Finding Bailey: A Lake Tahoe Romantic Suspense Novel

by Dana Mason

  He stared at her as if he had no idea what to say next, but she thought maybe he had at least heard her this time. When the lights shifted, she turned back toward the stage—and Ryan. He approached the piano and started the melody he’d been tinkering around with the last few months. Goosebumps traveled up her arms, and she tried to rub them away. God…his eyes on her… She didn’t know how much more she could take. But she was happy she could finally hear the lyrics he’d been working on. He started slow, then picked it up before the first verse.

  It’s true; I’m clean

  I’ve kept it covered, my dirty secret

  But now I’m bare, naked, exposed

  I’ve found me out, for you

  Denial’s been my saving grace, my soiled heart hides

  I’ve wiped the slate, cleared a space, and now I’m clean

  Bailey sucked in a deep breath. She didn’t think she could sit there and listen to any more of the song. He closed his eyes, his expression so intense, she felt it seep into her skin. He leaned in, almost embracing the piano as he played, his lithe body tilted forward, emotion pouring out with every expression.

  She tried to pay attention to the lyrics, but her thoughts lingered on everything else about Ryan. The sound of his voice, the way his eyebrows drew in as he sang, the twinkle in his eyes when they met hers.

  It’s true; I’m clean

  I’ve kept it covered, my dirty secret

  But, baby, now I’m bare, stripped, showing

  I’ve found me out, for you

  Piles of clutter and lies buried my truth

  I’ve wiped the slate, cleared a space, and now I’m clean

  Bailey stared at him, completely dumbfounded. She turned to Dex and said, “I’ll be right back. I need some air.”

  The truth was, she knew this was the end of Ryan’s set. He’d be walking off the stage in a few minutes, and she needed to think for a moment before she talked to him.

  Outside, the quiet evening was growing dark. She leaned against the building, taking in a deep lungful of air. When her phone pinged in her purse, she pulled it out to see that she had a voice message.

  She hit the button to retrieve the message then held the phone to her ear. When it finished, she dialed the number back. “Chief Harper, hello, it’s Bailey Morton returning your call. Sorry if it’s too late. I didn’t consider the time difference.”

  “No problem, Bailey. I’m glad you called me back so quickly. I did some research, and I have an avenue I think you should explore.”

  “I’d love to hear it.”

  “The FBI has a DNA database for missing persons. The National Crime Information Center manages the database. It’s a long shot. A lot of smaller agencies don’t even know this exists. Hell, I didn’t know until yesterday.”

  “Anything would help at this point.”

  “The database was created to match up found human remains with missing persons. The FBI encourages anyone with a missing loved one to submit their DNA. I’m thinking there may be some extended family, grandparents, or someone out there looking. I don’t know. It just seems like it’s worth exploring, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up.”

  “I think it’s a great idea. What do I have to do to get on the database?”

  “I emailed the information to the address on your business card. I already made you an appointment for Monday after next. Bring the completed paperwork with you.”

  “Chief Harper, thank you so much for all your help.”

  “When you were a baby, I did everything I could to search out your family. That includes scouring missing person reports. I honestly don’t think you’re going to find long lost relatives out there looking for you. But it’s worth the effort, I think.”

  “Yeah, but there’s a possibility that, if my mother was strung out, she could be remorseful now and want to know what happened to me?”

  “Anything is possible.”

  “I’ll do it! I’ll submit my DNA next Monday. If this pans out, we’ll come to Wisconsin and buy you dinner.”

  “I hope that happens. I’d love to see you find what you’re looking for.”

  * * *

  When Ryan played the last song of the set, he felt the dread of having to walk off stage and face Bailey with Dex. He looked out the tall windows and saw the dock bar was crowded. He’d planned his escape route already, knowing Bailey would be looking for him at the main bar and not outside. He finished the song without addressing the crowd, then turned to the guys and said, “Fifteen minutes.”

  “Only fifteen?” Ben said. “What’s up with you?”

  “Fine,” Ryan growled. “How much time do you want?”

  “Twice that.”

  “Whatever—half an hour.” Ryan stepped out the side door and walked around the building toward the dock. As he approached the back door, it opened, and he was face-to-face with Bailey.

  She grabbed his upper arms and said, “I need to talk to you.”

  He felt a little off-kilter and confused. Not fully ready to explain himself to her. “Bailey, I—”

  Her eyes grew wide with excitement, “Chief Harper called me. Let’s go to the office.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him behind her. When they entered the office, Bailey dropped into the desk chair and logged into the computer without a word. When she finally turned to talk to him, someone pounded on the office door, startling Ryan.

  As he jumped to get the door, Bailey said, “Chief Harper said he’d send me what I need in an email.”

  “What the hell?” Dex asked, lifting his hands in question.

  “I got a call from Chief Harper,” Bailey said, as if Dex would know who that was.

  Dex looked between the two of them and said, “Who the fuck is Chief Harper?”

  Bailey rolled her eyes and looked at Dex. “He was the first responding officer when my parents found me. He investigated my abandonment.”

  “All right, already,” Ryan bellowed, now impatient. “What did he say?”

  “The FBI has a DNA database,” Bailey said. “They use it to match human remains with missing persons.”

  “Human remains…” Dex sneered. “That’s so gross, and what the hell does that have to do with you?”

  “If anyone with your DNA has submitted DNA in hopes of finding you,” Ryan said, ignoring Dex, “and if you submit DNA—”

  “Yes,” Bailey said, her smile widening. “It’s a long shot, but anything would help, right?”

  “That’s fucking ridiculous,” Dex said, throwing his hands up. “You were abandoned. Why would anyone come looking for you?”

  It took all Ryan’s strength not to call him a knucklehead. “Grandparents, aunts and uncles, any extended family. Since we don’t know the circumstances in which she was abandoned, any scenario is possible.”

  Bailey jumped up and down. “Oh, my God, I’m so excited! Harper said he’d email the information to me. We have an appointment a week from Monday at the FBI office.”

  “Bailey.” Ryan’s heart clenched in his chest, and he looked up at Dex. Their expressions must have matched. If she didn’t get answers from this, it could crush her. “Bailey, please don’t get your hopes up here. This is a long shot.”

  “No, kidding,” Dex said. “This is complete bullshit. It’s never going to work. You’re really reaching here.”

  “No, I feel good about this,” Bailey said.

  “Stop!” Ryan nearly shouted it. “Stop and think about this, Bay. If someone was looking for their missing baby, why didn’t they find you?”

  Bailey’s smiled collapsed. “I don’t know, but…I’m optimistic. What’s wrong with that?”

  “Nothing, if you’re also being realistic about it.” Ryan stared into her eyes, praying she understood. “You could submit your DNA and never hear anything. You could submit your DNA and not hear something for twenty years. Be prepared for anything.”

  She nodded and gave him a somber look. “Okay, fine. I won’t get my hopes up.” But then her sm
ile formed again as if she couldn’t help it. “But I’m still so happy to have something to look forward to.”

  Ryan couldn’t keep himself from smiling, too. She was adorable. “It’s going to be a long ten days.”

  “I can’t believe this. You’re actually going to do this?” Dex shouted. “Jesus, this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Bailey, don’t do this.”

  “Of course I’m doing it. Why wouldn’t I?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at them both. “Why would you?” Dex said, “If you’re happy with your life, then why are you still searching for the scumbags who left you to die?”

  “If you didn’t know about your family, you’d want to, wouldn’t you?” Ryan asked.

  “And what the fuck, Ryan? I thought we had a deal not to encourage this.”

  “What?” Bailey asked. “What deal?”

  “Just today, Ryan agreed not to encourage you to continue with the search because it isn’t safe for you.”

  “Wait…” Her eyes focused on Ryan. “You guys talked about this today?” Her horrified glare switched between them. “You’re scheming behind my back? Making deals and—”

  “Bailey, it’s not like that,” Ryan said, holding his hand out to calm her down.

  “The fuck it’s not,” Dex said, “We even shook hands on it.”

  “Excuse me, but since when is it okay for you two to make decisions for me, and about me, without my consent?” She pointed to Dex. “You’re not my boyfriend.” Then she pointed to Ryan. “And neither are you.”

  “We’re just trying to save you from being hurt,” Dex said.

  “How ironic. The asshole who can’t show up for a date and the other asshole who can’t openly talk about his feelings are trying to keep me from being hurt?” She stepped between them and reached for the office door. “News flash, I don’t need saving! Go to hell—both of you!” Then she stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  When Bailey entered the house, it was dark. She clicked the entry light on and looked around, feeling a little tense at being there alone. Of course, that pissed her off since she’d grown up in the house and had never, ever felt scared to be there alone. She shook off the feeling and dashed into the living room. She wanted to get in and out before Ryan got home—not that he’d be home any time soon since it was Friday night, and he was obligated to play another two sets at the club.

  After receiving that call from Chief Harper, she was more determined than ever to find out where she came from, and if that meant she had to do it alone, she would. There was more to this story. Something happened. Something more than her father finding her in the snow, and her Uncle Patrick knew what that something was. With everything that had happened, and now having her mother’s scrapbooks stolen, she couldn’t pretend it was something as simple as a teenage pregnancy and an abandoned baby.

  She’d stored all the letters in a manila envelope and left them in her apartment, but when she didn’t find them there, she thought they had to still be in her mother’s desk. So much had happened in the few days before leaving for Wisconsin, she was starting to question what she’d done with them. She pulled the drawer open, but it was empty.

  Damn it. Where were they?

  Maybe Ryan looked through them again. She stood and rushed upstairs and into his room. When she hit the light switch, she was surprised to see that he’d done a lot of unpacking. She couldn’t believe how organized and clean his room was. She looked around but didn’t see the envelope.

  Okay, where next? She turned quickly and ran into her mother’s room. They had to be there somewhere. She flipped open the trunk, which was now nearly empty, but they weren’t there. Shit! Did someone steal her letters? Would someone do that? If they’d steal the scrapbooks, they’d definitely steal the letters. She plopped down on her mother’s bed and threw her head back.

  Fucking hell, now what?

  She sat there for a long moment, trying to jog her memory, but she was sure they were gone, damn it. She got up and pounded down the stairs and back out the front door. What else could she do but search her apartment again?

  Before she had her key inserted into the lock, her front door swung open with a swoosh.

  “Hey, babe.”

  “Dex, what the hell are you doing in my apartment?”

  He grinned at her as if he hadn’t been there without her permission. “You gave me a key a few weeks ago. Remember?”

  “I also broke up with you. That means you’re no longer allowed to use the key. I didn’t think I had to worry about changing the locks.”

  “Why are you acting like this?”

  “Because you’ve intruded into my space after I broke up with you. I have every right to question you. You shouldn’t even be here.”

  “We didn’t get a chance to talk at El Lago.”

  “Actually, we did. I was very clear about my feelings, and then I told you to go to hell. You really don’t listen to me, do you?”

  Bailey stepped past him and into the apartment as he closed the door behind her, then she focused on him, and everything was so clear to her. She didn’t have to do this. She didn’t have to put up with his shit. She didn’t owe Dex anything—not even the chance to talk. He was rude, abrasive, and demanding. Why did it take her so long to see this? To realize what a complete douchebag he was?

  He wasn’t what she wanted. And why should she settle for anything less than what she wanted? Why settle for anything less than everything she wanted?

  “Listen, Dex, before you say anything else, I need to tell you something.” She paused, knowing what she was about to tell him would drive a permanent wedge between them. But even as she thought this, she realized she didn’t really care. “You stood me up on the Fourth of July.”

  “Yeah,” he said, nodding his head. “I know, but I’ve already apologized for that.”

  She shook her head. “Listen to me, Dex, I slept with someone else that night.”

  He exhaled and shook his head, his body stiffening. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying I’ve already moved on. When you didn’t show up on the Fourth of July, I went out on Ryan’s boat with him…alone.”

  “Ryan?” Bailey watched the heat travel up his neck and into his face. “All the insisting you did about being just friends, I knew it was bullshit,” he sneered. “There’s no way a man and a woman can be friends without sleeping together. I knew he wanted you, but you insisted I was wrong.”

  “None of that matters. I can’t be with you, regardless of Ryan. This isn’t going to work. I’m sorry.”

  “Just like that, huh?”

  “I don’t owe you anything. You didn’t care about my feelings until I was no longer available to you. You weren’t concerned with hurting me until I’d given up on you and moved on.”

  “No, it just took losing you to figure out what I wanted.”

  “And it took losing you to figure out what I wanted. A long-distance relationship where I’m on the bottom of your priority list is not what I want. I want to be cherished, and you don’t cherish me. You don’t respect me. You don’t care about what I want or what I love.”

  “And you think Ryan does?”

  “This isn’t about Ryan. This is about you and me. I’ve put up with being your vacation fling for far too long. I can do better than that, and I want more than that.”

  “Bailey, I know! That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to tell you all night.”

  “You’re too late, Dex!” She paced the room for a moment, trying to be firm but kind. “If you would listen to me, you’d know what I’ve been trying to tell you all night. There isn’t anything you can say that will change my mind. I no longer want this relationship.”

  He stepped closer to her. “I apologized for standing you up, and I’m telling you I’m ready to make a commitment to you. What more do you want?”

  “I want more than you have to offer. I would rather be single an
d alone than be with someone who isn’t everything to me, or I to him.”

  He leaned forward and got right in her face. “I hope you mean that because once I walk out that door, I’m not coming back.”

  Bailey fought to maintain eye contact. He was big and burly, and, for the first time since she’d known him, he frightened her. She didn’t back down, though, and she wouldn’t.

  He breathed heavily through his nose for a second, then turned away. “Fine. You got it, Bailey, and now you have to live with the consequences.”

  She fought to restrain her sigh of relief when the apartment door slammed shut behind him. She wrapped her arms around her chest to suppress a shudder. “You’ve done it now, Bailey.” She turned to face her empty apartment, taking a minute to get her bearings and shake off the adrenaline rush that always accompanied conflict.

  She lowered herself onto the couch and scanned the room, her mind returning to the missing letters. When her eyes rested on the snow globe sitting on the bookcase, she stared at it, her mind drifting to when her mother had given it to her.

  A pair of sparrows sat inside on a sturdy branch. Sparked by the memory, she walked over and picked it up, automatically shaking it. White snow surrounded the sparrows. As a child, Bailey had wondered how these delicate creatures could survive such harsh conditions. Her mother smiled when Bailey asked the question. She had smiled so broadly, it made Bailey smile back. “Even the tiniest of creatures warrant the safekeeping of God.” Bailey wiped a tear from her cheek as she remembered her mother’s words. “You are the sparrow, Bailey. Small, yet mighty, joyful, diligent, creative, beautiful. You are proof that to be heard, one does not need the loudest voice.”

  You are the sparrow, Bailey.

  It made so much more sense now that Bailey knew the truth about her parents. A small, helpless baby abandoned in the snow would need God’s protection, and God had provided for them both. Her mother was given a child, and Bailey had been given a mother. Delivered from God Himself were the words Helen had spoken to her sister that night.