Page 86 of Tempting as Sin
Rafe looked absolutely calm. Absolutely in control. He gave her some more of his relaxed smile and said, “The place looks fine,” before he sat on her couch. Legs a little spread, forearms on his knees, beautiful hands interlaced, and an expression on his face like the blonde was the woman he most wanted to see in the world. “We appreciate it. I was wondering if you could give me some information about your neighbor.”
The blonde blinked at him. “My neighbor?”
Rafe inclined his head to the right, in the direction of Ruby’s trailer. “Ruby Johnson. I’m here to see her, actually, and her granddaughter. They won a contest.” He grinned. A little cocky, a little sheepish. “I’m the prize.”
Acontest?This was the stupidest thing Lily had ever heard. She nodded earnestly, though, and said, “That’s right. The studio brought him all the way up here, and our winners aren’t around.”
The blonde didn’t waste any energy looking her way. “Oh,” she said. “No. The ambulance came for her last night. If she’s not home, she’s probably still in the hospital.”
Oh, no.
Rafe extricated himself at the price of a selfie with the blonde, then jumped in the car with Lily and took off with the photographer still following doggedly. Twenty minutes, driving at Lily’s direction, to the hospital on the outskirts of Kalispell.
Lily said, “This doesn’t explain why some of Bailey’s things are gone. You don’t stop to pack a suitcase when the ambulance comes.”
“Never mind,” he said. “We’ll see.”
Their journey ended at the nurses’ station of the ICU, a circular desk surrounded by five or six rooms, most with their doors closed. And not all the werewolf’s charm was budging the woman behind the desk.
“If you’re not family,” she said, “I can’t tell you anything other than that she’s here, and that her condition is obviously serious. That’s what the ICU is for. And I’ll ask you to put that away,” she told the guy with the camera, a snap in her voice. “I didn’t give my permission to be filmed, and neither did anybody else here.”
“Can we see her?” Lily asked, ignoring the photographer as she had all along.
“No,” the nurse said. “Unless she’s able to give consent to your visit, and right now, she isn’t.”
“You don’t understand,” Lily said. “Her granddaughter lives with her, and she’s been missing since yesterday. She’s only eight. I need to find out if she came in with her.”
The nurse’s expression softened some. “I appreciate that you’re upset. I still can’t tell you anything about the patient, though. Confidentiality laws. Icantell you that I don’t know anything about a granddaughter. I haven’t seen anybody like that, though I wasn’t on duty last night, of course. No kids at all in here today.”
“So she came in last night?” Rafe asked.
“Yes. And I’m sorry, but that’s all I’ve got.”
They walked away, in the end. They checked the entire hospital again, including the ladies’ rooms and the cafeteria, the photographer walking in front of them periodically to take another picture.
No Bailey.
“What do we do now?” Lily asked.
“Let’s sit down,” Rafe said. “Get a coffee. And think about it.”
It helped. “OK,” she said when they were seated in a corner, both facing the wall, on the kind of uncomfortable plastic chairs hospitals specialized in. “Bailey doesn’t have other family that we know of. Her grandma gets taken away by ambulance in the night. She’s eight, and she’s alone. What happens then? The state steps in. The county. Whoever.”
“Makes sense,” Rafe said. “Explains the missing clothes.” When she pulled out her phone, he asked, “Calling the agency? Whatever it is?”
“No,” she said. “Hoping for a workaround.”
It took Maggie three rings to answer. “Hey,” she finally said. “Hi, Lily.” Sounding stiff. Cautious.
Wait, what?
“Did the date not work out?” Lily asked.
“No. No, it was great.” A long pause. “Right, I need to tell you this. I outed you. Well, I outed Rafe Blackstone. Obviously, he was trying to be anonymous. I saw that, and I did anyway. Sorry.”
Lily blinked. Not what she’d been expecting to hear. “You did? How?”
“Loose lips,” Maggie said. “I just meant to tell my rancher, but I’d probably had a little too much to drink, and I was a little drunk on the evening anyway, if you know what I mean. It was noisy, though, and I had to scream, and, of course, it was a bar, and it’s Kalispell. Other people heard, and we were all talking about it, and I realized afterwards that one of them was the anchor for Channel 7. Which Iknew,but at the time…what can I say. Rafe Blackstone is big news right now. And, honey, are you sure? He looks great, of course, nobody better, but that video of him online…I’m not trying to put my nose in your business, but when somebody never even mentions her absolutely world-famous ex, not even to tell me what a son of a bitch he is, before they’re even divorced, there’s a reason. I can tell ‘gun-shy’ when I see it, and it’s you. Except with Rafe Blackstone. You obviously have a thing for actors, and I don’t blame you, but I wouldn’t call him the best bet.”
