Hidden - Laura Griffin Page 0,67

know he was in tonight. If he’s here, that means Lucinda might be, too.”

Seth clicked into a browser and tapped some words into a search engine. The Granite Tech website popped up and he clicked into a generic press release.

Bailey’s pulse thrummed as she stared at the screen. Would Levon notice them in here? And if he did, would he recognize her? Her hair was down tonight, as it had been when she met him yesterday afternoon.

Seth glanced over his shoulder and let out a sigh. “He’s gone.” He dug his phone from his pocket and started texting.

“What are you doing?”

“Asking Garrett what he wanted with him. He’s the guy with the ponytail we passed coming in here.”

Bailey took a deep breath. Her palms felt clammy, and she rubbed them on her dress.

“Shit. She’s here. She’s going over her presentation for the board meeting on Monday. And Levon noticed me.” He looked at Bailey. “When Lucinda hears I’m in, she’ll probably ping me to come talk to her. Or come looking for me.” He unclipped his badge from his belt. “You have to leave. Go back the way we came. My badge will get you through the doors. I’ll meet you in the parking garage.”

“But—”

“Crap, here’s a message now.” He looked at a text on his phone and stood up. “I have to go. I’ll give her some excuse and then come find you. It shouldn’t take long.”

He moved away, and Bailey grabbed his arm. “You can’t just leave me in a restricted area,” she said. “What if I get caught?”

“Use my badge. You’ll be fine. We’ve got twenty more minutes until the security system is back up again, so you should be good.”

He rushed out the door, leaving her alone in the dim computer room. She watched him cut through the maze of cubicles and exit a different door than the one they’d come through. The ponytail guy—Garrett—didn’t look up from his screen.

Cursing, she got up and shoved her purse under her arm. Even with the hoodie, she felt conspicuous in her short black dress and strappy heels. Her heart hammered and her palms felt sweaty, but she squared her shoulders and tried to look confident as she crossed through the computer lab to the door she’d come through with Seth. She spotted the little panel by the door and realized she needed his ID to get out, too. She swiped the badge, and her nerves did a little dance as a tiny light turned green.

She stepped into the stairwell, which seemed dark and foreboding now that she was here alone. She went down a flight. This door didn’t have a panel, so she tried the knob and found it unlocked.

“That’s right. Tomorrow.”

Lucinda. Bailey’s heart lurched as she recognized the voice on the other side of the door. She was talking to someone in the hall or talking on the phone. Either way, Bailey had to get out of there. She glanced up at the door she’d just come through.

Up or down?

Bailey hurried down. As she reached the landing, a door opened above her. Bailey’s stomach flip-flopped. Someone was in the stairwell now. Bailey grabbed the railing and raced down another flight, praying her shoes wouldn’t make noise.

“I don’t want to hear it.” Lucinda’s voice echoed off the walls as she walked up the stairs. “Just make sure it gets done.”

Bailey went down, down, down, flight after flight, keeping her footsteps as quiet as possible. A door above her opened and closed, and she hoped it meant Lucinda had gone.

The stairwell went silent, and Bailey rushed down another flight and another, round and round until she felt dizzy and wobbly on her damn high heels. Finally, she reached the bottom.

She halted.

Would this be the parking garage? She and Seth had gone through a long corridor to reach the stairwell, so she wasn’t in the same part of the building where she’d entered originally.

Somewhere above her, a door opened again. Bailey’s pulse jumped. She fled through the door in front of her and found herself in a dim corridor with cinder-block walls. Where was the parking garage? The only light came from the red glow of a distant EXIT sign. Bailey turned around and tried the door behind her but it was locked now.

“Shit.”

She glanced up and down the corridor and hurried for the exit. Her heart pounded as she reached a corner where the corridor opened up into what looked like a maintenance room filled with HVAC equipment. A