Amnesia

Chapter Ten – Liam

CHAPTER TEN

Liam

I could practically see steam coming from Randy’s ears. Standing slowly, I held up my hands and said quietly, “Randy, I need you to calm down and please let us finish telling you everything.”

Randy looked at Mallory, and instantly his face softened when he saw the fear there. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell like that.”

She had sunk way down in her seat, her shoulders drawn up close to her ears.

After Randy sat, Mallory slowly straightened. I wanted to punch Randy for making her feel so afraid. I forced myself to calm down and not lash out at my cousin. Instead, I spoke slow and steady.

“After I found Mallory and got her to the house, she slept for a couple days, like I said. When she woke up and told me everything, I said we should go to the police.”

“But I don’t want to,” Mallory quickly added.

Randy nodded. “May I ask why?”

She shook her head slightly and said, “I don’t trust anyone. From what I can tell, this is a very sparsely populated area, and what if he’s a police officer, or someone even higher up? If he finds out I’m alive, he’ll come after me.”

“We can protect you,” Randy argued.

Mallory glanced at me. “Not like Liam can.” Facing my cousin again, she went on.

“My kidnapper told me he knew all kinds of people, and that if I tried to run, he would find me. He said he knew cops. I can’t risk it, I’m sorry.

” She looked back at me, and her cheeks blushed slightly.

“I don’t know why, but my gut tells me I can only trust Liam. ”

“That’s not all, Randy.”

He dropped back in his seat. “There’s more?” he asked with a humorless laugh.

I glanced at Mallory, who seemed a bit more at ease. “When I found her, Mallory was wearing a necklace she said she’d found in the basement where she was being kept.”

Turning to wait for Mallory to speak, Randy raised his brows.

“There was a corner I would always huddle into, anytime that monster came in. I don’t know why.

I guess I felt like it made me a smaller target, that I could disappear in it, and that corner was the farthest spot from the door.

The second day I was there, I found a necklace buried in the dirt.

I don’t know why I put it on. Maybe to feel closer to the woman who’d been wearing it. ”

“There were other women in the room?” Randy asked.

“No, not at that time, but he said he’d kept other women there before. There was an old mattress on the floor, and it…it…” She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, tears spilled free.

“It’s okay,” Randy said softly. “Take a deep breath in and slowly let it out. Talk only when you’re ready.”

Mallory nodded and did as Randy said. “It had a lot of dried blood on it, not mine, and it smelled terrible.”

Randy ran his hand down his face. “Holy crap. A serial kidnapper?”

“Do you know how many women in the area have been reported missing?” I asked.

For a moment, Randy looked lost in thought before he replied, “Not a whole lot. I mean, like Mallory said, we’re a small community, and the last-known person to go missing was Emily. Bozeman has a larger amount of missing persons, as does Billings.”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the necklace and set it on the table. “This is the necklace Mallory was wearing. It belonged to Emily.”

Randy stared at the necklace for what felt like forever. When he lifted his gaze to mine, he said, “Holy. Shit. We really need to report this, Liam.”

I shook my head. “I’m with Mallory on this. Whoever this is, Randy, we likely know them. They could very well work right alongside you.”

His face went white as a ghost.

“Do you think you can take Mallory’s DNA, and maybe run it or her fingerprints? See if anyone has reported her missing? We’re pretty sure her first name is actually Mallory.”

“How do you know that?” Randy directed his question to Mallory.

“Well,” she said, twisting her napkin in her hands. “He called me Mallory, and I had a brief memory of an older woman in a kitchen also calling me Mallory.”

Randy stood. “Do you have a notebook?”

“Yeah, let me go grab one,” I said as I quickly made my way to my office. When I got back, Mallory and Randy were clearing the table.

“Leave all of that,” I said, as I motioned for the two of them to come into the living room.

Randy took the notebook as he sat on a chair, opposite me and Mallory on the sofa.

He opened it and started to jot some notes.

As he wrote, he said, “This goes against everything I stand for, Liam. Everything inside of me is screaming to report this. I could lose my job for not following police procedure.”

“But…?” I asked, knowing there was one.

He exhaled. “But you’re right. Whoever this is, we probably know them. That is the only reason I’m going to keep this quiet. And obviously, I can’t make Mallory report it.”

I nodded and took Mallory’s hand in mine and gave it a light squeeze.

Randy looked up. “The average person can run about a mile and a half to two miles without stopping. Since we don’t know how physically active you were before you were kidnapped, I’m going to assume strictly by looking at you that you’re in pretty good shape.”

Mallory shrugged. “I know I ran for a long time without stopping. When the first storm hit, I hid under the trees in some overgrowth-type bushes. I drank the water coming off the leaves. Once the storm stopped, I started running again. I tried to pay attention to the sun when it was out, but couldn’t always tell what direction I was heading most of the time because it was so cloudy. ”

“Do you know how long you were in that basement? You said it was a basement, right?”

“Yes, it was a basement. I could see light coming through one of the boards above me, so I knew when the sun set and rose. I know for sure I was there two days. I’m not sure how long I was there before I woke up on that mattress, and I had a terrible headache…

still do, if I’m being honest. It’s not as bad, though, more of a dull ache. ”

“She has a bump on her head still, and a gash that’s healing.”

“Headache still, you said?” Randy asked.

Mallory nodded. “It is still tender, but I can tell it’s going down.”

“I would like for someone to take a look at her, check her for a concussion, but I guess that’s out of the question.”

I knew Randy was doing his job, but there was no way I was taking Mallory to a doctor. “What if I have Bubba look at her? He’s the only other person who knows she’s here. He was a medic in the Marines.”

Randy frowned, then said, “If Mallory will agree to it.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Good. Good. I don’t honestly know how we can figure out how far you ran.

You didn’t see any landmarks, which makes it hard to know what way you came from.

Adrenaline would have been on our side, so if the average fit person can run a minimum of let’s say two miles a day across uneven terrain, I’d hazard a guess you ran twice that, but you didn’t have shoes on, so that would have slowed you down. If you kept running until exhaustion.”

“She wasn’t very far onto the ranch when I found her. It was sheer luck, honestly, that I took that route home,” I said, as I looked at Mallory and smiled.

“Do you have a map of the area, Liam?”

“I’ve got one in my bedroom.”

As I went to get it, I heard Randy ask, “Are you sure it was only two days of running, Mallory?”

“Yes, two full days.”

Once I returned, I unfolded the map for Randy. “Show me where you found her,” he asked.

“Right here, on the western side of the ranch.”

“So, if you found Mallory here, and let’s say she ran three miles each day, that would’ve put her somewhere around here.” He drew a line on the map. “She could have been held anywhere along this line or close to it.”

“There’s nothing out there but foothills and some farmland,” I said as I studied the map. “Did you see any farms?”

Mallory nodded. “A couple, maybe, or it could’ve been the same one. I went around it, so I didn’t have to go into the open fields.”

“First thing we need to do is figure out who the property owners are in this general area along here. I know there are some larger ranches out there, and most of them belong to folks who live in the city. Some of these are more isolated than your ranch, which means if you wanted to hide someone, that would be beneficial. Problem is, we can’t just go searching properties because we don’t have probable cause. ” Randy glanced over to Mallory.

“How do we know she came from the west, anyway?” I asked. “Larson was telling me that Mitch Tanner has been acting strange. Won’t let anyone on his place and won’t say why.”

Randy frowned. “Mitch Tanner? He’s nearly seventy.”

Mallory spoke. “This guy was for sure younger.”

“He doesn’t have boys, either,” I relented, with a shake of my head.

Randy stared at the map. “You’re right. We don’t know if Mallory came from the west. For all we know, she could have been on your property, gotten off it, then came back on. It’s hard to say.”

“I don’t remember seeing any houses, but then I really tried to stay in the woods as much as possible, so it would make sense that I wouldn’t.”

“And you said you went through water?”

“Yes, but not rivers, they were small creeks.”

Randy rubbed his chin. “Liam, will you get me a baggie and some tweezers. I need to get a hair sample from Mallory.”

“Sure thing.”

Mallory stood and followed me into my bedroom, then bathroom. “Liam, what if we’re looking in the wrong area? What if I didn’t come from the west, but was on your ranch longer than we thought?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. I just assumed you came from the west because of how you were lying on the ground.”

She sat down on the toilet and wrapped her arms around her middle. “You believe me, don’t you?”

I squatted down. “Of course I do. I highly doubt you gave yourself that shiner.”

Mallory reached up and flinched when she touched her cheekbone. “I’m so scared he’s going to show up.”

Grasping her hands, I said, “Look at me.” When her gaze met mine, I made her a vow. “I will not let anyone hurt you or take you. Do you understand?”

“You can’t watch me every moment of the day, Liam.”

“I can keep you safe and I’m going to, just like I said I would.”

She slowly shook her head. “You don’t even know me.”

“Why do you trust me?”

Looking confused, she shrugged. “My gut tells me to trust you.”

“Just like mine is telling me to protect you. This isn’t because I found you on my land, or because my ex disappeared.

Now, if I can find out what happened to Emily while trying to figure out who kidnapped you, then that’s great.

But right now, my gut, Mallory, is telling me to protect you with every ounce of my being. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

Her mouth dropped open slightly and she stared at me in disbelief. I refused to let my eyes drift to those lips and instead, I stood. “Come on, let’s get back out there.”

When we returned to the living room after grabbing tweezers from my bathroom and a Ziploc bag from the kitchen, Randy asked, “Is everything okay?”

I nodded as Mallory took a seat again. “I was asking Liam what if I didn’t come from the west? What if I was on his ranch longer than we think? It’s a huge ranch.”

“I’m considering that. I made a circle around the ranch.

I’ll pull property owners when I can and share them with you.

Mallory, I don’t think you’re from around here.

Grass Range is tiny, and even though I don’t know everyone in Lewistown, I’m pretty sure I’d remember someone as… um… well…as pretty as you.”

Mallory’s cheeks blushed and she looked down at her feet.

“You think she lives in Montana?” I asked, ignoring the instant jealousy I felt.

Randy nodded. “I do. Or within driving range. A day’s ride from here would be my guess.”

Mallory chewed on her lip before she said, “It doesn’t feel like I’m from Montana. The mountains are so beautiful, and every time I look at them, it’s like I’ve never seen them before.”

Randy stood, and I handed him the baggie and the tweezers. “Well, let’s hope we get a hit on your DNA or fingerprints.”

He pulled a few strands of Mallory’s hair, and when he zipped up the bag, she giggled.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

She covered her mouth with her hand and laughed again before she said, “I hope I’m not a convicted criminal.”

Randy and I both laughed.

“If you are, you’re the prettiest criminal I’ve ever seen,” Randy said with a wink.

I found myself glaring at my cousin. “When will you get the results back?” I asked through gritted teeth.

Randy managed to pull his eyes off Mallory. “It shouldn’t take long. I have a fingerprint kit out in my car. Let me grab it so I can get your prints as well. Be right back.”

When we were alone, I glanced at Mallory. “I’m sorry about him. He was just trying to pay you a compliment.”

“It’s okay. I mean, I don’t feel very pretty right now, so it was kind of him.”

My brows shot up. “Mallory, you’re a very beautiful woman.”

Her cheeks blushed again…but something was different. Her eyes seemed to light up as well, and a strange tightness pulled across my chest at the sight.

She softly replied, “Thank you, Liam.”

Randy came back in and said, “Do you mind if we do this at the kitchen table. It’ll be sturdier.”

I stood off to the side and watched Randy take Mallory’s fingerprints. I had to keep from balling my fists as my cousin touched her repeatedly. Not in an intimate way…which is why it made me question why in the hell I wanted to rip my own cousin’s head off.