Page 2 of Fractured Memories

The screen door creaked open like something out of a horror movie. Felicity punched the correct code into the security panel on the door and the locks snicked open. She braced herself with a deep breath. Then entered the house. Air-conditioning blasted over her skin, cooling the sweat beading along her brow. She shivered.

Her gaze scanned the yard and the woods beyond. No sign of anyone. Her imagination was running away with itself. Maybe it was better that Noah was running late. Felicity would have time to view the house on her own for a few minutes. Hopefully, more memories would surface.

The kitchen had been completely renovated with brand-new cabinets and a granite countertop. Felicity drifted into the living room. The oversized couch and wide-screen television were modern. Large floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the lake. Tile had replaced the carpet. Felicity stood in the center of the room and tried to remember the events of that horrible night, but couldn’t. The last thing she recalled was doing her homework with Brooke in the guest bedroom. After that… it was all a blank.

Frustration nipped at her. Locked inside her mind could be a crucial clue that would throw this case wide open. Felicity had little hope visiting the upstairs guestbedroom would jog her recollections loose, but she would try anything.

She climbed the narrow staircase to the landing. Like the downstairs, the upper floor had been renovated with plush carpeting and beige paint. A hallway stretched to a bonus room, often used by families as a playroom. Brooke had used it as an office.

Felicity headed for the third door on the right. The guest bedroom. She ignored the four-poster bed covered in a white duvet. Instead, she focused on the closet.

The door hung open, the inside dark and gaping.

Felicity’s heart suddenly pounded against her rib cage. She willed her feet to move forward, but they were frozen in place. Fear gripped her chest, making it hard to draw in a breath, and sweat beaded along her hairline. She had never experienced a panic attack, but from what others had described, this sounded close. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t force herself to take one step forward to look inside the closet.

A bang came from downstairs. Felicity swallowed a scream as her hand tightened around her weapon. It took two breaths to realize that it was probably Noah coming into the house. She drew in a breath and let it out slowly, forcing her muscles to relax. “Noah, I’m up here.”

Her voice came out strong despite the rapid beat of her pulse. Felicity exited the guest room as though the devil himself were on her heels. She hurried down the hall.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention one second too late.

A set of hands landed on her back and shoved. Pain exploded along Felicity’s body as she collided with the staircase. The world spun. Instinctually, she tried to curl into a ball, but was moving too fast, tumbling down the worn steps with increasingly agonizing jolts.

With a final shudder, Felicity landed on the first floor. Every part of her body hurt. Blood seeped into her eyes. She wanted to move, but couldn’t coordinate her muscles to work. Stars danced across her vision. Through the haze of her injuries, she felt someone unholster the service weapon from her hip. Then the barrel of a gun pressed against the underside of her chin. A hand twisted in her hair and more pain erupted as the attacker drew her head into an unnatural position and a hot breath whispered over her cheek.

“It was a mistake to start this all up again. You should’ve left things alone.”

TWO

“Read again!”

Noah Hodge inwardly chuckled at the sweet demand his daughter gleefully threw out, along with a wide smile. Dimples winked on her cheeks. Harper was only two, but knew exactly the right way to tug at her daddy’s heartstrings. He gently booped her nose with his finger. “Read it again, please.”

She giggled. “Please.”

He glanced at his watch. Felicity had said to take his time, but Noah was already ten minutes late for their meeting. It was rude to leave her waiting for much longer. He also didn’t want to disappoint his daughter. Their bedtime ritual was sacrosanct. Noah worked long and unpredictable hours as a detective. He did everything short of breaking the law to be home in time to bathe Harper and read her a bedtime story.

“I can do it, Cousin Noah,” Amber said from the doorway. The teenager was dressed in ripped jeans and amonster T-shirt. Her feet were bare, nails painted a sparkling purple that matched the colored streaks in her dark hair. “Mama Imogene asked me to take over. She said you have an important meeting to get to.”

“Auntie Amber.” Harper patted the book in Noah’s hand with chubby fingers. “Read please.”

Noah shot Amber a grateful smile before turning his gaze on his daughter. “Once more, but then it’s bedtime.” He kissed the riot of curls on the top of her head and then wiggled his fingers in her midsection. Harper collapsed against her pillow with a peel of laughter. “Love you, sweetie.”

He rose from his position on the floor next to the toddler bed, ignoring the way his body protested the move with a faint twinge in his back. Noah was getting old. He barely recognized the man in the mirror with the lines around his eyes and gray hair at the temples. The last two years had been incredibly difficult. Losing his wife in childbirth had been devastating. Grappling with his grief while learning how to be a single parent to Harper had been the hardest thing Noah had ever done.

He handed the book to Amber. “Thanks.”

She lifted a slender shoulder. “No problem, Cousin Noah.”

He wasn’t her biological cousin. Noah’s aunt, Imogene Garner, had taken in hundreds of kids over the last several decades. Many of them didn’t stay with her long due to various circumstances, but there were a dozen who considered her family because she’d raised them. Much as she had with Noah when his parents died. Hethanked God daily for his aunt. She’d taken the broken pieces of his heart and glued them back together. Twice. Once after his parents died. Once more after losing his wife.

Shortly after Sally’s death, Aunt Imogene insisted Noah and Harper spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with her. They never went back to Fort Worth. A few weeks after New Year, Noah accepted a job with the Knoxville Police Department. Sometime later, he wasn’t sure when, Amber began calling him Cousin Noah.

It was touching, and the endearment served as a reminder that families were made. Sometimes by blood. Sometimes by choice. Always by God.

The lilting sound of Amber’s voice reading to Harper followed him down the hall. Noah took the stairs two at a time, his footsteps muffled by the carpet. Gospel music poured from the kitchen.

The house had an open floor plan, the kitchen visible from the staircase. Aunt Imogene hummed along with the song. Her thick hair was bound into a braid that hung over one shoulder. An apron, speckled with tomato sauce and flour, covered her T-shirt and long skirt. She was nearly sixty, but showed no signs of slowing down. Along with taking in foster kids, she was active in church and ran the ranch she’d continued after her husband passed away twenty years ago.

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