Toni gripped the door handle as Jeff bumped the truck off the dirt track and onto the blacktop highway that led into town. Missing. But the woman’s name was Kristine Simmons, so it couldn’t be her. Right?
“Okay?”
She nodded to the window, her mind racing as it tried to puzzle all this out. “It’s probably nothing. Not even related.”
Before he could respond, she continued, “Whoever this woman is that’s missing from the gym it probably has nothing to do with me being at the lake. Chased by that guy.” Shot at. Left for dead.
The road straightened. Jeff reached over and squeezed her knee quickly before he grasped the steering wheel again. “We’re gonna find out. Maybe you’re right, and it has nothing to do with you. Or it is related, and you’ll learn something. Either way, we have more information than we had before.”
She thought about her dream. Tile. Blood.
Her mind had no answers. Maybe it wasn’t memories in her mind she was seeing as she slept, but rather creations. The dream could be her mind’s attempt to fill the gaps for her.
“Toni?”
She didn’t want to talk any more about Kristine Simmons or what happened by the lake or how she was feeling about any of it, so she said the first thing that came to mind. “Will you tell me about Annabelle?”
Silence filled the cab of the truck.
Three times now she’d heard that name. From the radio, from Maggie, and from Tate. Never from Jeff himself. Would he tell her?
“It’s okay if you don’t want to.” She glanced over. The line of his body was tight like the muscle in his jaw and the tendons in his forearm as he squeezed the steering wheel. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“Annabelle was my sister.”
“Your mom had a picture of her. She was beautiful.”
“She had a drug problem. A drinking problem. Wild parties. The wrong guys. She’s been gone a long time, though we’d never really found out what happened. Whether she was hurt, or if she just ran off with some guy.” His voice was low and thick. Full of emotion.
His sister might have been frustrating and uncontrollable, but it was clear he cared about what had happened to her.
Jeff continued, “A few months ago, this woman showed back up. She used to live here years ago and had returned. She married the police sergeant, and they have a daughter together. Her name is Bridget.” He paused. “We actually ran in some of the same circles at one point. The company she worked for before she came back to Last Chance helped me get set up when I came home.”
“Small world?”
He nodded. “I don’t think she knows, but yes.”
“And she knew about Annabelle?”
“She told the cops that she witnessed Annabelle’s murder.” His throat worked as he swallowed. “Killed by the local fire chief at the time. Bridget had to run for her life and wound up fleeing town. He was the one conducting illegal operations in town—like at the bottom of the lake.”
She frowned.
“That’s a whole other story.” He shook his head. “But suffice it to say, the fire chief was a bad guy with a secret agenda. Bridget never knew what he did with Annabelle’s body, so she’s been working with the cops and a new K9 officer they have now. They’re trying to find her.”
Toni squeezed his knee that time, not knowing exactly what to say. Annabelle couldn’t be put to rest until she was found. After all this time? He said it had been years, which meant the police might not even be able to find her at this point.
Still, having met Maggie, and knowing Jeff now, filled her with compassion. Both of them, along with the other brother, wherever he was, all needed to be able to bury Annabelle. Only then could they start the journey toward making peace with whatever had happened to her.
“You have a brother as well, right?”
The tension didn’t leave Jeff at the mention of his brother. He gave her a short nod and lifted his fingers from the steering wheel to point at a sign on the front lawn of a building they were passing, “Doctor Brett Filks, Veterinarian.”
“The cat?”
“I come in after hours and deal with the night nurse. She’s the one who told me about Professor Mittens after Sir Paws-a-lot passed away.”
“Uh…” She wasn’t sure whether to laugh at him, or…. would she be laughing with him?
“I know. There’s a local kid who names all the kittens that get rescued.”
“Cute.” She pressed her lips together and fought the urge to burst out laughing.
“She’s a menace. Those are ridiculous names.”
“So change it. Choose something other than ‘Professor Mittens.’”
“No.”
Toni lost the fight to keep from laughing.
Jeff pulled the truck into the parking lot behind the gym, probably reserved for staff members, and into a space away from the door. “I’m glad you find this amusing.”
She grinned at him.
Jeff’s lips twitched and finally she saw his teeth flash in the dark. “Fine. It’s funny.”
A moment of levity at a time like this? She was tempted to thank God for it, then had to wonder if that was something she normally did? It seemed instinctive. Thank You. Still, doing so didn’t take away the nervous feeling that had settled low in her stomach.
She stared at the brick of the gym building. Was this where it had started?
Another car pulled in across the lot, one she recognized as belonging to Tate. He parked close, got out, and came over to Jeff’s window as it began to roll down. Jeff released the button, and Tate handed a paper through to him. “It’s not you they’re looking for, Toni.”
She took the paper, a photo of a blonde woman. Not her. Kristine Simmons wasn’t her? At least that was something.
“She familiar?”
Toni shook her head. “I’ve never seen her before, I don’t think. What happened to her?”
“She didn’t show up for work this morning.” Now it was after ten at night. “The cops came and looked around. Some preliminary evidence was discovered, but they still have no idea what it means. Or where she is.”
“And if I had something to do with her disappearance?”
Because that was why they were here. To find out if she had something to do with a woman’s disappearance. Either as another victim…or as the perpetrator?
Did the police consider her a suspect?
Maybe they had no idea she was even involved. Yet. Was Tate going to turn her in, or tell the police where to find her? So far, he hadn’t given them any indication he wasn’t simply around to help out. He was friends with Jeff and brought him groceries. But she didn’t know him.
Could she trust him?
Not knowing anything about her history, or who she knew—even where she was from—put her at a serious disadvantage. She could meet someone on the street, and unless they were truthful, she would never know for sure that she knew them or not. She had to completely rely on the people “helping” her.
Whether they were friend, or foe.
Jeff said, “Maybe we should find out first. Then we can answer that question.”
“I have a key. They closed as soon as the cops showed up this morning, so there’s no one inside.”
“But you aren’t going to tell me what they found?”
Jeff squeezed her knee. Toni wasn’t interested in his attempt to offer comfort, or the sentiment that they were in this together. Not if she was going to be hung out to dry. That would only drag Jeff into a situation he’d been trying to avoid since he came home.
Tate said, “The cops have no idea what happened to her. If you had something to do with any part of it, I’d like to be able to provide them answers. But I don’t want to make a suggestion and pollute what you remember. I did some research, and it’s possible to adversely affect what your mind wants to remember, and when.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Toni said. “Because I don’t remember anything except my name.” And the fact she’d watched her sister die.
“Nothing is coming back yet?”
Jeff glanced between them.
Before either could try and make her feel better, Toni pulled the door handle. “Let’s just go inside.”
A single car was parked across the lot. The only sign of another person around here.
Jeff saw her eye the vehicle and asked Tate, “Whose car is that?”
“The cops don’t know. Could have been dumped.” He let them in the back door with his key.
She wanted to ask Tate exactly how far he was prepared to sell her out. Truth was, he didn’t owe her anything. Neither did Jeff, though she figured he’d be nicer about it.
Tate had a loyalty to the town and to his police detective wife. But she’d banked on Jeff’s trust in him as confidence that she could do the same and rely on him for help and information. Had he come through with an actual lead on where she’d come from?
If she was linked somehow to Kristine Simmons, it didn’t really make sense that something had happened here, but then she’d ended up at the lake being chased by a gunman.
Unless that happened after whatever took place here.
Maybe this blonde girl she didn’t recognize, Kristine Simmons, had been hurt. Toni could have tried to stop it, and then been targeted. Or maybe she was responsible. Either way, a man had tried to shoot her and missed, and she wound up forgetting who she was. Why she was even here.
Toni frowned. Why she was here?
“What is it? Do you remember something?”
She shook her head and stepped inside, reaching left to swipe the wall for a light switch. She found it, and the overhead bulbs flickered on. Toni took a few steps into the hall and then turned. “Where are we going?”
Both men stared at her, as though she was supposed to tell them the answer to that question.
“I’ve never been here before. That I know of.”
Jeff’s expression softened, but that didn’t negate the threatening air he had. The guy was big, and even one-armed, he’d be a powerful asset. Or enemy. It didn’t matter what his body had been through when he had the will—and the training—to protect. Defend. Attack.
The last thing she wanted was for that to be turned on her. Still, Toni wasn’t going to manipulate him into being on her side. He either was, or he wasn’t. She would deal.
“Down here.” Tate went first.
Toni followed him, entirely too aware of Jeff protecting her back. Part of her wanted him to reach over and hold her hand. But doing so left him without a hand free to defend himself. That level of vulnerability wouldn’t sit well with him because it didn’t sit well with her either, when her instincts dictated she be ready to defend herself at all times.
Jeff said, “Anything familiar?”
She shook her head.
Tate held open the door to the ladies’ locker room. This was probably a total waste of time. Until she looked around and sweat pricked on her brow. Toni’s hands started to shake, and then the spot between her shoulder blades twitched.
Her breath quickened, each one sharper than the last.
She passed between the rows of lockers. Benches to change clothes. She scanned every corner and spot where someone could be hiding. Then the side room, with the toilet stalls and sinks. No, not there.
She rounded the corner and stopped. The showers.
In the center, the tile dipped to a drain in the middle of the floor.
Jeff said, “Toni? Is there something…”
Jeff’s voice trailed off. Maybe he’d changed his mind. Or Tate had stalled him. She didn’t look back to check. All she could do was stare at that tile. The drain. While the memories from her dream played across her mind.
“There was so much blood.”