Page 103 of Lost and Found

Bailey pulled over in front of the bakery and spotted Wes. He didn’t have as much to bring back as she’d hoped.

“You didn’t find anything else from Jennifer Yang?” Bailey asked when he climbed in.

“Nothing that you mentioned.”

A nagging feeling wouldn’t leave Bailey alone as she pulled into traffic. “Why do you think Jennifer agreed to meet with us but was so hard to schedule?”

“Most people don’t want to be part of an investigation. Especially when it was someone they were close with.”

“True.” She merged onto the highway. “Do you feel like there’s something else, and we’re missing it?”

“It’s all the cameras. Titan has designed a lot of security plans, but nothing that looks like that.”

“Why not?”

“Overlaps in the field of vision. A lot of expensive, unneeded hardware. I think she designed it herself.”

“Maybe we should see if she wants to talk again. We can call her now.”

“No harm in trying.” Wes navigated her contacts until her Bluetooth picked up the call to Jennifer. Her voicemail picked up.

At the tone, Bailey said, “This is Bailey Cosgrove. I wanted to check if anything else had come to mind since we last spoke. Maybe we could get together again. We could come to you or meet you where you feel comfortable.” She hesitated. “I think we’re close. Just want you to know that. If we can figure this out, we can all move on.” She ended the call as they crossed the Potomac River. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said that last part.”

“You said what you needed to. She’ll call back.”

She drove to Penn Quarter and parked in a public garage full of tourists and commuters. They walked the block to the address Dean had found and arrived at the posh building.

“A million-dollar apartment.” Wes let out a low whistle. “Not my cup of tea.”

She could have guessed that given how much he liked Granite Creek. “I need trees and a backyard.” And Wes, but that was too much to say.

“I need a neighborhood and my teammates.”

And her. But that was too much to wish he’d say. “I wish I had friends like your teammates. I sort of lost that when Ryan died and my attention focused on Matt. I mean, I still have friends, but it’s different. I know more about Matt’s friends’ parents than I do about the people who I still think of as my best friends.” She hadn’t realized that until now. “It was like, one day, we were all at happy hours; the next, my friends were emailing me gift cards for meal trains while I grieved. Then the baby shower. Imagine all of the Cosgroves’ formality while celebrating a pregnancy. It was somber.”

“I’m sorry you had that experience.”

“Life is so far out of our control.” Six years ago, everything was different. Hell, even a month ago, her world looked very different. Wes Wilder redefined her future, though she’d only get to the happily ever after when they figured out who was bothering her and Matt, and who had killed Caitie.

Was Wes her happily ever after? Of course he was. He had known it before she had. They would be together. As a family.

“You okay?” he asked. “You have a funny look on your face.”

She moistened her lips and pulled a deep breath. “Just taking it all in.”

They watched a woman in a skirt suit swipe a key fob to enter the building. “How are we going to get inside? It’s not like that key will get us into the lobby.”

“You’re right.” Wes tossed up his hands. “There’s no easy way inside. Let’s go meet up with Matt.”

“No.” She elbowed him. “I’m going in with or without you.”

Wes grumbled. “Feel free to change your mind any time.”

“Roger that, big guy.”

He laughed. “Let’s walk around and see what we find.”

They walked down a side alley and found a private parking garage with a metal-grate door that kept anyone without a pass out. The same went for service entrances. They returned to the building’s front. They’d dressed to fit in with DC professionals, but the sun was starting to bake her blouse. What Bailey wouldn’t do for a breezy maxi dress. “No one’s entering or exiting without a fob. What do you want to do?”