“Listen,” said Jake. “I owe you an apology.”
She was instantly wary. And who could blame her?
“Oh?” They hadn’t reached the office yet. They were on one of the walkways between the pool and the complex’s main building, where the office was located.
“My daughter, she’s already found a place she likes.”
“I see,” said Bailey, who looked as if she’d expected something worse.
“I wanted to look at this place because—that cousin I mentioned? He asked me to.”
Bailey frowned. “Whose daughter lived here.”
“Yes, 2012 to 2013. He hasn’t heard from her in a couple of years. He’s very concerned. He asked me to come. He knows it’s a long shot, but, you know, since I was here in town, anyway. Just on the chance that she kept in touch with someone here …”
“I see,” said Bailey again. “Do they know,” she hesitated, “is she still …”
“She’s active on”—he provided sarcastic air quotes—“
“Yes. How sad.”
For a moment she said nothing, and Jake thought either his story or his acting must have fallen short of the mark, but then Bailey spoke. “Like I said, I was at one of our other properties till last year myself. And as for our tenants, they’re about eighty percent enrolled UGA students, mostly undergrad, so if they’d been here when your cousin’s daughter was here, they’re already long gone. A couple of grad students stay longer, but I don’t think we have any now that were here in 2013.”
“That woman you mentioned before, the cleaner?”
“Yeah.” Bailey nodded. She took out her phone and sent a text. “She’s here today. I haven’t seen her, but she started at one. I’m asking her to meet us out front.”
He thanked her, perhaps a bit too warmly, and they walked together to the reception area outside her office. When they reached it, a solid woman in a faded red Bulldawg sweatshirt was already there.
“Carole, hi,” said Bailey. “This is Mr.…”
“Jacob,” said Jake.
“Carole Feeney,” said Carole, obviously worried.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Bailey said. “This man is just trying to find a girl who lived here awhile back.”
“My cousin’s daughter,” Jake confirmed. “They haven’t been able to reach her. They’re worried.”
“Oh my yes,” said Carole, every inch the den mother she’d been billed as.
“Before my time,” said Bailey. “But I was saying, you might remember?”
“Could we …” Jake looked around. It hadn’t escaped him that Bailey wasn’t offering her own office for this interview. Now that Jake wasn’t a prospect she clearly didn’t want to give over the space, or perhaps she no longer cared to be in an enclosed room with him. But there were a couple of chairs in a dreary little lounge next door. On their tour, Bailey had called it the common room. He pointed in that direction now. “Do you have a few minutes?”
“Sure, sure,” said Carole. She was pale with a forest of dark moles along both collarbones. Jake was finding it hard not to look at them.
“Well, good luck,” Bailey said. “Keep us in mind if your daughter’s place doesn’t work out.”
“Thank you so much,” Jake said. “I will.”
He wouldn’t. Even she knew that.
In the lounge, he took one of the old armchairs, which was as uncomfortable as it looked, and Carole Feeney took another one. She seemed already to be in mourning for this unnamed girl from “awhile back” whose family couldn’t reach her, and afraid to find out who it was.
“So, like I said, my cousin’s daughter lived here, her freshman year. That was 2012 to 2013.”
“Freshman year? Usually they’re in the dorms up on campus.”
“So I understand. She got some kind of a waiver.”
Her eyes widened. “Wait, is it Rose? Are you talking about Rose?”
Jake seemed to lose his breath. He hadn’t expected it to be so fast. Now he wasn’t sure what to say.
“Yeah. Rose Parker.”
“In 2012, you said? That sounds about right. She’s missing? Poor Rose!”
“Oh my word. That’s so sad. Her mother died, you know.”
Jake nodded. He was still not sure. “Yes. It was very tragic. Is there anything you remember about Rose that might help her dad find her?”
Carole folded her hands in her lap. They were big hands, and unsurprisingly rough.
“Well, she was mature, of course. Didn’t have a lot in common with most of the other students. Didn’t go out to the bars. Didn’t go to the games, I don’t think. Didn’t Rush. I wasn’t cleaning for her, so I wasn’t in her place except now and then. I think she came from up north.”
“Vermont,” Jake confirmed.
“That so.”
He waited for her to continue.
