by Dana R. Lynn
The officers finished up, and within twenty minutes the street was quiet again.
But Ben remained unsettled. Something about the situation continued to eat at him.
“Dat. I found this.” Nathaniel held up something for his father to inspect. It was a cell phone. Ben’s brow furrowed. It had probably slipped from the woman’s pocket when he and Caleb had carried her to the porch. The Amish didn’t use cell phones, not even in their businesses. Their bishop allowed them to have a landline phone in their businesses if it was necessary, but cell phones were considered excessive. But from his interactions with them he knew that the Englisch relied heavily on their devices.
It gave him an excuse to check up on her, just to make sure she was all right. The thought made him pause. It wasn’t like him to be so concerned about what was happening in the Englisch world. He had a few Englisch friends he’d made through his work as a carpenter, but he avoided any deep attachments. He had learned his lesson the hard way. He couldn’t rely on others to protect his family. And technology couldn’t always help. He had lost his wife and their unborn daughter when Lydia had been struck with cancer, and no amount of Englisch technology or medicine had been able to save them. All he had left was his son and he was determined to be careful.
He would check on her, he decided, then he would leave. His conscience would be eased, and he would never have to see the woman again.
His mind flashed back to the memory of the driver’s panicked face before she had hit the tree. She had obviously been aware of the danger. He couldn’t recall any of the telltale clues that she was trying to stop.
His eyes flashed to the tree in question. The bark had been scraped off in several places. He could see bits and pieces of it littering the ground. Although the mangled car was gone, he doubted he’d forget the image anytime soon.
Why hadn’t she stopped?
TWO
“Sadie? Sadie, can you hear me?” a strange voice pleaded, over and over again.
Why wouldn’t he just be quiet? Her head was pounding with every word he uttered. Irritated, she dragged her eyelids open to confront the man who kept talking to her when she just wanted to rest. Two blurry figures stood beside her bed. That didn’t seem right. She blinked, and they wobbled before coalescing into one man. His messy brown hair and dark brown eyes gave her the impression of an excited puppy. He was obviously happy to see her.
But who was he?
Panic stirred inside her at the sudden realization that she had no memory of the man standing before her, a ridiculous grin stretched wide upon his face. He, however, obviously knew her.
“Who—who are you?” she gasped out, feeling like the panic was a steel band around her chest, making it difficult to take in a full breath of air.
His grin faltered and those brown eyes sharpened.
“Are you messing with me, Sadie?”
Sadie. The shock went through her. Her name was Sadie. The sound of the name was unfamiliar.
“My name is Sadie?”
The man’s formerly grinning mouth was now a grim frown. His brow was furrowed. Concern emanated from him.
“Your name is Sadie Ann Standings,” he began slowly, as if her ability to process information had disappeared along with her memory. She fought the urge to sigh in impatience. “My name is Kurt. Kurt Standings. I’m your brother.”
She’d forgotten her own brother?
“You’re my brother?” she blurted. She didn’t doubt him, but it was so much to take in at once.
He shrugged. “Stepbrother, but our parents have been married since we were both eight years old. When they married, my dad adopted you, gave you our last name. That was sixteen years ago.”
Which meant she was twenty-four. Why couldn’t she remember any of this? He reached out a hand to touch her shoulder. She jerked it away from him, then winced at the hurt on his face. Still, she was relieved when he didn’t try to touch her again. The thought of a stranger touching her so familiarly was disconcerting.
“Here,” he said, pulling his wallet from his back pocket and drawing out a picture. A young woman with light brown hair and a younger version of the man standing before her stood behind an older couple sitting on a couch, smiling at the camera. She glanced at it and then back at him, awaiting the explanation. He jabbed a finger at the young woman. “That’s you. This is your mom and my dad.”
She looked closer and saw a clear resemblance between the two women.
“Where are our parents?” Shouldn’t they have come the moment they heard she was in the hospital?
His face grew sober. “I’m sorry, Sadie. Dad and your mom, Hannah, were killed in a fire two years ago.”
The loss swamped her, even though the people he talked about were strangers.
“What was your father’s name?” she asked softly.
“Our father, Sadie. Your biological father was long gone. Our dad’s name was Tim.”
“Hannah and Tim,” she whispered to herself, wishing she could remember.
“Look, we need to get the doctor in here.” Kurt took the control near her bed and pressed the button.
Within minutes, a doctor and a nurse were in the room. The female doctor flashed a light in her eyes and asked her endless questions, most of which Sadie was unable to answer. She didn’t recall her family, where she went to school, anything about her job. She couldn’t even tell them what she had been doing when her car had crashed.
“You swerved to avoid colliding with an Amish buggy and hit a tree instead.” The doctor lifted her eyes from her laptop and slid her glasses up to rest on the top of her head. “The car was totaled, or so I hear. You’re very fortunate that no one else was hurt.”
Sadie detected a faint note of censure in the doctor’s voice but wasn’t sure why.
“I guess.” If only she could remember!
The doctor nodded. “You must have been going very fast to have hit the tree so hard.”
“What about my memories? Will they come back?” This total blankness was intolerable. She couldn’t imagine dealing with it for the rest of her life. A movement caught her attention. Kurt was frowning, his face disturbed. When he noticed her watching him, he smiled, but she could still see the strain in it.
The doctor’s expression softened. “There’s no way to know that. You may regain some memories, or you may regain all of them. In some instances, the amnesia is permanent. Your brother and your friends will undoubtedly be willing to help you fill in the missing memories.”
“Of course, we will, sis. Don’t you worry about it.”
Which was silly. Obviously, she would worry about it. It was somewhat unsettling to have someone of whom she had no recollection talking to her with such familiarity. She wondered vaguely if they had been close siblings.
As the doctor was leaving, another stranger entered the room. Sadie felt her eyes widen. This stranger was taller than Kurt, and his dress was very simple. Blue button-down shirt, dark trousers, sturdy brown boots. His hair was dark, and so were his eyes. The lower part of his face was covered with a beard. No mustache, though. She blinked at the sight of an Amish man standing in her hospital room. The beard signified that he was married, or at least she thought it did. Huh. It struck her as odd that she could remember how the Amish dressed, but that she couldn’t recall her own name.
“Ben!” Kurt strode to the door, astonishment stamped on his face. “What are you doing here?”
“Kurt. You know her?” He jerked the hand holding his hat toward where Sadie lay watching from the hospital bed. She could see the surprise in the rigidness of his posture.
“Know her? She’s my sister.” Kurt’s voice retained its puzzlement.
Ben, whoever he was, hadn’t said what he was doing there yet. Sadie listened avidly. Maybe he would have some details about what had happened to her. It was a rather desperate hope
.
“Ah.” Ben shifted. His eyes sought out Sadie. He blinked when he saw her watching him. A slow smile, that reminded her of a sunrise, took over his face. She’d been so focused on the beard that she hadn’t noticed how gentle the deep brown eyes surrounded by several feathery laugh lines were. “It’s gut to see you awake. You crashed in front of my house. My neighbor and I pulled you from the car. I found this after you were gone.”
He pulled out a smartphone in a bright pink case and set it on the table beside her. It didn’t look familiar, but then, nothing really did.
“Thank you for bringing it. And thanks also for helping me,” she told him. “Do I know you?”
His thick eyebrows climbed up his forehead. “We’ve never met before.”
She liked the way he talked, slow and soft.
Kurt stepped in before the silence could become uncomfortable. “She’s got amnesia or something. Can’t remember a thing. Her doctor popped in and said she may or may not remember everything.”
That was a lot of information to be giving a stranger. Ben might know Kurt, but he had no true connection with her. She frowned at her brother, trying to let him know to stop telling his friend about her.
A knock sounded on the door. She sighed, wishing to be alone with her thoughts to sort out what she had learned. Kurt opened it. From her position on the bed she could make out a dark blue uniform and a gold badge. Finally. The police had arrived. Maybe she could get some answers. Kurt swung the door wider. “Hey, Keith. Do you have some news about my sister’s accident?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.” The officer entered the room.
Sadie sat up straighter. Kurt knew the officer, and the man hadn’t said anything when he’d named her as his sister. Which meant she was, indeed, Kurt’s stepsister. She noticed Kurt straightening his posture out of the corner of her eye as the officer approached her. She felt bad. To her, Kurt was someone she didn’t know, but to him, she was his sister. If only she could remember!
“Keith? What caused my sister’s accident?” Kurt’s question brought her back to the present.
“There was a small jagged hole in the brake line. You most likely tore the line by going over rocks or rough terrain too fast. The line could have been slowly dripping for weeks without your being aware. You might have noticed your brakes feeling mushy. Too many people wait too long before getting their brakes fixed.”
Kurt thanked the officer for his help. Sadie frowned. She had thought he would want to know what caused the accident, but she couldn’t help noticing that his expression was even grimmer than before. His friend, Ben, seemed to notice something was wrong, as well.
“Kurt, are you well?”
Ben’s voice was smooth and deep, unhurried with a slight accent. Not too noticeable, just somehow rounder than the speech she’d heard from others since she awoke.
Her brother glanced at her in a considering way. Then he apparently decided she needed to know what was going on.
“Sadie, you couldn’t have had a leak for a long time.” He drew in a deep breath. “You had the entire brake system, including the lines, replaced last week.”
She shivered, though his meaning wasn’t processing. “What are you trying to tell me?”
“This wasn’t an accident.”
“What do mean, it wasn’t an accident?” Her voice came out strained, like she had to squeeze each and every painful word out.
Kurt—she couldn’t think of him as her brother—gave her a look that was overflowing with sympathy. She was grateful he didn’t attempt to touch her again.
“Someone tried to hurt you. Someone deliberately made it so that your car would run out of brake fluid while you were driving.”
She shuddered. The fear and panic she had felt since awaking with no memory threatened to pull her under. Already she could feel the blackness dragging her down. She fought her way through it. The doctor had said that her memories might return.
The other man, Ben, shifted beside the bed. “If you feel your sister was in danger, shouldn’t you have told the police officer who just left? You knew him.”
That, she thought, was a valid question. Narrowing her eyes, she switched her eyes back to her stepbrother. He sighed, then he grabbed the chair and motioned for his friend to sit. While Ben cautiously settled himself, his eyes wary, Kurt strode to the other side of the room and pulled a second chair to the side of the bed. Sadie had the uncomfortable feeling that she was about to be interrogated.
“Okay, look, Sadie, I know you don’t remember me, but I need you trust me. Okay?”
She nodded. “I believe that you are who you say. I’m sorry. I just don’t remember anything!”
He sighed. “I know. I know. Look, the truth of the matter is that I think you are in danger, but I have no proof.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s possible that it might be my fault. I think you might be in trouble because of my job.”
Startled, Sadie forced herself to sit up straighter. She noticed that Ben sat forward, his gaze sharpening as he stared at her brother. The intensity of his glance made her momentarily lose focus on the conversation. When her brother began to speak again, she mentally shook herself and returned her attention to Kurt.
“Explain, please. How is it your fault that I may be in danger?” She stressed the word may, as she was still hoping it was all a bad nightmare and she would soon wake up with her memories intact.
“I can’t get used to you not knowing things.”
He wasn’t the only one. Irritation stirred that he would find her amnesia an inconvenience. How did he think she felt?
“Kurt,” Ben interrupted him, his deep voice rich with reprimand.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. That sounded really selfish. Sorry. I don’t mean to be insensitive.” He shoved a hand through his dark hair. “I’m a reporter. Nothing big. Smaller stories, mainly section B. I’ve slowly been getting more important stuff, though. Recently my boss put me on a new story. I can’t tell you much about it, confidentiality and all, but I think I might have found something serious. Unfortunately, it’s nothing I can take to the police. I have no actual evidence. Right now, I just have suspicions.”
“One of your suspicions is that someone knows you’re looking?” Ben asked.
“Yeah.”
Sadie glanced from one man to the other. “I still don’t understand how that affects me.”
Kurt sighed. “It affects you because I think someone is telling me that you’ll get hurt if I don’t stop digging.” Frustration rang in his voice. “I’m so close to finding something, so close, and I’m going to have to stop.”
“Are you sure you can’t go to the cops? That Keith seemed to like you well enough. Maybe he’d be able to find the information you are seeking.”
Kurt snorted. “The moment it’s learned I went to the police, any chance I have of uncovering the facts are gone. My boss will never trust me with another major project again.”
It wasn’t her fault. She knew it wasn’t her fault. But she couldn’t stop the trickle of doubt and guilt that wound its way through her. A new fear surfaced.
“Will they still come after me, do you think?”
He didn’t answer her, which was an answer in itself.
“Kurt, you have to protect your sister.” Ben shoved his chair back. The sound of the four legs scraping the floor made her cringe. Ben stood and paced away from the bed. “Your family must be a priority.”
She appreciated him stepping in to speak up for her, virtual stranger that she was.
“I know I have to protect her,” Kurt snapped. “I just don’t know how to do that. Even if I stop digging, they’re still there and will most likely come after me and probably her. I have to get more information so I can go to the police. Once they are involved, I’m sure we can find more protection.”
Ben didn’t let up. �
��And until then? How do you intend to make sure she is safe before then?” The Amish man slowed his pacing and took a deep breath. She could tell he was struggling to remain calm, although she had no idea why he was so invested in what happened to her. Was it just because he was friends with Kurt?
“You don’t need to worry,” Kurt said, lifting his chin and crossing his arms. “I’ll figure something out.”
Sadie’s jaw dropped open. She couldn’t hide her surprise. Maybe she felt this way because she couldn’t remember her brother, but she was not impressed with him right now. Shouldn’t he be more concerned about her? And about his own safety? Although, she had to admit, she had no idea what he had gotten himself into. That was a definite negative about having amnesia.
She flicked a glance toward Ben. He obviously wasn’t any happier with Kurt than she was. Even through the beard she could tell that his jaw was clenched. His brows were lowered, and his dark eyes were flashing. “I stood beside my seven-year-old son and watched your sister’s car slam into a tree. I will never forget the sound it made. When I got to the car, I thought she was dead. It was horrifying. There was gasoline on the ground. My neighbor and I pulled her from the car, wondering if the car would explode at any moment. I came here this afternoon because neither my son nor I could stop wondering if the woman we had tried to save would survive.”
Silence followed his words.
She was touched by the care he had shown her.
“Your son, is he all right?”
Ben’s glance settled on her. The kindness in those deep, sad eyes struck her. “Yes, Nathaniel is gut. He is very worried about you.”
Kurt sat forward and placed his elbows on his knees. “I’m worried, too. Don’t think I’m not. I just don’t know what to do. I can’t even think of many friends you could stay with. It would be one thing if you could remember, but you’d be so vulnerable without your memory. Unless...”
Suddenly he sat forward. Excitement lit up his face. “I know exactly what I can do and where you can go.”