“You know, if you really aren’t feeling up to this today, I’ll take you right back home.”
She shook her head, touched and pleased that he seemed to read all the nuances of her emotions. “I’ll be fine...really.”
“Then I’ll be back here at five to pick you up.” He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “Have a good day, Julie, and call me if you need anything.”
Before she could reply...before she could even process the gift of his warm lips against her skin, he turned and was gone.
“Should I go ahead and open the door for the day?” she called to Joel, who had taken a position behind the counter.
“I’m ready if you are.”
She unlocked the door and her official day at work began. It was a busy morning with people coming in to shop or to pawn. Julie scarcely had any time to think about any lingering fear that might attempt to possess her.
Her missing memories didn’t hinder her as the day went on. It was two o’clock and in the middle of a lull when a middle-aged woman came in. She walked hesitantly up to the counter, tightly clutching a worn purse in both hands.
“May I help you?” Julie asked.
“Uh... I don’t know.” The woman shoved a strand of her long brown hair behind one ear. “I’ve never done this before, but I guess I’d like to pawn a ring.”
“May I see the ring?”
She placed her purse on the counter, opened it and withdrew a small envelope. Her fingers trembled as she shook out a small diamond ring.
Julie grabbed a jeweler’s loop and looked at the ring carefully. It was only fourteen karat gold and the diamond was tiny, although had fairly good clarity. She looked back at the woman. “I can do a hundred dollars,” she offered.
“That’s all? It’s my wedding ring and I promise I’ll be back to get it, but I need a hundred and thirty dollars to pay for our electric bill. I spent too much on groceries and now I’m in a bind.” She laughed, although it was a desperate sound. “But I’m sure you hear sob stories all the time.”
Julie had definitely heard a lot of sob stories over the years, but something about this woman touched her heart. “I’ll give you a hundred and forty dollars.”
Tears suddenly misted the woman’s eyes. “Oh...thank you. And this will be a secret, right. I mean nobody else will have to know that I’ve pawned it.”
“Nobody will know unless you tell them,” Julie replied. Don’t tell. The words thundered in her head as she scanned Maggie Albright’s driver’s license. The two words resounded over and over again as she explained the terms and conditions of the pawn.
Had something happened here in the pawn shop that had prompted the threat to her? Why couldn’t she remember? Had a customer somehow forced her to do something illegal? She couldn’t imagine that being the case. She had always played by the rules but, without her memory, she couldn’t fully dismiss such a scenario, either.
At three, Casey called to tell Julie she was running late and couldn’t make it in to relieve her until six thirty or so. Julie called Nick so he would know to come later to pick her up.
“If that girl ever shows up on time for one of her shifts, I’ll swallow my tongue,” Joel said drily.
Julie laughed. “Nobody ever said Casey was dependable. Beautiful, yes. Fun, definitely. Her idea of responsibility is if she remembers to call in and let us know she’s going to be late or not show up at all.”
“I heard through the grapevine that your dad had a talk with her and told her it was time for her to grow up and pay her own bills.”
She looked at Joel in surprise. “Now, that I haven’t heard.”
Joel released a small burst of laughter. “I’m not sure Casey believed him because she sure hasn’t been too eager to pick up extra shifts.”
“I doubt if the talk worried her much. She’s always had my parents wrapped around her little finger,” Julie replied.
She began to relax again as she and Joel talked shop and he regaled her with stories about his new puppy named Buster.
“Have you told me about Buster before?” she asked.
He smiled at her kindly. “Two weeks ago when I first got the pooch. It’s okay, Julie. I know you’re missing some memories right now. I can’t imagine what that’s like.”
“Unsettling and more than a little bit frightening. I’m just hoping before too long everything will come back to me. In fact, while nobody is in here, I’d like to go back into the office and read over the transactions from the last day I worked. Maybe that will help jog my memory.”
“Knock yourself out,” Joel replied. “It’s really slow right now and, if I need you, I’ll holler for you. Julie, if there was something I could do to help, you know I’d do it.”
“Thanks, Joel.” She gave him a grateful smile and then hurried into the office space and sat at the desk. According to the schedule posted on the wall, she’d worked the day before her car accident.
She pulled out the paperwork and pored over the transactions she’d been in charge of that day, trying to find something—anything—that would have to do with a deadly secret.
There had to be something to explain that terrible phone call she’d received and she needed to find out what it was sooner rather than later.
Chapter Six
“I went over all the transactions for the entire week before my accident and I didn’t find anything suspicious,” she told Nick when they were in his car and heading home.
“Then maybe whatever it is doesn’t have anything to do with the pawn shop.” He turned into the cul-de-sac.
“Maybe. But I had that faint sense of fear all day long while I was there, and I didn’t have much of a life outside the pawn shop until you came along.”
“But hasn’t that fear been with you since you woke up in the hospital?” He parked the car and turned off the engine.
“I guess,” she conceded. They got out of the car and walked to the front door. She didn’t know how to explain to him that she had two different feelings of fear. One definitely came from her missing time with the amnesia. The other was more insidious...a sick anxiety that kept her on edge.
“Go straight to the deck and have a seat,” he instructed her once they were inside. “I’ve got dinner covered.”
“Are you sure?” she asked in surprise.
“Positive. Would you like a beer?”
“I think I have some white wine in the fridge. I’d love a glass of that,” she replied.
“Done. Now go relax,” he commanded.
“Yes, sir,” she replied with a laugh. She stepped outside and was surprised to see the table already set. She sank down into one of the cushioned chairs and kicked off her sandals. It was after seven and she was exhausted.
“Here we go.” Nick came out of the door with a glass of wine in one hand and two chicken breasts on a plate, seasoned and ready to go on the grill, in the other.
“Thanks.” She took the glass from him and watched as he fired up the barbecue and then placed the chicken breasts on the rack.
Dark clouds had appeared in the sky over the course of the long day. “Is it supposed to rain?” she asked.
“There’s a possibility of some storms in the area later this evening,” he replied and sat across from her.
“The grass could definitely use the rain, but I absolutely hate thunder and lightning.”
He grinned at her, a light, easy gesture that warmed her more than the sultry evening air could ever do. “So, you’re a big ’fraidy cat and hide under the sheets when it storms?”
“Something like that. And over the past ten months, were there times when you hid under the sheets with me?”
“Once or twice.” He jumped up from the chair and went to the grill to check on the chicken.
She took a sip of her wine and released a sigh. She missed the intimacy she and Nick must have
had. She missed it even though she didn’t remember it. And she desperately wanted to remember him. She needed to remember them.
She closed her eyes and instantly a vision filled her head. She was at the pawn shop and a man was yelling at her. His face was red with anger and he pounded a fist on the counter. She knew he was yelling at her because his mouth was moving, but she couldn’t hear him.
The stranger’s face melted and transformed into her brother Max’s face. He was shouting at her, too. Angry. Her stomach clenched. An icy fist grabbed her throat. She couldn’t breathe.
A hand fell on her shoulder and she jerked rigid with fear. Her eyes flipped open. Nick gazed at her with concern. “Are you all right?” he asked worriedly. “You disappeared there for a minute.”
“A memory.” She cleared her throat and swallowed against the thick fear that attempted to rise up. “At least, I think it was a memory.”
“Want to talk about it?” He sat on the chair closest to her and took her hand in his.
She welcomed the warmth of his hand around hers as she told him where her mind had taken her. “We sometimes get customers who had lost their item due to non-payment and they often get very angry. As far as Max yelling at me...he yells at everyone, so that’s nothing new.” She frowned thoughtfully. “I don’t know if any of it means something or if it all means nothing.”
“I would imagine your memory is going to return in bits and pieces that might not make sense right now.” He squeezed her hand. “Eventually it will all come back and everything will make sense.” He stood and walked back to the barbecue where he turned the chicken breasts.
Dinner was pleasant and they lingered on the deck until lightning began to slash across the night sky and they had to move inside.
Nick insisted on doing the kitchen cleanup and she sat at the table while he worked. “So, how did you spend the day?” she asked.
“I immersed myself in football. I watched DVDs from last year’s games and tried to identify the strengths and weaknesses of my players.”
“Do you love what you do?” she asked curiously.
He turned from the sink. “I do.”
“Did you want to be a professional football player?”
He shook his head. “No way. I always wanted to be a coach. I love the game and I love the kids.”
“Did we talk about having children?” How she wished she could remember every conversation they’d ever had.
“Not really, although I assumed you wanted them.”
“I do. I’d like to have at least a boy and a girl. What about you?”
“That works for me,” he replied. He finished up with the dishes and joined her at the kitchen table.
“Now, do you work again tomorrow?” he asked.
“I’m on the schedule for early shifts for the next four days,” she replied. “And then I go to afternoon shifts for a few days.”
“When is your day off?”
She frowned. “We rarely get days off.”
“You’re kidding. That isn’t right. Everyone deserves a day off.” He looked down at the table for a moment and then gazed back at her. “I don’t want to make you angry, but don’t you think it’s maybe possible your family is taking advantage of you?”
She started to protest but instead nodded slowly in agreement. “I know they are. It’s the way things have always been. I not only work long hours in the store, but I also keep track of the inventory, keep the financial records and do the taxes every year.”
“Maybe it’s time to change things up. Otherwise your obligations to them will choke any hope you have of being a wife and having children. You deserve more, Julie.” He rose. “And now, I think it’s time we both get a good night’s sleep.”
Within minutes she was upstairs in her room. Nick’s words still echoed in her head as she changed into a short pink nightgown. Was it possible she’d mentioned to Max that she wanted a day off? Shorter hours? And had that been the memory she’d had of Max raging at her?
She believed she’d known for a long time that she wasn’t particularly happy working long hours at the shop. Nick was right, she deserved more than a pawn shop in her life. She wanted a husband and children, and she wanted time to make those things happen.
She probably would have brought it up with her brother before speaking to her father about it. She could see herself torn between the family business and time with Nick. Had she rocked the boat and asked for less responsibility?
With Nick in her life, she imagined her priorities might have changed. Maybe she’d wanted to go to one of his football games or to spend more than one night a week with him. Had she voiced her desire to stop working so much and gained Max’s anger? Still, none of that answered what she might know that she wasn’t supposed to tell.
She jumped as a rumble of thunder boomed. Terrific, she thought. Just what she needed on top of everything else. She’d been afraid of thunderstorms for as long as she could remember. Logically she knew they couldn’t hurt her, but that logic went out the window when it thundered. She also knew she was a baby when it came to storms, but even that didn’t help.
She was about to get into bed when she remembered her sandals beneath the table on the deck. They were one of her favorite pairs and they were part fabric. The rain would probably ruin them.
With a sigh of resignation she stepped out of her bedroom. The hallway was dark, as was Nick’s room down the hall. He’d probably already fallen asleep.
Silently, and in the dark, she crept past his doorway and down the stairs. Despite her lack of certain memories, she knew her surroundings intimately. She walked through the living room and into the kitchen to get to the patio door.
She’d just reached it when lightning flashed, half blinding her yet leaving her with enough sight to see somebody—some...thing—in the door window.
She froze. Terror gripped her. A roll of thunder shook the house and still she remained unmoving. Lightning once again flashed and this time she saw a face—a face with no eyes. What? Who?
Her brain went numb even as she stumbled backward from the horrific sight. Finally she managed to scream.
* * *
THE SCREAM PENETRATED Nick’s sleep and bolted him upright in bed. Julie! He pulled on a pair of shorts and shot down the hallway to her room.
She screamed again and he realized she was someplace downstairs. He flipped on the hall light, his heart beating wildly as a surge of adrenaline had him taking the stairs two at a time.
He also turned on the living room light and then he saw her. She stood in a pink nightgown just inside the kitchen and her facial features were twisted in sheer terror.
“Julie! What is it?” He raced to her side, wondering what was happening. What was she doing down here? Had it been the thunder or the lightning that had her so upset? Had she suffered a nightmare? A frightening memory?
She raised a trembling hand and pointed to the back door. Nick turned and looked and jumped in surprise. What in the hell? A doll. It hung from the doorframe and might have stared inside if its eyes hadn’t been gouged out.
He turned on the kitchen light. “It’s okay, Julie. It’s a doll. It can’t hurt you.” As she stumbled to the table and sank down in a chair, he opened the back door and grabbed the offending doll. It had been hung by a piece of thick string that easily gave way when he pulled on it.
It was monstrous. Along with the missing eyes, the hair had been pulled out and a small knife had been driven to its hilt into the soft skull. Across the bare belly the words Don’t Tell had been written in a red marker.
“It’s just a doll,” he repeated.
Julie raised her eyes from the doll to him. Her face was deathly pale and her lips trembled. “Who is doing this?” Her dark blue eyes held a wealth of fear. “This is monstrous. This is...is so evil. Who...who would do such a thing to me?”
Nick grabbed a towel off the countertop and tossed it over the doll on the table. “I don’t know, but I think it’s time we call the police.” The very last thing he wanted was any contact with the law, but he couldn’t leave Julie at risk to save himself.
The danger the phone call had yielded had suddenly escalated with this gruesome find. Even worse, whoever had done this knew exactly where she lived, had actually been on her back deck.
“I’m just not sure what the police can do about any of this,” she finally replied. A boom of thunder shook the house and increased the panic in her eyes.
“Julie, we still need to call them and make a record of this. I’ll go upstairs and grab my cell phone and be right back down.”
“I’m coming with you.” She jumped up from the chair like an uncoordinated colt, her knees buckling beneath her.
He grabbed her, afraid she might fall to the floor.
Instantly she wrapped her arms around his neck and began to weep. Her slender body trembled against his and he fully embraced her, knowing it was sheer terror that caused her tears. Certainly the doll had more than unsettled him. He wasn’t sure whose heart beat faster, hers or his own. Who was doing this to her and why? And what might the next move be? How much danger was she really in?
He caressed her back and tried to ignore the press of her breasts against him and the dizzying scent of her that wrapped around him. “Come on, Julie. Let’s go make that phone call.”
She released her hold on him and he grabbed her hand. She held tight, radiating her fear in the iciness of her fingers as they headed up the stairs.
The storm was upon them with rain slashing at the windows and continuous lightning and thunder. She clung so close to his side it made their trek upstairs an awkward dance.
When they reached his room, she sat on the edge of the bed while he called the police. “They should be here in just a few minutes,” he said, hanging up. “Let’s go back downstairs to wait for them.”
Before heading downstairs they went to her bedroom, where she grabbed a robe to pull on around her nightgown.
Back in the living room, she curled up into a corner of the sofa, her face still far too pale and her eyes silently screaming with her fear.
Desperate Strangers Page 7