Page 10 of Having HIs Back

C hapter S ix

Sometimes, it was amazing how time seemed to warp itself.

It could seem to fly—a blink and a week was gone, two blinks and a year had passed.

This was not one of those times. Everything seemed to take longer than it should, especially when he was waiting for test results that seemed lost in a bureaucratic queue for the last ten days.

“Can you help me get these tests bumped up?” Brian asked Captain Rogers as he stood in his doorway.

“I’ve already made a call this morning, and I made one yesterday. I keep getting the same damned answer: they will get to it. But there are other equally urgent cases in the line.” Even the captain was grinding his teeth at this one. “What else do you have?”

“Fuck all is what I have. This DNA is about all that the killer left. He seemed to know his way around and lured Caroline out to the garage. She definitely knew him, and if I can get this testing done, I can either eliminate my prime suspect or nail his ass to the wall.”

“What about the kid?” Sometimes, the captain could be a little too dispassionate, or maybe it was Brian who had lost some of his objectivity as far as Kerry, Henry, and Phillip were concerned.

Most nights, he lay awake, thinking of the promises he made to Kerry and hoping like hell he could deliver, just to see the man smile every now and then.

If anyone deserved some answers and closure, it was Kerry and those boys.

Brian stifled a growl. “Henry is six, and he’s a traumatized little boy who lost his mom and had his world turned upside down.

” Fuck it all to hell, he hated what they were going to have to do.

“We have a session booked with a child psychology center in two days, and we’re hoping that they can help him give words to what happened.

We’re not even sure he saw anything.” All he could do was pray that Henry might have information that could help them.

“But you think he did?” He picked up a file from his desk, like he was coming to the end of the topic.

“His uncle does, and I tend to as well.” He just wished they knew for sure, but in investigations like this, nothing was sure until it was proven. Sometimes, you had a to do a little fishing to find the answers you needed. He just wished it didn’t involve Henry.

“They aren’t going to hurt him, just try to get him to talk about what happened,” Captain Rogers said, rolling his eyes.

“No. They’re just going to ask him to talk about the morning his mother died.

” He thanked the captain for his help and left the office, checking the time before getting back to his cases.

He had other crimes to solve apart from this one, but the others hadn’t gotten under his skin like this one, and the others affected weren’t keeping him awake at night the way Kerry was.

He kept seeing those eyes in his mind as soon as he closed his eyes, and more than once, he’d wondered what Kerry’s full lips tasted like.

But there was not a damned thing he could do about any of the thoughts that raced through his head.

On top of terrible timing, Kerry was all turned around, and Brian knew that pursuing someone who had just lost their sister and found themselves as a new parent was the worst idea ever.

Still, none of that mattered to his mind and his heart.

Brian had just pulled his mind out of its hamster wheel when his phone rang. He snatched it off the desk. “Yeah.”

“Brian….”

He would recognize that voice in the middle of a hurricane. “Kerry. What’s wrong?”

“He’s trying to sue for custody of Phillip.” Kerry sounded breathless and panicked. “Charles Westerly served me with papers saying that Phillip is his son and that he wants custody of him.” He sounded as though he was about to completely lose it.

“Okay. Hold on. I’ll be over as soon as I can. Just be calm and let me look into this.” He grabbed the file and pulled it open. “In the meantime, you should look into a lawyer.”

“I think that asshole came to the funeral home so he could make sure Caroline was dead and then try to take Phillip. This whole thing is a mess, and I can’t let Phillip go with him. He just lost his mom, and now some stranger is going to try to take him away.”

“It’s okay. Just breathe, and let’s take things one step at a time.

Paperwork would have to be filed in family court, and I can make sure that they are aware that Charles is a person of interest that we have been trying to contact.

That will buy us some time, because they are going to want a resolution before they let anything move ahead.

I’ll be there just as soon as I can.” He ended the call and made another.

“Family Court Services, this is Linda.”

“Hey,” he said with a smile. “How are you?”

“Well….” She chuckled. “If it isn’t the man who used to pull my hair and call me names.” She laughed.

“As I recall, you gave it right back.” He and Linda grew up next door to one another.

“I need a favor. There’s a new case for custody of Phillip Sutherland.

Would have been filed in the last few days.

” He waited as she typed. “I know you can’t tell me much, and I don’t need you to.

Just wanted the court to know that the man pursuing the case is a person of interest in the murder of Phillip’s mother.

We’re waiting on DNA as well as other evidence. ”

She paused. “I see.”

“We’ve been trying to contact the father so we can speak with him, but he hasn’t seen fit to make himself available.”

“I’ll make a note in the case file so the legal staff is aware of the situation. You’ll need to contact us with a resolution.” She typed in the background.

“Thanks, Linda. I figured you all would want to know.”

Linda hummed a second while she continued working. “How did you know about this so quickly? Besides this being your case?” She seemed to be able to do two things at once.

“I got a call from the guardian of the children involved,” Brian answered her, cutting himself off from telling her anything further.

He and Linda went way back, but they were not drinking or even coffee buddies any longer.

Linda was good at her job, but outside of work, she tended to forget that she shouldn’t talk about things, and the last thing he wanted was anyone telling tales out of school.

It would be bad form and could get him into trouble if anyone suspected that his professional objectivity had gotten a little stretched. “Thank you for everything.”

“Be sure to keep us updated,” Linda told him, and Brian promised that he would and ended the call. He had done what he could and hurried out of the station.

Kerry was nearly frantic when he arrived.

Brian stepped inside, and Kerry wrapped him in a hug, pulling him close.

Without thinking, Brian closed his eyes and inhaled deep, taking in Kerry’s rich scent—tinged with soap and a touch of worry.

He returned the hug, knowing that Kerry needed comfort and reassurance.

But the hold quickly went beyond that, and Brian didn’t mind for a second.

His emotions were quickly getting pulled closer to Kerry and the boys.

He knew he should step away, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that.

“It’s going to be all right.” His professional judgment and feelings quickly jumbled into a kind of soup that he hoped to hell he was going to be able to sort out somehow…

maybe…. God, he was so screwed, because all he wanted to do was hold Kerry forever and keep all the bad things at bay.

The boys were outside playing, and when Kerry released him, he returned to watching through one of the windows. “How can they allow this to happen?” Kerry asked.

“I’m no expert on these sorts of things. I’m a cop. I solve crimes. Have you been in contact with a lawyer?”

“Not yet. The papers just arrived this morning.” He went to the coffee table and handed Brian the white envelope they came in. “I’m really not sure what I should do. The thought of Phillip going with someone he has never met, regardless of whether this guy is involved in Caroline’s death….”

“Do you have Caroline’s will where she names you as the children’s guardian?

” Brian asked, and Kerry nodded. “Then that’s your main weapon.

If Charlie hasn’t been in his kid’s life, and you can prove that you have, and that you as guardian was the mother’s wish, then I’d say you had a chance since Caroline had sole custody.

But I’m no expert, and you’ll need to get a lawyer. ”

“I will.”

“And I need to get this case resolved. If he is the one who killed Caroline, then that nullifies his claim, not least of all because he’ll be in prison, but you can’t benefit from murder. We need to find out what Henry saw… if anything.”

Kerry nodded. “I’ve been giving that some thought.

It’s best if things like this are done in a safe space, so I thought Henry and I could speak in his room.

I’ll contact Karen to see if she can watch Phillip for a few hours.

Then we’ll gently sit Henry down and ask him.

You can’t be in the room, but I’ll record the session, and you can listen from the hallway.

I know it isn’t ideal, but I don’t think we can wait. ”

Brian knew it would be best if it was done with cameras and stuff, but this latest development added an extra time crunch, and it wasn’t like they were going to put Henry on the stand. He just needed to know what he saw.

“Okay. Set up what you can. I need to make a few calls to the station.” He stepped out of the house to give Kerry a chance to set things up the way he wanted them. Brian reported to the captain about what he’d planned and checked in with Janine to see if anything had come in.

“No test results yet,” she told him. “When I called, they said that we should have results in a few days. What happened? You bugged out of here like a bat out of hell.”