Lost Memories (Sycamore P.D. Series Book 1)

by T. E. Killian

  Kelly shook her head and rose to her feet, knowing that the only way she could avoid this interrogation would be to make a hasty exit.

  “I’ve got to see Grandfather about something right away. I’ll talk to you later.”

  With that she walked out of the room leaving her brother gaping at her retreating back with a knowing smile on his face.

  When she arrived in Martha’s office, she plopped down in one of the visitor chairs in front of Martha’s desk. She tried to smile at Martha but must have been unsuccessful since she only received a puzzled look in return.

  Without saying a word, Martha picked up her phone and told Kelly’s grandfather that she was there. She placed the phone back down and said, “He said for you to come right in, Kelly.”

  Kelly smiled her thanks to Martha as she pushed herself to her feet and entered her grandfather’s office.

  He was already waiting for her on one of the sofas in the conversation pit. With a big smile on his face, he patted the space next to him on the sofa.

  Neither said anything for a short time, and then he said, “I assume that you want to talk to me about last night.”

  When she only nodded, he said, “Did it go well?”

  She nodded again and burst into tears. Her ever resourceful grandfather had a tissue in her hand immediately.

  After a short struggle to compose herself, Kelly finished wiping her face and looked up at her grandfather. She realized that he was waiting for her to tell him what was wrong. That was like him. He never jumped to conclusions. He always heard her out before he ever said anything. It appeared that this time was going to be no different.

  “I’m so confused Grandfather. I’ve never been on a date before, and I don’t know what to compare it to, so I don’t really know whether it was good or bad.”

  He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “Then, why don’t you let me, with my infinite dating wisdom, ask you a few simple questions that should help us to determine if it was good or bad.”

  “Okay.”

  “Now, the first question is, did he comport himself as a true gentleman?”

  “Oh, yes, of course.”

  “Good. Now, did he make you feel at all uncomfortable?”

  “No, in fact he made me feel quite comfortable, Grandfather.”

  “Also good. Next question, did he ask you all sorts of questions and pressure you into answering them?”

  “No. Exactly the opposite in fact. He said that if I wasn’t ready to talk, then he’d tell me all about himself, and I could talk only when I was ready to do so.”

  “Fantastic. Now, are you ready for my verdict?”

  When she nodded, he said, “I think you must have had a marvelous time and that’s what frightens you.”

  Kelly’s face brightened. “Yes, Grandfather, I think I did. In fact, I think it was the best evening I’ve ever had. But I guess you’re right about that frightening me, too.”

  She proceeded to tell him most of the details of their conversations the evening before and the fact that she had told Grant some things about herself, even though she had not planned to do so.

  She finished with, “And, Grandfather, I almost can’t believe it myself, but he asked me to a movie and dinner for tonight and I said I would go with him.”

  Then she remembered the rest. “Not only that, but he called a little while ago and asked me to go four-wheeling with him tomorrow.” She laughed. “I was going to say no, but he was so persuasive. He said we could wrap my ankle in a small blanket he has and the clincher is that his sister, Alison will go if I do.”

  Harold was grinning through his mustache by now. “That’s wonderful, Little One. You deserve happiness more than anyone I’ve ever known.” He tapped his index finger on her nose. “And I think that this Grant Thompson might just be the one to bring it to you.”

  With that, Kelly stood to leave.

  “Oh, Kelly, just one more thing.”

  “Yes, Grandfather?”

  He chuckled and said, “You might want to stop off in the ladies room to take a look at your face. You rather resemble a raccoon right now.”

  She left his office with his laughter ringing in her ears and a broad smile on her face. Her grandfather had done it again. He had taken her confusion and made everything perfectly clear. So much so that she now looked forward to tonight more than she had anything in a long time.

  * * *

  Kelly sat at her desk thinking about her talk with her grandfather earlier.

  Suddenly, she had a need to talk to her brother, and just spend some time with him right away. She didn’t want to wait until after work, she’d need that time to get ready for her ‘real date’ with Grant tonight.

  She started to get up to go to his office then sat back down. Not here! She needed to talk to him in private, and away from the office. It needed to be somewhere that they could both relax without interruptions.

  Having gathered her thoughts, she realized that it was only two hours to lunch. That would work. She called Wayne and asked him to have lunch with her at a nearby diner. When she hung up the phone, she felt much better, but now more than a little bit apprehensive about how to keep Wayne from interrogating her and just let her talk to him the way she needed to do.

  Kelly spent the rest of the morning in a meeting, and the time passed rather quickly. So quickly that when she found herself face to face across a table from her brother, she didn’t know what to say. She had intended to plan it all out, but now she was at a loss.

  Thankfully, Wayne began talking right away.

  “Cassie and I aren’t seeing each other anymore.”

  He dropped that statement on her like a bomb and sat back in his chair to watch her reaction.

  Kelly didn’t know what to say at first. The only thing she could think of to say was, “Whose idea was this?”

  He laughed and shook his head at her tone. “It’s okay, Kelly, you can drop out of the sister protect mode. We both think it’s best for both of us to see others.” He placed his hand over hers on the table. “I’m glad you and I had our little talk last week. You helped me realize that Cassie was totally right. I like her as a friend, but she could never be more than that to me.”

  They talked about various things for a few minutes. Wayne was in the middle of a sentence when he stopped and stared over Kelly’s shoulder. She turned and saw a group of people standing at the entrance waiting to be seated. There were four men and two women, but the only one Kelly really saw was Grant.

  Kelly’s attention was brought back to her brother when he said, “Wow, she’s beautiful!” Then he groaned and said, “She’s a cop! They’re all cops!”

  That was when Kelly looked closer at the other five and noticed that all but one had badges and guns on their belts. She also noticed that Grant had seen her as well. He was staring at her and Wayne with a frown on his face. She smiled at him and lifted her hand off the table to wiggle her fingers in what she hoped was an inconspicuous yet friendly wave.

  The others in Grant’s group were beginning to seat themselves at the table the hostess took them to. But Grant began making his way to the table where Kelly and Wayne were sitting. He wasn’t frowning anymore, but his face was a mask and she couldn’t read anything on it or in his eyes. That was when she realized that Grant probably didn’t recognize Wayne right away and had probably wondered who she was with.

  When Grant stopped at their table with Kelly on his left and Wayne on his right, Kelly said, “Hello, Grant. Do remember my brother, Wayne?” She inclined her head toward her brother. “Wayne, this is Detective Grant Thompson.”

  Grant’s face broke out into a smile directed at Kelly before he turned his attention to Wayne. He stuck out his hand and Wayne took it with a knowing smile on his face.

  “It’s good to see you again Detective.” Kelly could tell that Wayne was trying not to laugh.

  “Just call me Grant, please.” Then he turned his head toward Kelly and with a t
entative smile on his face said, “Are we still on for this evening?”

  Kelly wanted to kick her brother who was making a face at her out of Grant’s vision. “Yes, of course. I’m looking forward to it.”

  This time Grant’s smile was broad. “So am I.”

  He didn’t seem to know what to do or say next. Then he said, “Well then, I guess I’d better get back to the others. My sergeant wanted to have a meeting, so I can’t stay.”

  Just as he was about to turn away, Wayne spoke up. “Who is the blond?”

  Grant turned back toward the other group and laughed. He turned back to Wayne and said, “I don’t think you want to get to know her. She’s my sergeant, and she’s not usually too likable.” When Wayne continued to stare at him, Grant said, “Her name is Sonia Nordstrom.”

  Wayne nodded and with a silly grin on his face, said, “Thanks. Swedish huh? She sure is a lot of woman. Do you think you could introduce me to her sometime?”

  Grant only groaned and turned to Kelly, “I’ll see you tonight.”

  As soon as Grant was gone, Wayne turned to Kelly and said, “I’m serious, Kelly. I am going to meet her, somehow. I don’t think I even care if she is a cop.”

  Kelly laughed. “I guess I don’t need to ask if you’re over Cassie yet.”

  Wayne shifted his eyes from the group of detectives back to his sister. “Now, don’t think you’re going to get out of this that easy. I want to know all about this Detective Grant Thompson, and I mean everything, right now.”

  “Now look who’s in the “big brother protector mode.”

  When he didn’t respond, she said, “There’s not really much to say. You know we met for dinner last night, and as you just heard, we have a real date this evening. We’re going to a movie and dinner.” When he kept staring, she said, “That’s really all there is to it.”

  Wayne shook his head. “No, I don’t think so little sister. Even though I was ogling the blond, I saw your face when you saw Thompson come in that door. You lit up like a Christmas Tree.”

  Now she was blushing and Wayne only laughed harder, but he did mercifully drop the subject. He must have achieved the result he wanted.

  She was staring at Grant who was also watching her with a smile on his face, and she again gave him a smile and a hesitant wiggle wave. He smiled back and tilted his head toward her.

  “Kelly!”

  She looked over at her brother who was grinning.

  “Are you going to eat or ogle that guy?”

  She knew her blush was quite noticeable this time.

  * * *

  Grant was having a difficult time keeping his eyes off Kelly, especially when she kept looking his way and giving him that funny little wave. He couldn’t believe the emotions that had taken control of him when he looked up before and saw Kelly sitting with another man and they seemed to be enjoying each other’s company so much.

  Was it jealousy? It couldn’t be, could it? All he knew was that he’d felt like he’d been sucker punched. All right then, if he had to be honest, it was jealousy. But, what could he do about it? He figured he’d better be careful from now on. He didn’t want to make Kelly angry.

  A sudden pain in his leg brought him back to the table he was sitting at. He gave Stan a dirty look, but Stan only nodded toward Sonia who was talking while glaring at him at the same time.

  He couldn’t concentrate on what Sonia was saying. It seems that she was, with Agent Scott’s permission, opening the investigation up to the rest of the detectives at the PD. That was what this meeting was all about.

  In one way that upset him. It was like she, and probably the chief, was saying that he and Stan couldn’t handle the investigation by themselves.

  On the other hand, he was almost relieved to be getting more help on a case that was really too big for just two detectives to be working alone.

  Sonia stopped mid-sentence and reached into her purse to pull out her cell phone. She listened for a few seconds then said, “Yes, sir, right away.”

  She disconnected the phone and looked directly at Agent Scott when she said, “That was the chief. They just found General Walker’s body in an arroyo on the west edge of town.”

  Everyone at the table began talking at once. The only thing Grant could think about was that there was no way he would be able to keep his date with Kelly for tonight. Experience had taught him that he’d be tied up with this new investigation through the evening.

  He glanced up and saw that Kelly and her brother were starting to leave the restaurant. He jumped up to intercept them as they made their way to the door.

  Kelly seemed startled when he stepped in front of her, then a smile came across her face.

  Before he could say anything, she took one look at his face and said, “Grant is something wrong?”

  He shook his head to clear it of the affects her smile had on him and tried to smile back at her. “Yes, I’m afraid I’ll have to change our plans for this evening. Something just came up and I’m sure we’ll all be working on this all evening.”

  He was somewhat thrilled to see disappointment on her face. So, he quickly added. “Could we reschedule it for tomorrow evening?”

  Her smile came back. “Yes, of course.”

  Grant stepped aside but she turned back to him and said, “Will we still be going four-wheeling in the morning?”

  “Yes, we should still be able to go. If I don’t call you between now and then, I’ll still pick you up at eight, okay?”

  Kelly nodded then she and her brother continued on their way out of the restaurant. Grant didn’t miss the calculating look her brother gave him as they went out the door.

  Grant didn’t realize he was still standing there staring at the door until Stan grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the same door.

  “Man you’ve really got it bad.” Stan laughed all the way to the car.

  When they arrived at the scene, it had already been taped off by several uniformed officers who were now keeping bystanders away.

  They had to walk down the side of the arroyo in order to get to where the body was. Grant stepped up beside Agent Scott.

  Scott turned to him and said, “He didn’t tell us enough Wednesday, but apparently somebody thought it was too much.”

  Grant could see from ten feet away that the general had been shot in the back of the head and that was probably the only wound.

  Sonia was standing next to the body. She looked up at Scott and said, “He wasn’t killed here.” She pointed at the other slope of the arroyo. “Looks like they dropped him up there and he rolled down to where he is now. There are slide marks and some drops of blood all the way down the side.”

  Grant said, “It must not have been long afterward though for him to still be bleeding.”

  Grant and Stan went back to the car to get gloves and bags for any evidence they may need to collect.

  It was after nine when Grant finally made it back to his apartment. He simply walked in the door and almost fell into his recliner. He tried in vain to relax his tense body. He knew that if he went to bed this way he’d probably stare at the ceiling all night without sleeping.

  He turned on the TV hoping something on there would help to relax him. But after surfing the channels for a few minutes he gave up and turned it off.

  He pulled his cell phone out and looked at it for a long time before he punched in Kelly’s number. Once finished, he hesitated with his finger hovering over the “Send” button. Finally, he turned the cell phone off and placed it on the table next to his chair.

  He didn’t want to push Kelly. She was already very hesitant in everything they did. He needed to take things slowly. She was going four-wheeling with them tomorrow. That would have to be enough for now, even though he had a strong need to just hear her voice.

  Wow! As Stan had said, he was really getting it bad for Kelly. What was he going to do about it?

  As he thought about Kelly, he realized that she was the first woman he’d ever had
much to do with who wasn’t either put off by his being a cop or came onto him like a groupie.

  That was what he liked about her. She was so fresh and sincere, even if she was very shy and hesitant to get to know him.

  Well, maybe tomorrow would change all that. He hoped!

  Chapter Twelve

  The next morning Kelly was extremely nervous about going four-wheeling with Grant, Stan, and especially Grant’s sister Alison. She’d never met Alison. Just by the fact that Alison was being so stubborn about not even giving her mother a chance, made Kelly want to give her a piece of her mind when she met her.

  She mentally shook herself. She had to not let any of those negative feelings show when she met Alison. Hopefully, she would be able to just let Alison get comfortable with her first, and then they’d work on Alison’s relationship with her mother.

  Next on her worry list was the actual act of four-wheeling itself. She’d never been on one of those noisy machines. She didn’t know what to expect. She wasn’t too concerned about her ankle. With it wrapped the way Grant had said, she would probably be fine providing she was able to stay on the stupid thing.

  At a few minutes before eight, she stepped out her front door and sat on a wrought iron bench that was part of the landscaping. She felt so comfortable in her old jeans and a long sleeve cotton shirt. She almost wanted to just sit here and soak up the early morning sun.

  Right at eight, a large 4x4 pickup, with four doors pulling a trailer with two large quads on it, stopped in front of her condo. Grant was driving and Stan was in the back seat with a blond woman who must be Alison.

  Kelly wasn’t sure what she had expected from Alison, but to be virtually ignored when introduced in the cab of the truck was not on the list.

  Alison shook the hand that Kelly offered but then she turned her eyes out the window next to her without a word. Stan gave Kelly a sheepish grin and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, ‘that’s Alison.’