by Curry, Edna
So he figured he was safe, for now anyway. The few times they’d gone out together, he’d been careful to take her only to places he was sure no one who knew him frequented, expensive restaurants in the Twin Cities. She was used to those places, he wasn’t. But most of their time together had been spent in her apartment alone. Usually, he’d picked up food and taken it to her apartment. He’d been very careful never to leave anything behind that could be traced to him. He never left a toothbrush or piece of clothing and always flushed his used condoms.
He was quite sure no one he knew had seen them together or knew they’d been seeing each other. He’d warned her about how people love to gossip and speculate about teachers’ private lives, especially the teens they taught, so he was quite sure she hadn’t told anyone about them.
Restlessly, he put the newspaper down, picked up another section and started paging through it. That’s when he saw the tiny article. It was buried in the women’s section of the paper. “Mystery woman escapes drowning but has amnesia,” he read.
Damn it all to hell! He could hardly believe it, but there it was in black and white! She was still alive! How could she have survived that river?
He knew that area; he and his buddies used to go there every summer weekend during his high school years. A friend had died there, which was what had given him the idea to choose the area in the first place. That friend had been a good swimmer, and hadn’t survived, so how had she? What rotten luck.
She had amnesia and didn’t know who she was now, the paper said, but the reporter speculated that she might remember later.
Now what was he to do? If she remembered and told what he’d done, he’d probably be charged with attempted murder! His ulcer kicked in and pain curled in his stomach. He reached in his pocket for the antacids he always carried and chewed a couple. The sharp mint flavor mingled with the delicious aroma of roasted chicken coming from the kitchen.
Maybe Cara never would remember her past. Maybe she’d just keep being this Jane Doe they were calling her. Fat chance. He couldn’t be that lucky. A man had to make his own luck.
Good thing he’d decided to move from this little burg to a big city. He hoped they’d be more tolerant of gossip there, anyway, if he got lucky and escaped charges and could still keep the job he’d just landed. What a mess!
“Dinner’s ready,” his wife called. “Go help Sally wash up.”
“All right.” He put down the newspaper and eyed his blonde, blue eyed wife. She’d been a beauty queen once, before she’d married him and gotten pregnant. But she’d never lost the pounds she’d gained with Sally, and now she would gain more as she carried this one.
He sighed. Reluctantly, he got up and went to find his daughter.
Over dinner Joyce said, “I heard at the church bazaar today that they’re having an appreciation dinner for the teachers and their wives next Saturday.”
“Mmm,” he said, helping himself to more mashed potatoes and gravy. That was the way it was in small towns. Groups were always planning cozy little get-togethers so they could gossip and keep track of everyone else’s business. God, but he hated small towns!
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He shrugged and bit into a chicken leg. “I guess it slipped my mind. Sorry.”
“No problem. I know about it now, so I can get Nancy to babysit Sally. I think it sounds like fun. I need to get out a little, meet some of the new faculty Daddy hired.”
“Doesn’t your sister have better things to do than babysit on a Saturday night?”
“Nancy loves staying with Sally. She won’t mind.”
He supposed Nancy wouldn’t. That family stuck together like glue. And naturally Joyce would remind him her father was the Superintendent of the school and his boss. The bitch never let him forget it.
“Are you sure going out now is a good idea, Joyce?”
She stared at him. “Why not?”
“Because you’re pregnant. You need to rest and take it easy, don’t you?”
She laughed and helped herself to more chicken. She put more on Sally’s plate, too. “Nonsense,” she said. “I’m feeling fine. Going to a sit-down dinner isn’t strenuous. I need to get out of this house and keep up on what’s going on in town. I’ll be tied down enough when the new baby arrives.”
“Well, we might not be here very long. I’ve been offered a position in Chicago next year. We’ll have to sell this house and find one there pretty soon.”
Joyce stared at him, dumbfounded. “Chicago! Sell the house? But—but you never said anything about changing jobs. Why didn’t you talk to me about this? Don’t I get any say in where we live?”
He shrugged and helped himself to more mashed potatoes. “I thought you’d be happy about me trying for a better job. You know the pay is higher in a bigger town.”
“So are expenses! This is my home. I’m comfortable here, I don’t want to leave. My family and my friends are here. We just got Sally into that nice preschool.”
He frowned at her. “You know we only moved here because your father was the Super here and you wanted to be near your family. I don’t have any ties here. You’ll make new friends in a new town. They have preschools in Chicago, too, you know.”
“I know, but—” She bit back tears and looked pleadingly at him. “Besides, Barry, this isn’t a good time to move.”
“I know. I am sorry about that, Joyce. We’ll hire a moving van and I’ll get you extra help to get settled. But my decision is made. I’m driving to Chicago tomorrow to sign the contract and look for a house there for us.”
Joyce burst into tears, jumped to her feet and ran from the room.
Sally looked at him, her blue eyes wide. She looked so much like her mother it was uncanny. “Daddy, why is Mommy crying?”
He scowled at her. “Never mind that, Sally. Eat your dinner.”
“I don’t want any more. My tummy gets upset when Mommy cries.”
He frowned. Did her stomach react to stress like his did? Was that something you inherited? “Well, come on then, get into your pajamas and brush your teeth. I’ll put a Disney video in your VCR and you can watch it in your room. Call me when it finishes. Then I’ll come tuck you in.”
He got Sally settled in her room. He came back to the family room, glanced at the remains of dinner on the dining room table and shrugged. Joyce could deal with it when she finished her crying jag.
He got a cold beer from the refrigerator and settled in to watch a baseball game on television.
A while later, Joyce reappeared. “Barry, I’m not going to Chicago.”
He looked up and sighed. She was a mess. Her face was all blotchy from crying and her makeup was completely gone. He forced a smile and muted the television.
“I didn’t say you should go with me to Chicago tomorrow, Joyce. You don’t have to worry about a thing, Darling. I’ll go by myself and make all the arrangements. Then I’ll come back and get you when it’s time for the moving van.”
She shook her head. “No, I mean I’m not moving with you to Chicago. You’re free to go, but I’m staying here with my family.”
He stared at her. He didn’t like the stubborn set to her jaw. His stomach clenched like it had when something went wrong in his life back in the slums. He thought he’d gotten beyond all that fear and panic.
“You’re just upset, Joyce. You know that isn’t good for you in your condition. Your hormones are all out of whack now, so you’re not thinking straight.”
She lifted her chin and looked him in the eye. “I know what I want and it isn’t life in a big city like Chicago.”
“So, I’ll find us a house in the suburbs. It won’t be so different from here.”
Joyce shook her head. “No. I’m not going.”
“I told you, I’m selling the house.”
“No, you’re not. I called Daddy and he says your job here is safe. There’s no reason for you to leave. You’re even scheduled for a raise next year.”
“Yeah
, two percent! Big deal. Chicago will pay me thousands more than I get here.”
“Money isn’t everything. We have plenty to live comfortably here.”
He tried for a reasonable tone as he argued, “I don’t want to stay here, Joyce.”
She went on as if he hadn’t spoken. “Daddy talked to his lawyer. We bought this house with my family’s money so legally it’s mine and I’m keeping it. You can’t sell it without my signature.”
Barry was so angry he felt his veins would burst. Trust the woman to use her daddy’s influence. “You don’t have a job,” he bit out. “There’s still a mortgage on this house. How are you going to make the payments without my salary?”
“I’ll manage. I’ll get an office job like I used to have. I can dip into the principal of Grandma’s trust fund besides my allowance from it if I need to. If you insist on leaving, I want a divorce.”
“A divorce!” He closed his eyes and leaned back on the sofa. A divorce meant supporting two houses and child support for two kids. Good gravy.
This was another thing to blame on Cara. Her threats to turn him in had started this chain reaction. Now look where it was going.
He couldn’t lose Joyce. She and her family’s money were his way out of his lousy past. She’d brought him respectability and the good life. For the first time in his life he had a new car. And she allowed him the freedom to get away enough to enjoy an occasional fling. He couldn’t do that on his salary alone. Not if he had to pay child support along with supporting himself.
Damn. He couldn’t live like he did now without Joyce’s family money. He’d counted on her going with him and keeping control of her allowance. Cocaine was expensive and he liked his fun trips to the Twin Cities. He was just getting started with his side business of selling drugs, but soon he’d be expanding his operation and making more money from that. And he had to have more sex than he could get around here. Joyce was such an old fashioned prude. She’d never try anything different or new.
He sighed and gave in. “All right, you win, Joyce. I’ll stay here with you. I’ll tell your father in the morning that I’ll renew my contract here.”
“Good.” Joyce smiled and came over to give him a hug. “You won’t regret it, Barry. This is a nice place to raise a family. And you know how much I love you.”
“Yeah. Great.” He tolerated her affection and was glad when she moved to the dining room to clean up the dinner mess.
With a sigh, he turned back to watching the game. He’d have to solve the problem with Cara another way. Women were such a pain.
~ * ~
Over the next few days, Mel and Jane fell into a comfortable routine. She was dressed and downstairs to meet him with fresh coffee when he came in to work.
He usually stopped at the bakery and picked up fresh glazed doughnuts which they’d discovered they both loved.
They would chat over coffee, and then he would settle down to work, leaving her on her own. The first couple of days, she’d rested or shopped with Marion.
By the third morning she was bored. She’d finished her coffee and read the paper. Every time she glanced at Mel, she felt more and more restless.
His dark curls looked rumpled from his habit of running his fingers through them when he talked on the phone. She itched to run her fingers through them too. The man seriously turned her on. She kept remembering that kiss by the river and wanting to repeat it. And do a whole lot more with that seriously hot body. Not a good idea. She needed to do something to keep her mind off him.
“Mel, let me help you.”
“Help me?” he asked, looking up and meeting her eyes.
She shrugged. “Why not? There must be something I can do.” She indicated the stacks of paper everywhere. “Obviously, you have lots of work to do here. You said you used to have an assistant. Let me do what she did.”
“But you’re supposed to be resting.”
She blew out a disgusted breath. “I’m fine, Mel. I’m tired of resting. I feel useless just killing time. Besides, I want to do something to repay you for giving me a place to stay.”
Mel sat back in his chair and eyed her speculatively. “Do you know how to use a computer?”
Did she? Her stomach fluttered. She didn’t know. “I think so. Let me try anyway.”
“All right. You can use the computer my assistant used. It’s still all set up with software and everything. I just moved it out of the way when she left.”
Relief surged through her at his agreement. He went to a closet and brought out another computer. He cleared a space down the table from him and set up the computer. She grabbed a chair and pulled it close, then watched him as he booted it up and opened a database program for her. “Does this look familiar?”
She nodded. “I think I’ve used this one before.”
“Okay, then. Here’s some info from one of my clients. I need it all copied into this spreadsheet like this, okay?”He began putting in some of the data to demonstrate what he wanted done. “You put in the daily sales totals, and the program totals them up for the month, okay? I’ve already put in all the formulas you’ll need.”
“Sure,” she said.
“We use a separate file for each business, but the basic format is much the same.”
His head was too close to hers. She could feel his warm breath on her arm as she reached across to point at the screen to ask a question. She felt flushed. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all. She shouldn’t be attracted to him. She couldn’t allow herself to be.
Mel didn’t seem any more comfortable than she was. He pushed back his chair. “If you have any questions, just ask.”
“Okay.”
He rolled his chair back to his own desk and bent his head to his work.
Jane told herself she didn’t mind him leaving her side. She pushed aside the feelings of attraction and was soon absorbed in her work.
She was pleased to find she remembered the commands to make the program work. Her fingers seemed to know the keys and flew over the keyboard as though they’d always done this. She’d soon finished and asked for more work.
“You’re not finished already?” He looked up in surprise and then came over to check her work, comparing figures from the paper to her screen. “Great! You’re a fast typist.”
“I guess I am,” she said, pleased. She noticed that he was careful not to touch her this time. Great. Well, if he wanted to cool it, fine with her. After all, they barely knew each other. And she knew nothing about herself. It was better to keep their cool and not get involved. But that didn’t stop the longings she felt. Or the images that ran through her mind of them enjoying each other’s bodies in her bed.
He gave her more work, with the remark, “I’m going to have to put you on the payroll.”
She laughed, saying, “I’m just happy to earn my keep.”
They spent their evenings together as well, going out to various restaurants in the area. After the first few times, they avoided the Flame, because people tended to stop to ask questions of Jane. She didn’t know the answers, and was embarrassed to keep saying, “I don’t know.”
But after a few days, Jane stopped being a curiosity and they could comfortably go there for lunch. Being accepted as one of the locals was nice, but as days passed, she grew more anxious that she’d never regain her memory.
Mel tried to comfort her whenever she mentioned it, but he kept remembering the person at the dam who had pushed her into the river. He still felt sure it had been a man, despite Ben’s doubts. He wondered who that man was and why he’d done such a thing. Worry about whether he’d return to try to hurt her again ate at him.
He knew it bothered her as well. She’d mentioned nightmares several times and the dark circles under her eyes told him she wasn’t sleeping well.
One noon, while Jane was lunching with Marion, he went to see Ben again.
“Still nothing,” the sheriff said. “I haven’t found any information about her. Nor has anyone listed her
as missing. I’d hoped to find her photo listed by now.”
“No one called in after that newspaper printed her story as the ‘mystery woman’ either, did they?”
“No, but it was a pretty small article,” Ben said with a grin. “Without her or our cooperation, they didn’t have much to go on.”
“True,” Mel agreed.
“But it’s really odd that no one has missed her.”
“Not so odd if that man with her planned this,” Mel said grimly. “He could have passed some story to her friends and family to cover her absence.”
“That’s true,” Ben said. “But suppose he did? What was his motive? Money? You need a body and a death certificate to collect insurance and he doesn’t have either of those. If someone just disappears, the insurance companies don’t have to pay out for at least seven years. After that she can be declared dead.”
“Maybe he was her husband and just wanted her out of the way to marry someone else?”
Ben snorted and tapped a cigarette out of his pack. “Divorce is so common nowadays, why wouldn’t he simply divorce her?”
Mel shifted uneasily in the hard wooden chair. “Maybe their religion forbids divorce?”
“Again, no body, no end of marriage by death,” Ben said.
“Or money again? Maybe they owned something together that he’d have control of if she wasn’t there. Or maybe she knew something about him that would prevent him from getting family money or there’d be a scandal of some kind.”
Ben laughed and lit up his cigarette. “As long as we’re speculating, she could be involved in something nefarious, like a drug deal gone wrong or something.”
Mel frowned. “You can’t be serious. Not Jane! She doesn’t look or act like a criminal.”
“What does a ‘criminal’ look or act like?”
