She nodded on a shiver. “I think so. Are you?”
* * *
“This could’ve been much worse,” Chief Harper said. “It’s a miracle you both weren’t killed.”
Ryan rubbed a hand over the bandage he was now sporting over his left eye. “After getting a better look at the car, I have to agree.”
“So, who did this?” Bailey asked. “Who would do this?”
“We’re not sure.” Chief Harper looked from one to the other. “We’ve interviewed several witnesses, and nobody got a look at the guy’s face. The descriptions we got were all the same, white male, tall, thin, with all black clothes and a baseball cap.”
“And the car?” Ryan asked.
“Stolen. We found it abandoned a few miles away. We have him on street surveillance getting on a bus a block from where he left the car, but we can’t track him after that. It was enough to confirm the physical descriptions we got, but he never looked in the direction of the camera, so we didn’t get a shot of his face.”
Ryan looked from the Chief to Bailey. A few small cuts were evident on her face, and several more dotted her arms and legs. Thank God for tempered glass. Fortunately, those tiny cuts from the broken car windows were her only injuries. Ryan had taken most of the impact from the car spinning and clipping a tree before hitting the river.
“Listen, Ryan, Bailey, there isn’t much else I can say. It’s a simple act of road rage, and I’m sorry it happened to you, but there isn’t more we can do until we find the other driver.”
“Road rage?” Bailey and Ryan said in unison. Ryan snorted and waved a dismissive hand at Chief Harper. “That’s ridiculous. I had zero interaction with this guy. He just rushed up my rear end and pushed us off the road. We didn’t provoke him in any way.”
“I’m not implying you provoked him, Ryan. It’s possible someone else pissed him off, and you just got in his way.”
“What about Patrick?” Ryan crossed his arms over his chest. “What about the break-ins at Helen’s house? Don’t you think this is all related?”
“Honestly, Ryan, I’m not sure how you’ve made a connection. How—no, why would they be related?” Harper steepled his hands in front of him, and Ryan recognized the attempt at being neutral and calming for their sakes.
“It just seems like an awful lot of bad things are happening now that we’re looking for Bailey’s birth parents.”
“Yes, well, that’s true, but this isn’t CSI Miami.”
Ryan straightened his shoulders and stretched his neck out toward Harper. “You don’t need to patronize me. I’m not an idiot.”
“Ryan,” Bailey murmured. “It’s—”
“Look, Ryan, Bailey, I understand how important this is to you, but look at it from an outside perspective.” He started ticking off facts on his fingers to make a point. “First, you have a distant uncle retiring and traveling the country in a motorcoach. That’s not a strange occurrence.” He ticked another finger. “And the break-ins…well…living in a lake district, I know houses closer to the lake or beaches are usually easier targets because they look like vacation homes.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk. “I’m not exactly sure what kind of answers you’re looking for, unless there’s more to this you’re not sharing with me.”
“There isn’t,” Bailey said. “We’ve told you everything.”
That was a lie. Ryan wanted so badly to tell him everything, but Bailey refused. She didn’t want him to know about the letters between her mother and Pat, but Ryan couldn’t shake the feeling that Patrick’s warnings weren’t unfounded. He’d clearly been worried about Bailey’s safety for a reason. But without mentioning that, they didn’t have anything else to talk about with the police. Ryan had no choice but to abide by Bailey’s wishes no matter how much his instincts told him she was wrong.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Ryan loaded the suitcases into his trunk and closed it. Just as he placed his hand on the driver’s door handle, his cell phone rang.
“Hey, Lucas. What’s up?” he said when answering.
“Are you and Bailey still coming home today?”
“Already are. We just arrived. Don’t worry, I’m playing tonight. I wouldn’t leave you stranded without live music on a Friday night.”
“The thought never crossed my mind,” Lucas said. “How’s your head?”
“Fine. We’re both okay, just a little freaked out by everything.”
“I bet.” Ryan heard some background noise and Lucas’ muffled instructions to a server. “I actually wanted to warn you, and Bailey, too, I guess, about Dex,” he said, coming back on the line.
Ryan’s back straightened. “What about him?”
“He showed up here this morning looking for Bailey.”
“Oh…” Ryan walked away from the car, then turned and held up a finger to Bailey, who was staring at him from the passenger seat. She nodded and waved him off. “I can’t believe that fucker has the nerve to show his face after what he did.”
“He said he was sorry. He stopped by the shop and had a long talk with Mae. She thinks he’s ready to make some sort of commitment to Bailey. I’m not sure what that means, but I thought I should let you know.”
“Does Mae know about Bailey and me?”
“I don’t know. I’m sure she would’ve mentioned it if she knew.”
Ryan propped himself against a pillar in the airport parking garage and leaned over, fighting nausea. “There’s nothing I can do, Lucas.”
“Have you got your shit sorted out yet?”
“Yes and no.” He shook his head. “Bailey and I are just friends. Beyond that, I don’t have anything figured out. I’m just fighting to hold on to my sanity here.”
“You need to talk to her. If she doesn’t know there’s a possibility with you, then she might just hook up with Dex again.”
Ryan heard the car door open, and he looked up.
“Is everything okay?” Bailey asked, poking her head out of the car.
“I gotta go. Thanks, Lucas.” Ryan disconnected the call and straightened.
“Did something happen?”
He shook his head
