Liz Johnson - Stolen Memories

As Brad’s voice chirped on, Julie sank back against the elevated bed. The rush of adrenaline had vanished, stealing her strength.

“I’ll be right back to get you cleaned up, Julie. Security is on its way.” Brad turned to go, but she grabbed at his arm.

“Call Zach. Please.”

“Who?”

“Detective Jones. Tell him...tell him I need him.”

* * *

Zach jabbed the hospital’s elevator button three times, probably harder than it required to light up, but he didn’t have time to wait for it. When the doors didn’t open, he abandoned the lift and ran into the stairwell, taking them two at a time for three flights before running down the corridor.

His breathing was rapid and painful by the time he reached the ICU. The night nurses shot him strange looks, but the big guy, the one who had called him, waved him toward the security guard in a black uniform.

“Tell me what happened.” His words were sharp, like the smack of a hammer against wood.

The security guard had pimples and a patchy beard. He wasn’t much more than a kid with a walkie-talkie and a flashlight, and he took two steps back at Zach’s approach. “Umm. Got here as fast as I could when I got the call, but the guy had already vanished. We checked the back stairwell, and he’s not there, either.” The kid wrung his hands and looked toward the ceiling tiles. “I guess he’s long gone.”

“When did you get the call?”

Zach could almost see him calculating the time as he stared at his watch through narrowed eyes. “I guess about twenty minutes ago?”

He let out a short breath, jamming his hands onto his hips. “Can you be more specific?”

The kid shrugged and shook his head.

“You can go.” Zach dismissed the guard but couldn’t seem to take the single step required to enter Julie’s room. Straightening his shoulders, he tried to prepare himself for whatever he might see. Brad wouldn’t have been so calm on the phone if she’d been severely injured. But he’d said she needed Zach.

It had at once exhilarated and terrified him.

He liked being needed. He liked taking care of people who couldn’t take care of themselves. Except Julie was an unknown. Nothing about her or her situation was certain or easy.

And he couldn’t stay away from her.

He strolled across the room, his shoes silent against the tile. She was so small beneath the blanket, her feet not even close to reaching the end of the mattress. The bed was angled so she was partially sitting up, but her eyes were closed, as though she was fast asleep. Maybe he should go. Let her get some real rest after another traumatic event.

But she’d asked for him.

At her side he rested a hand on her arm. She was so pale. Her face and lips were nearly white, the only real color a ring of yellow already materializing at her throat and the still purple bruises.

Her good eye fluttered open, and her swollen one even managed a slit through which he could make out a matching brown iris. The corners of her lips shifted into a low-wattage smile. “You came.”

“The nurse said you needed me.”

Her eyes drifted closed again, and she bit both her top and bottom lips until they disappeared. “I did—do.”

“All right. I’m here.” He brushed a strand of hair out of her eye, but jerked his hand back immediately. That was way more than professional, and he couldn’t afford to be anything but with a victim. He had to rein in any wayward feelings and get down to business. “You want to tell me what happened?”

“I must have seen or done something pretty incredible.”

He lifted his eyebrows, but she continued without any other prodding.

“He still wants me dead.”

She spoke with such certainty and calm, yet every muscle in his body tensed, every hair on the back of his neck stood on end. She was in danger. And it was his mistake. If he hadn’t suggested the newspaper article, her attacker might still believe his work was done.

He swallowed the guilt that rose in his throat. “I’m sorry. This is my fault.” Every syllable threatened to choke him, each one harder than the last.

Her eyebrows rose, the top of her nose wrinkling as she stared at him. “Funny. You don’t look much like the guy who was in here before.”

“You know what I mean. I promised I’d take care of you. And instead I inadvertently led that guy right to you.”

She shook her head, shifting her arm out from under his hold, and his fingers immediately missed the absence of her warmth. Until she slipped her hand into his and squeezed. A breathy sigh escaped, her shoulders relaxing into the pillow. “It wasn’t in the paper. Tabby didn’t say where I was.” With the lift of her sprained wrist and the wave of a single finger, she halted his intended interruption. “If he was watching the paper, he would’ve noticed there wasn’t a story about me. About my body being found. He knew I was alive. And he would have found me eventually.”

His heart thudded twice and then returned to a normal rhythm. She was absolutely right. But the guilt still poked and prodded his insides, leaving him sore, as if he’d taken a hockey puck to the gut.

“And he’ll come looking for me again.”

She was so matter-of-fact about it that he choked on his own breath, coughing and sputtering while she stared at him out of one eye. Of course, she was right. Someone certainly wanted her dead, so why didn’t she look more scared?

The fingers in his grip began a slow tremor, quaking even more with every rise and fall of her chest. This was her fear in physical form. Her face showed no sign, but her hand trembled. While wearing a facade of confidence, she revealed the truth only to him. She was terrified.

And he had to scare her even more.

Whoever they were dealing with had disappeared. Right along with a baby she’d been carrying.

“You’re not in this alone.” The words were out before they were even fully formed in his mind, and he backed them up with a gentle smile.

She turned her head away to face the closed blinds over a window that looked out on the parking lot. Her eyes were closed, and for a moment, he wondered if she’d fallen asleep. But then she whispered so softly that he had to bend all the way over to hear her words.

“What if I’m not who you think I am? What if I deserved this?”

What was going on inside that barren mind of hers? Her forgotten memories provided a breeding ground for fear to fester. With no truth to combat the lies, they easily stole her peace. She needed someone to remind her that she was a good woman with a kind heart.

He could do that. He wanted to do that.

Letting go of her hand, he walked around the end of the bed until he could squat so his face was right in her line of vision.

“Look at me, Julie.”

One lid slowly lifted, her pupil dilating until it seemed to blend with the darker circles in the outer rings of her eye.

“First of all, no one deserves something like this. No one. Do you understand me?”

She nodded.

“Second, you’re not a criminal. No matter what you can’t remember, the core of your heart, the person you are deep down, is still there.”

She nibbled on the corner of her bottom lip, her eyebrows pulling together to make three little lines above her nose. “How can you be so sure?”

“I see it in the way you treat people and the way you reach for my hand when you need something stable.” She let out a little laugh, half embarrassment and half uncertainty. “You trust me, and I trust you. Criminals don’t trust cops.” Then he added a little wink. “Plus, I ran your fingerprints. If you’d committed a crime anywhere in the state of Minnesota, I’d know about it.”

Her laugh this time was hearty if a bit hoarse. “Thank you.”