Chapter Thirty-Five

 

By the time we pulled up in front of Delores' house I was ready to rip my hair out and lash him senseless with it.

"You don't mind staying here with him this afternoon, do you?" Delores asked when she let us in. "I've got work to do in the office."

"No one has to stay with me," Paul said over my groan. "I'm fine. My head hurts a bit, though." He touched the back of his head, felt the bandage and blinked in surprise. "What happened?"

"See?" I said to Delores.

She patted me on the shoulder. "I'll try to make it quick."

After she walked out the door, I headed for her desk, pulled out a pad of paper, pen, and tape, and got busy. Paul watched me briefly, then disappeared in the direction of the guest room. I could be thankful he remembered Delores' house.

Half an hour later Paul came into the living room and stopped next to the sofa where I'd curled up, channel surfing. He had a handful of paper.

"I have to assume, since you are the only other person in the house, that these," he waved my notes, "belong to you."

I sat up and scowled at him. He proceeded to read each note. Aloud.

"Let's see. We have, 'Do not use the stove,' 'Close the refrigerator door,' 'Do not leave the house,' 'Close the bathroom door,' 'Turn off the water,' and my personal favorite, 'Flush the toilet.'"

"They're to remind you of things. I'm trying to be helpful, for God's sake." I got up from the sofa and snatched the notes out of his hand. "You're supposed to leave them in place." I took the notes back to Delores' desk and grabbed the pen. Now I was going to have to write "Do not remove" on each one. This was worse than babysitting a toddler.

"Who the hell are you, anyway?"

I stopped writing and took a deep breath. "I'm your girlfriend," I said through gritted teeth.

"I don't remember you."

"That's because you hit your head," I said, barely able to control my urge to shout.

He touched the bandage. "That would explain why my head hurts."

I closed my eyes and counted. When I reached six, the front door opened and my sister Juliet bounded in. I'd hoped it was Delores.

"Hey, Paul, I heard your memory's been shot to hell. Do you know who I am?"

"No, but I'd like to," he said, giving her a very appreciative once over.

"Hey!" I slammed my hand on the desk. They both looked at me. "That's my sister, dammit! You so much as bat an eyelash at her and I'll put another lump on your head you might not recover from."

Paul's eyebrows climbed to his hairline. Juliet guffawed. I scrawled another note, marched across the room and stuck it in his hand. He read it, crumpled it into a ball and tossed it over his shoulder as he went back toward the guest room. Juliet picked it off the floor.

"'Do not ogle the tall, beautiful woman with the long brown hair.' Aw, thanks, Thea, I didn't know you thought I was beautiful." She grinned.

"You should leave," I said. "In five minutes he won't remember I just threatened his life."

"Wow, that bad, huh?"

"It's been awful. He has no idea who I am. Can't remember what's happened to him. Can't hold on to any new information." I walked toward the kitchen with my amended notes. "I'm going out of my mind."

She followed and read the note I stuck on the stove. "I guess I didn't realize how much of a pain in the ass this would be. He could forget he was cooking something and burn the house down."

I sighed. "I feel bad making Delores take care of him, but he doesn't remember who I am. If I took him home I'd be afraid he'd forget where he was and take off for where he used to live down in Seattle. Wouldn't that surprise the new tenants?" I stuck the "Do not leave the house" sign to the sliding glass door.

Juliet looked thoughtful. "And here I was thinking that it would be like having an affair without the guilt. Hey, it still could be. I can keep Delores in the office for a couple hours while you two get reacquainted."

Trust my sister to come up with that idea.

"Juliet, not knowing me means he doesn't remember he loves me. I can't do it, and I don't want to know he would."

"All men can."

"I know that. But I don't want to know he would use me. My heart breaks every time I look in his eyes. He doesn't know me."

"Keep your eyes closed."

Obviously we were raised by different parents. "How would you feel if Eric looked at you the same way he looks at everyone else?"

"He wouldn't."

She had a point. It was impossible for any male to look at Juliet the same way he looked at other women.

"Anyway," she continued, "it might jog his memory. I'll keep her busy for a while, just in case you change your mind."

I rolled my eyes.

She took the remaining notes from me, read them and snorted a laugh. "'Flush the toilet.' Good one." She handed them back. "You've got at least two hours," she hollered as she went out the front door.

I finished sticking my notes up and went back to the living room. After an hour of mindless afternoon TV I went to the guest room and knocked on the door.

"Are you all right?"

After a moment the bed creaked. "I'm fine."

"Can I get you anything? Does your head hurt?"

"No. I'm fine. Thanks."

"Okay. I'll be in the living room if you need anything." Not that he'd remember.

My cell phone rang just as I'd gotten comfortable. It was Dave. He asked after Paul then gave me a report.

"We didn't find your computer, but I'm fairly certain I know what happened to Paul. You said he left you with Andrea after breakfast and intended to go to the fossil room?"

"Yeah."

"It looks like he stopped by your room first, and probably surprised someone who was searching your belongings."

"But he was outside wandering around, how do you explain that?"

"Well, hang on a second. My guess is that whoever it was hid --"

"There must have been a fight."

"I don't think so --"

"But --"

"Thea, just hold your horses. Your room looked like it'd been searched, not fought in. I'm guessing the door to the balcony was open and Paul went out to look. Whoever was there caught him off guard and pushed him over the railing."

"Someone could do that?"

"Sure. Wouldn't take much. The railing is low, and if he was leaning it would only take a good shove. Looks like the bushes broke his fall -- not that it's that far down, six feet at the most -- but he hit his head on the brick edging. We found a little blood and hair there."

"Dave, my computer -- it's got all my case notes on it and Paul's notes on the fossil collection. I can probably remember what I wrote, and there's Sig's files -- but all that work Paul did identifying the fossils … he might not remember."

"Look, we're not done here yet. Your computer might show up. Let's not get too worried yet. We dusted for prints, might find something, but considering yours and Paul's are all over the place, as well as the maid's and Richard's, plus whoever else you invited in, it might not prove conclusive."

"You can't give up."

"I'm not giving up. You've provided me with some interesting material, and I'm still looking into that. You guys take it easy and call me tomorrow to let me know how Paul is doing."

I said good-bye and disconnected. I had to call Andrea, but no doubt she'd be busy with the funeral, and attorney, and God knew what else. I left a message with Richard, telling him I'd talk to her in the morning.

Then I went to check on Paul. No surprise that our conversation from opposite sides of the guestroom door was exactly the same as it was before.

On Delores' advice and my own volition, I went home. Paul came out of the guestroom as I left, but I couldn't bring myself to say goodbye.

When I walked through my own front door, the emptiness was unbearable. I unpacked my suitcase, started a load of laundry, and went to my aunt and uncle's.