Page 98 of Deep Tide

“Well, be sure to come see us before you leave town,” Leyla told Bailey. “I’ll send you back with some pastries.”

“Thanks.”

Leyla excused herself to talk to Sean, and Nicole could see that her advice for Sean to keep his distance from Joel’s sister had gone right out the window. The look he gave Leyla when she walked up to him could have melted butter.

“Wow. Who is that?”

She glanced at Bailey. “Him? A friend of Joel’s.”

“I didn’t know Leyla was seeing someone.”

Nicole glanced back, noting the casual way Sean rested his hand on Leyla’s waist.

“Would you like to sit down?” Bailey nodded at the plate in front of her containing two double-chocolate-chip muffins. “She brought me way more than I can eat here.”

Nicole pulled out a chair. “Thanks. I’ll sit for a minute until the line dies down.”

“She really does have a booming business.” Bailey popped a chunk of muffin into her mouth. “So, if you’re a detective here, then I assume you’re working the Albright homicide?”

Nicole studied Bailey’s expression, surprised by the question. Her guard went up as she remembered someone mentioning that one of Miranda’s sisters was a newspaper reporter.

“I’m not covering the story, don’t worry,” Bailey said, evidently reading Nicole’s reaction. “I’m just curious how it’s coming.”

“It’s coming,” Nicole said, feeling awkward now.

“No arrests yet, I take it?”

“Not yet.”

“I get that you can’t really talk about it,” Bailey said. “I bet you’re sick of reporters calling you for quotes. Like I said, I’m just asking out of curiosity. I can’t believe something like that happened here.” She looked out the window at the sand dunes. “I always thought of this place as a quiet beach town. But it seems like you guys have had one thing after another recently.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s like that in Austin, too. Growth is up. Crime is up. I guess there’s no avoiding it—the two go hand in hand.”

Nicole nodded, feeling awkward again. Bailey seemed like a nice person, but Nicole really didn’t want to field any questions about this.

“So, you guys are here for some vacation?” Nicole asked, grasping for a new topic.

“Yep. Actually, it’s our first vacation together. Jacob is a detective with Austin PD.”

“Oh yeah?”

“It’s hard for him to get away. I’m sure you can relate.”

“I can.”

The fact that Bailey was engaged to a cop made Nicole feel guilty for being so distrustful. But Nicole had seen cases blow up because of media leaks, and she had more than enough problems to deal with right now. She’d burned her entire Sunday driving to San Antonio for a face-to-face with one of the investigators up there only to have him cancel their meeting at the last minute when he got a callout.

At least, he had said he had a callout. Nicole still wasn’t sure whether she believed him.

“It’s been so nice being down here, especially before the summer rush,” Bailey said. “With the exception of the Beanery, we haven’t had too many crowds anywhere.”

Nicole glanced at the line again, which only seemed to have gotten longer.

“Whoa.”

She looked at Bailey. “What?”

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