Hers To Remember. Karen Lawton Barrett

walking. She set off down the sidewalk in the direction she hoped would take her downtown. She could get a cab there. With each step she tried to remember the name of the hotel she’d checked into. Telling the taxi driver that it was near the beach wouldn’t do much good.

      Fatigue set in almost immediately. Each foot she walked felt like a yard, each yard like a block. The hammering inside her head became intense. Her mouth felt dry, her body numb. She wanted a drink and a bed, not necessarily in that order. She glanced up, trying to get her bearings, and spotted a diner about a half block up the street.

      Well, they wouldn’t have a bed, but they would have something to drink. She searched the pockets of her jeans and came up with three dollar bills. Hallelujah! A nice, cold soft drink would set her back on her feet.

      Jubilant, she covered the half block as quickly as her tired legs would take her. Inside, she asked the waitress for a booth at the back and ordered a large cola. The drink served, she took a long sip, then laid her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes. She had to remember the name of the motel.

      SAM RETURNED to Amy’s room a half hour after he’d left it. Dr. Yamana had told him to let her rest, but he couldn’t stand the waiting any longer. After what had happened to her when he’d left her alone last time, he didn’t want her out of his sight. Especially since she thought she was someone called Adrienne Winston. Where in heaven’s name had she picked up that?

      He pushed the door open quietly and moved into the room, being careful not to wake her. A curtain shielded the bed from his sight. He tiptoed around it, then stopped abruptly. She wasn’t there.

      Sam didn’t know how long he stared at the empty bed. Probably only seconds. Long enough for the panic that had dissipated when Amy had opened her eyes to return full force. “Where the hell is she?”

      Silence was his only answer as he searched the floor on each side of the bed, then the bathroom. “I knew I shouldn’t have left her alone.” He exited the room and strode to the nurse’s station. Two women sat going over a patient’s chart. “Where is Amy Delaney?” he demanded, causing them to jump.

      The older woman stood. “Please keep your voice down, sir.” Her stern tone reminded him of his fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Storm. But he was no longer a timid ten year old.

      “I will not keep my voice down, Nurse…?” He looked at her name tag. “Lopez. Amy is missing.”

      The nurse regarded him with forced patience. “I’m sure you’re mistaken, Mr. Delaney. Did you check the bathroom?”

      “Of course I checked the bathroom.” Did the woman think he was an idiot? “She obviously wasn’t there, or I wouldn’t be looking for her.”

      “I don’t understand…” Looking puzzled, she turned to the younger woman. “Kathy, did Dr. Yamana order more tests for Mrs. Delaney while I was gone?”

      “No, ma’am. She said that Mrs. Delaney was resting and to check on her in half an hour.” She looked at her watch. “That was twenty-five minutes ago.”

      “Are you telling me no one has seen her for almost thirty minutes?” he bellowed.

      “Please calm down, Mr. Delaney. I’m sure there’s just been a mistake,” Nurse Lopez said.

      “There’s been a mistake all right. Your patient has a concussion. She doesn’t even know her own name, and you’re letting her wander around the hospital by herself.”

      “Sam! I could hear you yelling three corridors away. What the hell is going on?”

      Sam turned to his brother. “Amy’s missing. We have to find her.”

      “What do you mean ‘missing’?”

      Sam grimaced. Casey was using his cool-cop voice. The one he usually saved for panicky mothers who’d temporarily misplaced their children in department stores.

      “I mean, Officer Delaney,” he returned, as composed as he could manage under the circumstances, “that Amy is not in her room, and no one seems to know where she’s gone.”

      Casey moved off down the hall to her room, Sam and the two nurses following quickly behind. “Have you checked the closet?”

      “The closet? Why would she be in the closet?” Sam didn’t need the look on Casey’s face to realize the stupidity of his question. “Her clothes!”

      Inside the closet, they found the gown she’d had on and nothing else.

      Stunned, Sam stared at the nearly empty closet. “She ran.” He looked at his brother. “Why? Why would she run away?”

      Casey put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I don’t know, but we’ll find her. She can’t have gone far. I didn’t bring her purse to the hospital with me, so she had no money.”

      Sam only half listened. His poor Amy. For the last three years they’d been so close. It had only been the last year that she’d had the confidence to be on her own for more than a few hours. She must have been terribly frightened and confused to have left like this. Why? It hurt to think she might be afraid of him.

      Had he done something to scare her? Or had something else caused her to run?

      “Sam, are you all right?”

      He nodded to his brother, a lie. “I have to find her. If she fainted…” He couldn’t complete the thought. “I’ll check the stairs.”

      “Good,” Casey said. “I’ll talk to the staff, maybe some of the patients, see if they saw anything.”

      Sam ran down the hall to the nearest stairwell, thoughts of how frightened she must have been racing through his mind. She’d woken to a place she didn’t recognize, to people she didn’t recognize. All she could remember was running before the accident. Running from what? he asked himself as he went down the stairs two at a time.

      The relief of not finding her lying at the bottom lasted seconds. He still hadn’t found her. She was in no shape to be traipsing around the city. He went through the exit door.

      Outside, he stopped long enough to breathe in the fog-cooled air. He had to calm down. He had to think. She didn’t remember him. She didn’t remember her own name. Did that mean she wouldn’t remember the city either?

      If it did, how would she get around? Where would she go? Deciding she might try to get a ride from someone, Sam headed for the parking lot. He talked to several of the visitors who were coming and going, but no one had seen her.

      “There you are, Sam.” Casey strode up to him. “Any sign?”

      Sam shook his head. “You find out anything?”

      “A candy striper remembered seeing a blond woman dressed in jeans and a purple sweater with a bandage on her forehead, but she didn’t see where she went.”

      “Damn it! She’s too confused to be on her own.” He looked into the distance, up the road and down. “I’m going this way.” He moved off at a quick pace.

      “Wait, Sam…”

      He turned back to his brother. “What?”

      “When I called the precinct for help looking for Amy, I asked one of the guys to check on Adrienne Winston.”

      Sam scowled. “What are you saying?”

      Casey looked at Sam, compassion in his eyes. “I think it’s possible she might be the link to Amy’s past that’s been missing the past three years.”

      Chapter Two

      Once she’d had a chance to rest for a while, Adrienne found she didn’t have the energy to get up again. The soda had helped some, her head didn’t ache so much, but the rest of her felt more exhausted than she could ever remember feeling.

      She looked out the window.