Lost and Found by Bernadette Marie Page A

bid sheets. By nine, he still hadn’t heard what had
become the familiar sound of her desk drawer opening. Maybe the bus
was late.
    Ed walked to the door and looked down
the hall toward his uncle’s office. Perhaps she’d stopped by Mary
Ellen’s desk. It wouldn’t be odd for him to just walk down that
way, poke his head in, and say hello.
    Mary Ellen was attending to a phone
call and gave him a nod to go into his uncle’s office.
     
    Darcy walked through the doors of the
human resource office with her new friend, Candy. Fate was working
in some very strange ways when it came to her mission to find her
birth parents.
    Sure, Saturday night she’d warded it
off, but today when she’d met Candy, things had changed.
    She’d seen her on the bus all week,
but one, thirty-minute conversation with the young woman, who had
just been promoted in the department, and Darcy knew that maybe by
the end of the day she could have all the answers to all of her
questions.
    However, she also knew that a job and
her relationship with Ed hung in the balance. And if Candy got in
trouble, Darcy would have to find a new route to work—if she kept
her job.
    Candy walked into her office and Darcy
followed, shutting the door.
    Candy turned on her computer. “This is
kinda fun. Like being a private investigator.”
    Darcy nodded. Candy had never met Zach
or Ed personally. She was just one of the hundreds of people that
made the big corporation work. There was no fear, yet, that she’d
cross paths with Ed.
    She had, for some reason, told Candy
everything about coming to Tennessee. Though she hadn’t shared her
story about Ed. As far as Candy knew, Darcy was a secretary two
floors up.
    “ So you said you’re
twenty-four?” Candy asked.
    “ Yes.”
    “ So you were born…” She did
the calculation in her head and then hit a few keys on the
computer.
    Darcy sat down in the chair next to
Candy’s desk and waited for something…anything.
    “ Okay, what
month?”
    “ August.”
    Candy nodded and wrinkled up her face.
“So we’re assuming the woman would have left in August, right?
Perhaps on maternity leave or just quit.”
    Darcy shrugged as Candy scrolled
through the list.
    “ I have seventeen people
who left on maternity leave that year, but none in
August.”
    That didn’t seem right. Mary Ellen,
Regan had said, had gone into labor the day she’d
started.
    “ Look for Regan Keller and
see what day she started working that year.”
    The name hadn’t meant anything to
Candy, obviously. She typed it in.
    “ Regan Keller was hired…”
she searched, “in the spring and it says her job was terminated in
August, but not until the year after you were born.”
    “ After?” That couldn’t be
right. She swallowed hard. “Mary Ellen Rothchild. When did she go
on maternity leave?”
    Again, Candy typed in the name. “It
says her last day before maternity leave was the same as Regan
Keller’s in the spring, but the year after you were born.” Candy
turned to her. “Are you sure they led you to the right
place?”
    Darcy wondered. She was sure the dates
would add up, and she’d have something to take to Mary Ellen and
Zach, if the opportunity offered itself.
    “ Well, I guess we hit a
dead end,” Candy said and closed the file. “But if you get more
information, I’d love to help you. And I promise I won’t tell a
soul. I mean, I could lose my job for telling you what I
did.”
    “ I really appreciate it.”
Darcy stood to leave.
    “ Hey maybe we could go out
some time. You know, double date. You said your boyfriend is native
to Nashville. Maybe he could show us around.”
    Darcy didn’t see that happening. Candy
might not have met Ed, but she was sure she’d recognize
him.
    Darcy nodded. “Yeah, I’ll see when
he’s free.”
    She gave her a wave and headed toward
the elevator.
    As the door closed and she watched the
lit numbers in the elevator climb, she looked at her watch. It was
already twenty after nine.