Chapter 8
“Thanks for seeing us, Jimmy.”
“I shouldn’t be showing you any of this. I told you that before,” Jimmy says.
“Yeah, but you showed me anyway. She has amnesia and she’s trying to remember anything she can. This might help her.”
Jimmy glances at me sympathetically before handing me a copy of the accident report. As they pull up the traffic cam footage, I read over the report. I pause when it says witnesses claim there was a hit-and-run driver.
“So, someone really hit us?” I ask looking up quickly remembering what Hendrix said.
“Is this what you wanted to talk about?” I ask Dash.
He nods. “It’s part of it.”
“What else aren’t you telling me?”
“Later, I promise. Just process this part first, okay?”
I don’t answer him. My next question is for the officer.
“Are there any leads on this driver? Can you see it on camera? Any paint transfer on the car we were in?”
“You were driving a black Charger Hellcat. The other car was a black Mustang, and it had some sort of makeshift brush guard on it. So, any paint swap would be hard to separate if there was any at all. And yes, we can see the car hit you, but then everything else is out of frame.”
He pulls up the footage and my heart almost stops cold. Lennon’s car appears to have been being tailed. You can see it in different frames. And Dash was right; it looks like someone very skilled was driving. I can see why he’d think I’m Lennon just from this footage.
The Mustang pulls a maneuver landing it in front of Lennon’s car, causing it to swerve and the Mustang to T-bone the driver’s door using all its horsepower to push it and then Lennon’s car is out of frame.
“And no one saw anything?” I ask as my hands shake.
“I’m afraid not. It appears Lennon’s car must’ve hit a light pole and then rolled down an embankment and the driver of the Mustang only stayed out of frame for about two minutes before we clock it on another camera. But then it’s lost in traffic.”
I stand. “No license plate?”
“The driver removed it. We have no leads on that car. We’ve checked body shops in the area and came up empty,” the officer answers.
My gaze swings to Dash. “You knew someone tried to kill me and you kept that information to yourself? Have my parents seen this? Or Hendrix?”
“Your parents have, but not Hendrix. At least, not to my knowledge,” he admits.
I rub my temples as a headache begins to brew beneath the surface.
Dash is at my side in an instant. “Hey, are you okay?”
“I’m something. But I wouldn’t call it okay,” I snap.
“I think I should take you home.”
“Yeah, right after I see the car I was driving.”
Dash and Officer Jimmy exchange looks.
“I’ll have to take you to the evidence garage. We haven’t released it yet,” he says.
The garage is empty aside from the vehicles stored there.
We weave through a few until I see the car I’m searching for.
I circle it before standing at the driver’s side.
The front door is mangled from more than just the accident where it was popped open with a spreader to extricate my sister and me. It’s shut but not closed.
I lean in closer to get a better look at the interior. I try not to stare at the blood still in the car on both sides.
“Hold my hand.”
I hear the whisper again; the same one I heard when I woke up in the hospital. I close my eyes trying to cling to the memory, but my head starts to throb.
I can almost hear the breaking glass and twisting metal. And I can almost taste blood before it all goes dark again, and I feel myself starting to fall.
“Lennon!” I hear Dash shout before I feel his arms around me. Then, I close my eyes.
When I open my eyes again, Hendrix is staring at me.
“Hey, beautiful. How are you feeling?”
“Where am I?” I ask.
I start to sit up but grab my head instead.
“Hey, no. You need to rest,” Hendrix says.
“Where’s Dash?” I ask, suddenly worried.
Hendrix turns toward the corner of the darkened room, and I see Dash sitting in a chair with his elbows on his knees and his fingers steepled under his chin.
That’s when the beeping registers. I’m hooked to a monitor in a hospital room.
“Why am I here?”
“You’re fine. Dash did the right thing by bringing you here. You collapsed. He just wants to make sure you’re all right. So do I.”
“Why does my head hurt?” I ask.
“My opinion…your brain was trying to remember something important. The pain is a warning you might not like what you’ll see.
But I’m not a neurologist. And honestly, anyone in neurology or neurosurgery will tell you the brain is a bit of a mystery.
I just know the mind can do strange things when it’s trying to shield you from pain. ”
“Mirror, mirror. My heart to shield,” I repeat the engraving from earlier.
Dash hangs his head and Hendrix looks confused.
“What’s that mean?”
“It was in my…in Lennon’s race car. It’s an engraving on a bracelet. London has a similar one. It says ‘Mirror, mirror. My heart to embolden.’ Have you seen it before?”
He still seems confused. “No, I don’t believe I have.”
I stare at him, unsure why he wouldn’t know about the bracelets. Although Dash didn’t seem to either. It was a sister thing I suppose. A twin secret.
“How long do I have to stay? I want to leave.”
“Neurology wants to do a quick scan to make sure everything checks out okay. If the scan looks good, you can leave,” Hendrix says.
“How long will that take?” I ask.
“They wanted to let you wake up. They’re on standby. I’ll let them know,” Hendrix explains.
He reaches the door before I speak. “Hendrix.”
He stops.
“Thanks. For everything.”
He glances at Dash who still has his head hung. Then he nods at me with a smile.
When we’re alone again I finally ask Dash, “Is that what really happened?”
He lifts his head and his gaze locks with mine. “It is. You started breathing heavily and then you went down. I caught you before you could fall. And like he said, it was almost as if—” He stops talking and shakes his head.
“As if what, Dash?”
“Like the memory was too much to handle. Maybe part of the amnesia is your mind protecting you from something no one should ever have to remember.”
I feel the tears well in my eyes blurring my vision. They fall when I blink but I can’t say anything.
He stands from the chair in the corner and walks toward the bed I’m lying in. He takes my hand in his. “I can’t watch you destroy what’s left of yourself.”
I squeeze his hand. “It’ll destroy me if I don’t remember. Don’t walk away from this…from me, please.”
“I could never walk away from you, Valkyrie. But I want you safe. And if poking around for answers is going to cause you pain or worse, I won’t let you do that.”
“You don’t have a choice. I’ve got to put the pieces back together. Otherwise, Lennon and London both died in that car,” I manage to get out.
His handsome face falls at my words. He knows I’m right.
“I’m not going anywhere. But know that I’ll be sticking closer to you than ever. Someone was after you…one of you. Or even both of you. And if they haven’t gotten what they wanted, you could still be in danger.”
Hendrix enters the room as Dash utters those last words.
“Danger? Why would she be in danger?” he asks with furrowed brows.
Two people sweep into the room and tell me they’re taking me for my scan as Dash and Hendrix stare each other down. My heart aches for them both.
As they roll me out of the room I reach out and squeeze Hendrix’s hand and glance at Dash. “Tell him what we found out. He deserves to know what we know.”