Page 12 of Diagnosis Attraction

“Will you let me do the cooking?”

“If you’re not too tired.”

She bought ground beef, canned kidney beans, andsalsa, pleased that she could come up with a set of ingredients that made sense. “Do you have onions, chili powder and cumin?”

“I believe I do.”

“Then I’ll make us chili.”

“Do you need a recipe?”

She thought about what would be involved in making the dish. “No, I can do it.”

“You like to cook?”

“I think so.”

“One more thing you know,” Mrs. Kramer approved.

Elizabeth nodded. It was like playing a game where she didn’t quite know the rules. But some of them came back to her—basically what she considered ordinary things. Or general things. The part that had to deal specifically with her own life remained a mystery.

As they drove to Polly Kramer’s house, she kept looking behind her.

“Is something wrong, dear?” the older woman asked.

“I can’t shake the idea that somebody is following me.”

“Do you see anyone you recognize?”

She sighed. “No. I’m just nervous about it.” She didn’t want to say that when she’d touched Matthew Delano, she’d gotten a memory of someone following her and that trying to get away had caused her automobile accident.

They pulled into Polly Kramer’s driveway.

She lived in a red-brick rancher in a close-in suburb, probably built in the nineteen fifties, Elizabeth thought, wondering how she’d placed it in time. There was a low chain-link fence around a half-acre yard and a carport instead of a garage.

“My husband and I bought this property thinking it was a starter house, but we ended up staying here,” she related as they pulled into the driveway.

“Is he home?” Elizabeth asked, looking around for another car.

“He died a few years ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s one of the reasons I’d love to have some company. The place isn’t all that big, but sometimes I feel like I’m rattling around inside.”

“I understand,” she said automatically. Because of personal knowledge of loss, she wondered. Or because she was good at getting in touch with people’s emotions? Which would be strange if she basically felt disconnected from everybody.

“Dan was an engineer. He made a good living and had a good pension, which I still collect most of. We paid off the mortgage years ago. I don’t really have to work at the hospital, but I like the contact with people. So don’t worry about my paying for the few things you need. We’ll get it sorted out later.”

“Thank you,” Elizabeth answered, overwhelmed by the kindness of this woman she barely knew. Was she the type of person who would do the same thing for a stranger? And was that how she’d gotten in trouble? The question stopped her, and she thought she caught the edge of a memory, but she wasn’t able to pull it into her mind.

“You come in and get settled,” Polly was saying. “You probably want to rest a while, and there’s no need to start dinner for a couple of hours.”

Elizabeth nodded. In fact, the brief shopping trip had taken a lot out of her.

Polly showed her through a living room furnished in a comfortable contemporary style to a pleasant bedroom in theback of the house. “I keep the sheets fresh,” she said. “Go on and lie down for a while.”

“You’re sure you don’t need help putting the groceries away.”

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