Rachel drifted closer to Bailey and lowered her voice. “What’s going on with the two of you?”
Bailey’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”
The older woman grinned. “There’s somethingdifferent about the way you’re interacting with each other. For the record, I think it’s a good idea.”
With her cheeks on fire, Bailey put a stack of cards on the display and tried to ignore the sensation. “Well, I’m not so sure.”
She glanced at Nate, who was helping Seth sweep up some debris.
“You just need to have an open mind. I’m pretty sure he’s already crazy about you.” Rachel reached out and gave Bailey’s arm a squeeze. “You guys enjoy lunch, and I’ll touch base with you all tomorrow.”
“Sounds good. Thanks again, Rachel.”
With a wave and some quick hugs for the boys, Rachel retrieved her purse and left.
Bailey replaced the rest of the greeting cards and nodded in satisfaction. It was one step closer to being able to open to the public again.
“It looks good.” Nate’s voice came from near her right elbow.
“Thanks. Slowly but surely getting there, right?”
“Progress is progress, and you’re getting things knocked out one by one.”
Bailey nodded her agreement. “How’d it go at the station? Was it weird being back?”
“A little. I thought it would bother me more than it did.” His voice trailed off. “Detective Paris encouraged me to come back, and the chief said my job was waiting if I ever made that decision.”
“That’s pretty cool. Nice to know, regardless of what the future holds.”
“Yeah, it is.” He shifted his weight. “I handed over the evidence. Paris said they’ll run the DNA through thesystem. If there’s a match, we should know in a few hours. He promised to call when they have something.”
“So now we wait.”
He gave her elbow a gentle nudge with his own. “I need to run over and let Minnie outside for a few minutes. Then will you be ready to eat?”
“Absolutely. I’m starving.”
Nate’s suggestion to eat at The Corner Café proved to be an excellent one. Bailey and Jordan were sitting on the bench on one side of the table, while Nate and Seth were sitting in chairs on the other.
Seth and Jordan split a large cheeseburger and scarfed it down in no time. Now they were across from each other and using french fries and ketchup to paint a roadway on the paper place mat between them. She ought to scold them about the mess, but they weren’t getting ketchup on the table, and it was keeping them entertained. Plus, they were playing together, which was always nice to see.
Seth looked up from his handiwork. “Can we take Minnie some french fries? I bet she’s sad that she couldn’t come here with us.”
With a grin, Nate tipped his basket to show a small pile of fries that’d been left on one side. “Way ahead of you. Good dogs should always get some french fries.”
That made Seth happy, and he went back to his ketchup art.
Nate’s phone pinged, and he glanced at the screen. His brow furrowed.
“What is it?”
“Just heard back from Paris. They already got the DNA results back.”
“That was fast. Is it unusual to get results so quickly?”
“Not if Paris put a rush on it.” He glanced at Seth and then moved around the table to sit on the bench next to Bailey. He held the phone out so she could read the text.
“DNA results are in. Our suspect is a man, but there were no matches in the system.”
