by Terri Reed
“Indeed I do,” Audrey replied. “This is John. John, Fran O’Flannery. She makes the best crab cakes in the whole state.”
Fran grinned. “I don’t know about that, but they are popular. Welcome to Calico Bay, John. Are you here on business—” the woman slanted an assessing glance at Audrey “—or pleasure?”
For some odd reason, heat infused his cheeks. Clearly Fran wondered if there was something going on between him and the pretty deputy. “I’m not sure.” What business would he have had been doing dressed as a commando wannabe?
“How much do I owe you?” Audrey said before straightening.
Fran handed him the large bag of food. The delicious smells made his insides cramp and his mouth salivate.
“I’ll put it on your tab. You can swing by later to settle up.”
“Much obliged, Fran,” Audrey said. “Give Don my regards.”
“Will do. Stay safe.” Fran walked back into the restaurant.
“That was nice of her to let you pay later,” John commented.
“Yeah, well, she knows where I live.” Audrey started up the car and continued to the sheriff’s station, a square white building with the fire department on one side and a large steepled church on the other. Audrey parked in front and led him inside, through a lobby where a woman sat behind a Plexiglas window. She waved at Audrey and eyed him with wariness.
John didn’t blame the woman. None of them knew what he was capable of, including him. Was he a criminal? He certainly had an element of danger dogging him.
They walked down a hallway with walls decorated with photos of the town. Summer scenes depicted smiling children at a fair. There were pictures of fishing boats with proud fishermen mugging for the camera. The gallery of photos filled him with a strange longing. Was there some place where he belonged? Did he have a community where people knew him? Loved him?
At the end of the hall, Audrey opened a door to a large squad room. A dozen desks, separated by short partition walls, formed a mazelike pattern stretching all the way to the back wall, ending at the closed office door with the sheriff’s nameplate. Only four people sat at their desks. They stopped what they were doing to stare at him. He studied each face for a moment but felt no sense of recognition.
Audrey stopped at her desk. He knew it was hers by the collage of photos on her partition. Pictures of her mother and a man he assumed was her father. A family photo with a preteen Audrey, her hair plaited in braids, standing in front of a fishing boat named Audrey. A younger adult version of Audrey in a cap and gown. College? Then her in full uniform at her academy graduation.
She pulled a vacant chair over. “Here. Have a seat.”
He’d expected her to take him straight to a cell. “Thanks.”
She laid out their lunch of crab cakes, tater tots and coleslaw on her desk then took her seat. She bowed her head for a moment, her lips moving silently. Something inside his chest loosened. He followed her example and bowed his head. Lifted up a silent plea. Lord, bless this food to my body. Heal me. Heal my mind. Amen.
The crab cakes were as delicious as advertised. “I can’t imagine having anything taste better than this.”
Audrey wiped her mouth with a napkin before replying. “Right. I’m telling you, Fran’s is the best. Her recipe has won awards.”
“Tell me about you.” He picked up a bottle of water that Fran had also supplied.
“Me?” She shook her head. “Not much to tell.”
“Are you married? Kids?” He didn’t think so, since there were no photos of her with a man or child, but it felt normal to ask, like something he’d do in his life prior to waking up in the hospital.
Her gaze collided with his. “No to both. What about you?”
His mouth twisted in a rueful grimace. “I wish I knew. You’d think if I were married, if I had a family waiting for me that would be something I’d remember.”
“Unless you wanted to forget.”
He considered her words. His pulse ticked up a notch. “Maybe that’s why I can’t remember my past. There’s something I want to forget.”
“Being hit over the head and thrown in the ocean are traumatic events. Your brain may be protecting you.”
“I don’t want to be protected. I want to remember.” He picked up a tater tot. But his appetite fled.
He hated this not knowing. He had a horrible feeling that something bad was happening, or was going to happen, and he needed to stop whatever it was as soon as possible. Considering there was an assassin trying to kill him, his sense of doom was understandable. But there was something else dancing at the periphery of his mind. Yet when he tried to lock on to the thought, a sharp pain was his reward.
Fatigue dragged at him. He could barely keep his eyes open. “Thank you for lunch, Deputy Martin.”
“You’re welcome.” She canted her head. “You look wrung out. The cell has a cot that I’ve heard is pretty comfortable.”
That comment elicited a smile. “Critiques from past residents?”
She returned his smile. “Something like that.”
He liked her smile. It made her blue eyes light up. His gaze drifted down her straight nose to her lush, full lips. He noticed the slight cleft in her chin that gave her face character.
She rose and held out her hand. “Come on, I’ll show where you’ll be spending the next few hours.”
He stared at her smooth skin and long, slender fingers before grasping her hand. Her fingers closed around his, and she tugged him to his feet. She was surprisingly strong, yet her hand felt almost delicate within his clasp. The dichotomy left him unnerved. He braced his feet apart. The room momentarily swerved then righted itself. Expecting her to let go, he loosened his hold, but for a fraction of a second she held on, her gaze fixated on their joined hands. Then she yanked her hand back and rested it on her utility belt. “This way.” She turned and walked briskly away.
He rolled the tension from his shoulders and followed her.
The cell wasn’t big by any means, but it was roomy enough and thankfully empty. He didn’t relish the idea of sharing the space.
Audrey opened the door. “Sorry about this.”
“Don’t be.” He stepped inside. “This is the safest place for me. No one can get hurt with me in here, and I’ll be able to rest without worry.”
“I guess.” But she didn’t sound convinced. That was sweet. He liked that she was upset on his behalf. He wondered if anyone else had ever been upset on his behalf and if so, who?
Needing to reassure her, he moved closer and reached out to tuck a stray strand of blond hair behind her ear. “Are you always so accommodating with your guests?”
“No. But these circumstances are a bit out of the ordinary.”
His finger skimmed over her jaw before he dropped his hand. “I appreciate all you’re doing for me. You’re a very caring person, Deputy Martin.”
He liked the way her cheeks took on a rosy color. “Audrey.”
A grin tugged at his mouth. “Okay. Audrey. Such a pretty name for a pretty woman.”
Her eyes widened a fraction, then something cold flashed in her gaze and she stepped back. “And you’re charming. A flirt.”
Wary that he’d offended her, he said, “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It’s been my experience that charming men aren’t to be trusted.”
Had the man who hurt her been a boyfriend? “Don’t paint every man with the same brush as whoever hurt you.”
She made a wry sound in her throat. “Easy for you to say. I don’t know you. I don’t know if I should trust you.”
“But you want to,” he observed, realizing how badly he wanted her to trust him. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have shared your lunch with me. You wouldn’t feel so bad for locking me up.”
She frowned and pressed her lips into a straight line. He much preferred when she smiled.
“It’s okay,” he told her. “You shouldn’t trust me. I wouldn’t trust me.”
“I want to release your photo to the media. See if someone comes forward to identify you.”
“You should. I’m guessing you already ran my prints and face through your databases.”
“Yes, with no results.”
He wasn’t sure if that was reassuring or more alarming. The thumping in his head intensified. His energy waned. He needed to sit before he fell down. But he didn’t want her to leave, which was exactly why he said, “I’m sure you have work to do. And I really need to rest.”
She nodded. “I do. I’ll be checking on you every two hours.”
“I look forward to it.”
Without a word, she closed the cell door with a deafening click that echoed in his ears long after she walked away.
* * *
Night came faster than Audrey would have imagined, despite the fact that December in Maine the sun set around four in the afternoon. She switched on her desk lamp because the dim overhead lights weren’t bright enough for her. The station was quiet. Only a few deputies were at their desks. The sheriff had come and gone, promising he’d be back to relieve her of guard duty for John Doe. She was surprised the sheriff didn’t squawk at the overtime she was accruing.
She’d spent the day doing paperwork that had stacked up over the past few weeks. Though she had trouble concentrating on vandalism of the local middle school or Mrs. Keel’s runaway cat.
Audrey kept replaying John’s words.
Such a pretty name for a pretty woman.
She wasn’t sure why his compliment had affected her. Maybe because the first time he saw her he’d thought she was beautiful, like a Christmas ornament. She’d chalked his flirting up to his injury. But earlier he’d been lucid. She didn’t trust his flattering words. He was one of those types of men who used their good looks and charisma to their advantage. He might not be able remember his name and his past, but he certainly remembered how to use his charm.
She’d have to be careful around him, because for some unfathomable reason she wanted him to find her attractive.
She gave herself a mental shake. When had her ego hit bottom?
She didn’t need a man or anyone else to make her feel good about herself. She was capable, smart and knew what she wanted in life. And it wasn’t a charming stranger, no matter how attractive, or what yearnings he stirred.
The radio attached to her shirt came on. Ophelia’s disembodied voice came through clear. “Sean is here to see you.”
Audrey sighed. She pressed the talk button. “Send him back.” She liked Sean, but she wasn’t interested in dating him, though he’d asked on numerous occasions. It wasn’t that the EMT wasn’t handsome or kind or that they didn’t get along. They did. As friends. There was no spark between them. She thought of him more as a brother. She and his older sister had been friends forever.
A few moments later, Sean leaned against the partition wall next to her desk. Today he wore jeans and a plaid shirt beneath a puffy dark blue jacket. The stubble on his face matched his dark auburn hair. The only sign he’d been in a car crash yesterday was the purple bruise on his forehead. His searching gaze was trained on her face. “How’s it going?”
“So far it’s been an uneventful night,” she replied. “How are you doing?”
“I’ve a tough noggin, or so your mother tells me,” he said.
“And Wes?”
“Good. Scared. He’d never been in an accident before.”
“I’m glad you both walked away with only minor injuries. It could have been so much worse.”
“True.” He made a face. “The ambulance was totaled. Ted said there was no fixing it.”
Audrey trusted Ted’s judgment. He’d been a friend of her father’s and had been the town mechanic for as long as Audrey had been alive. “It was insured, right?”
Sean nodded. “Yup. Mayor Grantree was adamant about full coverage when the town bought the ambo. We’ve already ordered a new one, and the insurance company isn’t happy to be paying for it.”
Audrey almost felt sorry for the insurance adjustor working the case. Mayor Ginger Grantree was someone Audrey wouldn’t want to be on the bad side of. The woman was formidable, and when she wanted something, everybody had better stand back because she was relentless. “I’m glad to hear we’ll have a replacement soon.”
“How’s the guy you found on the beach?”
“He’s faring well.”
The lights above them winked out. Adrenaline flashed through Audrey. She rose and stared out the large window that showed the lights of the town were on. The outage was isolated to the sheriff’s station. The generator would kick in any moment now.
“That’s weird,” Sean said.
A bad feeling prickled the skin at her nape. “Yes. Too weird.”
Just as the generator brought up the emergency lights, Harrison stepped out of the men’s restroom. Audrey could make out his silhouette.
“What’s happening?” Harrison’s voice reverberated with unease.
“Don’t know,” she replied. “Sean, stay with Harrison. Get Ophelia and get to safety.”
She hurried toward the back where John Doe was locked in a cell. In the time she’d worked for the sheriff’s department, the electricity had never failed without cause. She could only assume the man after John Doe was behind the outage. She reached the cell door. She couldn’t make out John in the dark. She reached for the keys attached to her utility belt.
A loud explosion rocked the building.
FIVE
John jerked awake to a cacophony of noise. Emergency sirens bounced off the cell walls. He heard shouted voices. Heart pumping with a jolt of adrenaline, he rolled from the cot, landing soundlessly onto the balls of his feet in a crouch. Every muscle tensed in anticipation. Fight or flight? Not flight. He was trapped in a cell. He scanned the darkness, momentarily disoriented. He’d been lying with his feet facing the cell door. Staying low, with his hand stretched out before him, he moved toward where he thought the door was located.
“John?” Audrey’s call rang in his ears.
Relief tempered the adrenaline racing through his veins. “Here.”
A beam of light swept over the cell and landed on him.
He wrapped his hands around the cold steel of the bars. Though he couldn’t see her behind the glare of the flashlight, the rapid pace of her breathing pinpointed her location. “What happened?”
“Someone killed the lights. The explosion was likely the generator.” The flashlight bobbed. The rattle of keys echoed in the cell, then he heard the faint squeak of a hinge as the door opened.
Warm, strong hands grasped his and pulled him toward the back exit. “Come on. We’re getting out of here.”
He tugged her to a halt. “They’ll be expecting us to go out the door. It’d be too easy to pick us off.” He wasn’t about to let her put herself in the line of fire. She might be a deputy sheriff, but it was his head they wanted, not hers.
“So we wait for them to come blazing in? I don’t think so.”
He didn’t like that option any better. “Are we the only ones in the station?”
“No. We have to get everyone out alive.”
“Are there only two exits?”
“The break room window. It drops onto a strip of grass between this building and the community church.” She tightened her hold on his hand. They ran back to the squad room, where another deputy held a flashlight illuminating a male civilian and the woman John had seen behind the glass in the lobby.
“I’ve called the sheriff,” the deputy announced to the people next to him. “He’s on his way. We’re safe
here. The fire department has the fire under control in the back parking lot.”
The deputy turned suddenly, his hand going for his sidearm as John and Audrey approached.
Audrey dropped John’s hand. “Whoa, Harrison. It’s me.”
“Audrey, what’s happening?” the woman said, her voice shaky with panic.
“I don’t have answers yet, Ophelia,” Audrey told her. “But we need to get out of here. But not through the doors. We’ll go out the break room window and hide inside the church.”
“You think the explosion was deliberate?” the younger guy asked.
“Unfortunately, Sean, I do,” she replied. “It’s the same person or persons who crashed into the ambulance.”
John didn’t like the way Sean moved to Audrey’s side in a clearly possessive way. She’d said she wasn’t married and had no kids but hadn’t mentioned if she was involved with someone. Though why John was upset didn’t make sense. He could very well be married or engaged or involved with someone he couldn’t remember. Until he knew his past, he couldn’t contemplate a present or future that included anyone else.
Needing to act and not let his mind play games with him, he said, “We should hustle before the perps decide to storm in.”
“This way.” Audrey grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and tugged him closer. “Stay behind me.”
Though he appreciated her protectiveness, it felt wrong. He should be the one going first, blazing a trail for her to follow. His empty hand flexed with the need to feel the weight of steel pressed against his palm. He tucked the thought away to examine later as he did as the very determined female deputy directed. Sean, Ophelia and the other deputy fell in line behind them, with the deputy taking up the rear position.
Inside the break room, Audrey released her hold on his sleeve and went to work on prying out the window screen. He helped her and took it from her hands to set aside.
“I’ll go first to make sure it’s clear,” Audrey said. “John, you follow me. Then the rest of you.”
“I’ll go first,” the other deputy blurted before John could.