Seven
Nasim made sure he was in the building’s lobby at five minutes until noon, mainly because he wanted to be first on the scene. No real reason, except he thought it might put Bailey a bit off balance if he got there before she did. She’d departed the scene quickly enough the afternoon before, possibly because she hadn’t wanted to respond to his remark about her reaction if she should manage to win their bet. He hadn’t seen her after that, which didn’t come as much of a surprise but disappointed him nonetheless. It would have been much better for the two of them to spend the evening together, to share some wine and food, even if nothing else came of it. Clearly, though, she seemed determined to keep as much distance between them as possible.
When she came out of the stairwell a few mi
