Exhausted and depressed, Bailey and I headed back to the car.
She drove off the lot and pulled onto Sepulveda Boulevard. When she got to a stoplight, she turned to look at me. “You okay, Rachel?”
“Yeah. I’m just…” My voice broke and I felt tears spring to my eyes again. I turned to look out my window.
Bailey was silent for a moment. The light changed and she pulled forward. When she spoke, her tone was gentle. “All the homicides you’ve been to, Rache. I’ve never seen you this broken up.”
“I guess I was really thinking she’d be okay…” I stopped before my voice could break again.
“But it’s a kidnapping. Sure, we were both hoping it’d be different, but kidnappings end this way pretty often. That’s why we run so hard and fast on them. You know that as well as I do. But for some reason, this one knocked you down hard. What’s going on?”
The question was more than fair. What was going on with me? I’d been so wedded to the theory-no, expectation-that Hayley would be okay that I hadn’t even allowed myself to consider any other possibility. That was completely unlike me. Finally, the light dawned. Romy. The hope of finding Hayley alive left me a sliver of hope that the same happy ending could come true for my sister. Finding Hayley in the trunk of Brian’s car delivered a crushing blow on both levels. I told Bailey.
“Makes perfect sense,” she said. “So what do you want to do?”
“Get back to work.”
Bailey gave me a little smile. “That’s my girl.”
I returned her smile as best I could and turned my thoughts back to the case. I’d been planning to do something. After a few moments, I remembered what it was. “Can you get me to a quiet place where I can call the aunt?”
“How about we hit a place for breakfast and you can call from the car?”
Just minutes ago I would’ve gagged at the thought of food. But suddenly the idea of breakfast felt comforting, and I heard my stomach grumble. “Is there an IHOP around?”
Bailey raised an eyebrow. This wasn’t my usual fare. “If not that, then at least its equivalent.”
A few minutes later she pulled into a Coco’s and went inside to score us a table. Trying not to get distracted by the enticing smell of grease and bacon, I punched in Janice Maher’s number. By the third ring I was preparing to leave another message when I heard a click. A distracted-sounding voice said, “Yes?”
I introduced myself and explained that I was calling because Hayley hadn’t been seen in the past few days and her parents were concerned. “We have evidence that Brian bought two plane tickets to New York, and told his boss that he was going to visit his aunt in New York for a week. So we thought he was probably intending to visit you. We wouldn’t ordinarily bother you with this, but Hayley is only sixteen and, naturally, her parents are very concerned.”
