Jess led the way inside, and the owner followed behind Aiden. Working usually served to calm whatever was restless in him. Tonight he hadn’t gotten the usual stress reprieve, and since it was barely six in the evening, they still had hours left on their shift. Hours spent out in the dark, where he would try and work toward redemption—if only in the eyes of those who put their trust in him.
He’d let down everyone in his life. Becoming a police officer had been a move designed to give him that sense of honor he hadn’t felt outside of being Sydney’s father. A chance to be good, instead of just trying to convince himself he was good—when he didn’t feel like it at all.
God wasn’t likely to argue with hard work, was He? After all, He’d given Aiden the strength to do it. The drive to be a “good” Christian or at least an authentic one instead of a hypocrite.
Like his father.
Aiden pushed out a breath and shoved the thoughts aside. No matter that his father wasn’t perfect, lots of people had much worse parents. He’d simply seen a difference between what his dad said and what he’d done. Professing one thing, but clearly believing differently.
That hypocrisy had kept him from church for a long time until he realized his old man’s faith life didn’t have to impact his own. Aiden had found a relationship with God for himself. For the man Sydney’s father needed to be, to teach her that perfection wasn’t the standard. After all, it was unattainable. What she needed to be was humble. Kind. Upright. As good as they could be with what they were given.
“Ugh.”
He glanced at Jess just as the smell hit him. Aiden turned to the owner and held up a hand. “If you could wait outside.”
“What is it?”
“Step outside. One of us will return in a minute.” Aiden unsnapped his gun for precaution, and they cleared the rooms in the house. Walked through each one while they worked to find the source of the smell.
“In here.”
At the bedroom door, Aiden peered over her shoulder. “Yep.” He reached for his radio and called in the deceased man to dispatch, so they would, in turn, inform the sergeant. Basuto could figure out getting the medical examiner, and possibly a detective, to process everything and get the paperwork done.
“This seems familiar.”
“All the overdoses?” He skimmed his gaze over the man’s jeans. Bare upper body, distended belly. Disheveled hair and the first growth of a beard, as though it had been a few days since he’d shaved. Aside from his physical features, there were not many signs of drug use. Just the paraphernalia he never would’ve come across in his life if he hadn’t been a police officer.
“It does fit what we’ve seen so far. But…”
“What?”
“This guy.” Aiden realized. “It’s the manager we met from the bowling alley.”
“Oh, you’re right.”
Aiden grasped his radio and updated dispatch. That meant a detective would be sent, if this was tied to other open cases and could prove to not be an accidental death. A man connected to another death. To what he’d seen at the bowling alley.
If these proved to be murders, that would be huge.
Savannah was on vacation with Tate and they were with Millie and Eric’s kids. Protected. The way Sydney was not. Aiden dismissed that unhelpful thought. He didn’t need to push his daughter off on someone else just to make sure she was safe.
That was his job.
And plenty of cops in this town could investigate in Savannah’s absence.
“I’m gonna go talk to the owner.” Jess