by Lacey Thorn
Her gaze searched his face before she nodded. He didn’t want to leave her, but he needed to make some calls now that she was awake. The sooner he got them out of the way, the sooner he could lock himself at her side and not move. He gave her fingers a squeeze then stepped outside while she was examined. She didn’t have any family of her own left, but his parents were as in love with her as he was. They’d expect a call letting them know she was awake. As would Burt. The cop in the hall had probably started the trickle of information through the grapevine. Peterson had already been on his phone when LaTisha had walked in the room.
Phillip headed to the end of the hall and placed the first call.
“Phillip,” his mom greeted him on the third ring. “Is it Chase? Is she okay?”
“She’s awake,” he told her. “Chase is awake.”
“Oh, thank God!” his mom exclaimed, and he heard her whispering to his dad in the background. “Your dad says we can be there in an hour.”
“No,” Phillip said. “She’s in with the doctor now. I still don’t know anything. I just wanted to call and let you know she’s awake.”
“First thing in the morning, then,” his mom said. “I’ll bring breakfast.”
“Okay,” he agreed. “I love you, mom.”
“Love you, too,” his mom said. “You call me if you need anything. I mean it.”
“I will. Promise.”
“I’m so happy she’s awake,” his mom whispered.
“Me, too. I’ll see you in the morning.”
He hung up and made his second call.
“I heard,” Burt said when he answered the phone. “That’s great news. Is she okay? Has she said anything, yet?”
“I haven’t had a chance to really talk to her. Doctor’s with her now. I’ll be in touch again as soon as I know anything.”
“Grant’s probably on his way to the hospital by now,” Burt warned, mentioning the detective in charge of Chase’s case. “He’ll want to speak to her as soon as he can.”
“That’ll be up to the doctor,” Phillip said. “I know we need to find out what happened as soon as she’s able to tell us, but I won’t let anyone push her.”
“You’ll probably want to talk to her before Grant does anyway. He’s good, but a bit abrupt. You’ll want to make sure she’s up to handling an interrogation.”
“I’ll watch for him,” Phillip assured his partner.
Grant was a quality guy, one of the older detectives with the department. He was good, damn good, and Phillip was happy Chase’s case had been assigned to the other man. If anyone would dig until he got answers, it would be Grant. Unfortunately, he had a gruff personality that often came across as the bad-cop persona, especially as he pushed for answers.
“How does she seem?” Burt asked, and Phillip knew his friend was referring to the fact she and Phillip were no longer a couple.
“I don’t know. She seemed happy to see me when she opened her eyes. We didn’t get a chance to talk or anything. She woke up, and I called for help,” Phillip admitted. He was a little anxious to see if she’d ask him to leave now that she was awake. When she’d broken things off, she’d said she still wanted to be friends, but nothing was certain right now.
“Good luck, buddy,” Burt said.
“Thanks. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Take the day off,” Burt said. “Captain will understand. We’ll cover for you. Come in Wednesday, or hell, ask to have your leave kick in early.”
“I can’t do that. Johnson doesn’t come back until next week. I won’t ask him to come back early to cover for me. His wife just had a baby. I’ll take tomorrow off and be back Wednesday. They’ll probably keep Chase in here at least through the end of the week, if not longer. She’s been in a coma for two weeks.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Burt agreed. “Keep me posted on how she’s doing.”
“I will,” Phillip promised.
“I’ll see you Wednesday, then.”
“See ya,” Phillip agreed and hung up. He was staring down the hall when the elevator dinged and Grant stepped off. He had to give it to the other man; he was damn quick.
“Phillip,” Grant said softly as soon as he approached him. “I hear your girl finally woke up.”
“Peterson?” Phillip asked, and Grant nodded.
Phillip motioned Grant to follow as he headed back down the hall toward Chase’s room. “The doctor’s in with her now. I’m not sure if he’ll let you speak to her tonight or not. I appreciate you coming out, though.”
“She’s part of the family, and I was already in the area,” Grant said with a shrug. Phillip stopped outside Chase’s door, and Grant leaned on the wall beside him. “We’ll see what she remembers when she’s ready to talk to us.” He stuck his hands in his pockets. “I still say it has to be someone close to her. I wasn’t comfortable with clearing the deceased girl’s boyfriend.”
“Jocelyn,” Phillip said, picturing her laughing brown eyes.
Grant grunted and kept talking. “Then there’s the roommate Jocelyn was living with. Definitely something off with that one. If you ask me, she and the boyfriend are both too damn quiet. I know we couldn’t find anything there to connect either of them to this, but my gut says to keep looking. Feels like one of them is hiding something.”
Phillip nodded in agreement. Sometimes, all a cop had to go on was his gut. “Chase seemed to get along with both of them. Said the boyfriend was quiet but had a good heart. He’s ex-military. Just came back from a second tour in the Middle East. Chase said he doesn’t talk about his time over there. I know from what I heard Jocelyn seemed to love the guy.”
“What about the bar fights?” Grant asked. “Think he could have been violent toward the girlfriend?”
Phillip shook his head. “The fights were all directly related to times when someone made anti-military comments. As for Jocelyn, she wouldn’t have let him get away with raising a hand to her. Plus if he had, Chase would have known. Those two kept nothing from each other. Chase would have told me if she even suspected. They were always fiercely protective of one another. I just don’t see it. Besides, every time I saw Jocelyn and Seth together, he deferred to her.”
“Yeah, you said he was content to let her plan stuff. He just doesn’t seem the docile, domesticated type to me.”
“Didn’t say he is. Jocelyn liked to enjoy life, and I think he liked to watch her enjoy it,” Phillip said.
He understood what Grant was doing. Going over the case notes with Phillip, getting everything fresh in both their minds. It would help when it came time to talk to Chase.
“I don’t know. Sometimes, people can be too close to a situation,” Grant said then went in another direction before Phillip could comment. “What about the roommate?”
“Nicole? She’s been around for a long time. Always quiet whenever I was there. I don’t know if she’s always like that, or not. Jocelyn liked her well enough to live with her.”
“Wasn’t Chase staying there part-time, as well?”
Phillip nodded. She’d moved in with Jocelyn and Nicole temporarily after she’d turned down his proposal.
“I understand Jocelyn often hung out at your place?” Grant prompted.
“She did. We live in the city, and Jocelyn didn’t. Plus, her boyfriend, Seth, lives here, too.”
Grant nodded. “How often was Chase around Jocelyn and Seth?”
Phillip shrugged. “She hung around with them a lot, usually when I worked late. The roommate, Nicole, came in and hung out with them, as well. Usually, it was just Jocelyn and Chase though. They were more like sisters than best friends.”
They both remained silent for a moment as the comment sank in.
“She’s going to take this pretty hard,” Grant stated.
“Yeah,” Phillip agreed, and he’d be the one to tell her Jocelyn hadn’t survived. He wasn’t looking forward to it.
The door opened, and both men pushed from the wall and turned.
&nb
sp; “Gentlemen, we need to talk,” the doctor said without preamble. Phillip had met him on several occasions during the time Chase had been here. Fortunately, she’d listed him as her emergency contact—him and Jocelyn. Phillip had introduced Grant to the doctor during the first few days when they’d anticipated Chase waking earlier.
“How is she?” Phillip asked.
“Physically? Weak, mostly from being in bed for the last two weeks. We’ll get her up and walking around over the next few days. She’s going to tire easily, which will frustrate her. So, try to be understanding.”
“Absolutely,” Phillip agreed.
“There’s something else you need to know, as well,” the doctor continued.
“What?” Phillip felt as if his heart were in his throat as he waited to hear the next words.
“Ms. Riley seems to be suffering from what we refer to as retrograde amnesia.”
“Amnesia? That doesn’t make sense. She knows who I am,” Phillip said. “She called me by name.”
She’d asked why she was in the hospital though and how long. Phillip hadn’t worried about it at the time. Chase had just woken up. Of course, everything would be foggy.
The doctor nodded. “Retrograde amnesia is a form of short-term memory loss. It can block out events or periods of time, particularly those surrounding a traumatic incident. She has no idea what happened to her or her friend. She doesn’t know why she’s even in the hospital.”
“Is this a result of the beating? What are the chances she’ll eventually remember?” Grant asked while Phillip stood there, processing the news.
“It’s hard to say with any certainty. Often, people eventually remember. Some don’t. Give her time. I understand she’ll want to know what happened, and you can explain it to her. All I’ve told her for now is that she was injured and brought to the hospital to recover. I’m not sure how you want to play this out, Detective Wade. As her only listed family, this is your call.”
“Is there any danger to telling her what happened?” Phillip asked.
“Medically speaking, I don’t believe so. All I can tell you is to be patient. Don’t push her to remember what she can’t. Play it by ear, and take it one day at a time.”
“We will. Thank you, Doctor,” Phillip said.
“Remember one thing,” he warned them. “Sometimes, amnesia is the mind’s way of protecting itself from something a person can’t otherwise handle. We all saw what she looked like when she was brought in here. I can’t blame her psyche for not wanting to remember how she got that way.”
Phillip nodded and swallowed. His thoughts were stuck on one thing. Chase didn’t remember the attack. What else had she forgotten?
“She’s asking for you,” the doctor said to Phillip. “I’ve ordered some tests to be run over the next few hours. Standard procedure. I’m not expecting anything, but she’s been unconscious for two weeks. Unless I see something of concern on the preliminary results, I’ll check back in the morning and see how she’s doing.”
“Thank you,” Phillip murmured automatically.
He and Grant stood there silently as the MD walked away. Phillip figured Grant was as lost in his thoughts as Phillip was in his. Phillip hadn’t dealt with a case involving amnesia before, not that he would ever consider Chase a case. It left him on shaky ground, not knowing exactly how to act or respond. The last thing he wanted was to cause Chase any more harm. He’d have to wait to see what the tests showed before he said anything to her.
“Guess, I’ll head home for now,” Grant said. “I’ll stop back tomorrow to check in.”
“Sounds good. I’m sure I’ll be here.”
The other detective nodded and moved away, giving Phillip a pat on the back as he passed.
Taking a deep breath, Phillip pushed back into the room. Two gazes landed on him, but LaTisha was the one to speak.
“See. There he is. Told you he wouldn’t go far,” the nurse told Chase. “I was just telling our girl how you’ve been here every day, waiting for her to wake up.” LaTisha motioned to a cup beside the bed. “I got some ice chips. Much easier on a throat that hasn’t had anything in a while. We’ll see how this does before trying water,” she told them both, though her gaze was focused on Chase. “You buzz me if you need anything. Welcome back,” she said with a smile before heading out the door.
“Phillip,” Chase said and wiggled her fingers, motioning him toward the bed.
He moved to her side and laced his fingers with hers.
“Why am I here?” she whispered. “The doctor said I was in some kind of an accident, but I don’t remember anything. I want to go home.”
“Chase,” he said, but when he would have lifted his hand, she held tight.
“Don’t leave me again,” she begged. “Please, don’t leave me.”
“I’m not going anywhere, honey. I’m going to stay right here with you.”
She nodded, and he watched her body relax. He ran his fingers over her cheek, unable to refrain from touching her. She moved her face into his hand and smiled up at him.
“Chase, what’s the last thing you remember?” he asked.
She shook her head, her brow furrowing in concentration. “You kissing me goodbye before you left for work,” she answered hoarsely.
“That could have been any morning,” he said with a smile. “What else do you remember?”
“You came home late the night before. We ate cold spaghetti on the couch and made love in the shower before falling into bed.”
He remembered that night well. God! That was more than a month ago. She’d lost several weeks before the attack had taken place. She might only be talking to him because she didn’t remember the marriage proposal or turning him down. The conversation where she’d confessed she didn’t think she was cut out to be a cop’s wife was gone. When she’d left that night, there’d been tears on both their faces, and he wasn’t ashamed to admit it. He remembered it, every moment of it, but she didn’t. Part of him felt like a cruel bastard for feeling a sense of relief.
“What happened?” she asked again, tugging on their joined hands. “Please, Phillip. I need to know.”
He took a deep breath and leaned down to wrap his arms around her then lifted her just a bit into his chest.
“Let me hold you for a minute,” he soothed. “Just let me hold you for a minute.”
“You’re scaring me,” she whispered, and he closed his eyes.
If she was scared now, how would she feel when he told her why she was in the hospital?
Chapter Two
Chase spent a restless night in the hospital. Whenever she fell asleep, something always woke her. Sometimes, it was the nurse Phillip had called LaTisha. Other times, it was something else, something she couldn’t place. She’d wake with her heart pounding, hands clenched in the sheets, panting for breath. Each time, Phillip had been there, hovering, trying to make sure she was okay. Something was off about that, too. He was reserved with her, and that scared the hell out of her. Plus, she still didn’t know why she was in the hospital. She’d been ready to demand answers when she’d gotten back from the battery of tests, but as soon as she’d returned to her room and the bed, she’d fallen asleep.
She was incredibly weak. Amazing what lying in a bed sleeping for two weeks did to the body. She was still reeling from the information she’d managed to pull out of Phillip. She’d been in the hospital for weeks in what her doctor called a self-induced coma.
Her nerves were frayed from a morning filled with more tests, and she knew it wouldn’t take much to set her off. Then there was the surprise sitting outside her hospital room door. When the day nurse finally left the room, Chase was done with the interruptions and ready for answers.
“What’s going on?” she demanded as soon as she and Phillip were alone. “I have retrograde amnesia, but I’m not supposed to worry? How? Why? What the hell happened to me? Because I got a good look in the mirror earlier, and I know I didn’t suddenly take up boxing. Why is ther
e a cop in the hallway? Where is Jocelyn? Why haven’t you called her? If she knew I was awake, she’d already be here.”
Phillip sighed wearily and hung his head, hands dangling between his knees where he sat. It killed her to see him so uncertain, to have him treat her with kid gloves as if she were fragile.
“You’re scaring me,” she whispered when he remained silent. Finally, he looked up. For a moment, she swore she saw a flash of fear in his eyes, but she shook it off. That couldn’t be true. Nothing scared Phillip. “Tell me. Please. I need to know.” She groaned in frustration. “What am I not remembering?”
“You and Jocelyn were going out of town for a weekend trip,” Phillip said and looked at her as if judging whether or not those few words had jarred her memory.
She had nothing though. She and Jocelyn had been friends for years and had taken plenty of trips together. That little trinket of information didn’t bring on a sudden “ah-ha” moment.
“Just the two of us?” Chase asked, trying to pull more details from him.
Phillip nodded. “Girl time,” he answered and gave a weak smile.
Her eyes widened as what he’d disclosed sank in. “So, whatever happened, Jocelyn was with me. Is she here? Down the hall? I need to see her.” She tried to sit up, but too weak to support herself, she fell back against the pillows again. The morning had worn her out.
“Easy,” Phillip urged, coming over to sit beside her on the bed.
She clung to his hand, frantic, eyes searching his. She blinked back tears, somehow knowing the answer before she found the strength to ask. It was there, in his expression, in the fact Jocelyn wasn’t beside her. Something was wrong, very wrong.
“Where is she? Is she in the hospital or…” She let the unfinished question trickle off as his body language registered.