What She Forgot

by Tammy Falkner

  Then Matt and Sam both took a turn. I had to give it to them, they were solid men with amazing instincts. They were strong, but deep inside they were soft as kittens. They genuinely cared about people, and everyone could tell it.

  Megan, the newcomer, raised her hand. “May I take a turn?” she asked.

  “Not against them,” I said. “You can go against me.” For some reason that I couldn’t identify, something was off about this woman.

  She nodded. “Good enough.”

  I waited a moment, and then I attacked her. I tempered my assault because I wasn’t sure how much she could take. And in that moment, I knew I’d made a mistake. She caught me with a fair punch directly in the eye. I felt like someone had shoved a hot poker into my eye socket, but I didn’t let her stop me. I lifted my arms to deflect her next two blows, and that’s when I realized that she wasn’t trying to protect herself. She had one goal: to take me down. That would never ever happen. She had underestimated her opponent. Severely.

  Reagan shouted and the Reed Brothers came forward to help, but I waved them off. “What’s your goal?” I asked through gritted teeth.

  “To learn self-defense,” she said with a sneer in my direction.

  “Aside from that?”

  She grinned. “What makes you think I have another goal?”

  Because I knew evil. I’d seen it enough in my life. I knew it when I saw it, and this woman was sheer evil. There wasn’t a benevolent bone in her body.

  “Who hurt you?” I asked.

  She kicked my knee, almost sweeping my legs out from under me.

  “A boyfriend? Someone you didn’t even know?”

  “I knew him.” Then she punched toward my face, but I deflected it.

  “Where is he now?”

  “He’s riding around in cars, eating pizzas with other women.”

  And suddenly it hit me. She wasn’t here for me. She was here for Clark. And Clark…well, he was one thing I’d never let her have.

  “You sure you want to do this?” I asked. I wanted to give her one last chance to back out.

  She didn’t respond, and she punched out again. For the next five minutes, I used every move I’d ever learned to block her, and when I’d had enough, I took her down to the floor and pinned her down, holding her tightly in a headlock with my arm around her throat. She fought until I thought she would pass out. Then she tapped the mat.

  I eased up but I didn’t let go. “I’m going to release you,” I said close to her face. “Then you’re going to get up and walk the fuck out of here, and I’m never going to have to look at your face again. Understood?”

  She nodded.

  I let her up and she did just that. She weaved a little on the way to the door. “Anybody get that on video?” I asked.

  “I did.” Pete raised his hand.

  “Will you send it to me?”

  My phone pinged as he air-dropped it and I hit the button to accept it. I’d analyze it later. Right now I had a class to teach, and that bitch had just derailed it.

  “So, let’s talk about some of the moves that Shelly just used,” Reagan said, and she segued into an analysis of my techniques, using the Reeds to recreate the moves.

  I took a quick break and got a drink of water, and then I got back to work, but in the back of my mind, I was trying to figure it out.

  After the class was done and the Reeds had finished signing autographs, I showered, got dressed in my pencil skirt, a nice top, and my pearls, and then I went straight to Clark’s office. I let myself into the outer area, and then into his private office.

  He looked up and froze. “What the fuck happened to your eye?” he asked as he shot to his feet.

  I glared at him. “Megan happened.”

  “Megan?” His eyes grew wide.

  “Megan,” I clarified.

  “Ah, fuck,” he said, then he sank into his chair with a weary sigh. He sagged against the back of the chair for an extended moment, breathing heavily as he stared toward the window. “Was she all right?” he finally asked, his voice quavering.

  Chapter 14

  Clark

  She was alive. I’d known she was, because I’d caught glimpses of her here and there. I’d smelled her perfume in my office, and in my car. But it wasn’t her perfume. Not really. It was Megan’s. Marley had been gone for years, along with her scent, her never-ending kindness, and her love for me. She wasn’t dead. I knew that deep inside. But she hadn’t made an appearance in a very long time.

  “You took my sister’s case because the woman you love has dissociative identity disorder,” Shelly said, breaking me out of my mental fog.

  “What?” I asked, still reeling from the idea of someone encountering Megan out in public. Megan was a recluse. She traveled in the shadows. She moved at night, in the dark, in secret. She didn’t show herself, generally. She was stealthy, like a cat.

  “You got involved in Lynn and Mason’s case because you could identify with the pain that Mason felt when Lynn was gone.” She didn’t pose it as a question. Instead, she made the statement.

  My neck hurt when I bobbed my head in a quick nod. I unclenched my jaw. “Tell me exactly what happened,” I said.

  “You first,” she replied, her face stony.

  “Shelly, I don’t want to do this right now.” I jumped up from my chair and went to the coffeemaker.

  “I don’t give a fuck what you want,” Shelly said from behind me.

  I sucked in a breath and held it for a moment, trying to calm my racing heart.

  “I already knew about Marley,” Shelly suddenly called out.

  I spun to face her. “How?”

  “The false bottom in your lower drawer,” she said, arching a brow at me.

  “You broke into my drawer and read my private files?” Of course she did. She was Shelly.

  “I knew when she walked into the gym today that she wasn’t Marley.” Her gaze softened almost imperceptibly. “But I wasn’t sure who she was until she introduced herself.”

  “They’re very different, Marley and Megan.”

  “So were Lynn and her other personalities.”

  For the second time ever—the first being when I met Mason—I felt a kinship with someone who could understand what my life with Megan was like. It’s why I signed on to help Mason Peterson when Lynn was missing. I understood the utter devastation that came with loving someone with DID, or MPD as some people still called it. I understood—and so did Shelly.

  “She had more than one, right?” I asked, because it was easier to talk about Lynn’s personalities than it was to talk about Marley.

  “She had several.” She nodded her head while staring at me. Shelly had this way of staring so deeply that I felt like she was peeling back layers.

  “But none of hers were malevolent.”

  She shook her head. “No, she didn’t need one that was malevolent.”

  I jerked my head up. “Why not?”

  She smiled a sickly-sweet smile. “She had me.” She shrugged. “I’d do whatever it took to protect Lynn and she knew it. In Lynn’s case, her alters allowed her to share things she needed to share, things that were too painful for Lynn herself to share. Ash allowed her to be sweet and playful but kick ass at the same time. Charlie allowed her to give up control. Jamie allowed her to wear her scars out in the open. And then there was me. I’d kill to keep Lynn safe.”

  I took my coffee and went back to my desk, sinking into the chair. “And did you kill for Lynn?”

  She hummed a quick, jaunty little tune. “Only once, but I’d do it again.” She stared at me, waiting. Then she blurted out the question. “Which one did you meet first?”

  I smiled at the memory of it. “Marley. She worked as a waitress at a deli I liked to eat at around the corner. I went for lunch every day.”

  “Love at first sight?”

  I let out a breath. “She was smart and funny and kind.”

  “You married her.”

  I nodded. “Bu
t then she disappeared.”

  “For how long?”

  “Just a couple of days. That’s when I met Megan.”

  Shelly sat down on the edge of my desk. “What was that like?”

  “Terrifying.” I bit back a shiver. “She was the opposite of Marley. Where Marley was soft, Megan was hard. Where Marley was kind, Megan was a menace. Where Marley loved me, Megan wanted me. But I couldn’t do it. I still don’t know how Mason kept them all separate in his head, how he had sex with more than one of them on a regular basis. I had no attraction to Megan. None whatsoever.”

  “Did Marley know about Megan?”

  “No.”

  “Did Megan know about Marley?”

  “Yes. Megan knew everything.”

  “And Megan wanted you.”

  I shook my head. “I’m pretty sure she just wanted what Marley and I had. I don’t think she wanted me in particular. She wanted the love story. She wanted the happily ever after, but then at the same time she didn’t. It’s hard to explain.”

  “She knows that I’ve been working here. And that we spent the day together in your car. She told me right before she tried to kick my ass.” She reached up to absently touch the eye that looked pretty tender to the touch. “For a lefty, she packs a hell of a punch.” She pulled her phone out of her purse and queued up a video. I watched as they grappled on the mat at the rec center. And I saw the moment that Shelly realized who she was dealing with. What she was dealing with. I saw the moment when she realized that she was up against someone who truly wanted to harm her. And I saw her rally.

  “Where did you learn to fight like that?”

  She shrugged. “I was born this way.” Her cheeks turned pink, as if her ability to kick ass was something to be embarrassed about.

  “I think you’re pretty fucking amazing,” I admitted, heat creeping up my own face.

  “I’m not easy to love, so don’t go falling in love with me, PI guy.” She snickered, and I knew she was deflecting.

  “Have you ever been in love, Shelly?” I suddenly asked. I didn’t even know the question was there until it shot from my brain to the tip of my tongue.

  She shook her head and rolled her eyes at me. “I’m not made for love, I told you.”

  “Why not?”

  She shook her head again. “I’m just not.” She shrugged.

  I sat back, trying to look comfortable, but I was anything but. “Explain why not. I’m curious.”

  She laughed. “You don’t want to hear the answer to your question. Not really.”

  “Why not?”

  “You won’t like it.”

  “Try me.”

  She leaned down so that her palms rested on my desktop, where she could stare into my eyes. “I’m an attractive, young, smart female. I don’t need a man to complete me.” She smiled at me, but it was the kind of smile that hurt rather than healed. “Now go ahead and tell me about the joy of the happily ever after.”

  “I wouldn’t know anything about happily ever afters. Never walked down that particular path myself.” I broke eye contact with her and took a sip of my coffee. “I don’t think you need to change a thing about yourself.”

  “Aww,” she crooned. “That’s so sweet.”

  Suddenly, her phone broke the tension that crackled between us. She pulled it out and smiled as she lifted it to her ear.

  “What?” she asked as she picked up her purse and looped it over her head. “When?” She started toward the door. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  “What’s going on?” I called toward her back. She was already out the door. She turned back to face me when I raced after her into the hallway.

  “I’m really sorry, Clark,” she said, wincing ever so slightly.

  “Why? What happened?” She was scaring me.

  “Nothing yet. But I’m going to have to kill the woman you love. I won’t like it. But I’m going to have to do it.” Then she turned and walked away.

  I ran after her. What else was I supposed to do?

  Chapter 15

  Shelly

  “She was in our house!” Lynn bent down and screamed the words in my face. Then she went deadly still. “Who is she?” she asked, her voice scary-quiet. “Why was she in my house?”

  “Can I see the video recording?” I asked, modulating my voice so that I sounded almost bored. I tapped my fingers on the arm of the chair I’d sat down in when I’d arrived. I’d tried standing, but Lynn had been pacing a path across the room, streaking from one side to the other, when I arrived, all while Mason sat and fumed from his own chair. I’d sat down next to him, because I didn’t know how else to stay out of Lynn’s way.

  The thing about Lynn was that she was quiet and dependable, but when she was angry, she had a temper that rivaled mine. Most people had never seen it. I wasn’t even sure that Mason had seen it before.

  Lynn set her laptop on my lap. “The password is—” she began. But then scoffed. “Never mind,” she muttered. I knew all Lynn’s passwords. I always had. And if there was ever one I didn’t know, I could find it out in minutes.

  I opened her laptop, logged in, and logged into the app that recorded the action from her baby monitors and video cameras she had around the house. “When did it happen?” I asked. I planned to watch all the footage, but it would be easier to see it quickly if she gave me a time frame.

  “She was here while I took a nap. She walked right in the front door!” Her voice went up another octave as she began to pace again. Clark jumped out of her way, choosing to hang out in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. He leaned there in the open doorway, like his bulk alone could hold up the whole house.

  “I found it,” I muttered, as I found the footage she was talking about. I watched as Megan walked into the house through the front door, turned off the alarm system, and walked straight to my nephew’s room. I motioned for Clark to come over and take a look.

  His breath hitched as he leaned over my shoulder to watch as Megan reached into the crib, removed Jason from his bedding, and sat down with him in a rocking chair, where she cradled his sleeping form, staring down silently into his cherubic little face. Then her gaze lifted from his perfect self and she stared directly into the camera. The smile that had graced her face fell away, and she looked like the Megan I’d encountered earlier. She raised her hand, extended her middle finger, and shot me the bird. I knew it was for me. There was no one else who would appreciate it the way I did.

  There was no doubt in my mind that her visit to Lynn and Mason’s, and her holding the baby, were for anyone’s sake but mine.

  “Who is she?” Lynn demanded.

  Clark’s voice rumbled from behind me. “She’s one of my ex-wife’s alter egos,” he said, his voice clear but quiet. “This is my fault.”

  “Why?” Lynn asked. “Why would she come here?”

  “Because she’s mentally unstable,” I said. “And she apparently has found my weakness.”

  Lynn pointed at the computer screen and addressed Clark with her next question. “This is Marley?”

  “Wait,” I said, looking from one face to another in the room. Lynn’s gaze, though still sharp, had softened. Clark looked wary. And Mason looked resigned. “You knew about Megan and Marley?”

  Lynn heaved out a sigh. “I told you that he had a story to tell. And that it wasn’t my place to tell it.” She addressed her comments to me, but she reached over and squeezed Clark’s forearm. She’d kept his secret, even from me. “Not even to you.”

  “I told them when I was working on their case,” Clark supplied.

  “He’s the only person who ever understood what we were up against,” Mason said, finally speaking.

  “Because he’s lived it,” Lynn added.

  I still couldn’t believe that she didn’t tell me, but I decided to let it drop.

  “What did you do to piss her off?” Lynn suddenly asked, her eyes opening wide like someone had just surprised her.

  “I di
dn’t do anything,” I said, offended at her implication.

  “You always do something,” Lynn said. She snorted.

  “She didn’t,” Clark said clearly. “If anyone is to blame, it’s Mason.” He stared hard at Mason. “I told you I didn’t need a secretary.”

  “Shit.” Mason scrubbed a hand down his face. “So what do we do now?”

  “You do absolutely nothing. I’ll handle it.” I closed the computer after I watched Megan tuck my sleeping nephew back into his crib. Then she let herself out of the nursery, stopped in the open doorway of Lynn’s room, and stared into it as Lynn slept, and then she left as quietly as she’d arrived.

  “I didn’t even know she was here until I saw that the alarm system was turned off. I rolled back the footage, just because I thought I’d set it. I was sure I had. And I did. She turned it off like it was nothing. It was like she was…” She glared at me. “Well, it was like she was you. She had our secret code and everything.”

  “She’s really good at getting information,” Clark said. “What she doesn’t have already, she can get.”

  “So what do we do?” Lynn insisted.

  “I told you.” I jumped to my feet. “You don’t have to do anyth—”

  But Clark cut me off. “I’d suggest that you take a vacation.”

  “What?” the three of us cried all at once. We all spun to face him.

  “Take the baby and go on vacation. I’ll find Megan and I’ll get her back to the hospital, which is where she belongs.”

  “We can’t just leave!” Lynn threw her hands into the air.

  “You don’t have another choice.” Clark stared at them, and I immediately knew he was right.

  “You’re my weak spot,” I said quietly, as I worked it all out in my head. “You and that baby are the only people I care about in this whole wide world.” I looked at Mason. “No offense, Mason,” I rushed to amend.

  “None taken,” he said drolly.

  “She’s right,” Clark said. “Megan looks for weak spots. Then she exploits them. This was a warning, but it’s going to escalate. She won’t stop until she gets what she wants.”