Page 30 of Lost and Found

Bailey’s heart pounded. She’d offered him a simple handshake over lunch. A promise to stay in touch. That’s all it was. Except as his warm, steady grip held, she was spellbound until Wes pulled his hand away.

She grabbed her fork and quickly dug into her lunch again. Reacting to a man like Wes was simple biology. There was absolutely nothing to read into it.

“Are you seeing anyone?” he asked.

She could read into that question, though. Bailey set down her fork and cracked a tortilla chip in half. Her hands were steadier than she expected, given the butterflies doing jumping jacks in her stomach. “Why?”

He half-laughed. “Just making conversation. Not to mention, men cause most of the problems that you podcast about. We’ve assumed Caitie’s killer wants you to zip your lips. But maybe you have a boyfriend who wants to scare you out of a job and into his arms.”

She dipped half a tortilla chip in salsa and pressed the other half on top. “If I didn’t know how devious and manipulative some guys could be, I’d say that was nuts. But almost half of women experience psychological aggression by a partner in their lifetime, and two-thirds were stalked by someone they’ve been intimate with.” Bailey popped the chips into her mouth. “My job has led me to understand the dark realities that exist. As I’m sure your job has too.”

Wes paused his fajita wrapping as she spouted statistics, then gave her a look that said he still wanted to know more.

She struggled to keep her personal thoughts to herself when those emerald eyes locked onto her. “I’m not dating anyone. I haven’t seriously—or even all that unseriously—since Ryan.”

Her cell phone chirped, reminding her to pick up Matt from camp at three. She silenced it and knew she needed to tell Wes about her son. Matt wasn’t a secret, but she had kept her private life separate from the podcast. Being online and producing content where she spoke directly to strangers had made her fear conflating her two worlds. She had nothing to fear with Wes.

Tomorrow would be a better time to mention Matt. Certainly not after he’d shared that his fiancée left him. One major revelation per meal seemed like a good rule.

Bailey took a final bite of her chimichanga and waited as the waitress cleared their table. “I heard back from Caitie’s roommates. They both agreed to record interviews for the podcast. The one who lives in Washington state was easy to schedule. The other in New Jersey was much harder, but she’s willing to talk.”

“New Jersey isn’t too far.”

“She agreed to arrange a date to meet with her and go through mementos she’d saved from college. Mostly pictures. I can record the interview in person.” Bailey paused, not having planned out what she was about to suggest. “Vivian said you would travel with me for interviews. Is that a problem?”

Wes signed the lunch receipt and put his credit card back in his wallet. “I’m all yours for whatever you need. Including road trips.”

A road trip with Wes. The butterflies in her stomach fluttered back to life. She needed to pull herself together and act like the professional she was.

They left the restaurant. Bailey slipped on her sunglasses and searched for Erick’s Mercedes G-Wagon but didn’t find her brother-in-law or his judgmental glare hovering nearby.

“You’re looking for Erick,” Wes said.

“Am I that obvious?”

“You’re that smart.”

The sun beat down on them as they crossed the hot parking lot. “Erick took Ryan’s death like an assignment to watch over his brother’s widow.” And nephew, but that wasn’t a conversation for today. “He’s disgusted that I never immersed myself in Cosgrove culture.”

“Erick’s a control freak.”

“And a pompous ass used to getting his way,” Bailey agreed.

Wes pulled his phone out of his pocket as they stepped onto the sidewalk. He glanced at the screen. “It’s Dean. Give me a second.”

They stopped under the coffee shop’s canopy. He answered the call, and she sat at a café table, but after a moment, Wes beckoned her up. “He has an update. Let’s go upstairs, and I’ll put him on speakerphone.”

They entered the office, and the cool rush of air conditioning wrapped around her as she took her place at the table. Wes sat across from her and placed his phone in the center of the table. She and Dean exchanged quick pleasantries before he got down to business. “I have a theory about the picture you received yesterday.”

“A theory?” Her eyebrows arched.

Wes nodded as if this was good news.

“I’ve analyzed the photo, and the angles don’t line up for the picture to have been taken from inside your house.”

Bailey toyed with her bottom lip, remembering how she couldn’t recreate the viewpoint when she peered out the living room window. “But the doorbell camera didn’t pick up someone walking in front of my house.”

“I think it was a drone,” Dean said. “One with a camera. It wouldn’t trigger a doorbell camera to record. Anyone can buy one online, and the off-duty officer in their vehicle would have to be looking right at it to catch a glimpse. Piloting those drones doesn’t take much skill. Only a few practice runs to avoid the trees and get the hang of it.”