Expired Getaway (Last Chance County #7) - Lisa Phillips Page 0,69
strode out.
Aiden nodded and pulled on a pair of gloves. He walked around the room and looked for anything immediate he’d need to secure. Or evidence. The first impression of a crime scene was always a key piece of evidence later, and he would be required to write detailed notes.
“Okay, he’s getting me all the info he has on this guy. Our bowling alley manager.”
“Good.” Aiden’s phone rang. “It’s Basuto.”
Jess shrugged. “I guess he’s on this case tonight.”
Aiden stared at the room as he answered the phone. “Before you ask, yes, we do think it’s one of the OD cases we’ve been seeing lately.”
“I’m on my way, but I haven’t left yet.”
Something caught his attention. “I found a phone. I’ll see if it’s locked and take a look.”
“You need to take a lunch.”
“We’re good here.” Even if Jess had decided to tell the sergeant where Aiden’s head was at right now, that didn’t mean he needed special treatment. They weren’t due for their break for at least two hours.
“A woman came in. Bridget Meyers. She asked to speak with you.”
His stomach clenched. “Kind of in the middle of something.”
It was possible she only wanted to speak with him to inform him she was taking him to court to get custody of Sydney. A judge would—he hoped—not tear a child from the only parent she’d ever known. But they might award her mother shared custody. A fifty/fifty split.
Not exactly what he wanted, especially when it was clear his feelings for Bridget were still there. More mature. More responsible. More passionate. She was amazing, and he wanted her in his life. To help her through the grief and betrayal and rediscover what they were to each other. He wanted more than just the few minutes it would take to hand off Sydney.
God, this is what I want. Not just because we have a child. Last time they’d made a mess of the relationship. This time it could be a real God-thing. The kind Conroy talked about all the time.
Maybe they were too far past that ever being a possibility. The obstacles between them seemed insurmountable—and he wasn’t even accounting for the inherent dangers going on right now.
“She insists.”
Aiden wanted to squeeze the bridge of his nose, but that would require removing his glove. “Tell her I’ll be at Hollis’s diner in an hour.”
“Copy that. And I’ll see you soon, so maintain the scene.”
“Will do, Sergeant.” Aiden hung up.
“What was that about?”
He swung around. Jess lifted both hands. “Whoa. Easy.”
“I have a lunch date in an hour.”
“Bridget?”
He nodded.
“Wow.”
Aiden lifted the phone from the carpet beside the bed. By the look of it, someone should’ve vacuumed several weeks ago. But he tried not to judge that stuff when he saw it, since he’d been the recipient of all that the church ladies had offered him when they first discovered a nineteen-year-old with a newborn.
When to change the sheets on a bed. How to make lasagna. When to clean a toilet. Where to store things. Baby proofing. Then there were the thousand child-related things. They’d resorted to weekly lessons until he could’ve passed as a fifties housewife any day of the week—just without the floral dress, thanks.
Still, even with all that had gained him—a clean house, a healthy child. It never got him what he really wanted.
A complete family.
He knew people lived without that “normal” every day. Either by circumstances or by choice. God had blessed the two of them. It hadn’t been bad being by himself with Sydney. There had simply been something missing the whole time.
Now that Bridget was back, and he knew the truth of what’d happened to her, he knew why he’d always had that hole in his life.
God could give her back to them. Not just Sydney, but him too.
The question was, would He do it?
Aiden scrolled through the phone’s message and call history, then the contact list. He came up with a few possible ideas for who the dealer might be. Hopefully that would lead them to the source of the drugs. But it still didn’t make sense. Why take out your customer base? No one selling drugs wanted to get rid of those who bought them. There had to be another reason.
Someone else had tainted the drugs being sold, and likely, the dealer was unaware.
Or they weren’t random but targeted deaths. Revenge. Money. Passion. Whatever the reason, they’d get to the bottom of it.