Page 10 of Question Everything

“My man!” Devon exclaimed. “It’s so good to hear from you. What’s shaking?”

“Not that much, buddy. I’m still waiting on Internal Affairs. I feel like my whole life is on hold.”

“Word on the street is that you’re gonna be cleared. It’s just a matter of time and the completion of the necessary paperwork. Tons of paperwork.”

“Yeah, well, it can’t happen soon enough. But for today, I need a favor. I called in a car accident early yesterday morning and now I need some help identifying one of the victims.”

“You’re not on the clock, man. What do you mean?”

“I know, I know, it’s a crazy situation. The woman driving the car was knocked out and can’t remember her name or who she is, let alone where she was going or if she had any emergency contact information. I think that all her identification is still in the car, which was towed to the South Street pound. Any chance you could drive over there and then bring her belongings over to me at home?”

“Why would you want her stuff? What’s going on, Kyle?”

“She’s here, with me. She had nowhere else to go. Besides. I’ve got nothing going on right now. I think I can help her, plus this is the kind of distraction I need right about now.”

“Do you? “You’ve got some strange lady in your house? I don’t like the sound of this, man. My spidey senses are tingling.”

Kyle smiled to himself. Devon said exactly what he’d been feeling himself. Something weird was up, but everything happened so fast with this Jane Doe, and he hadn’t had a chance to think it all through yet. What Kyle did know was that he’d really missed his partner and their antics more than he’drealized. He replied, “Then you’re truly not going to like the rest of it. She has a baby with her, too.”

“Oh, like that’s not a red flag or anything.”

Kyle could hear Devon’s chair scraping backward on the worn linoleum floor of the precinct.

“Don’t go anywhere, and don’t let her leave. I’m on my way.”

“Thanks man. I owe you a pitcher of Sam Adams.” He stepped into the kitchen and pulled a frying pan out of one of the cabinets with a loud thud.

“You don’t owe me anything, Kyle. But let me be sure that I heard you right. You’re telling me that you have a woman in your condo and that she has a kid? ‘Mr. I’ve been burned and never getting involved again’ is playing house?Geez. This I gotta see for myself. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

CHAPTER 6

She sat at the kitchen counter with the baby asleep in in the soft wrap against her chest, watching Kyle prepare their dinner. He moved around with efficiency; he had a graceful manner for a man his size. It was the first time she allowed herself to take a good look at him; he was handsome, with short, dark brown, cropped hair and a sprinkling of grey at his sideburns. His green eyes were friendly, his shoulders broad; he looked fit in an athletic sort of way. She focused on his strong hands as he easily cracked eggs into a bowl, whisking them briskly, then pouring them into the waiting pan. He quickly put bread slices into the toaster, depressed the lever to brown them and turned back to give his full attention to the contents of the frying pan, eggs now bubbling at the edges. He added a healthy amount of shredded cheese and then wiped his hands on a kitchen towel and looked up at her.

“I’m not exactly a gourmet cook, but eggs are my specialty. Would you like some tea? Coffee? Or maybe a glass of wine?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe a little bit of wine? I hope that the baby is asleep for the night. It should be okay.”

“Sure. I have both red and white. Which would you prefer?”

“Are you going to have some?”

“Yeah, I think that I will.”

“Whatever you’re having would be great, then.”

“Red it is,” he responded, grabbing a bottle of Malbec from his wine refrigerator under the counter next to the sink and then taking the corkscrew out of a drawer and opening the bottle with a distinctive pop of the cork.

He poured each of them a glass and she grazed his against fingers with her own when he passed her the drink. They were warm and her reaction surprised her; she felt oddly attracted to him; he made her feel safe and she held on to that. That safety seemed important. She quickly took a sip of the ruby liquid, hoping to hide her sudden rush of feelings.

“That’s delicious. Thank you,” she said, all the while reminding herself that she was in no position to get involved with this man. She had too much to figure out, including where she was going and why she had that car accident. Not remembering was scary, and even more frightening was that she was now in this strange man’s house. He offered to help, she had nowhere else to go and absolutely nothing felt familiar to her. She was so confused.Why did he feel safe? Why was she feeling so scared if he felt safe? Was it the lack of memory that gave her this overwhelming sense of panic, or was it something else? Wait. He was speaking to her. Oh no. What did he just say?

“A made a phone call earlier,” he began, “to my partner. He’s going to bring your bags from the car. Maybe there will be a clue or two as to your identity.”

“He can do that?” she asked.

“Yes. He’s going to the impound yard now. He should be here shortly.”

“I hope I he finds my wallet. I must have had a driver’s license, right?”

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