Page 18 of Question Everything

Realizing that the basic information available to him was not helpful, he clicked on Google and put her name into the search bar. While there were many women named Mia Elizabeth Sawyer, none of their pictures matched the face of the woman in his bed. He opened a new screen and logged into Facebook. He couldn’t find her there, either.Now, that was strange.

An hour later, he’d exhausted TikTok, Instagram, X and even Truth Social. Nothing.

No digital footprint? Odd for a woman of her age, even if she wasn’t up to date with any new posts, she should be there. He should be able to find her.

Kyle leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and gave himself a moment to think.She had a NY State driver’s license. Let’s go with that.

He was able to access the NY State system with his ID information; police departments had a reciprocal arrangement with all traffic related incident reports. As the screen filled with a series of prompts, he realized that he’d need her driver ID number to move forward.Did he really want to rifle through her wallet, or could this wait until morning?

Kyle pushed back from the desk. It could wait. She’d been through enough, there was no real reason to do this now, it was late. He stood up and went to the window. He liked the quiet of this time of night, when the world seemed to take a breath and rest, if only for a few hours until the sun rose again. Even though he lived in the city, the street was empty, and the only light seemed to be from the lampposts; very few windows were illuminated. He realized that he should close his eyes and sleep, but he knew that his mind was still too active. He stood and quietly padded to into the living room telling himself that once he found Mia’s family and returned her safely to them, he could get back to living his own life, hopefully working as a detective once more.

The next morning Kyle immediately knew that he’d made a mistake pouring himself a few glasses of Macallan the night before. Drinking until pre-dawn always led nowhere and he’d pay the price for the next few hours, that was for certain. He shook his head, trying to clear a path for his thoughts when he smelled the mouth-watering scent of frying bacon. He walked out to find Mia in the kitchen behind the stove and Sarah sitting in the little bouncy seat they’d borrowed from Sibby on the counter, gently cooing as her mother kept up a one-sided conversation with the little girl. It was a jarring sight, first because it seemed so plainly domestic, but secondly because it was the antithesis of the life he’d established for himself. He watched them for a moment before clearing his throat to signal his presence.

“Good morning, Kyle,” Mia said cheerfully when she looked up at him. “I hope you don’t mind that I started breakfast. I’m most definitely on the mend and wanted to do something that felt familiar. Is that okay?”

“Of course. I’ll never turn down the offer of breakfast,” he said with a smile, hoping to appear reassuring. He had to admitto himself that he was somewhat shaken by the sight of her, still in an oversized tee shirt and a pair of sleep shorts standing in his kitchen.

“Oh, and I made coffee. I’m not sure if it’s any good, though. I don’t know if I remembered the proper ratio of grounds to water.”

“It will be better than having no coffee at all, I’m sure,” he replied.

“Don’t say that until you taste it,” she said, pouring him a mugful.

He walked over to the kitchen and reached across it to take the hot drink from her hand. He took a long sip. “It’s perfect. Strong, just the way I need it this morning.”

“Great,” she said, turning back to the frying pan on the burner. “How would you like your eggs?”

“Any way you’re making them for yourself works for me.” He pulled out a stool from underneath the counter and sat down, watching her lithe movements as she cracked two eggs into the hot bacon fat.

Kyle knew he should ask her about her social media accounts but didn’t want to ruin this moment. She probably wouldn’t have any answers for him anyway, so he turned his attention to the baby.

“Hey pretty girl. Do you want to come out of that seat for a bit?” he asked Sarah.

The baby turned her attention to him, her deep blue eyes wide with wonder.

Kyle lifted the infant out of the seat, settling her warm, compact body against his own. She fit perfectly in the crook of his arm, and he had an overwhelming feeling that he wanted to protect her from some of the unsavory element he knew lurked in the dark corners of the world they lived in. But then again, it was even more important to stay on task, to help find the rightpeople who could nurse Mia back to full-strength and send them on their way.Don’t get comfortable, fool. These ladies are not yours.

“Here are your eggs,” Mia said, interrupting his thoughts as she slid a plateful of food his way. “I can hold her while you eat.” She held her arms out and Kyle passed the baby to her.

“Thanks for breakfast,” he said, lifting the fork and knife she’d put on his plate, cutting into the soft yolk.

“It’s the least I could do,” she said, smiling. “If it’s alright with you, I think I’ll take a shower while you eat. This one can go back into her seat for a bit.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, showering alone? What if you get dizzy in there?”

“If that happens, I’ll call for you. Don’t get your hopes up, though. I think I’m good to go.”

She winked at him, and Kyle felt the eggs lodge in his throat. He honestly didn’t know what he was rooting for, and her felt her teasing response directly in his groin. Now he knew he’d need to sit there for a bit to conceal his growing erection, which was currently straining against his sweatpants.

Mia returned from the shower,dressed in black leggings, a crisp white cotton button down shirt and a heather gray cashmere cardigan. Kyle didn’t know a lot about fashion, but he recognized that the material looked expensive. Then he started down a mental checklist of the other details he knew about her. She was driving a late model car when they met, the baby was in a pricey looking car seat, both had clothing that didn’t appear to come from Target. She had cash in her wallet, and he was pretty sure he’d seen a credit card there as well. He made a mental note to get a better look when he asked her for her driver’s license to run her number through the computer once more. As she walkedpast him to pick up her daughter, he breathed in her perfume; a fresh, lightly floral scent that reminded him of the lilacs outside of his childhood home.

“After I feed Sarah, I’ll need to figure out how to get another car and hopefully get back on the road.”

“I see. Did you suddenly remember where you were going while you were in the shower?”

“No, not exactly. But I am feeling better, and I was hoping that you might uncover something in the next day or so. I have an overwhelming sense that I’m supposed to be somewhere.”

He looked directly into her blue eyes, searching for any hint that she was keeping important information from him. He didn’t see anything other than the specks of gold surrounding her irises.

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