Page 89 of Tempting as Sin
Bailey lifted one thin shoulder. “The park.”
Lily made a sound of distress. She couldn’t help it. “The low last night was 51. Why didn’t you come here?”
“Because I thought…” Bailey said, then clammed up.
“Because you thought the people who came here were here for you, maybe,” Rafe said. “That’s why you left without your helmet.”
“Or cops,” Bailey said. “When lots of them come at once, they’re usually cops.”
“You did a good job escaping,” Rafe said. Calmly. Lily guessed there was a reason he made the big bucks. “You came back later for more of your things, though.”
“Yeah,” Bailey said. “I didn’t have my shoes, because I didn’t have time. And it was dark. That was why I fell off my bike. I found some cardboard to cover me up from where kids slide down the hill, and I got into the little house on the structure so there wouldn’t be dew. I saw a show on TV about surviving once. They said you had to find someplace that wouldn’t have dew, and shivering was OK, because it keeps you warmer. And they showed homeless people, but I knew about that already, because they have them in Arizona. Homeless people always use cardboard, so I put that underneath me and on my legs. Once it got light, so I could see who was there, I rode back to the trailer and got some more stuff really fast. A blanket, and my shoes and my other clothes, and hot dogs and peas and some other things. I thought I could wear both shirts and my jeans, and I’d be warmer in the night. I could wait until my grandma got out of the hospital if I had a blanket and some food. On the survival show, they ate berries, and there are berries by the creek. I thought I could eat those and drink water from the drinking fountain. People can survive a long time as long as they have water.”
“Ah,” Rafe said. “Sounds like a practical plan. The little house is where Chuck thought you were. He tracked you.”
“Really?” Bailey looked excited about that. “Dogs smell forty times better than humans. He really tracked me?”
“Too right he did,” Rafe said. “Chuck loves you.” Chuck thumped his tail in agreement, and Lily may have choked up some more.
When Bailey had finished eating, Lily cleaned her scrapes as gently as could. Bailey’s face twisted, but she didn’t cry out. Afterwards, Lily sent her upstairs to take a shower that would hopefully finish the job. The day had been warm again, but the girl still looked cold to Lily. Or maybe it was the image of her huddled under cardboard on a plastic platform, or hunched on the concrete wolfing down a cold hot dog in the barely-there light of a Montana dawn, that did it. Either way, it hurt.
She’d call Audrey Featherstone and tell her Bailey was found. Tomorrow. It was nearly five, and anyway…she’d call tomorrow. Bailey needed a night to recover, and Lily needed a night to make a plan.
Rafe stayed. He didn’t ask this time if she wanted him to, and neither did she. He stayed, and they ate steak and vegetables on the couch, in front of the TV.
There was a reason for that, too. Bailey had asked, “If you’re a movie star, how come you aren’t, like, famous?” And Rafe had choked a little and answered, “Some people say I am.”
Bailey eyed him narrowly and didn’t answer, and he sighed and said, “I can see I’m going to have to prove myself yet again. The first Urban Decay movie is PG-13. Are you old enough to watch PG-13?”
Bailey looked affronted. “PG-13 is, like, baby movies.”
Which was why, now, she was lying on the floor with a blanket over her—acleanblanket—and her arm over Chuck, resting her face on her other arm, watching bloodless violence, and possibly falling asleep. As for Lily, she was curled up on the couch, with Rafe’s arm aroundher,feeling too lucky. Feeling like home.
The doorbell rang. Lily jumped, and so did everybody else, including Chuck, who started barking. Then Lily thought,Martin,and her heart calmed down.
There was no reassuringrat-tat-a-tat-tat.
The doorbell rang again.
Rafe said, “Don’t answer.”
“Police,” she heard. “Open up.”
Bailey was sitting up. Wild-eyed. Rafe said calmly, “Reporter, more like,” and went to the door. “Show your ID,” he said, then stepped to the window, looked out cautiously, and turned and told Lily, “He is. I’m opening the door.”
Lily was there with him, and Bailey was scooting away. Crawling, now. All the way into the kitchen.
“Evening, ma’am,” the cop said. “I’m following up on a report of a missing girl.” He looked beyond the two of them. “Looks like we found her.”
Lily couldn’t sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she remembered Bailey’s face as she’d walked out the door with the social worker, holding her backpack and her pathetic, stained pillowcase.
Betrayal.
Lily had told her, “I’m going to get you back. Don’t worry. I’m going to come and get you.” She’d been hauling on Chuck’s collar at the time, because he’d wanted to go with Bailey. So had Lily.
Bailey had looked at her, but her elfin face had been all the way shut down. That wasn’t the worst, though. It was knowing that her soul was in exactly the same state. How much could a little girl take before she stopped trying? How long before she stopped believing her life could get better?
In bed beside Lily in the dark, Rafe said, “First thing tomorrow, you’ll ring up. We’ll find out how to help.”
