Finding Bailey: A Lake Tahoe Romantic Suspense Novel

by Dana Mason

“It’s true,” Lucas said. “We’ve called in the troops. Get your ass showered so we can get to work.”

  Ryan glanced over his shoulder. “Troops?”

  “That’s right.” Lucas grabbed two coffee cups from the high cabinet. “We have over a hundred people meeting us at El Lago at eight am.”

  * * *

  Bailey didn’t know how long she’d lain there, but it had grown dark outside. Her snaggletooth keeper came in and released her from the tarp that was still partially wrapped around her and then had fallen asleep on a couch in the front of the trailer. She knew he was sleeping because she could hear his obnoxious snoring. How he could sleep in the heat and stench was beyond her, but she was grateful for the relative peace and quiet. It was all she had to be grateful for, though. She hurt. Everything on her body was bruised, and she had dried blood, snot, and tears stuck to her face. Her stomach was growling, yet she was nauseous at the same time.

  Dex’s words kept replaying in her head on constant repeat. If the plan was to kill her, why hadn’t he done it yet? Why make her wait? Why not just get it over with? Not that she was planning to be an easy target, but that being what it was, she didn’t really think Snaggletooth was a murderer. Whatever his ‘other plans’ were, after spending hours with him in the little camp trailer, he hadn’t touched or so much as threatened her.

  Bailey shifted her position, trying to roll over. The entire left side of her body was numb from the way she’d been lying on the bed. She lifted and rolled then realized, if she could bring her hands to the front, she could untie her feet. She sat upright and put her feet over the edge of the bed. After an intense struggle to get her arms around her hips, she lifted her ass and squatted so her hands were behind her knees. Now she was stuck in an odd position between sitting and standing. If only she could get her hands around her feet.

  She leaned back against the bed and tried lifting her feet, but she very gracefully fell over, knocking her head against the wall and landing wedged between the bed and the wall.

  Damn it. She groaned as pain surged through her body from all the bruises.

  After sitting still for a moment to gain her senses, she realized she had accomplished what she wanted by landing with her feet in the air. When she heard Snaggletooth rustle, she quickly lifted her knees past her chin and slipped her feet through the loop of her tied hands.

  “Hey, hey, what are you doing in there?” He stomped into the tiny bedroom area of the trailer. Bailey didn’t move or speak. When he peered over the bed at her, her heart stopped in her chest. His eyebrows rose, and his eyes traveled down the length of her body, not that he could see much with her awkward position.

  “Looks like you had a little accident.” He smiled down at her as his tongue snaked out from where his teeth were missing.

  Bailey didn’t speak, but acid rolled in her stomach and burned her throat. She stared at him and watched as he lowered his hand and adjusted his crotch. Fear sparked so brightly inside her, she became dizzy and hoped she didn’t look as scared as she felt. After his final…adjustment, he reached down and grabbed her by her upper arms, just above her elbows, and lifted her back onto the bed in the sitting position. He didn’t seem to care that her hands were now tied in front, and she acted as if they’d always been that way.

  “Good, good,” he whispered. “You keep behaving, and this will all go smoothly.”

  “May I have some water?” Bailey asked, her mouth going dry with just the thought of something to drink.

  “Oh, sure. I imagine you’re thirsty, maybe a little hungry, too.” He stood and walked over to an ice chest sitting near the door. “Let’s see…yeah, there might be a bottle of water in here. I’m a Mountain Dew man, myself, but I think I threw a couple… Aha, here it is.”

  He pulled the dripping bottle from the cooler and twisted the cap as he walked back toward her. “Here ya go, sweetheart.”

  Bailey cringed at the pet name but kept her thoughts and eyes on the water. After several serious gulps, she filled her cheeks and swished it around a little, trying to wet her dry mouth. After finishing half the bottle, she replaced the cap awkwardly with her tied hands and held it close, hoping he wouldn’t take it back.

  “May I ask,” she said, giving her captor careful doe eyes, hoping for a little pity. “What are you planning to do with me?”

  “Oh, well, I’m not so sure I want to…” He gave her a long look, narrowing his eyes before he said, “I guess it couldn’t hurt. The deal’s almost done.”

  “Deal?” Bailey asked.

  “Yeah, Willy and I go way back. I’ve been doing some work for him the last couple of weeks.”

  Snaggletooth looked her up and down again. “But I know this guy in Oakland. He usually likes the little Asian girls.” He waved a dismissive hand at her. “He’d take you in a heartbeat, though. He has clients who like the pretty, young, white girls, too.” He grinned a gummy smile. “Anyway, Willy had me handle this job in Wisconsin. I’m sure you remember.” He pointed a finger at her. “The car thing?”

  Bailey swallowed hard and nodded. “That was you in the SUV?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, sorry about that. Anyway, once that was done, Willy asked me to help out with this deal here. Never said I had to kill you, but, you know, I already made this side deal with my friend in Oakland, and now he’s counting on having you.” He grinned again and said, “I figure Willy owes me a couple of solid favors, so… I’ll tell him you’re dead and keep my deal with the dude in Oakland.”

  Bailey stared at him before she finally mumbled the question. “I don’t understand.” But as the words left her mouth, she realized she did understand. She’d been sold to the highest bidder.

  “See, that way, I get paid on both ends, and all I gotta do is get you down to Oakland.” He said it with glee, sparking a slight twinkle in his eye. “He’ll take care of you after that. My guess is, he’ll take you down to Mexico. That’s usually where he sends the white girls. The Mexicans…”

  He stopped talking when Bailey started to hyperventilate. “Oh, God…no, please. Just let me go. I won’t—”

  “Hey now, don’t work yourself up. I’d hate to have to—” He stood and left the room quickly, muttering the as he moved, “Maybe I shouldn’ta told ya. Didn’t think you’d get so freaked out…should be happy I’m not gonna kill you…dump ya in the lake.

  Bailey tried to listen to his mutters as she stuck her head between her legs, fighting for breath.

  Before she realized what was happening, he grabbed her entwined hands and tied something around her upper arm. When she saw the hypodermic needle clenched between his lips, she pulled away and scrambled to the other side of the bed. She tried to stand, but lost her balance and fell over due to her feet still being tied together. He pounced on her, sitting on her chest and twisting her arms so he could inject her. Bailey couldn’t do anything but fight for breath. He firmly clutched her arm, and, a second later, she felt the pinch. She screamed and gasped for air, but the next second, he was standing. She jerked away and sat up. “What…what’ve you done?”

  He chuckled, his eyes sparkling as he grinned down at her. “Aw, yeah, girly, that will make you nice and relaxed.” A moment later, he took advantage and grabbed both her breasts.

  She lifted her tied hands and screamed, “Get off!”

  He chuckled and swiped a hand between her legs before he lifted it to his nose and sniffed. “Mmm…nice.”

  “You bastard!”

  His grin widened. “No worries. I have a job to do, girly, but you should probably get back up on the bed before that kicks in. It ain’t for the faint of heart, and it kicks in pretty quick.” As he said this, Bailey’s head started to swim, and her stomach rolled. She rested back against the bed and leaned sideways to throw up all the water she’d just drank.

  “It’s okay. That happens on everyone’s first time.” He stepped forward and lifted her onto the bed before laying her sideways, facing the wall. “Enjoy the high,” he said thr
ough his gapped teeth.

  Within seconds, an intense heat overcame her with a rush that made her dizzy. What the hell? She closed her eyes and tried to focus on something—anything, on his retreating footsteps—but she couldn’t fight it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Ryan couldn’t believe how many people were waiting for them outside El Lago when they arrived a few hours later. It looked like the majority of South Lake Tahoe was there, waiting to help search for Bailey. A wave of relief, plus a little anxiety, swept through him. Relief because, with this many people looking, their chances of finding her had to go up tenfold. And the anxiety was there, too, because Ryan had no idea where to start or what to do first. He felt so overwhelmed.

  Fortunately, for him, and for Bailey, he had friends. Smart, level-headed friends. Wade and Lucas jumped into action, setting up stations for different purposes. One station for the ground searchers, boots on the ground. They were the people willing to walk the trails, fields, and forest, starting from where they believed Bailey was last seen. The second station was for the people willing to drive around, looking in places out of reach for the ground searchers. Another station was for those who wanted to hand out flyers and talk to people, just to get the information out there. These people would stop at every business all around the lake. Another station was for a water search. At first, the idea of ‘water searchers’ made Ryan nauseous, but when he realized it was for boaters to cruise the lake, talking to other boaters, he got it.

  Within two hours, everyone had a task, except for him. So far, he’d done little, except for greeting and thanking everybody he came in contact with. Finally, his dad and Lucas cornered him and gave him a job. He was to contact the police and Agent Sharpe and get any new information they might not have received and to also let the FBI know what they were doing to search for Bailey.

  So, that’s what he did. He called—and got the man’s voicemail. Fuck. He waited a moment and tried again.

  “Hello, Agent Sharpe, Ryan Walker here. Is it possible for you to call me back? I’d like to know what’s happening in your investigation into Bailey’s disappearance.” Ryan waited a beat then said, “I’m at the club, uh, El Lago. It’s near Stateline. We’re setting up a search center, and we need to know what you’ve found out. Please, please call me back as soon as you can.”

  As Ryan disconnected the call, he glanced up at the big screen TV over the bar and stared in disbelief. The media was running full speed ahead on the Marianne Spatz story. “Marianne Spatz,” he said aloud, curious what it would feel like on his tongue. He’d just learned Bailey’s birth name this morning from the news reports. He shrugged toward the TV, not sure he liked that the world was learning about Bailey’s family before she was, but the more attention the story got, the better the chance of finding her.

  It looked like they were talking about the family and showing pictures of what must have been Bailey’s siblings. Ryan quickly walked into the office and clicked on the TV before turning up the volume.

  Most of it focused on Alex, Bailey’s biological father. He’d come from money, and everyone knew rich families fed the media. They slowly weaved through his history since Bailey’s disappearance as a newborn baby, focusing on his marriage and other children. Apparently, Bailey had two brothers and a married sister. They flashed on a wedding photo of her and…her husband. But that was impossible. He didn’t understand. He leaned forward and tried to focus on what the reporter was saying about the young woman, Nicole. Nicole Dexter.

  Mother fucker! Dex, or William Dexter to the press, was Nicole’s husband. They’d been married for nearly three years. Son of a bitch. All those months Bailey was seeing Dex, and they never knew he was married. How had Ryan missed this? Usually, he got a pretty good handle on Bailey’s boyfriends, but this completely caught him off guard. Shit. All the times Dex hadn’t shown up when he’d promised Bailey he’d be here. All the times he flaked on her or had some lame excuse. Jesus, Ryan felt like an idiot now for not seeing this.

  Then he thought about the break-ins, the vandalism, how Dex had tried so hard to convince Bailey not to search for her family. Could he have been the one to drive them off the road in Wisconsin?

  Ryan pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and searched for Agent Sharpe’s phone number. As he was dialing, his dad walked through the office door.

  Ryan glanced over at him and pointed to the TV. “Did you see this?”

  “Yes. Isn’t that—”

  He nodded. “The very same. I’m calling Sharpe again.”

  “Special Agent Sharpe.” His deep voice penetrated the phone on the second ring.

  “Hello, Ryan Walker here.”

  “Hey, Ryan, I was planning to contact you today about Bailey’s case, but—”

  “No. Actually, I have an update for you.” Ryan turned toward the TV, where he’d paused the screen on a photo of Bailey’s sister with her husband. “William Dexter. The husband of Nicole Spatz Dexter?”

  “William Dexter, what about him?”

  “He and Bailey had an intimate relationship. Recently.” He sat back down, afraid his knees would give out. “None of us knew he was married. He came up here regularly to see Bailey. He must’ve figured out who she was pretty early on.”

  “Ryan, thank you for the call. Let me check into this. Can you give me the dates of their relationship? When they met and split?”

  “They started dating last fall. Dex was here for a bachelor party with a bunch of other guys. They just split a few weeks ago. Like I said, recently.”

  Sharpe repeated what Ryan said as if he were writing it down.

  “He must have something to do with this, right?”

  “I can’t answer that. I haven’t met the man yet, but Ryan, we have some leads. We know Bailey met someone on the road while she was walking back to the boutique from the bank.”

  Ryan asked, “Do you know who?”

  “No, but we got the vehicle on surveillance from a local business.”

  Ryan’s heart nearly froze in his chest. “Was it a red, full-size Chevy truck?”

  Sharpe waited a long moment before he said, “Why do you ask? Do you know it?”

  “Yes. William Dexter drives a red, full-size Chevy truck.”

  “I need to go. I’ll stop by the house later to give you an update.”

  “Thank you,” Ryan said. “I’m actually at my club, El Lago Bar and Dock, near Stateline. We’re starting a few search groups, and this was the largest place to gather.” Ryan lifted his eyes to the ceiling and ran his hand through his hair, hoping he was making sense. He didn’t want the guy to think he was just hanging out at a bar while the love of his life was missing. “Can you meet me here instead?”

  “Of course. Text me the address, and I’ll be there when I can get away.” The line went dead, and Ryan breathed a sigh of relief.

  Ryan was surprised when, an hour later, Agent Sharpe walked into the club. He, Ryan, and Vince sat at a corner table.

  “Ryan, it’s good to see you again. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to give you a thorough update.”

  Ryan waved away the apology. “No need. I know you’re busy doing the important stuff.”

  He smiled and looked around. “This.” He scanned the room with his finger. “This—all of it is important.”

  Vince agreed and patted Ryan on the shoulder as a sign of reassurance.

  “I’ve also been tied up with the media and disseminating the information about Bailey’s biological father. As you’ve probably heard from the news, we’ve gone public with the information.”

  Ryan nodded. Fear of a different kind crept into his heart. He knew it was unfounded. Nobody could take Bailey from him. No one had the power to come between them emotionally, not even her newfound biological father. But what was he even thinking? Bailey was in danger, and he was sitting here being jealous of a man Bailey had never even met.

  However, he also feared he would lose some standing in the eyes of the FBI. He was
n’t technically a family member. Did they have to talk to him at all? He wasn’t sure, but he prayed her biological father wouldn’t interfere with what he needed to know about Bailey’s disappearance and the search to bring her home.

  “Yes, we saw footage from the news conference this morning. I wish I would’ve been warned before it aired on the news.”

  “Yes, I also wish that, but it all happened very fast, and we were in a hurry to force the press to talk about Bailey’s current predicament. That, of course, is our priority now—finding her.”

  Ryan nodded, not sure how to comprehend the use of the word predicament. “Of course. Our priority is to find Bailey, period. Don’t be confused about that.”

  “Did you check into William Dexter?” Vince asked.

  “Yes, we have. We’ve learned a few things. Here are all the details I can share with you now.” He tapped his phone a few times then read from a list. “First, we have an exact location of where she was picked up. I’ll share it with you so you can pass it on to your search groups. ”

  Ryan’s heartbeat spiked when he heard this. “Great news. And the vehicle,” Ryan swallowed hard. “Is it a red Chevy?”

  Sharpe looked at Ryan and nodded, then his eyes scanned the area around them before he said, “We haven’t shared this with the press, so please, keep it between us.” When they nodded in agreement, Sharpe said, “We thought she was familiar with the driver. Thank you for confirming it.” He tapped his phone a few times, then turned it toward Ryan. It was a photo that looked like it was copied from surveillance video. “She stopped to talk to the driver, but then, moments later, she disappears from sight.”

  “But you don’t know if she went willingly,” Vince said.

  “Is there a reason to believe she wouldn’t go willingly?” Sharpe asked.

  “Yes.” Ryan stared at the photo of Dex’s truck for a long moment. “They didn’t break up on good terms.”

  Sharpe pressed his lips into a firm line and took the phone back before tapping out a message. Then he looked up at Ryan. “We have an agent with the Spatz family. Agent Scofield. I just confirmed the information with him, and he’s going to question Nicole Dexter and her husband, provided her husband is there. I’m not sure if he’s been with the family through all this.” Sharpe then pulled a notebook out of his pocket and wrote down some information. When he looked back up, he said, “Expect to see this new information airing on the news in an hour or so. Depending on how Scofield’s questioning goes with Nicole Dexter, we’ll release the information to the press and ask for more. Hopefully, someone has seen them together in the truck.”