Page 2 of Lost and Found

“No. I need to sleep.”

Angus swirled his drink, took a sip, then turned. “What happened now?”

Now. They’d spent the day going over the threats she’d received. Even Erick, her former brother-in-law, had stayed after a museum board meeting in Washington, DC, for this family meeting. The Cosgroves had spent their lives surrounded by wealth and security. They mostly meant well. Mostly.

Bailey tried to read Angus’s voice. Sleepy with a tinge of…? She wasn’t sure. Concern or aggravation? Angus and Kimbra had offered their estate so often. They’d even invited Bailey and Matt to live with them, but the idea was like smothering them with the past. She didn’t want to forget Ryan, but she and Matt needed to live their own lives, not be constantly reminded of what could have been.

She wanted a happy family. That was all. For now, it was a two-person family. But it was filled with love—nothing like the Cosgroves. She and Ryan had always agreed. Theirs wouldn’t come with corporate jargon or business meetings that trumped family meals around the kitchen table. Ryan’s parents would never understand, and she could never explain. But she also knew they would never withhold the sanctuary of their property. “Someone got inside.”

“Someone? Christ, Bailey.” Lines deepened on Angus’s forehead. “The only person who’s leaving you messages to stop is the person who doesn’t want Caitie’s case solved. Her murderer. You don’t seem to understand that.”

“I do,” she said, deciding not to share that she thought someone had followed her home. She shuddered. A murderer had been in her house, stalking her.

“If you don’t have adequate security, you need to stay here.”

“We are here, Angus.”

“Stay here. Because your security system failed you.”

She didn’t know how they’d bypassed or re-secured it. That was a major, terrifying problem, but one she had to figure out in the morning, when she had a clear head. “I will make adjustments. We just needed someplace for tonight.”

Angus puffed out his cheeks and shook his head with such disappointment that it seemed to roll over her.

God, she needed sleep. “Can we talk about this tomorrow?”

“If you won’t move here, we insist you hire full-time security.”

Angus was right. She didn’t disagree. This was more than anything she’d seen before, even when she’d dug up cold cases from the past. “We’re on the same page. I promise.”

Hiring security wasn’t as easy as Angus thought. She’d hired security for events before, and obviously would have to figure it out again. Short of a bodyguard hanging around her house and traveling with her twenty-four seven, it was pointless, with too many opportunities for breaches.

Tonight’s solution was a guard dog and a better security system. She would notify the police and…seriously, why hadn’t she received an alert that someone had been in her house? And how the hell had it been reset? She needed something more than a bodyguard. Someone who would keep them safe and help figure out who was harassing her. As soon as she learned who that was, she’d know her sister’s killer.

Angus downed the last of his drink and set the glass on the mantel. “If you don’t do something,” he paced under the portrait of his grandfather, who had founded Cosgrove Enterprises with a headache remedy for housewives, “our attorneys will look into custody options.”

Disbelief ripped through Bailey. “What?”

“I’m sorry it’s come down to this, but we don’t see how you can continually put our grandson in danger for your crime projects.”

Her stomach turned. “Angus—”

“You don’t even need to work, Bailey. Kimbra keeps telling you that. I’ve told you. Matt is set for life. You have more than you need.”

Her cold case podcast was more than work. It was her calling, leading her to the most important investigation of her career. Justice for her sister. But she would never put Matt’s life in danger. Never. The Cosgroves knew that. Her mouth hung open. “You can’t be serious.”

“We can’t figure out why you don’t see this situation clearly. Caitie wouldn’t want you to endanger Matt.”

Bailey bit her tongue. Her pulse pounded in her temples, and deep in her chest, she struggled to keep her composure.

Angus crossed the ornate room and rested a hand on her shoulder. She wanted to scream. After a fatherly head shake, he squeezed, as though to offer reassurance or understanding. “We’re only looking out for you and Matt. If you can’t see that, then it’s clear we’re in the right.”

Bailey gritted her teeth, but the path forward came to mind. Round-the-clock security? Screw it. Fine. They’d forced her hand. She had a card she could play. No one would like it, including her. But it would help solve her sister’s murder while keeping her safe and her in-laws away from Matt. Two birds, one stone.

It was time to track down Wes Wilder.

Chapter Two

Wes didn’t hate his job. Not usually. Never, actually. But staring at Vivian Maddox, he wanted to quit the position that he’d fought tooth and nail to get when he was all but blacklisted. After five years on Titan Group’s payroll, he couldn’t do what his boss demanded.