Amnesia

Chapter Twelve – Liam

CHAPTER TWELVE

Liam

“Liam, what’s going on with you?”

I glanced at Billy with a questioning look. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve been distracted lately.”

Letting out a humorless laugh, I replied, “Distracted how?”

Billy sighed. “It’s like you’re somewhere else.

You stare off into space. You’ve been late a few times, which isn’t like you at all.

And you’re eager to get home every night.

Usually, you’re asking what MaryAnne cooked for dinner and joining us more often than not.

But you’ve been going home for lunch and dinner, and I don’t think you’ve joined us in the barn for breakfast at all this week. Is something wrong with Piper?”

“Piper?” I asked.

“Yeah. What’s making you run home so much?”

Bubba had warned me the guys were starting to talk, and that I needed to come up with a reason why my schedule was changing so drastically.

“Piper’s fine, and nothing’s wrong, Billy. I’ve just got a situation going on that I have to handle on my own.”

His brows drew down. “A situation you can’t share with your best friends?”

I hated lying to him. He knew I was keeping a secret. “Billy, do you trust me?”

“With my life,” he instantly replied.

“Then I need you to trust me on this. I’ve got something going on, and I can’t tell you about it. It has nothing to do with the ranch, so don’t worry about that.”

“I’m not worried about the ranch. You forget MaryAnne is the bookkeeper. I know the ranch is profitable. I am, however, worried about you.”

I studied the worry on his face. I wanted to tell him something so that he didn’t feel like I was keeping him totally in the dark. “I…I might have found out what happened to Emily.”

His face drained of color. “What?”

I said quickly, “This has to stay between us. Promise me, Billy.”

“Dude, I’ll promise it in blood, if that’s what you want.”

I forced a wobbly smile. “The night I left your place, during the storm?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“Well, I found something, and I can’t tell you what it was. At least not right now.”

“Okay.”

“It’s led me to believe that Emily was kidnapped and held by someone right here in our area.”

Billy sat back in his chair and stared at me, looking like he’d been punched. After a few minutes, he nodded. “Okay. Well, we always kind of thought she was kidnapped. What makes you think she was held by someone in the area?”

I shook my head. “That’s the thing I can’t tell you. I’m working with Randy, and for now, we’re keeping the rest of the police out of it. Let’s just say the only people I trust are my cousin, you, and the guys.”

“Holy crap, Liam. Does Bubba know?”

I nodded. “Just know that has nothing to do with me not trusting you. There’s someone else involved, and I need to respect them and their wishes.”

“Of course.”

“I need to also ask that no one comes to the house for the foreseeable future.”

Billy started to laugh—then instantly stopped when he realized I was serious. “Wait, you don’t want any of us to come to your place? Not even for poker night tonight?”

It suddenly felt like someone had dropped a brick into my stomach. “Shit. I forgot about poker night. No, we need to cancel it or have it at your place.”

The thought of leaving Mallory tonight made me feel slightly sad. We were finally going to have our previously canceled movie night.

Leaning forward, Billy asked, “Is there someone staying at your place?”

When I didn’t answer, he simply nodded.

“We can do poker night at my place. I’ll have MaryAnne…” His voice trailed off before he quickly stood. “MaryAnne!”

“What about her?” I asked, standing as well.

“Liam, she’s on her way to your place to drop off the sandwiches for tonight, like she does every poker night.”

My heart started to pound in my chest. I pulled out my cell to call Mallory—and realized we still hadn’t gotten her a phone yet. Instead, I tried MaryAnne. “She’s not answering her phone.”

Billy pulled out his phone and started tapping. Then he looked up at me. “According to GPS, she’s at your house.”

Without another word, I darted out of the office and to my truck. Billy was on my heels. I wasn’t about to argue with him when he got into the passenger side, given we were trying to intercept his wife.

I floored it and drove as fast as I could.

“I know you know these roads like the back of your hand, Liam, but could you possibly slow down?”

“She’s going to panic!”

From the corner of my eye, I saw his head jerk to the left as he stared at me. “She? You mean MaryAnne?”

“No! I mean Mallory. I found her the night of the storm. She’d been kidnapped by someone and escaped. I found her basically passed out from exhaustion in the west pasture.”

Billy remained silent. When I took a chance and glanced at him, he was staring straight ahead, looking stunned.

We got to the driveway of my house in record time. Gravel kicked up as I took the turn sharply.

“There’s MaryAnne’s car,” Billy said, pointing out the obvious.

I parked next to it, turned off the truck, and jumped out. I raced up the porch steps—and came to an abrupt stop when the front door opened and MaryAnne appeared.

“It’s okay! She’s okay! Calm down!”

Billy leaned over and tried to catch his breath. “We tried…to call you.”

MaryAnne wore a smile that I imagined a mother would wear when trying to calm her kids. “I left it in the car and was about to go get it. I figured I’d better call Liam to let him know I’d met his guest.”

“Mallory?” Billy asked.

“Needless to say, she was a bit surprised to see a woman just walk into the house. I was even more surprised to see her. I naturally assumed she was a girlfriend, and I started running my mouth about how I was bringing the sandwiches for poker night, and how I was going to box Liam’s ears for not telling us he was seeing someone. ”

I rushed past MaryAnne and found Mallory in the kitchen, taking blueberry muffins out of the oven. She had really taken to baking and cooking, and if she kept it up, I’d be gaining weight.

“Mallory!” I rushed over and pulled her into my arms. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

She hugged me with a light laugh. “I’m fine. It all happened so fast and, well…I instantly liked MaryAnne.”

Holding her at arm’s length, I asked, “Does she know?”

She nodded. “I had to tell her. She thought we were a couple, and she started making plans for us to go out for drinks tonight while you played poker.”

“Liam Sanders,” MaryAnne scolded.

When I glanced over my shoulder, MaryAnne was frowning, hands on her hips, while Billy stood behind her, unsure of what to do or say.

“You’ve been keeping this poor girl locked up, no contact with anyone. She explained why she doesn’t want to go to the police, but to keep her a secret from me?”

My stomach dropped, and I felt sick. “I’m not keeping her locked up!”

Mallory put a hand on my arm and softly squeezed. “She didn’t mean it that way.”

A look of horror crossed MaryAnne’s face when she realized what she said. “No, I… Oh my gosh, Liam. I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just…Mallory has to be so bored, with you being gone all day and her unable to leave the house. At least I could have come and kept her company.”

“Liam was only doing what I asked him to do, MaryAnne. I didn’t want anyone to know I was here.”

MaryAnne walked around me and took Mallory’s hands. “I can understand that. But now that I know anyway, and I know what happened, you can trust me and Billy. We won’t tell anyone you’re here, I promise. But maybe I can come visit, or you can come visit me. Do you know how to crochet?”

Mallory chuckled and shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Well, I’m just learning, so we can learn together. I’m making a blanket.”

When I saw the light in Mallory’s eyes brighten, my chest squeezed with an unfamiliar feeling. Was I just so happy to see her happy? I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

“I would love that.”

Billy held up his hands. “Wait. Wait.”

Everyone turned to look at him.

“Is anyone going to tell me what’s happening? Liam started to tell me on the way here, but he didn’t get very far.”

I looked at Mallory, and she nodded.

“Let’s go to my office, and I’ll fill you in on everything.”

Once in the office with the door closed, I motioned for Billy to sit down. I stood and leaned against the desk as I told him everything, including the visits from Randy and Bubba. By the time I was finished, my best friend looked like he was about to throw up.

He ran his hands down his face before he leaned over, rested his arms on his knees. “Jesus. I need to tell MaryAnne to be careful in town.”

I placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I’m going to find the guy who did this.”

He looked up at me. “Do you think…Emily?”

A pain hit my chest, and I almost rubbed at it. “I think she’s gone, Billy. I’ve always thought she was gone.”

“Gone? As in…dead?”

“I think I’ve known this whole time that she wasn’t ever coming back.”

“And Mallory just happened to have her necklace? How do you know this isn’t some sort of setup, Liam? Do you trust this woman?”

“You didn’t see the fear in her eyes. She’d been beaten up and her feet were raw from running through the woods for two days. And she slept for two days straight after I found her.”

He stood and started to pace the small office. “That means you were right. Whoever this is, he lives around here.”

I nodded.

“It could be someone we know.”

“The day I missed the staff meeting and Bubba was late? We’d gone to the old barn after remembering there was a root cellar underneath it.”

Billy stopped pacing and faced me. “You thought she might have been held on the ranch?”

“It crossed our minds, and we had to check it out. Turns out she wasn’t, thank God, but the place was about to crumble to the ground. That’s why I asked you to have it demolished.”

“You don’t suspect any of our guys, do you?”

I quickly shook my head. “No. I trust all of you with my life. Mallory, though…she suspects everyone until she hears them laugh.”