I hate feeling this helpless.
“What the hell do I do, Becky?”
My sister forces a smile. “How about you bring her favorite coffee and a sweet treat to her as an apology for acting like a possessive ass?”
“Worried,” I correct.
Becky chuckles, this time for real. “Worried, possessive, it’s all the same.”
When I get back to the station, I find Jenkins standing next to Nico’s desk, their heads close together as they discuss something quietly. Nico’s grim expression as he nods to whatever Jenkins told him gives me a bad feeling.
I place Jessica’s drink on my desk just as Jenkins pulls back. His gaze finds mine. There’s that twitch in his jaw as he presses his lips together.
“Brought you your coffee,” I tell Nico, handing him one of the cups from the holder.
“I guess it’s good you got it to-go. Let’s hit the road.”
“Where are we going?”
“I have a special task for you two,” Jenkins mutters, grabbing the last coffee from the holder—my coffee—and taking a long sip. “You didn’t have to, Williams.” He shifts his gaze to Nico. “Keep me posted, Rivera. And…”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
Jenkins nods and goes back to his office. I turn back to Nico and mutter, “Fucker stole my coffee.”
“I think he might be starting to like you.” Nico shakes his head, his gaze darting to the coffee on the desk. “You might want to bring that.”
“We’re going to the medical center. Why?”
“Gotta check something out.”
I grab Jessica’s gift, refusing to call it an apology. Whether what my sister said is true or not, I refuse to apologize for wanting to keep her safe.
“Are you going to tell me what this is all about? Or are you planning on keeping me in the dark?” I ask once we slide into the cruiser.
“Jenkins got a call about a possible missing person,” Nico mutters, tossing me his phone. I turn it around and look at the picture of the young woman on the screen.
The woman is probably around my age, maybe a little younger. The picture is of her and an older couple, who I’m assuming are her parents. She has long, light-brown hair and brown eyes. Pretty smile. None of them look familiar, though.
“A missing person?”
“Yeah.” Nico starts the engine and gets on the road. “Andrea Porter, twenty-two. She’s doing a road trip, and the last her parents heard from her was almost two days ago. She’s been traveling on her own for a couple of weeks now.”
“But they haven’t heard from her since Thursday?”
“Nope.”
“Are they sure she’s missing? I mean, maybe she got sidetracked or something.”
“Her parents claim that she usually calls or texts them at least once a day, and the last check-in was on Thursday morning when she told them she made it to Bluebonnet Creek.”
“She could have already left,” I point out, trying to explore all the options.
Technically, anybody could file a missing person report, though if that person isn’t suffering from some illness or isn’t a minor, there is little we can do without an imminent threat to them. She’s an adult, and even though she might have a habit of calling her parents once a day, it doesn’t mean she has to do itevery day. Maybe she forgot or she got busy. Maybe she didn’t charge her phone or it was broken. There are so many possibilities.
I glance at Nico. “Is there a reason for concern?”
“Besides it being unusual? Nope. But Jenkins still wants us to look into it.Quietly. Try to see if we can find out anything about her.”
