At first, I was confused. They were all pictures of wild animals. No people. No family members or friends. What is this? I thought to myself. I glanced at Cole, who looked confused look as well.
The pictures were good. They seemed to be in groupings. Birds, frogs, foxes, then they changed to a desert. The first picture was of what appeared to be a lot of sand and tall grasses. The next was of elephants.
“These pictures are beautiful,” I exclaimed, surprised.
“Where is this? Africa?” Cole asked.
“I’m not sure,” I said, still flipping as my brows came together. I stopped and stared at the picture that had flipped in front of me.
“Is that you?” Cole asked, surprised.
“I think so.”
“You’re posing with the elephants! Zoom in.”
I zoomed in and saw that it definitely was me. Long dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. Emerald green eyes and high, sharp cheekbones. I was wearing khaki shorts and a green safari shirt. Was that a name tag on my shirt? I zoomed in even further and tried to make out the name.
“Lindsay. The tag says Lindsay!” Cole said excitedly. “Hello, Lindsay, it’s nice to meet you,” he said, grinning at me.
My eyes felt as wide as saucers. I just looked at Cole and back to the camera. I was speechless. Holy shit. I couldn’t believe it. I knew my name. My first name, at least. That’s better than no name. Funny thing was that it didn’t ring a bell like I thought that it would. I didn’t recognize it.
And the pictures. I didn’t recognize any of them, nor any of the places either. Other pictures had some other people in them. Co-workers? Some must be locals as they appeared to be indigenous to the area. But no one seemed to be close to me in any of the pictures. There was one group picture where the entire group had their arms around each other, and two females were standing beside me. No significant other there.
I was happy to see that I hadn’t cheated on a husband or boyfriend with Cole. But what if he didn’t travel with me? He wouldn’t be in these pictures. I continued to flip through them, and it was all more of the same.
The pictures were astounding. Beautiful scenery, wildlife, and local people and places. But it didn’t tell me anything I needed to know right now. Like where I lived, for instance. I was hoping to get some clues from the backgrounds.
Cole saw the confused look on my face and smiled at me. “These pictures might not be what you were expecting, but we know you took them. Let’s get back to the resort and put them on the laptop, and maybe when you’re looking at them later, some things will start to come back to you,” he suggested.
I nodded, both happy and unhappy with the pictures. “Thanks, Cole. I’m sure they’ll help me remember. I was just hoping for more clues about who I was right now. I know I’m being impatient. But at least I know my first name.”
Cole nodded, optimism in his eyes.
“Lindsay,” I repeated.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “This is a good start. And I don’t blame you for being impatient. Not knowing who I was would drive me up the wall.”
“It is,” I agreed.
“Let’s look in the back seat and the cargo area of the SUV and see if we find anything else,” Cole suggested.
After a thorough search of the rest of the vehicle, we found the camera bag that had been tossed into the cargo area during the crash. That was it. No wallet or ID. No cell phone. Nothing. Who travels without ID or a cell phone these days?
Me, that’s who.
Cole looked around the crash area for any other clues and found nothing. He grabbed his rifle and called Bella, then helped me back up the embankment.
“Do you remember how far you drove before you crashed?” he asked me. “Maybe we can find what they buried. Or call the police and give them the general area?”
I looked down the road and tried to remember where I’d come from. I assumed from the way I had crashed that it was further down the road. But I didn’t know for sure.
“I’m not sure. We can drive down the road a ways and see if anything looks familiar. But I don’t remember the actual crash. I only remember after I woke up,” I told Cole.
“Okay, well, let’s drive down the road some and see. But if you don’t remember driving, I’m sure you won’t remember how far you had to run to get to the SUV from where you photographed the two men,” Cole opined.
“I remember running, or saw it in my dream, but not where I was running or for how long,” I admitted.
We drove down the road for about a mile and didn’t see any signs of anything unusual. Cole turned the truck around and headed back the way we’d come. I wanted to get back and get the pictures uploaded to the laptop anyway.
“I’m sure you’ll eventually remember where you were. We’ll come back when you do,” Cole said.
Sophie
Alec drove us around several blocks and then took a road out of town. The road looked fishy, and I gave him a look.
He looked back at me. “What?”
“Where are you taking me?” I asked him, incapable of hiding my suspicion bordering on fear.
“Wow. You’re an extremely suspicious person,” he commented.
“Not suspicious, just trying to protect myself,” I informed him. “You are a stranger. I just met you like ten minutes ago. I got into your truck, and now you’re driving me down some dirt path,” I said. “Very serial killer vibe, and I should know. I listen to all the podcasts.”
He chuckled. “I like some of those, but I like the funny ones. No deaths.”
“Guess we’re a little different,” I told him, though my tension eased just a bit. “Can you ease my worries?”
He laughed, shaking his head. “Big Jim lives about a mile down this road. It’s not some dirt path. It’s called Canterbury Road.” I lifted an eyebrow at him, and he chuckled. “It is a dirt road, but it’s on the map. Check your phone if you don’t believe me.”
“I believe you,” I told him.
“You do?”
“I don’t really have a choice.”
“Maybe. You could check your phone and see that I’m telling you the truth. Or you could open the door and jump out if you really believe I’m trying to kidnap you. I don’t have you locked in.” I quickly looked at the door lock. Alec chuckled. “Oh boy,” he said, laughing.
“I don’t think this is funny at all,” I said stiffly. “Look at it from my point of view, will you?”
“Okay, you’re right,” he said, still grinning.
“Where’s this house you insisted is down this awful road? You said one mile. It’s been more than a mile.”
“It’s right here,” Alec replied, pulling into a rocky driveway with a trailer home at the end of it. A red pickup truck was parked in front of the trailer. A big black dog came running out of a run-down shed and began to bark at us.
“Stay here for a minute until I talk to him,” Alec asked me.
“Okay,” I agreed quickly, not at all eager to meet the large dog.
Alec got out and yelled, “Big Jim, you home? It’s Alec Randal from the hardware store.”
A moment went by, and nothing happened. Alec carefully stepped toward the rickety front porch. The black dog rushed to the truck and sniffed at me.
I rolled down the window and greeted him. “Hi puppy.” He looked at me for a second before wagging his tail. Then he slowly walked to Alec, who was standing on the porch.
The front door of the trailer opened. Good, I thought, he’s home.
“Big Jim, hey,” Alec called out.
Big Jim opened the screen door and stepped out onto the porch. He shook Alec’s hand. I heard Alec explain to him why we’d come, and he pointed at me. Big Jim nodded, and Alec waved me over. I put the window back up and climbed out of the truck. I stepped down, and my shoe instantly squished into the mushy ground.
Yuck, I thought but tried to keep a straight face. I didn’t want to offend anyone else today, especially not someone who might help me find Lindsay. With e
ach step, though, my heels sank into the muddy earth. I sighed and couldn’t help but frown. These were seven hundred-dollar shoes.
Alec was grinning at me. I gave him my best smirk, and his grin widened. If Big Jim weren’t waiting to greet me, I’d have some choice words for Alec.
I finally reached the porch and held out my hand to Big Jim. He seemed like a decent guy as he greeted me with a smile and a hello. I pulled out my phone and showed him a picture of Lindsay. His face showed instant recognition.
“I talked to her last week one mornin’ over some coffee. Can’t remember which mornin’, to tell ya the truth. But she came into the diner down in town, and we talked for about an hour. She was lookin’ to photograph a Ptarmigan nest up in the mountains. Asked my boys and me if we come across any nests while hunting.”
I could hardly contain my excitement. “Did you tell her where to go?”
“Not only told her,” he said proudly. “Drew her a map.”
“Can you please draw me the map? I really need to find her. She’s been missing for several days,” I pleaded.
“Course I can. Gimme a minute to go inside and get a pen and paper. Be right back.”
“Thank you, sir. I appreciate this so much,” I told him.
“No problem. No problem.” He went inside, letting the screen door bang shut behind him. The black dog barked at it.
I looked at Alec. He was standing patiently on the porch with his hands in his jeans pockets. Again, his good looks struck me, and I looked away while speaking to him.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” I thanked him. “I mean really it.”
He nodded. “Sure, I hope someone would do the same for me if I needed it.”
I smiled at him, and he grinned his sexy grin back at me. His bright green eye sparkled in the sunlight.
Big Jim came back outside and handed me a crinkled piece of paper that was half ripped from a writing tablet. “I drew your friend the same exact map,” he informed me.
I stared at it while Big Jim explained to me where the highway met the road. “This is the road heading up the mountain. Turn here,” he said. I nodded. Then he pointed out some landmarks. Alec looked at the map from over my shoulder as Big Jim explained it to us. “And the rest should be self-explanatory. I wrote as neat as I could for you.”
“Thank you so much,” I repeated.
“I hope you find your friend. She’s a nice girl,” he told me, glancing at Alec. “Stop back and let me know if I don’t run into you.”
“I will, Big Jim. Thanks a lot for your help.”
“No problem at all. Good luck. Come on in, Max,” he called to his dog. Alec and I moved aside and waited for the dog to go on by and inside the trailer.
“Goodbye, Big Jim,” I called as I walked off the porch and back into the cakey mud.
Alec drove us back into town and pulled his truck up behind my parked rental car. “So, what are you gonna do now?”
“I’m going to follow the map and see if I can find my friend,” I answered.
“I had a feeling you were gonna say that,” he grumbled. “You can’t go up the mountainside and hike a mile into the forest wearing that. And certainly not with those shoes.”
“I don’t have anything to change into right now,” I retorted. “My clothes are in the motel in Silverthorne.”
“I know you’re not from here, but this is no stroll in the park. Do you know what a switchback is?”
“Yes,” I answered, annoyed. “Paths that go down a hillside.”
“Okay, well, yes. But these go down a rocky cliff. A precipice, Big Jim said. We’re in the mountains, ya know?”
“Okay, so I’ll go back and change. I did bring jeans and boots,” I told him.
Alec sighed. “You won’t have enough time today. The sun goes down by five o’clock. You don’t want to be up there in the dark. Absolutely no lights up there, and you’ll get lost. We don’t need two lost city girls up in the Colorado mountains.”
I glared at him. He expected me to wait? I preferred not to, but he was probably right. Getting stuck up there in the dark wasn’t smart and wouldn’t help the situation. But what if Lindsay was lost up there and all alone?
Alec was watching me intently as I thought through it. I could see he was ready to persuade me if I still said I was going to try to make it today.
“Okay, you’re right,” I conceded.
“So, you’re not gonna try and go today? Right? It would be an utterly stupid thing for you to do,” he said seriously.
“No, I won’t go today. I’ll wait for the morning,” I assured him.
“Okay, good,” he said, relief in his tone. Then he turned to me. “You can’t drive that car up there,” he said, pointing at my rental. “It might get stuck. I’ll take you up tomorrow morning if you want me to.”
“You will?” I asked, surprised, a small smile on my face. The offer was unexpected, and I was happy he’d extended it.
“Yes. I can meet you at the motel at seven o’clock. Is that good?”
“Yes, thank you. I’d really appreciate it,” I gushed.
“The motel across from the diner in Silverthorne, right?” he asked.
“Yes, that’s the one.”
“Okay, see you in the morning. Dress warmly. It gets really cold the higher up you go,” he warned me.
“I will,” I promised him. I smiled flirtatiously before I caught myself. I climbed out of his truck and headed to my car. I looked back before getting in, and he was still sitting there, grinning at me.
Cole
Once back at the resort, Stormy and I went to see Dax first. I didn’t know how to upload the pictures to the laptop. Stormy, I mean Lindsay, said we needed a special cable. As the resort IT guy, Dax should have what we needed.
I called his phone and asked him about it, and he said he’d bring it to my cabin in about an hour. I took Lindsay to her room so she could get the laptop she’d been using. Then, we stopped in the dining room and ordered some lunch.
Lindsay looked anxious as we ate. She picked at her food, eating a few bites but not as much as she had been. She kept glancing around the room as if expecting to see someone.
“What’s up?” I asked her.
She jolted; neither of us had spoken since we’d sat down. “Nothing. Just can’t wait to get those pictures uploaded. I need to look at them all again. I hope I can remember something.”
“Try and be patient,” I told her again. “Your brain needs to heal. After seeing your car, it’s no wonder you don’t remember anything. Your memory will return when your body is ready.”
“You’re right,” she said, smiling and shaking her shoulders as if attempting to remove a weight. “Thanks for all of your help. I know I’m taking you away from your job here.”
“You’re welcome. And I’m good with taking a day off. As long as it doesn’t snow, or we have any guest room emergencies, I have a pretty flexible schedule.” I pointed at her food. “You need to eat.”
She nodded and ate a bite. “You have a really nice thing going here,” she said after swallowing. “I’d love to live here. It’s so beautiful up here in the mountains.” Her face fell as another thing occurred to her.
“You’ll find out where you do live soon enough,” I reminded her. “And it’s probably somewhere really nice. You have a great job, seems like. Who wouldn’t want to be a world photographer?”
“Yeah. It does look like I have a pretty good job. Now that you have put it that way, I guess I do know something else about myself. And, at least, I’m not a bum,” she joked, giggling.
“I was relieved to find that out, as well,” I said, grinning back. She wrinkled her forehead at me, then smiled and continued eating.
When we got home, I fed Bella as we waited for Dax. He showed up a little bit later, and I was thankful he was able to help Lindsay with the upload. As the pictures were uploading, Brad and Harley stopped by.
“I’m glad you’re all here. Saves me phone c
alls,” I smiled.
“So what happened?” Brad asked impatiently.
“I discovered that my name is Lindsay,” she announced.
“One step in the right direction,” Harley remarked with a friendly smile. “Nice to meet you, Lindsay.”
“You too,” she laughed.
We told my brothers what had happened and showed them the pictures of the two men. I explained them that the crash was just east of the resort and that the men were probably burying whatever was in the carpet close, as well. No one liked the news.
“Those two look like criminals,” remarked Dax, looking at the pictures of them with the shovel and carpet. He leaned close and hummed, “Wait a minute.”
“What?” I asked.
“I recognize them!” Dax exclaimed, jerking to a standing position. “I saw them in town last night. I had to pick up some stuff at the office supply store, and I stopped in at Blue Haven Pub afterward for a beer. They were in there sitting at a booth in the corner!”
We all looked at each other, shocked.
“Are you sure it was them?” Brad asked, brow heavy.
“Yes, I’m one hundred percent sure. That scar, I’d recognize it anywhere. Who wouldn’t?” he asked.
Brad took a closer look. “That’s definitely a distinguishing feature.”
“Shit,” Harley swore. “We need to tell the sheriff.”
“Yes, we do. These guys need to be caught before they commit another crime.” He looked at Lindsay. “The sheriff will probably want a copy of your pictures.”
“Go ahead, I don’t mind. Cole and I talked about calling already.”
“Okay, good.” Brad left the room to make the call and returned a moment later. “Sheriff Andrews said he’d come up within the hour,” he informed us. “I have some things to do at home. I told him to come straight here, and I’ll come back when I see him drive by, if that’s okay with you guys?”
“Yeah, Brad, no problem. See you in a little bit,” I told him.
Dax and Harley left, as well, leaving Lindsay and me to look at her incredible pictures. I couldn’t believe she’d taken them. Traveled all over the world, too. It was impressive.
Take a Mountain Man Home for Christmas: A Mountain Man Romance Christmas Collection Page 29