Christmas Amnesia

by Laura Scott

  “Callahan,” Dr. Hawkins finished, her eyes on the patient lying on the gurney. “I recognize her from when I took care of her brother Miles after he suffered a gunshot wound last April.”

  Noah figured he shouldn’t have been surprised; rumor on the street was that Dr. Hawkins was exceptionally smart and never forgot a name or a face. “Yes. I have reason to believe she’s in danger, so I’d like for her to be discharged into my care as soon as possible.”

  “Hmm.” Dr. Hawkins skirted around him to approach Maddy. “Ms. Callahan? Can you open your eyes for me?”

  Noah gripped the edge of the side rail as Maddy struggled to comply. Dr. Hawkins used a flashlight to examine Maddy’s pupils and then had her follow a few basic commands. When she finished, she questioned Maddy about what she remembered.

  “I don’t remember anything,” Maddy said, her brow deeply furrowed with obvious distress. “I don’t understand, why can’t I remember?”

  Dr. Hawkins’s smile was gentle. “It may be that you’ve suffered some sort of traumatic experience. I suspect that your memory will return on its own, but I’d like you to follow up in the neurology clinic in a week if the memory loss continues, okay?”

  “All right,” Maddy agreed and Noah knew then she really wasn’t herself. The Madison Callahan he knew would never agree to a doctor’s appointment in the middle of a trial.

  Then it hit him. Until Maddy had her memory back, there wouldn’t be a trial.

  Oh, sure, maybe another ADA could pick up the case, but he knew from personal experience that getting ready for a trial took hours and hours of preparation. Maddy had grilled him about his testimony for a full eight-hour day and he was just one of the officers involved. What about the others? He couldn’t imagine going through all that prep again.

  Would the DA ask for a continuance? And if so, for how long? It wasn’t as if they could just tell the judge to wait for Maddy’s memory to return. Victims had a right to a speedy trial. What if they were forced to let Pietro out on bail?

  The thought of Alexander Pietro being back on the street filled him with dread. Not just because the guy had threatened to kill every cop who’d participated in the bust, but more so because months of hard work would be lost forever. They’d have to start from scratch to build another case against him.

  Placing more innocent lives at risk.

  Noah curled his fingers into fists, knowing that he was taking the entire drug-trafficking case too personally. Because of his younger sister, Rose, who’d died of a heroin overdose when she was a senior in high school.

  Another death that was mostly his fault. First Rose, then his former college girlfriend, Gina. One guilt piled on the other, with Matt’s injury sitting at the top of the lopsided guilt cake.

  He shook off the depressing thoughts and focused on the immediate issue at hand. Maddy hadn’t wanted him to call Matt, but he’d called his former partner’s cell number anyway. Matt didn’t answer, so Noah left a vague message asking for a return call. Hopefully, Maddy’s memory would return by the time Matt called back.

  “I’ll write the discharge order, Officer Sinclair, if you promise Maddy won’t be left alone,” Dr. Hawkins said.

  “I promise I’ll stay with her until someone from her family takes over.”

  Dr. Hawkins nodded. “Done. I’ll have the nurse come in to explain what you should look for.”

  The nurse, a plump blonde with a cheerful smile, came into the room rattling off a list of signs and symptoms to be on the lookout for. Noah was glad when she handed him a packet of paperwork listing everything she’d just told him.

  “Thanks,” he said, folding the papers in half and sticking them in his back pocket. “Maddy? Do you need help sitting up?”

  “I can do it,” she said with a wince. She gripped the rail, pulling herself upright. She swayed, and he quickly moved closer and placed a steadying arm around her shoulders.

  “Easy now,” he said. “Take your time, there’s no rush.”

  “I’m okay,” she said, and the familiar stubborn edge to her voice made him smile. This was the Maddy Callahan he remembered.

  The same woman Matt had warned him to stay away from the first time he’d laid eyes on her. Matt didn’t want his baby sister, born a few minutes after him, to be in a relationship with a cop. The way Matt had lost his father, who’d happened to be the former chief of police as well as being murdered while visiting a crime scene, had made Matt overly protective. Noah had completely understood where his former partner was coming from.

  The warning hadn’t been necessary since Noah had no intention of being in a relationship with anyone, especially not Madison Callahan.

  Maddy swung her legs over the edge of the bed, placing her feet on the floor, then frowned at her stocking-covered toes. “Where are my shoes?”

  “Here.” Keeping a hand on her arm, he used his feet to bring the flats into position so she could slip them on.

  “Thanks.” She stood, then reached out to grab his arm. “Whoa. The room spins when I move too fast.”

  A flash of guilt assaulted him. Was he causing more harm than good by taking her out of here? Maybe he’d be better off asking for her to spend the night at the hospital so he could sit at her bedside, keeping an eye on her.

  Then his eyes fell on the discarded mop. A tall man with thinning hair stood beside the mop, arguing with a middle-aged lady. There was still no sign of the man with the tanned skin, and the hairs on the back of his neck lifted in alarm.

  No way did he believe the guy who’d been looming over Maddy was a hospital employee.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Noah asked. “I can probably convince Dr. Hawkins to admit you upstairs.”

  Maddy looked puzzled. “Who?”

  “The red-haired doctor.”

  “You know her?” Maddy asked.

  It was on the tip of his tongue to explain how she knew Dr. Hawkins, too, but he decided that would only make her feel bad. “Yeah, she’s married to a cop, a deputy from the sheriff’s department.”

  “Oh, I see. No, I don’t want to stay here. I’d rather go home.” She frowned. “I must not have a purse or a phone, huh?”

  “Unfortunately not. It appears the mugger took them.” He bent over to grab her long coat off the chair. “Here, let me help you with this.”

  “Thank you.” Maddy slid her arms into the sleeves as he held the coat for her. “Your mother must have taught you manners.”

  “Yeah.” He didn’t bother to elaborate since his mother had died a long time ago, and what was left of his family was scattered all over the globe. He and his siblings weren’t at all close. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his older brother. Three years? Four? Rose’s death six months after losing their mother to cancer had torn their family apart and, like the famous nursery rhyme, there hadn’t been a way to put the pieces back together again.

  He knew the Callahan clan was a tight-knit family and he wondered again why Matt hadn’t returned his call. Should he start calling her other brothers? The only problem was that he didn’t know their numbers and obviously Maddy couldn’t help. Right now, she didn’t realize she had five brothers—Marc, Miles, Mitch, Mike and Matt—every one of them older than her.

  Wrapping his arm around Maddy’s waist, he matched her slower pace as they made their way out of the emergency room. She stopped, looked surprised to see the Christmas tree in the lobby of the ER, as if she hadn’t known the holiday was near. When they were outside, he gestured to a squad car in the small parking lot across the street. “That’s our ride.”

  “Okay.”

  She ducked her head against the cold wind, walking alongside him down the sidewalk toward the parking lot. As they reached the road, a car came out of nowhere, heading straight toward them.

  “Look out!”
Noah grabbed Maddy around the waist and leaped out of the way, landing in a snowbank on the other side of the road. The car came close enough to clip the back of his legs, then careened from view.

  Noah stared at the retreating taillights, knowing that he wasn’t imagining things. This was the second, maybe even the third, attempt on Maddy’s life—if you considered that the tanned guy who’d been in Maddy’s room wasn’t a hospital employee—all in the span of a few hours.

  All these incidents were related, he was convinced, to the upcoming trial of Alexander Pietro. And the thought of Maddy being in danger, not to mention having lost her memory, gave him a desperate sense of urgency.

  Right now, he was the only one who could keep her safe.

  TWO

  “Are you okay?” The cop—she searched her memory; Noah?—helped her upright, brushing snow off her pants and coat.

  “I don’t understand. What’s going on?” In the second she thought the car would hit her, she’d found herself praying for safety. Was that something she did on a regular basis? Must be, and for some reason, knowing that slight bit of information, that she believed in God and prayed often, helped calm her frayed nerves.

  Thankfully Noah had reacted with lightning-fast reflexes, or she was sure she’d have ended up back in the ER with worse injuries. The hammering in her skull was bad enough, and it hadn’t lessened one iota.

  “You’re in danger,” Noah said in a grim tone. He put his arm around her waist, urging her toward the squad car. “I need to get you someplace safe.”

  “Why?” She braced herself with a hand on the squad car when he released her long enough to open the passenger-side door. “You think the mugging and this close call are somehow related?”

  “Yes. I’ll explain once we’re somewhere safe,” he said, his voice clipped.

  She gingerly slid into the passenger seat. Noah shut the door, then came around to climb in behind the wheel. She latched the seat belt, then rested her head back against the cushion and closed her eyes, swallowing hard against the increased pain.

  Noah didn’t break the silence, and she felt the car moving down the street. It wasn’t until he took several turns, heading away from the hospital, that she opened her eyes and grabbed his arm, seized by a sense of panic. “Wait! I—I don’t know where I live.”

  He flashed a reassuring smile, gently covering her hand with his for a long moment before letting go. “Don’t worry, I do. You share a condo with a woman by the name of Gretchen Herald; she’s a flight attendant for Airstream Airlines.”

  It seemed so wrong that this cop, this man, knew more about her than she did. Ignoring the pain in her head, she continued pressing him for information. “Tell me more, specifically why I’m in danger.”

  “Okay.” His smile faded, his expression turning serious. “Maddy, you’re an attorney, working in the DA’s office.”

  His statement should have brought forth a flood of memories, but didn’t. She stared at him, feeling stupid and not at all like a lawyer. “I am?”

  “Yes. You have a big trial starting next week. A man by the name of Alexander Pietro is facing serious felony charges related to drug trafficking and gun running. Thanks to your impressive track record of winning guilty verdicts, you’re the lead prosecutor on his case.”

  She stared at Noah’s profile, straining to remember. Did the name Alexander Pietro sound familiar? Yes, it did, but she couldn’t picture what he looked like. Was she remembering him from the case? Or because of something she’d heard about in the news?

  Why couldn’t she remember?

  The deep sense of urgency returned with a vengeance. There was something important she needed to do. But what? The pain in her head intensified as she struggled to push past the haze in her mind.

  “Don’t, Maddy,” Noah said in a low voice, reaching over to take her hand in his. “I don’t think you should try so hard. Dr. Hawkins mentioned you need to rest, and relax. She believes your memory will return on its own.”

  “But when?” She couldn’t help feeling as if she were standing on the precipice of a cliff, where one strong breeze would blow her over. “If what you’re saying is right, that I’m working on a case, then I don’t have time to wait around to see if my memory returns. I need to get back to work. Or call my boss, whoever that is, so he or she can assign someone else to the case.” Then another thought hit her. “How do you know so much about this Alexander guy, anyway? Especially my involvement in the case?”

  “I helped bring him down,” Noah said, his tone matter-of-fact. He pulled up in front of a large brick building, gesturing to it. “I don’t know if your roommate is home or not. Since your purse is gone, I’m assuming you don’t have your keys.”

  Instinctively, she patted her coat pockets, surprised when she felt the distinct bulge. “I do have keys,” she said, pulling them out of her right-hand pocket with a frown. “That’s odd. I wonder why they weren’t in my purse. Isn’t that where I usually carry them?”

  “I don’t know, but right now I’m glad they weren’t.” Noah took them from her fingers. “That makes things easier for us, especially if your roommate isn’t home.”

  She stared at the building, searching for something, anything that looked familiar. There were a few Christmas decorations in some of the windows, but overall, the place looked impersonal, as if it could contain anything from offices to apartments, no different than any other building they’d passed along the way. Of course, it wasn’t easy to see clearly in the darkness. She couldn’t imagine living there, yet Noah had no reason to lie to her, either. Was she crazy to trust him, just because he knew her and her brother?

  Who else could she trust?

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  She ignored the sense of dread. “Of course.”

  “Give me a minute,” Noah said. She couldn’t help but be impressed when he came around to open her door. Why was she so impressed with Noah? Was it possible the men she dated didn’t have these kinds of manners? “Here, take my hand.”

  “Thank you.” His hand was warm and strong around hers, and she was struck again by how handsome he was. It was inappropriate to focus on something like that, considering she didn’t remember her own name, but still, she couldn’t deny she was grateful for his strong, reassuring presence.

  The inside of the building was very modern and nicely decorated, but didn’t look at all familiar. Noah pushed the button on the elevator, and the doors instantly slid open. There were six floors and apparently she lived right in the middle on the third level.

  She followed Noah down the hall to room 304. There weren’t many doors, indicating the dwellings were spacious in size rather than piled one on top of the other.

  “Stay here,” he said, using her key to access the condo. He pushed open the door and flipped on the lights, looking around before gesturing for her to come inside.

  She crossed the threshold, hoping, praying that the holes in her memory would begin to fill in enough to create a picture she could latch on to. But while the inside of the condo was nice and neat, it still didn’t seem familiar. And worse, it didn’t instill a sense of home.

  There was a tiny Christmas tree in the corner, but it wasn’t lit up. A detail that also seemed wrong, somehow.

  “You’re sure this is where I live?”

  “You and Gretchen,” Noah said. “Although I’m assuming that since the doors to both bedrooms are open, Gretchen must be traveling. If I remember correctly when I helped you guys move in, you have the room on the right, Gretchen’s is on the left.”

  Swallowing a pang of disappointment, she walked around the living room, searching for what? She had no idea. There was a laptop case on the counter, so she crossed over and peeked inside. The computer didn’t look familiar, but then again, why would it? Nothing personal about a machine. There was a pape
r file folder inside labeled Pietro. Hmm, that was interesting. Something to review in more detail later.

  She turned away, searching for something personal. She headed toward the bedroom off to the right, thinking that she probably had family photographs since Noah had mentioned a brother. She’d only taken two steps when the soft dinging sound of the elevator door reached her ears.

  “Wait,” Noah said in a hushed tone, plastering himself up against the wall near the door, quickly twisting the dead bolt into place and shutting off the lights. “Get down.”

  When she saw the gun in his hand, Madison ducked behind the kitchen counter, her heart thudding painfully in her chest. He doused the lights, and for several long minutes they waited, the silence thick and oppressing.

  The door handle rattled as someone tried to gain entry. Maddy found herself holding her breath, wondering if this was her roommate returning home from a late flight. But then she quickly dismissed the idea, knowing a roommate would simply use her key, the same way she and Noah had.

  Another rattle of the doorknob caused the tiny hairs on the back of her neck to rise. Someone was trying to access the apartment.

  To get to her?

  More jiggling noises—what could the person in the hallway be doing? Picking the lock? She wished she could see Noah’s face.

  After what seemed like a lifetime, the noise stopped. She didn’t move, waiting for some sort of signal from Noah.

  The minutes passed slowly. When her leg muscles began to cramp from crouching, Noah came over to stand beside her, resting his hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right?” he whispered.

  No, she wasn’t all right. She couldn’t remember anything about her past, her job, her life—plus someone had tried to hurt her not just once, but twice. She swallowed hard and pushed past the wave of anxiety. “Yes.”

  “We can’t stay here,” Noah continued in a hushed voice. “Whoever was out there might come back, or worse, hide someplace nearby to watch the place. I need to take you far away from here, someplace no one will know to look for you.”