Chapter 5 #3
“You can’t have your clothes back, Maddy. Sorry. I’ve sent them off to Boise to have the blood further analyzed and the DNA tested. Their crime lab is really backed up, so we won’t have any results for a couple of months,
but I’m hoping that maybe you or the unknown person whose blood was on your clothes might give us some clues.”
“I’m AB negative,” I said…like I knew it for certain. My breath caught when I realized what I’d just said and I stared up at Cash, who looked just as surprised as I felt.
“You remember?” he asked.
I nodded, then shook my head. “It just…it just came out of my mouth. I didn’t even think about it. I just blurted it out.”
Cash scratched the side of his cheek. He had a dark shadow there that was well past the five o’clock stage.
Taking out a small notebook from the back pocket of his jeans and a pen from the pocket of his shirt, he handed both to me and said, “Let’s try an experiment then. Don’t think, just try signing your name.”
I set down the notebook and stared at the blank page, holding the pen for a long moment while I tried to blank my mind and call up the muscle memory that would simply squiggle my autograph onto the page.
The slightest of movements got me exited. I closed my eyes, hesitating while I fought to let go of the feeling that Cash was studying my every move, then scrawled something onto the page. Opening my eyes, I tried to read it.
“This isn’t my full signature,” I explained. “I felt too self-conscious at the beginning, so I just focused on starting in the middle, and this is what came out.”
Cash leaned over to look at my scrawl. “Hmm,” he said. “I can’t make it out.”
“I think that’s a G.” I pointed to the first letter. “And I think that’s an L.”
“Is that an R?” he asked, pointing the last one.
I squinted. “Yeah, I think it is! “And that might be an E?”
Frustrated, I hovered the pen back over the paper and tried to repeat the signature, but an even worse scrawl came out. I knew I was pushing too hard for the memory, and when I looked at the second attempt, it looked less like a signature and more like a cardiogram.
Cash studied my second scrawl; his brow furrowed deeply. “I can’t make out anything recognizable.”
“I want it too much,” I said. “I’m too self-conscious to make it happen naturally.”
“Okay, but at least we have something that might come together later.”
“You’re a glass-half-full kinda guy, ain’tcha, Sheriff?”
He chuckled. He had a rich laugh. It was nice. Holding up a hand, he said, “Guilty as charged. I get it from my grandma. She was the biggest optimist I ever knew. I always used to tell her that she could find a silver lining in a hurricane.”
“She sounds great.”
“She was a keeper. She practically raised me from the age of fifteen. She made sure I was fed and clothed, at least. Speaking of which . . .”
Cash turned away from me and walked over to the chair in the corner of my room.
There were a couple of shopping bags that I hadn’t noticed there before.
“These are from my auntie’s church,” he said, bringing the bundle over.
“My aunt had the volunteer at the church’s thrift shop pull together a few things in your size.”
I eyed him suspiciously. “How’d you know my size?”
He had the decency to blush. “I got it off the tags in the clothing you were wearing when you came in.”
I pawed through the first bag, which had a large, gray crewneck sweatshirt, a white T-shirt, a pair of dark green sweatpants, a pair of jeans, a light blue tank top, a bralette, a pack of unopened white underwear printed with daisies, four pairs of socks, and a pair of sneakers.
“This is great,” I told him. Everything in the bag—save the undies—looked used, but it all appeared and smelled freshly washed. Plus, I wasn’t about to thumb my nose at free, not-caked-with-blood clothing right now.
The second bag held a dark blue blanket and some white cotton sheets that’d been washed so many times that they were now as soft as a cloud. The third bag had a large mustard-colored bath towel.
“It feels like Christmas,” I said, offering up a smile. “Thank you.”
“I got you a pillow too. It’s a firm one. It’s an extra from my house. I’ve got it out in my truck. You can take it with you when I drop you off at Wanda’s.”
My smile widened. I was truly touched by the generosity this town was showing me. “Perfect. When do we leave?”
Cash looked at his watch, the fatigue finally showing on his face. “I’m gonna head home and get a little shut-eye. I can be back around two to drive you over to the diner to meet Wanda. She’ll take it from there.”
“Great,” I said. “You guys are really kind. When I figure out who I am, I’ll pay you all back. I promise.”
Cash smiled, but his eyes looked sad. “No need. We take care of our own around here, Maddy. And now that you’re here, you’re one of our own.”
I smiled, but inside I could feel my heart breaking, and that’s when I realized that I didn’t belong to this town. I belonged to someone else. A person. A man. Someone I missed more than I could say. Someone I loved with all my heart. Someone I knew loved me back.
I just couldn’t remember who that “someone” was.