by Spear, Terry
She chuckled. “The question is did the other guys get any?”
Allan laughed. “They did sort of mention we needed to keep it down in here. No insulation on the inside walls, you know.”
She frowned. “Did we really disturb their sleep?”
“Nah, just lighthearted ribbing as usual.”
“Great.” She folded her arms. “Now we won’t be able to do anything anymore because all I’ll think about is the men in the next room listening to our performance.”
He grinned and sat down on the bed next to her. “Two of the guys said they want to take a break from this assignment and see their wives for a bit.”
Laughing, she shook her head. Then she grew serious. “Allan, Roxie showed me that picture of us at a lake here in New Hampshire. I wondered if you could get in touch with her and find out which lake it was and where we hung out. Maybe we could make a trip there, and I can get some of my memories back.”
“I’ll call it in to the boss. Afterward, do you want to take the sailboat out?”
“Will it be safe?”
“What? My seamanship?”
She smiled and touched his arm. “From the bad guys.”
“We lost them. The boss assured us Stevens never knew about this place.”
“Thank goodness.”
Allan slipped his hand under the cover and caressed her breast. A devilish glint in his eye and a lift to his lips sparked her interest. “You know,” he whispered, “we might want to take a nap a little later today.”
“Yeah, as long as the guys take a hike for a while.”
He grinned. “I shouldn’t have told you about them.” Leaning over, he brushed his lips against hers, but when he pulled away, she followed his mouth and kissed him hard.
“You do any more of that, Mrs. Thompson, and we’ll be in here the rest of the day.”
She laughed. “Okay. I’ll slip into a bathing suit and some shorts while you call the boss.”
“Will do.” Allan kissed her mouth. “I never thought I would share a twin bed with such a shapely body on assignment.” He kissed her cheek and pulled away before he changed his mind and got into bed with her.
When he left the bedroom, he punched the buttons to his cell phone. The sound of the shower came on as he crossed the living area and the notion he might join her later for a quick shower stirred his loins. Just touching that soft, silky skin of hers, covered in citrus-scented body wash...
The line to his boss’s office buzzed busy. He ended the call.
A fire flickered in the middle of a gray stone hearth situated in the center of the room, the ceilings stretching fifteen feet high. Polished wooden floors extended outward to glass windows and patio doors covering the entire backside of the cottage. Sunlight peeked through green pine needles, filtering into the cabin while a stiff breeze swished through the oaks’ leaves.
He glanced over at Dale and Samuel sitting on an orange and brown striped sofa, their feet propped up on an old oak coffee table while they read books.
Dale looked up at him. “What’s up?”
“Going sailing. She remembered having been in New Hampshire and wondered if we could find out where, then take her to her old haunts. Maybe she’d remember something more.”
“Yeah, I recall Roxie mentioning that photo of them was taken at a lake somewhere in New Hampshire.”
Allan nodded and tried the boss’s number again. This time he got through. “Thompson, here.” He knew that the boss had Caller ID, but old habits were hard to break. “Roxie Adams had shown Jenny some lake they’d been at. She wanted to know which lake, so she might be able to revisit the places she’d been and maybe dredge up some more memories.”
“Lake Swanzee.”
Allan swallowed hard. “Lake Swanzee?”
“Yeah, that’s why we had you take her there. Not only does Wilson and his cohorts not know about the place, but she’s been there before. It’s too dangerous for her to return to her home. However, a trip through this area might help her to recall more.”
He knew his boss had his reasons, but it still irked him that Garcia hadn’t been more upfront with them. Why didn’t he say that she’d been here before, and they wanted to see what she could remember?
His boss broke into his thoughts. “Take her into Keene. The ladies visited several dress shops, saw a movie at the old theater, had ice cream at the parlor there. They enjoyed half a day at the Colony Mill Marketplace. They even climbed Mount Monadnock.”
“Where did they stay?”
“Pilgrim Pines.”
Allan rubbed his chin. “Anything else?”
“That’s about all the details I have. Is she remembering much of anything else?”
“No, nothing yet. Keep you informed.” He signed off and pocketed his cell phone. He said to Dale, “She stayed at Pilgrim Pines with Roxie.”
“Whoa, did the boss know?”
“Yeah, and I can’t help but wonder why he didn’t inform us in the first place.”
“Maybe he thought you’d take her for a walk around the area and her memories would start to return. You know him, he can be pretty cryptic at times. Are you still going sailing?”
“Yeah. We’ll sail on over to the Pilgrim Pines beach. See if she remembers anything there. Maybe we can take a look at one of their condos, too.”
“I’ll call them and see if they have a record of the room she stayed in. We can ask to allow her a peek at the inside and see if that helps.” Dale pulled out his phone.
The door to the bedroom opened and Jenny stepped out wearing white shorts and a blue T-shirt tied in a knot at the waist, revealing satiny tanned skin. He took a breath. He wanted to untie the knot with his teeth, rip off her clothes, and carry her back to bed.
“Did you find out anything from your boss?”
“Yeah, you won’t believe this but you stayed at Pilgrim Pines, the resort at the end of the lake. This place is located halfway in the middle of the lake. At the other end is a camping area. Depending on how you feel, we’ll begin to explore the places you and Roxie visited.”
She smiled. “Sounds super.” Glancing around the room, she spied the kitchen and waved at it. “I’m not sure I’m really a breakfast person, but I’m starving. Can we have a bite to eat first?”
“Yeah.” Allan grasped her fingers and pulled her into the kitchen. “What would you like?”
“Cheese and ham omelets, hash browns, toast smothered in blackberry jam, another glass of orange juice and…”
Dale said, “I’ll have the same.”
“Make that another order,” Samuel chimed in.
Allan leaned over and kissed Jenny’s mouth. “You sure you’re not a breakfast person, eh?”
Her lips curved up, and her green eyes twinkled with mischief. “Yeah, well, it might have something to do with all of the exercise I’ve been having lately,” she whispered into his ear.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against his arousal. “You keep that up, and I’ll have to put you through another workout.”
“Not on your life, buster. I’m waiting for you to feed me. I’m not sure I’m much of a cook.”
He chuckled. “Now I know why your memory is taking so long to come back.”
“I can be a good little chef’s assistant.” She wiggled free and pulled the fridge open.
Dale joined them. “Need me to peel some potatoes?”
“Yeah,” Jenny said. “I don’t think I like that job.” She reached into the drawer where the potato peeler rested. When she handed it to Dale, his mouth dropped open, and he stared at the peeler. “What? Change your mind?”
“How did you know it was in that drawer?”
Normally pretty observant because of the job he worked, Allan hadn’t caught what had happened until Dale mentioned it. Now his Agency training awareness kicked in.
“Lucky guess.” She reached into a cabinet down below and pulled out a stainless steel mixing bowl, oblivious to the men watching
her.
When she cracked the eggs into the bowl, she turned to see the men studying her. “What? Are you guys going to help, or was this just a ploy for you to get me to make breakfast?”
Allan smiled in an attempt to settle his own nameless anxieties and disarm her. “It almost worked, didn’t it, Dale?”
Dale began to peel the skin off a potato. “Sure thing. I told you we couldn’t pull it off.”
Allan couldn’t quiet the worry that wormed its way into his gut. The feeling that something wasn’t right.
When they were done making breakfast, Samuel joined them and sat down at the glass table.
“Who else is here with us?” Jenny glanced at doors that led to three more bedrooms.
Allan lifted his coffee cup. “Lantham, Crowlston, Beasley. They’re all sleeping at the moment.” He turned to Dale. “Did you get hold of someone at Pilgrim Pines?”
Dale shook his head. “Line was busy.” He pulled the phone from his belt and punched in numbers. “Hello, I’m with a special investigative law enforcement unit, and inquiring if either a Roxie Adams or Jenny Brant stayed at your facilities last summer around this time. Yes, I understand I’ll have to show you some identification so that I can review the records.” After some pause, he nodded. “Thanks. Would it be available for us to have a look at it this afternoon? At three? Thanks. We’ll be over then.”
He sighed deeply and tucked the phone away. “Yep. They did have the registration under the name of R. Adams, but Roxie signed the register with her first name. Garcia sent a fax to the Pilgrim Pines’s office giving us the authority to look at the records.”
“Sounds good to me. This afternoon it is. So where did Roxie and I go while we were here last?” Jenny asked.
“Keene.”
She ran her fingers over the smooth handle of her butter knife. Instantly, he wished she was stroking him instead.
“Jenny, do you remember the town?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Probably will, once I see it. I don’t remember this place either though.”
“It’s set off from the gravel road. The trees hide it from view. The same thing with the lakefront view. However, if you and Roxie went boating, you might have been by here and seen a glimpse of the cottage from the lake. I’ll sail by the beach at Pilgrim Pines and see if you recognize it.”
She scooped up the last of her eggs with her fork and ate them. “I’m ready to go sailing, Captain.”
Allan hurried to pull her chair out for her. “All right.” He looked over at Dale. “You going?”
“Yeah. I’ll take out the motorboat. Keep an eye on you two.”
“Darn, Dale, I told you three was a crowd,” Jenny teased.
Before long, Jenny and Allan skimmed across the top of the dark lake in the sailboat, its blue and white sails full of the wind. Jenny pulled off her shorts as the wet spray splattered her.
Allan turned the sailboat in the direction of Pilgrim Pines and after several minutes, they grew close enough for her to see some of the wooden buildings.
“Yes, I remember the beach and the resort. Certainly.”
Allan’s heart skipped a beat. Maybe she would now begin to remember everything. “Do you recall which one of the condos you stayed in?”
She squinted her eyes, then shook her head. “Nope. Nothing comes to mind about that.”
His heart sank. The doctor had said it might be a long tedious process and Allan was again reminded how patience wasn’t one of his most noted virtues.
They sailed around the lake and Jenny studied each of the houses, but didn’t seem to recollect anything. When they came to the spillway, she nodded. “Yeah, I remember this.”
They continued until they reached the campgrounds. “This, too. I thought how glad I was not to have to tent here. Rather cold at night, I would imagine.”
They headed in the same direction as the safe house. She turned back to wave at Dale in the motorboat, idling a couple of hundred feet away. He smiled back.
When they reached the secluded gray cedar house obscured by pines and oak, her eyes widened.
“You recognize this house?” His words couldn’t have been any more incredulous. How in the hell would she have remembered this house and not any of the others? Many had rolling grassy lawns stretching down to the lake and weren’t hidden from view at all. Few were this sheltered in the woods.
Then she shook her head. “No.”
He was certain she had, and his skin crawled with the realization again that something wasn’t right.
He pulled the boat into the dock where Samuel took over. Then Allan helped Jenny out of the boat. She stared at the walkway leading back up through the woods to the house.
“Are you sure you don’t recognize the place?”
Yet why would she? But she acted so strangely, he was certain she recalled having been there. Then his stomach tightened. What if Roxie and Jenny had met a couple of agents on vacation here? It would’ve been against policy for them to bring women to the house, but what if they did anyway? He groaned under his breath, his heart thundering with the notion Jenny had been with another agent.
She walked up the path, her bikini bottoms wet from the lake spray, wiggling suggestively as she swung her shorts by the drawstring looped over her finger. Despite wanting to throw her over his shoulder and haul her to the bedroom, he was bound and determined to help her remember everything.
Allan took a deep breath. “We’re going into Keene. After that, we can visit the condo at Pilgrim Pines, then tomorrow bright and early, we’re going to climb that mountain.”
Dale pulled him to a stop as Jenny climbed the wooden cedar stairs to the wraparound porch. When she was out of hearing, Dale said to Allan, “What’s up? You seem concerned.”
“I think she and Roxie were here with a couple of our guys.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah. We’ve got to get her to remember her past now.”
“The doctor said you can’t force it. You remember how he said that one woman he’d cared for took four months finally to remember her past. For all that time, she’d even forget talking to people, taking care of business, whatever. We’ve got to be thankful Jenny’s not that bad off.”
Allan looked back up at the house as Jenny stepped inside and slid the glass door shut behind her. “Call the boss. I want to know which agents were staying here while Jenny and Roxie were at Pilgrim Pines last summer.”
“Are you sure you want me to do it?”
“Yeah.” Allan dashed for the house and up the stairs, determined to find out more about his new wife. Depressed with the dismal notion, he realized he really didn’t know her well at all.
***
Jenny felt she was living a nightmare. The more she remembered, the more terrifying the pieces of disjointed information became. Allan was right to suspect she remembered the house. She knew four of the doors leading off the living area opened into bedrooms. And the fifth opened to a bathroom. How would she know that, unless she’d peeked inside them?
She knew the water sitting in recycled milk jugs in the bathroom were used for drinking water, because the water in the sink came from the lake and was most likely polluted. She knew the water in the jugs came from a natural spring nearby, where anyone could fill their containers.
Dale was right when he commented about her knowing where the potato peeler was. She subconsciously remembered it sat in that drawer and the metal mixing bowl she’d used for the eggs was in the cabinet below. She knew the dishes were blue and the plastic glasses, gold.
But how she knew all this remained a complete mystery.
Jenny attempted to curb the growing anxiety that twisted daggers in her belly. If the place had been an A.T.A. safe house, why would she have been there? On the other hand, what if Roxie and she stayed at Pilgrim Pines, then met some agents beachside or boating and come back to the house? But would it have been allowed? She wouldn’t have thought so. Since she knew where utensils were located in the
kitchen, it appeared she’d been at the house for more than a fireside chat.
Her blood warmed. Jeez, did she pick up or get picked up by men on a regular basis? She really wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer to that question rattling around in her brain.
When Allan and Dale began to speak with one another in hushed voices on the path below her, she was certain they had business to discuss, and she didn’t want to be eavesdropping. Besides, for now, her own mind was in turmoil over the memories she was recalling. For now she needed to focus on them without distractions. And Allan was way too much of a distraction.
After she changed into dry shorts and another T-shirt, Allan knocked on the bedroom door.
“Come in.” She figured he didn’t want to open the door and find her standing naked for his partners to see, and that’s why he warned her before he barged in. Or was he self-conscious about having just married her and wanting to give her privacy? In any event, she appreciated him.
“We’re running into Keene. I’ll just get a quick change of dry clothes. Would you mind fixing a cup of coffee for me before we run off? Kind of a late night last evening.”
“Sure.” She wasn’t sure what to think of Allan’s behavior. He stayed clear of her and nearly dove into the bathroom. Was he afraid she would seduce him before they made it out of the bedroom? The notion brought a smile to her lips.
She closed the bedroom door behind her. Dale nodded at her. Entering the kitchen, she called out, “Do you and Samuel want some coffee?”
“Yeah, decaf, though.” Dale joined her.
“The real thing for me,” Samuel added, from his perch on the living room sofa.
Jenny pulled the coffee jars out of the cabinet, then stared at them for a moment. Her face heated. She knew just where they were. She saw Dale watching her.
“Two spoonfuls of sugar,” he said quietly.
“No sugar for me,” Samuel hollered.
She glanced at a jar. Nothing indicated it was a sugar jar. Yet she knew it was filled with sweet white granular crystals as much as she knew the T-shirt she now wore was green and a golden-shelled sea turtle swam across it. Pulling a drawer open, she touched the silverware stacked neatly in rows in a rubber divider. She hadn’t been the one to set the table earlier. And she hadn’t seen where the silverware had come from.
