Amnesia

Chapter Fifteen – Mallory

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Mallory

“This is a cute little town,” Liam said as we drove down the main street of Arcola.

My heart raced in my chest as I looked at all the unfamiliar buildings. Nothing was coming back to me. Nothing at all.

Liam pulled into a Best Western and parked the rental. “MaryAnne booked us a room for a few nights; I hope that’s okay.”

“Of course it is,” I replied, getting out of the rental and reaching into the backseat for my small suitcase. I didn’t even have a purse. But why would I? I had nothing to put in it. I knew I could drive, but did I have a driver’s license?

We walked into the lobby, and I glanced around as Liam went to the front desk. Turning, I followed him. The older woman behind the counter greeted us both.

“What brings you to Arcola?” she asked, typing something into the computer.

I exchanged a look with Liam, who shrugged. He was leaving it up to me with how much I wanted to tell people. So…I went for it. “We’re here to figure out who I am.”

The woman’s head snapped up, and she stared at me. “I’m sorry. Did you say you’re here to figure out who you are?”

Nodding, I said, “I had an accident, and I have amnesia. The only thing I’ve found out so far is that I grew up here with my grandmother.”

Her eyes turned sympathetic. “Oh, that’s terrible. I hope you’re able to find some answers.”

“So are we,” Liam agreed.

After we checked in and put away some items, we decided to go to one of the two storage facilities in town. According to Liam, the first place we went to didn’t look very much like a storage facility.

“If you left anything at this place, I’d hazard a guess it’s gone.”

I shrugged. “What if I was broke and it was all I could afford?”

“That’s possible.”

Turned out, there wasn’t anything rented under the name Mallory Wilson.

“If we hurry, we can get to the other place before they close,” Liam stated as we both slipped into the rental car.

We pulled up fifteen minutes before they closed.

“I expect we’re not going to get much information out of them here, either. You don’t have any ID.”

I sighed as Liam opened the door and waited for me to walk in. He was right, it was a long shot.

Behind the counter, an older woman stood. Her gray hair was pulled up in a neat bun, and she appeared to be in her early- to mid-sixties. I steeled myself for a round of questions and held my breath when she looked up.

“Mallory! You’re back from Chicago already?”

I froze and stared at her as Liam reached my side.

“You know me?” I asked, shocked.

The woman frowned. “Of course I do! What are you doing back in Arcola? It’s only been, what…close to two months since you moved?”

She moved her gaze to Liam and grinned. “And who’s this handsome man you’ve brought with you?”

He took a few steps forward and reached out a hand. The woman took it and blushed when Liam greeted her.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am. Liam Sanders.”

“Well, welcome, Mr. Sanders. I’m Joyce Ryans. I own this fine establishment.”

Liam looked around. “And fine it is.”

When she focused back to me, her smile faded. Probably because I hadn’t moved a muscle. “Mallory, are you okay, honey?”

Liam and I had already decided not to tell anyone about the kidnapping, and just say I’d been in an accident instead.

“Actually, I’m not okay, Joyce. I woke up after a recent accident, and I had amnesia.

I didn’t remember who I was or where I was from.

Liam’s cousin is a police officer, and he was able to match my fingerprints, from when I worked at—”

“The courthouse. You were a young thing, maybe sixteen or so. Mallory, this is terrible! Do you remember anything at all?”

I shook my head. “Nothing. The woman at the…um…courthouse said I sold my grandmother’s house, put some items in storage and moved to Chicago.”

“You did! Yes. Here.” Joyce quickly grabbed a set of keys. “You wanted to pay for the unit, but I told you not until you got on your feet in Chicago.”

“Did I have a job lined up?” I asked, while Liam and I followed Joyce through a door beside the desk and down a long hall. It was spotless and smelled like pine trees.

“No. I thought it was so brave of you to just up and move to the big city. You did have some interviews set up, though. I do know that much.”

Liam and I glanced at each other.

“Here, this is your unit. You didn’t have a whole lot, but you said there were some things you just couldn’t part with. Mostly it was antique furniture of your grandmother’s, family photos, things like that.”

When Joyce opened the door to the unit, all I could do was stare.

There were maybe a dozen boxes on one side, piled neatly.

A beautiful desk that looked old but sturdy in the very back.

On the other side, it looked like an antique bed, along with a dresser, two nightstands, and a long chair that almost looked like a small bed itself.

“The bedroom set was your grandmother’s. It was her grandmother who brought it over from Scotland.”

“Scotland?” I asked.

She nodded. “Your mother was full Scottish, but your daddy was adopted, so we don’t know much about his heritage.”

A feeling of sadness swept over me as I stared at the contents of the unit. These were my possessions. A small eight-by-ten storage unit with a few boxes and even fewer pieces of furniture. It appeared I didn’t have much.

I swayed slightly, and Liam slid his arm around my waist. “Are you okay?”

Nodding, I wiped a tear away.

Joyce placed her hand on my shoulder. “Do you remember any of this?”

“No,” I whispered, as I made my way into the unit.

I heard Joyce speak to Liam. “Here’s the key. You lock it up when she’s done. Also, here’s my phone number if you need anything. I’ll do whatever I can to help Mallory.”

Sinking down to the floor, I pulled a box toward me.

“Do you know if she has any friends we could talk to, who might have information about where she was staying in Chicago?”

Joyce cleared her throat and attempted to whisper…and failed.

“Oh, Mallory kept to herself. Her only friend, Laura, moved away about, oh, let’s see…four years ago now? According to Mallory, they lost touch shortly after. She had no one after her grandmother passed. It was one of the reasons why she left for the big city. She was ready to start a new life.”

“Thank you, Joyce,” Liam said softly.

I blinked rapidly to keep my tears at bay, but lost the battle when I felt him sit behind me. “I didn’t even have any friends.”

He exhaled. “So, if you kept low-key, didn’t have friends, maybe the person who took you was following you? Knew no one would be looking for you.”

Glancing back at him, I asked, “And he took me to Montana? How?”

“That part I haven’t figured out yet. And we still don’t know if you went to Montana on your own.”

I opened the box in front of me and discovered it was filled with recipe books, what looked like journals, and some reading books. Pushing it to the side, I opened the next one and let out a sob. “Pictures.”

Liam moved next to me, reaching in and pulling out a small box. He opened it and smiled. “Look, this must be you as a baby.”

He held out a photo of a woman who looked like me, holding a baby girl. Behind her, a man with dark hair peered over her shoulder, looking down at the baby.

I wiped my tears away. “Why can’t I remember them, Liam? Why?”

He returned the picture to the box and set it aside. “Maybe we should save pictures for another time.”

Nodding, I stood and grabbed another box.

By the time we had opened every single one, I felt mentally and physically exhausted. “Nothing in any of these boxes say where I was going in Chicago.”

Liam looked around the unit. “We need to ask Joyce where you worked before you moved. Maybe you told someone there something.”

“My head is killing me.”

“Let’s go back to the hotel, shower, and get a good night’s sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

I wanted desperately to believe him, but my gut was telling me we were about to go down a hole I wasn’t remotely ready for. I walked to the rental car while Liam spoke with Joyce for a few minutes. I had no idea what they were talking about, and honestly, I was too tired to care.

##

Pacing the small hotel room, I checked the time on my phone again. “Where are you, Liam?”

I tossed it onto the bed and wrapped my arms around my body.

Liam had asked Joyce yesterday evening where I’d worked before moving.

It was a restaurant called Yoder’s Kitchen.

It hadn’t rung a bell, and I was beginning to think I would never regain my memory.

Maybe that was for the best. I had no friends, no family, and it was starting to look like maybe I had no home, either.

With the sale of my grandmother’s house, maybe I could have afforded an apartment in Chicago.

When Liam had suggested he go and ask some questions at the restaurant, I quickly agreed.

The fewer people who knew I was here and suffering from amnesia, the better.

After all, we weren’t entirely sure the person who’d kidnapped me wasn’t from here.

We highly doubted they were, but that whole human trafficking thing kept replaying in my mind.

The door to the hotel room opened, and I spun around to see Liam.

“What happened?” I asked, rushing toward him. He was carrying a bag, and something smelled delicious.

“I thought I’d get us some lunch while I was at a restaurant. You didn’t hardly eat any breakfast.”

My stomach growled, and Liam arched a brow as he took out two containers, setting them on the desk. “They’re burgers with fries,” he said.

I waited patiently while he opened each Styrofoam container. He slid one to me and set a bottle of water down beside it.

“Are you going to tell me if you found out anything?”

He smiled and pointed to the food. “Sit and eat while I fill you in.”

Doing as he said, I sank into the desk chair and picked up a fry.

“Like we talked about, I told them I was a private detective hired by your father’s side of the family, and that they were trying to track you down.”

“And they bought it?”

He nodded. “You worked there for several years, the manager said. Kept to yourself but were friendly with the other staff. I guess a few of you would go out to dinner or a bar sometimes, but you didn’t have any close friends.

She brought up Laura, and said the same thing as Joyce.

You two drifted apart once Laura moved, got married, and had kids.

When I asked if she thought you had spoken to Laura recently, she said no.

You evidently told her you’d tried to call her, but someone else now had her old number. ”

“So, I really don’t have any friends at all.”

“No close friends. You had acquaintances, but no one you really confided in.”

“I wonder why I kept to myself?”

Liam shrugged. “I don’t know. She said you were nice and that everyone liked you.”

I dropped back in my seat. “We have no leads at all on where I went when I moved to Chicago.”

He slowly shook his head. “The only thing I know to do is maybe drive around Chicago. See if something sparks a memory. We should probably check the banks to see if you have an account set up. You can’t access it without an ID.

Did you happen to notice your birth certificate in the boxes?

We should check that again and maybe try and get you a replacement license. ”

A bitter laugh escaped. “I don’t even have an address to give them, Liam. And as far as remembering, if my hometown doesn’t, I doubt the place I lived just a few weeks will.”

Liam looked down at his food, a look of defeat on his face.

“I’m sorry, Liam. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that.”

He lifted his gaze to meet mine. “You didn’t snap, Mallory. You’re frustrated, as am I. But listen, I had a thought today…would you be alright if I had a moving company bring your items to Montana? We could go through the boxes more thoroughly back home.”

A rush of warmth raced through my body. “Home?”

He gave me a shy smile. “Well, if you like it there…I figured you could stay.”

“I would love to. But how can I afford to pay you for staying there? I’m not going to live in your house for free.”

He brought his hand to the back of his neck and rubbed, staring off in thought. His eyes lit up when he said, “You could be my assistant! MaryAnne has been bugging me to hire one for months.”

A bubble of excitement built in my chest. “I could do that.”

We continued our lunch and talked about what being Liam’s assistant would entail. When his phone rang, he looked surprised. “That’s strange, it’s my brother.” He stood and walked to the other side of the hotel room. “Hey, Chad.”

I finished off the last of my fries and closed the containers, putting everything in the small trash can under the desk.

“No, I’m out of town right now visiting a friend.” He winked at me, and I smiled as butterflies swarmed in my stomach.

Last night had been torture. Pure torture.

Sleeping next to Liam, both of us fully clothed, while the smell of his soap and natural woodsy scent kept my entire body wound up so tight, I could hardly sleep.

I knew he felt the same, because he tossed and turned nearly all night, until he finally wrapped his arm around me and drew me up against his body.

Then the sound of his breathing slowed, and he was soon asleep.

I, on the other hand, had to press my legs together tightly to ignore the ache in my core.

“I should be back in town in a couple of days. I’ll call you then and we can talk about it.” Liam walked up to me and tucked a loose curl behind my ear. “Okay, I’ll text when I get back. Tell Krista I said hello. Will do. Bye.”

Pulling the phone from his face, he tapped it and placed it on the table.

He looked like the call had bothered him somehow.

I knew he and his brother didn’t get along, and I wondered why in the world his brother was calling now of all times, since, according to Liam, they hadn’t spoken in years. But I didn’t ask.

Then he looked at me, and whatever troubling emotion that was on his face slipped away, replaced by the smile. “I need to kiss you.”

Feeling like the room had tilted slightly, I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck. “By all means, kiss away.”