At her raised eyebrow, he elaborated. “I got into some trouble, went off track for a bit.” Although he didn’t say it, she knew that this was not long after she left. “Thankfully, Chief Finlay made it his mission to take me under his wing and he soon got me straightened out.” He sighed. “If it weren’t for him, I’d probably be in jail right now.”
“You never wanted to move away? Maybe join a bigger department?”
He shook his head. “No, never. I love it where I am and there is plenty of crime going on to keep us busy.”
He’d barely finished his sentence when the wail of sirens drowned him out. They watched as three squad cars turned onto the block and sped past before turning right at the end of the street. The sirens abruptly stopped, and looking towards the end of the street, they could see that they must have stopped just around the corner as the red and blue flashing lights were still visible.
Looking at each other without a word, they both dropped their coffees in a trash can and instinctively ran towards them.
As they rounded the corner, an ambulance sped past them, arriving on the scene just before they did.
They watched as the paramedics ran into an alley but were prevented from getting any closer by an officer standing at the entrance, keeping people out.
Though she had no authority there, she held up her badge to him, hoping that he wasn’t the territorial type you sometimes came across.
“What’s going on?”
He looked at the badge, then over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t overheard. “Looks like that serial killer has struck again, but this time he must have been disturbed or something because she’s still alive.”
Kat’s heart sank. Another attack. All the more reason for her to find Jamie quickly and get her out of there.
By now, a crowd had started to gather, including several of the working girls, and Kat scanned the faces in the vain hope that she would spot her.
“Kat, come on, let’s go. There’s no point standing around here. We need to keep looking.” He put his arm around her shoulders and squeeze her to him. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her.”
The paramedics were wheeling the victim out of the alley now and Kat turned for a last look before leaving and froze.
“Jamie!” she cried, pulling away from Finn and dashing towards the stretcher before being caught and held back by one of the police officers now keeping the crowd at bay. “Finn! It’s Jamie!”
“Let her go. It’s her niece!” Finn explained to the officer who was struggling to hold on to her. His relief visible, he let her go and she ran to the stretcher.
“Oh, God, Finn, are we too late?” Kat’s voice cracked as she looked at the pale woman lying unconscious on the stretcher, the blood from a head wound caking her hair into a red, sticky mess.
Thirty-Two
Kat had traveled in the ambulance with Jamie and Finn had gone back to the hotel to get his car and had joined her there. She’d been very lucky by all accounts, suffering a nasty head wound and cuts and scratches to her feet, but no other injuries.
They’d taken it in turns, giving statements to the local police who had now gone to continue the search for her assailant, leaving one officer behind in case she woke up. From what they’d been told, it appeared that Jamie was very nearly the victim of the serial killer hunting local prostitutes and it was only the fact that he’d been disturbed by one of them choosing that alley to service her client that had saved her life. He’d run off, leaving her there before he’d had the chance to do any serious damage.
Finn had gone to grab them some coffee from the cafeteria and he stood now, with the two steaming cups in his hands, watching them both through the glass window of the private room where Jamie lay. She had yet to regain consciousness but, for now, the doctors were not worried. She’d undergone numerous tests and scans when she’d been brought in and all appeared well. She would wake up in her own time, they’d said.
There were so many questions that needed answers but, for now, all that would have to wait. Pushing the door open with his hip, he handed Kat the hot drink. “Any change?”
Taking one of her hands away from the bed where she was gripping Jamie’s, she took the cup from him with a small smile. “No, nothing yet.” She took a sip of the coffee, grimacing at its bitterness. “Did you manage to call everyone?”
Finn sat down in the remaining chair. “Yes. I spoke to Jake and my boss and filled them in. Jake wanted to come straight here, but I’ve told him to stay there for the time being. When she’s better, she will need to speak to the police, but for now everyone’s just happy she’s been found.”
“You can head home now if you want. There’s no need for you to stay.” She said it quietly, keeping her eyes on Jamie and not looking at him.
“Do you want me to?”
She shrugged. “It’s up to you. I’m going to stay with Jamie until she’s well enough to come home, but you can’t do anything else here. You may as well get back.”
“No, I’ll stay. If you don’t mind, that is.” He had no intention of going anywhere. He’d committed to bring this woman home and as far as he was concerned, his job wasn’t over until that’s exactly what he did.
“Of course, I don’t mind.” She smiled at him now. “Thank you, Finn, for everything.”
Thirty-Three
She wasn’t sure if her spine was ever going to be straight again. They’d pushed the two chairs in the room together and had taken turns sleeping on them while the other stayed awake, holding Jamie’s hand and talking to her.
It had been two days now and she wasn’t showing any signs of waking up yet. Stretching to get the kinks out of her back after her turn on the chairs, she looked at Finn. He’d fallen asleep with his head on the bed, still holding Jamie’s hand.
He was such a good man, exactly the kind of man she’d imagined he’d become when they were teenagers. The thought made her sad, imagining what could have been if she’d stayed. He was breathing deeply and before she could stop herself, she reached forward and brushed a stray strand of hair from his forehead. She hadn’t meant to disturb him but his eyes flickered and opened, and he raised his head from the bed.
“Everything okay?” His voice was still thick with sleep.
“Yes. I was just going to do a coffee run. Can I grab you one?”
“Mm, yes, please. My mouth feels like the bottom of a bird cage.”
Just then, she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. “Wait, did you see that?”
“See what?” he said, sitting up straighter.
“I saw her move. I’m sure I did.” They both sat and watched, but nothing happened. Then, just as she was thinking it must have been wishful thinking, she saw it again. “There! Her hand moved!”
“You’re right, it did.”
Leaning across the bed so that she was close to Jamie’s face, she tried to wake her up. “Jamie. Jamie, wake up, darling. It’s Kat.” Nothing, but she wasn’t about to give up that easily. “Jamie, come on darling. It’s time to wake up. Please, darling.” She watched as her eyes flickered and slowly opened, eventually focusing on Kat’s face. “Oh, God, thank you. We’ve been so worried about you.”
Jamie looked at her, appearing confused. “Water,” she croaked through dry lips.
“Of course, sorry!” Looking around, she saw that Finn was way ahead of her and had already poured a cup of water from the jug by the bed, holding it out to her. Taking it from him, she gently put her hand behind Jamie’s head and lifted it from the pillow, holding the cup of water to her lips. After a few sips, Jamie laid back down with a sigh.
Turning her eyes to Kat once again, she spoke. “I’m sorry, who are you?”
It must be the knock to the head, Kat thought to herself. “It’s me, Auntie Kat.”
Jamie winced as she shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I’ve no idea who you are.”
Worried now, Kat turned to look at Finn, who indicated that she should follow him outside. N
odding, she turned to Jamie. “You just rest, darling, we’ll be back in a minute.”
Leaving the room, neither of them spoke until the door was firmly closed behind them. “What’s wrong with her? Why doesn’t she recognize me?” The anguish was plain in her voice.
“I don’t know, Kat, but we need to let the doctors know she’s woken up. Maybe they can find out what’s wrong.”
“Okay. You go and do that. I’m going to stay with her.” Watching him go, she took a deep breath and put a big smile on her face. She wasn’t going to let Jamie know she was worried, and went back into the room.
***
“What are they doing in there?”
“Just come and sit down. They’ll tell us soon enough.”
She couldn’t sit down, though. She’d been pacing back and forth outside the room for half an hour now, stopping every now and then to look through the window and see what was going on. So much so that one of the doctors had reached across and closed the blinds.
Just then, the door opened and the two doctors came out of the room.
“Is she okay? What’s wrong with her?”
One of the doctors, the senior one judging by the way the other one held back, raised his hands and smiled. “One question at a time, okay?”
He pulled up a chair across from them in the corridor and sat down. “Well, physically I’m very pleased to say she’s fine. There are no lasting effects from the blow to the head she received. She’s been very lucky.”
Relief flooded through her as she listened.
“But she does appear to have amnesia.”
“What?” Kat was confused. “I thought you just said that the blow hadn’t done any physical damage?”
The doctor smiled patiently at her. “It didn’t. She doesn’t remember how, but about a year and a half ago she remembers waking up, injured, in a forest. She has no memory of anything before that. Unfortunately, the only memories she has are ones since that time.”
Thirty-Four
Coming Home
It felt strange. She was going to a place she didn’t remember, with people she didn’t know. But in an inexplicable way, it also felt familiar.
When she’d woken up in the hospital, her first thought was that she wasn’t dead, after all. Somehow, she’d survived the attack. She’d thought the strange woman talking to her had been one of the doctors and she’d been utterly confused when she’d kept calling her Jamie and said she was her aunt.
Once she’d told the doctors about her amnesia and she’d undergone a battery of tests, she’d been told that physically she was fit and well and was free to leave. But go where?
The woman called Kat had explained that she was her aunt and that she’d been missing from a town three hundred miles away for well over a year and that they’d almost given up hope of finding her alive. It was a chance broadcast on the news that had led them to her.
She welcomed the idea of not going back to Blade, of having the better life she’d imagined countless times. Kat had been horrified when she’d found out that she thought she was wanted for murder and had quickly assured her that it was all lies. She would need a bit of time though, to adjust and to get used to the idea that she wasn’t who she thought she was at all.
She’d asked them to give her a couple of days to think things through and they’d willingly agreed, checking her into the same hotel where they both had rooms. She’d spent a lot of time on her own, just thinking, but she’d also spent some time with them and had decided that, if they were terrible people, they were doing a very good job of hiding it.
Finally she’d made a decision and now, here she was, in the car with Kat headed back to the place she’d once called home. Finn was following behind in his own car, so it gave them some time alone together and Jamie was using it to try and find out as much as she could.
The news that both her parents had died weeks before she’d been found was devastating. She couldn’t remember them so her grief was tempered, but there was no denying that it was still there.
Kat had been insistent that she didn’t return to her apartment and had taken her to the mall to get anything that she needed. The comfortable slacks and t-shirt she was wearing now felt much better than the revealing clothes she’d been used to wearing. She’d wanted to go back for her money, but Kat wouldn’t let her, explaining that she was quite wealthy and didn’t need it. That had made her slightly uncomfortable; she’d worked so hard to save it, but then she realized if she was leaving that life behind, then she needed to leave it all behind.
“Can you tell me a bit more about my brother?” she asked now.
“Sure. Jake’s only a few months older than you because he was adopted just before your mom found out she was expecting you. The two of you are really close.”
“I can’t wait to meet him.” And it was true, she was excited and nervous all at the same time.
“Well, not long now. We’re only about half an hour away.”
***
There had to be some mistake, she thought to herself as they drew closer to the beautiful house which appeared at the end of the driveway. I would have remembered a place like this! Wouldn’t she? Kat had told her what to expect, but actually seeing it was something else.
Her nerves were really kicking in now and she bit her bottom lip nervously. She had no idea how to deal with this. The doctors had told her to take things slowly, just one step at a time. They’d found no medical reason for her amnesia, so they’d told her that she must have suffered some sort of trauma, which seemed likely given what she did remember. Her memory could come back today, tomorrow or never.
She wasn’t sure which she preferred, having no idea what the trauma was that she was blocking out but this, this was the strangest thing she had ever experienced.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be absolutely fine.” Kat said gently. The car had come to a stop and she hadn’t even noticed.
“What if I don’t remember?” She didn’t know how to behave. She was scared that they would think her odd.
“It doesn’t matter if you do or you don’t. Jake is your family, your brother. He loves you, and has missed you horribly. He won’t care if you remember him or not, he’s just glad you’re coming home.”
Coming home. All this time, she’d had a home to come back to and she hadn’t known. Blade had preyed on her when she was at her most vulnerable, feeding her a pack of lies about what she had supposedly done. She’d been too trusting, too scared to doubt what he said. The anger she’d felt toward him when Kat had told her the truth had been all consuming; she’d wanted to find him, lash out. The time for that would come another day, though. For now, she was home.
Thirty-Five
For the first time in years, since she was a kid still living in the trailer park, Carrie was actually terrified. When Kat had called from the hospital telling them that they’d found Jamie, her knees had almost buckled under her. She forced herself to smile as Jake took her in his arms and swung her round the room, he was so happy. Her insides had been roiling though. How was it possible? It couldn’t be! They hadn’t heard the whole story yet but whatever it was, this could only be bad news for her.
“They’re here!” The excitement in his voice was palpable, but Carrie just felt sick.
“You go, I’ll get out of your way.” She had no intention of being there when Jamie walked through the door. What if she recognized her? She knew that she’d lost her memory but there was still a chance, right?
“Don’t be silly. She’s your family, too!” He went to take her by the hand and pull her towards the front door.
She couldn’t make a scene; if she did, Jake would know something was up. Even he wasn’t that stupid. But if Jamie remembered what she’d done, it was all over.
She’d considered running as soon as she’d heard Jamie had been found. She’d even started packing a bag. But where would she go? And besides, there was no way she was walking away from everything she had here unless she had absolu
tely no choice.
In the end, she’d relied on the fact that if she hadn’t gotten her memory back in all this time, she wasn’t likely to get it back now. She just needed her to stay that way for long enough for her to put her plan into action.
“Ok, if that’s what you want,” she replied, allowing herself to be reluctantly pulled outside.
***
Jake couldn’t understand Carrie’s attitude. He’d never wanted to marry her in the first place, but what choice had he had? It was that or go to prison. It certainly wasn’t love, they usually got along all right, but since the reading of the will she’d been unbearable. He’d expected her to be happier since the news had come that Jamie had been found. After all, that was what she wanted, to get her hands on his money and now she could. So why on earth was she behaving like this?
He wasn’t going to worry about it right now, though. His sister was home. He’d been such a prick and hadn’t realized until she went missing and his parents died just how much he loved them all. Even his dad. No more, though. From now on, he was going to be the perfect brother. He’d robbed her of her fiancé and he was going to do everything he could from now on to make it up to her.
Opening the front door, he rushed outside just as Jamie was climbing out of Kat’s car. The rush of emotion he felt when he saw her brought tears to his eyes. Kat had warned him to take it slow, not expect too much, but he couldn’t help himself. Closing the gap between them in a few strides, he enveloped her in a hug and held her to him.
“Oh, my God, I can’t believe you’re actually here.” His voice was thick with tears as he spoke. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“Let the poor girl breathe!” Kat had her hand on his arm and her face was wet with tears.
Suddenly, they were all hugging each other and laughing and crying at the same time.
“Jamie, this is my wife, Carrie.” He indicated to where Carrie stood on the front steps of the house. “You have met, but we weren’t married then.”
True Deceit (Blindsided Book 1) Page 26
