Love in the Shadows

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Yet, not close enough.

I sighed with regret as I took a step back, stiffening my spine and moving towards the Chief's door only to stop at the sound of footsteps. "Lucy, Sam."

"Hey, Uncle Jet." Jet took us both in, standing outside the office and shook his head.

"Please tell me he's not peacocking?" We both laughed as his uncle shook his head at the secretary. "Really, Belinda. You let him do this?"

She shook her head and shrugged, obviously having no control.

Jet's eyes took on a serious tone. "Sorry, after yesterday, I thought I had convinced him that we shouldn't need anyone to take over. That we should be working this case."

He sighed. "I'd imagine Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee in there got to him. Let me get you in there."

He moved to knock but his hand slowed as we were interrupted by the ringing of my phone. My eyes cut to the Halifax Nova Scotia heading and number flashing on my phone and then made contact with Sam's. "This'll be about Luke Harrington. I'm going to take it outside."

I turned but then looked back at Jet, "Looks like they're saved by the bell, for the moment anyway."

I hit the green button to answer. "You've reached Lucy Baylor. Hold for a moment please." I touched the silencing button, to mute our conversation and asked Sam, "Do you have my description of the attackers this morning?"

Sam pulled out his little notebook, tapping it. "All in here."

"Perfect." I pointed at him. "Why don't you go talk to the officer on duty and see if my descriptions match anything that they might know. We'll give your dad a little more time, while we dig around."

I stopped in front of Jet to murmur a quick, "Thank you anyway", before making my way out into the sunlight, ready to connect with the East Coast.

I unmuted before apologising, "Sorry about the wait."

A slightly raspy, but undoubtedly female voice responded. "No problem. Good morning, this is Sergeant Rihanna Jenkins, returning your call?"

"Thanks for getting back to me. My name's Lucy Baylor and I work for a special crimes task force outside of Toronto."

Rihanna laughed lightly, "Oh, I know. I looked up your name when I saw what you were asking for. I heard you have a possible match on the last piece of clothing seen by one of my missing persons?"

I pulled the phone away from my ear for a second and thanked the policing gods, up above. It appeared that I landed someone who knew what the fuck she was doing.

Wanting to show her the same efficiency she was showing me, I summed it up. "Could very well be a reach, because we're so far out, but it flagged that Luke Harrington was last seen, wearing a pair of white or air Jordan's, size 12." I could hear her hmmm and took it for a positive affirmation. I opened my mouth to explain further but paused as my eyes caught Sam and Jet walking out of the station together. "One second."

Sam handed me his truck keys. "Sylvie Lawson didn't show up for work this morning. Her business partner called it in, and said she felt something was off last night when they talked. We're going to head over now to check things out. We figured, I'd ride with Uncle Jet and I didn't want to leave you without a vehicle."

Shit.

"Will you message me when you've talked to them?"

He nodded, his hand giving my shoulder a squeeze and I took a breath as I watched them rush down the stairs and into the parking lot.

One thing at a time, Lucy.

I refocused on the conversation at hand. "Sorry about that. Okay so a couple nights ago, we were canvassing for a missing person here in Lake Ridge, a teenage girl. We found one Air Jordan, white, size twelve."

"Shit. I'm sorry about your girl. Look, I'll share whatever information I have." I could hear a deep sigh through the phone. "I know that we don't always find them but the ones we don't find, they never sit right and this one has hung over my head. I'd love some closure."

Not closure for his family, for her?

I couldn't ignore the lapse, it felt telling. "I can't help but notice you didn't mention that his family would want closure?"

Her speech sped up, trying to explain. "Him and his family were on the outs. We couldn't find any signs of foul play... I'm sure they would want closure, as well."

The similarities nagged at me. "Please share everything that you have and I'll keep you in the loop. I appreciate your time and effort, Officer Jenkins."

I hung up the phone and put it in the back pocket of my jeans. I aggressively rubbed at my arms, staring at the now empty parking spot and trying to soothe the goosebumps that were standing at attention.

What the fuck was going on here?