WHO IS SHE?

While looking for a missing child in Sagebrush, Texas, K-9 detective Lee Calloway and his border-collie partner find someone else. A mystery woman running for her life, scared and injured. But she has no idea who she is—or why someone is after her. Lee’s unit suspects “Heidi” is a criminal who knows more than she’s saying, yet his gut instinct says she’s innocent. Lee vows to protect her until her memory returns, but now someone is desperate to ensure that never happens.

MARGARET DALEY

feels she has been blessed. She has been married more than thirty years to her husband, Mike, whom she met in college. He is a terrific support and her best friend. They have one son, Shaun. Margaret has been writing for many years and loves to tell a story. When she was a little girl, she would play with her dolls and make up stories about their lives. Now she writes these stories down. She especially enjoys weaving stories about families and how faith in God can sustain a person when things get tough. When she isn’t writing, she is fortunate to be a teacher for students with special needs. Margaret has taught for more than twenty years and loves working with her students. She has also been a Special Olympics coach and has participated in many sports with her students.

Detection Mission

Margaret Daley

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed,

a refuge in times of trouble.

—Psalm 9:9

To Shirlee McCoy, Sharon Dunn, Valerie Hansen, Terri Reed and Lenora Worth

Special thanks and acknowledgment to Margaret Daley for her contribution to the Texas K-9 Unit miniseries.

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

Dear Reader

Questions for Discussion

Excerpt

ONE

Who am I?

She bent over the bathroom sink in her hospital room, cupped her hands and splashed some cold water on her face. As though that would suddenly make her remember who she was. She studied herself in the mirror and didn’t recognize the person looking back at her. That revelation only intensified the panic she’d been struggling with ever since she woke up from a coma yesterday. Her fingers clenched the countertop.

Earlier, the nurse had brought her a few toiletries since she didn’t have any. After brushing her hair and putting it into a ponytail, she stared at the red gash, recently healed, above her eyebrow. She closed her eyes and tried to recall how it had happened. The screech of tires echoed through her mind. The sensation of gripping a steering wheel made her hands ache. She looked down at them, her knuckles white.

A car wreck?

A sound coming from the other room invaded the quiet. The sudden intrusion kicked up her heartbeat. She moved toward the door, putting her hand around the knob. But when two deep male voices drifted to her, she stopped and pressed her ear against the wood to listen.

“Where is she?”

“Who?”

“The patient who belongs in this room.”

“I don’t know. I’m here to clean her room. She wasn’t in here when I arrived.”

The sound of the two men talking about her sent her pulse racing even more. Why? It seemed innocent enough. But she couldn’t calm the pounding against her chest. Her breathing shortened. One of the voices was familiar. But how could that be? The only interactions she’d had since she’d regained consciousness were with women. She eased the door open an inch and had a pencil-narrow view into the room.

“I can come back another time. You’ll have to ask the nurse where the patient is.” The guy who was there to clean her room shifted back and forth while holding a plastic bag in one hand and a dry mop in the other.

The other man, just out of sight to the left, said, “I will.” That was the voice she’d heard somewhere before this. She wished she could see him.

Instead, she examined the features of the custodian with a beard and dark-slashing eyebrows over a piercing gray gaze. Although he was a complete stranger there was something about his frosty eyes that scared her. She eased the door shut and leaned against it.

Fear from somewhere deep inside her swelled to the surface. She couldn’t get a decent breath. She tried to search her mind for any clue to who she was, to the man with the familiar-sounding voice. A voice with a rough edge to it.

But what bothered her the most were the custodian’s gray eyes. Why? Did she know him? Someone from her past? Then why couldn’t she muster the strength to go out there and demand to know who she was?

Of course that conundrum led to lots of other baffling questions.

Like...how did she end up in the hospital?

And were the police interested in her? The nurse last night had told her they would be glad she had awakened, that they needed to talk to her. Why? She knew nothing. At all. Her mind was a blank.

A suffocating pressure in her chest made it difficult to breathe. A sense of danger pressed in on her. According to Nurse Gail, the police had found her in the Lost Woods several weeks ago. She’d been hurt and disoriented. After she was brought here to the hospital she’d slipped into a coma from a head injury. No one knew how she’d received that wound.

But why hadn’t anyone reported her missing? Come forward to identify her?

Tears flooded her eyes. She squeezed them shut, refusing to give in to crying. From somewhere she sensed she’d given up doing that a long time ago.

A knock at the bathroom door caught her by surprise. She gasped, then went still, hoping the person went away.

“Are you all right in there?”

She stiffened at the sound of that familiar voice. Words jammed her throat.

“Ma’am? Are you okay? Should I call the nurse?”

“Who are you?” she finally managed to ask, her voice wobbly.

“I’m Lee Calloway with the K-9 Unit of the Sagebrush Police Department.” Something in his tone conveyed a concern, urging her to leave the relative safety of the bathroom. Was he the cop who found her? Was that why he sounded familiar to her?

Laying her trembling hand on the knob, she turned it and opened the door a few inches. “Sagebrush? Where is that?” The large muscular man, resplendent in a dark navy blue police uniform, stepped back. The sight of his badge riveted her attention. Sweat coated her forehead.

“In Texas, southwest of San Antonio.”

Texas? Did she live here? Maybe someone knew her, had come forward to identify her after all. “Who am I?”

The corner of his mouth hiked into a lopsided grin. “That, ma’am, is one of the questions I’m here to ask you.”

“One?” Again she stared at the badge for a long moment before she lifted her gaze to take in his face. For a few seconds, she lingered on his mouth curved in that smile. She tore her attention from his lips and tracked upward until she connected with his dark brown eyes. “You don’t know who I am, then?” She’d hoped that was why he was there.

“No, ma’am. When we apprehended you, you didn’t have any ID on you. At the time you kept babbling you didn’t know your name.”

“I still don’t,” she whispered more to herself, but he heard her.

“We ran your fingerprints, but there wasn’t a match in the database. And from our inquiries around Sagebrush, no one knows you here...and you weren’t reported missing.”

She moved into her hospital room. Aware of its suddenly small dimensions, she kept herself near the door to the corridor. “You said you apprehended me. Am I under arrest?” As she asked that question, she couldn’t believe she would be. It didn’t feel right—in her gut. She couldn’t be a criminal, could she?

“As far as we know, you have done nothing wrong, but we found you in the Lost Woods running from someone or something. You couldn’t tell us anything about that. You were scared, had a nasty gash on your head, cuts and bruises all over you. You lost consciousness shortly after I found you. Do you remember anything about that?”

She took in his features—short, sandy-brown hair, piercing dark eyes with long lashes, a dimple in his left cheek when he smiled. A vague memory tugged at her. His face looming over her. “Did you chase me?” Behind her eyes a hammering sensation grew as if the stress of trying to remember was taking its toll on her.

“When you saw me, you ran, and I went after you.”

“Why did you chase me?” she asked.

“We believe you might be a witness to a crime that occurred in the Lost Woods.”

“I am?” Trying to think overloaded her mind, a blank one with only shadowy figures wavering, never staying long enough for her to really see them.

“We were looking for a seven-year-old, Brady Billows, who went missing.”

“I don’t know him. Did you find him?” The thought of a child in danger pushed all her problems into the background.

“Yes, he’s safely home with his mother now. That ended well.”

“That’s good,” she said with a sigh.

Exhaustion spread through her the longer she stood. The officer was between her and the bed. But if she didn’t sit down soon, she would collapse. She moved to the side, intending to skirt around him, when his cell phone rang.

He answered. “Calloway here.” His calm expression evolved into a frown that grooved lines into his forehead. “I’m on my way. I’ll meet you there.” He returned his cell to his pocket. “Sorry, there’s been a development in the Lost Woods. I’ll come back later.”

She flattened herself against the wall to allow him to pass her in the short hallway to the door. “A development? What?”

“Nothing you need to be worried about,” he said, and left the room.

Then why was she worried?

* * *

Lee Calloway drove toward the west end of the Lost Woods where the patrol officer and witness were waiting. From what the dispatcher had told him, there might be another crime committed in the woods on the outskirts of Sagebrush.

The same area where he found the woman in the hospital room several weeks ago, running as though someone was after her. As far as the police were concerned she was a Jane Doe. What had happened to her? Why was she running in the woods? Who was she running from? Did she know anything about the boy’s kidnapping?

He didn’t like mysteries. Probably why he became a cop in the first place. He was always trying to get to the bottom of things. Would he be able to with this beautiful, mysterious woman or would she remain an enigma? The doctor had said she could have amnesia when she woke up, and that certainly seemed to be the case. She might recover all her memory or part of it, but some people never did.

Had her head injury been the sole reason she couldn’t remember, or was it more than that? Some kind of psychological or physical trauma beyond the obvious wound she had sustained? The coma she slipped into was caused by the head injury, according to the doctor. But how and why did she receive it? Still no answer to that question.

Lee parked near the trailhead into the Lost Woods where the police officer and a young man dressed in a jogging suit waited. When Lee climbed from his SUV, he went to the back and lifted the door. Kip, his black-and-white border collie who worked as a cadaver dog, sat with his tail sweeping back and forth.

Lee rubbed him behind his ears, one of his favorite places to be scratched. “You ready to work?”

Kip barked.

Lee hooked the leash to his dog’s halter. “Then let’s go.”

Kip jumped from the back of the vehicle and trotted next to Lee as he covered the distance to the patrol officer.

“What do we have here?” Lee asked, assessing the young man who kept darting glances toward the woods a few yards away.

The patrol officer started to say something, but the jogger interjected, “I decided to run in a different part of the forest today. I won’t do that again. In fact, I may never run here again.”

“What did you find?”

“Blood, lots of it. I tripped on a root, stumbled and fell. That’s when I saw it.”

“Show me.”

The jogger shuffled his feet nervously. “It’s a ways in.”

“Fine.”

“I’ll stay back. Another K-9 team is coming to help in a search if it’s needed,” the patrol officer said.

Lee nodded in agreement and then followed the young man on the path.

“These woods used to be safe. There was a shooting here not long ago. A kidnapped boy found here. What’s happening in Sagebrush?”

“That’s what I aim to find out.” As well as the whole Sagebrush special operations K-9 Unit. Their captain’s father had been beaten and was still in the hospital, unresponsive. On top of that, Captain Slade McNeal’s dog, Rio, was stolen at the same time and hadn’t turned up. Something big was going down in here. According to Pauly Keevers, a snitch, a major crime syndicate was operating in town so low under the radar that no one knew who The Boss was or the second-in-command. Both used ruthless tactics to get their way.

“I fell over there.” The young man stopped on the path and stepped around some brush. “There’s the blood.”

Lee stooped to examine a pile of dead leaves caught against the trunk of a tree. Dried blood caked them. He peered up at the man. “Thanks. I’ll take it from here.”

“Do I have to stay? I need to get to work soon.”

“Does the officer have all your contact information?” Lee asked.

“Yes, he does.”

“Okay, then...you’re free to go. Just let the officer know I’m setting up a search.”

As the young man jogged away, Lee rose and took Kip off his leash. If there was a body to be found, his cadaver dog would find it. And from the indication of the amount of blood loss, there very likely was a body somewhere. Kip put his nose to the ground and set out. Lee kept him in sight as his border collie went to work.

Ten minutes later, Kip stopped and barked. When Lee approached his dog, he stood next to a spot of disturbed ground, his head down, staring at the churned earth.

“What have you found?”

Kip barked again, his gaze still trained on the dirt.

Lee put on some latex gloves, stooped and began to dig carefully. From his dog’s behavior, something dead was buried here. When he saw a piece of blue fabric, he ceased.

“Good boy,” Lee said, as he always did whenever his cadaver dog found a body, then he scratched Kip’s favorite place before rising. “I’m calling this in.” He rotated in a slow circle, searching the area for any other signs of another grave.

Pulling out his cell, he placed a call to the station to report a body being found. Then while he waited for the crime-scene techs to show up, he checked the surrounding area in case there was another body. There were several low-level criminals missing, including Pauly Keevers who had assisted them recently. Was the body Kip discovered one of them? And could there be other graves in the woods?

* * *

Her lungs burned from lack of air, but she couldn’t stop running. He’d catch her. Branches clawed at her, scraping across her skin. Stinging. A tree limb slapped against her face. The darkness of an approaching night crept closer, disguising the terrain and making her path difficult.

Instead of slowing down, she increased her speed. The sound of him crashing through the woods behind her filled her with terror. The pounding of her heart outpaced the pounding of her strides.

Then her foot landed in a hole, and she stumbled, flying forward. The hard impact with the ground knocked what little breath she had from her. The cold earth welcomed her.

The crush of leaves and snap of branches echoed through the trees. He was coming to get her. Kill her this time.

She scrambled to her feet and started forward when a body slammed into her...

She jerked, raising her arms to strike him. All she encountered was air. Warm air. Not cold. As the nightmare evaporated, her eyes popped open. She was still in the hospital, and the custodian from earlier today stood at the side of her bed with a plastic trash bag in one hand.

His frosty eyes on her, he inched closer.

A scream welled up inside her. Clamping her lips together, she fumbled for her call button and pushed it while scooting as far to the other side of the bed as she could.

“Ma’am, I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“You didn’t?”

“You were thrashing around. I was going to put up your railing so you didn’t fall out of the bed.”

She peered down at his other hand without the trash bag and noticed it was clasped around the bar. “I’m fine. Just a bad dream.”

The door opened and the young, redheaded nurse called Gail came into her room. “Is something wrong?” The nurse looked from her to the custodian.

She couldn’t think of anything to say to Gail, especially when the man who caused her to push the call button was standing nearby. “I—I—was wondering when the doctor would be by. I thought he would be here by now.” Even to her it seemed like a lame reason to bother the busy staff.

The custodian stepped away from the bed, picked up her trash can and emptied it into the plastic bag.

The nurse didn’t say anything until after he left the room. “Did he bother you? He’s relatively new here and may not know all the procedures.”

“No, not really.” Some of the tension siphoned from her once the man was gone. “I had a nightmare and woke up with him in my room. It scared me, I guess. I pushed the button without really thinking.” She curled her hands until her fingernails stabbed into her palms. Why did everything frighten her?

The nurse gave her an empathic look. “Are you recalling anything that happened to you?”

Remembering the nightmare, she almost said yes, but she didn’t really know what was real and what was...fear of the unknown. She shook her head. “I still don’t remember who I am.”

Gail slid her hand into her pocket. “I have something of yours. I was going to give it to you when I brought your medicine later.” She withdrew a gold heart locket and passed it to her. “You were wearing it when you came into the hospital. I put it in a safe place so when you got better you could have it. It’s beautiful. There’s a name carved into it.”

“There is?” She took it from the nurse and held it in her palm.

“I hope it helps you to remember. Sometimes an object will spur a memory.” Gail started for the door but paused before leaving. “I’ll make sure the other member of housekeeping assigned to this floor will take care of you. She’s an older woman. You might feel more comfortable with her.”

As the nurse left, she stared at the locket with intricate etching in it. She opened it and saw a picture of a young woman with long blond hair, probably around eighteen. Heidi was engraved in the other side. Touching her own blond hair, she wondered if this was a photo of her. From the vision she’d seen earlier that day in the mirror, it could be.

What did she call herself? Jane Doe? That didn’t sit well with her. It made her seem like she was nobody—not worthy of a name. That, more than anything, bothered her. She couldn’t form any kind of picture in her head of who she was. Did she like steak, going to the movies, reading books? What were her likes? Dislikes? The black hole her memories were lost in terrified her.

She made her way to the bathroom again to study her reflection and then reexamined the photo in the locket. There were similarities in what she saw in the mirror and the woman in the picture. Was it her when she was younger? How old was she now?

Is Heidi my name?

“Heidi,” she said, and liked how it sounded. A sense of comfort surrounded her. She needed a name, and Heidi could be it.

Just the effort of walking into the bathroom sapped her energy, especially after spending the day wondering why the police officer had left her bedside to go back to the Lost Woods where they’d found her. Leaving the bathroom, she nearly ran into Officer Lee Calloway, dressed in casual clothes, not his uniform.

He stepped back to let her pass him. “The nurse said you were up.”

“Yes.” She stated the obvious because she didn’t know what else to say. As she shuffled toward the bed, she felt his dark gaze on her and, surprisingly, it didn’t bother her. She needed answers and hoped he could tell her more about his finding her. Maybe something would trigger her memory.

He stood back while she perched on the side of the bed. “I wanted to ask you some more questions.”

“I still don’t remember who I am, but the nurse gave me a locket she’d kept for me with a picture inside it and the name Heidi engraved on it.”

“Is the picture of you?”

She flattened her palm to show him the necklace that she’d gripped in her hand. “It might be when I was younger.”

His fingers grazed across her skin as he picked it up and opened it.

A tingling from his touch zapped her, further surprising her.

He studied it, then her. “Maybe. Or a member of your family? A sister? Your mother?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to use the name. I need one, and it’s better than Jane Doe. I’m pretty sure it isn’t my daughter.” She attempted a smile, and the gesture seemed alien to her. “I’m probably between twenty-five and thirty.”

Again, he scrutinized her. “If I had to guess, closer to twenty-five.”

When was her birthday? Where was she born? Questions she couldn’t answer flowed through her mind in a steady stream until she had to shut them down or scream in frustration. “What do you need to ask me? I’ll help if I can.” She really hoped she could. This officer was being so nice to her.

“Describe the man you saw in the woods.”

“I saw a man in the woods?”

“When I found you hiding, you said something about a man.” Lee pulled out some photos. “See if you can recognize the one you were talking about.” After spreading out four pictures, he pointed to each one. “Take your time. Study them.”

She examined the four men, and nothing clicked for her. “I don’t know them.”

“So you haven’t seen these men?”

She shook her head. “Not that I remember.”

He held up one of a dark-haired guy with a thick neck and bushy eyebrows.

“No. Maybe.” The bushy eyebrows niggled her memory for a few seconds but nothing concrete came to mind. “I don’t know.” How many times had she said that since she woke up?

“This one?” Lee indicated another man, red hair with thin lips.

“No. Nothing.”

She laid her finger on the man with the bushy eyebrows. “Who is he?”

“Don Frist.”

“Could he have been chasing me before you saw me?”

“I don’t know. We didn’t see him pursuing you. But you were definitely running from something or someone.”

“Where is this man?” She examined him again, wanting to be able to identify him—to know someone.

“In jail.”

“What did he do?”

He has quite an extensive rap sheet...which includes kidnapping Brady Billows.”

“The little boy you told me about this morning? I don’t understand why anyone would harm a child.” The idea that someone would kill or hurt a little boy knotted her stomach. Did she have a child? The more she thought about the question, the more she didn’t think so.

“I agree. But Brady will be fine, thankfully. He was scared but between his mother, Eva, and Detective Austin Black, another K-9 team member, he’ll be safe.”

“Did he find the little boy?”

“Yes and he will soon be his stepfather.”

A happy ending. Relief unraveled the knots. “I’m so glad.” Peering down, she touched her left ring finger, but there was no sign she’d ever worn a wedding band. For some reason she felt in her heart she loved kids. Not liked. Loved.

“Do you remember something?”

“Yes. I love children.”

“Do you remember if you have any?”

“I don’t think any of my own. It doesn’t feel like it. I don’t think I’m married.” She held up her ringless finger on her left hand.

“Maybe you worked with children.”

“Could be.”

“That could help us find where you’re from. Contact friends and family.”

“No” tumbled from her mouth before she could stop the word.

TWO

The panic that invaded Heidi’s voice made Lee wonder if she knew more than she was letting on. “You don’t want us to look for your family and friends? Don’t you want to know who you are?”

She dropped her head, staring at her lap. “Yes, of course, but...”

“But what?”

When she lifted her gaze to his, her beautiful brown eyes shimmered with tears. “Why was I running through the woods? How did I get hurt?” She touched her forehead. “How did I get this gash?”

“You think someone is after you?”

“I don’t know.” With a deep sigh, she settled back against the raised bed.

“So you don’t want us to put your picture out and see if anyone knows you?”

She kneaded her fingertips into her temples. “Not right now. I’d like to try and remember who I am first. I just can’t get past...” Nibbling on her bottom lip, she averted her eyes.

“Why you were running as if someone were after you?”

She nodded. “Earlier today, I had a dream—no, nightmare. Someone was chasing me and it looked like I was in a wooded area. He caught up with me and—” she connected with his gaze “—and he was trying to kill me. What if that’s true? What if that’s why I was running when you saw me?”

“The only two men we know were in the woods were these two I showed you.” He pointed to the redheaded man. “This guy is dead.” Then he tapped the photo of the guy with the bushy eyebrows. “Don Frist is in jail. If they were after you, you’re safe.”

But why would they have been after her in the first place? All the police’s quiet inquiries around town about her identity had hit a dead end. No one knew her and there wasn’t anyone fitting her description missing in Sagebrush. But could there have been a third man in the woods that day? They’d thought there might have been. Would she be able to tell them if she remembered?

“Give me a chance to recall first. The doctor said my memory could come back at any time.”

He didn’t want to tell her he’d already told his captain he was going to do some checking in the surrounding towns. He could still do that quietly, go through the police in those towns, and check their missing-person’s reports. For some reason he felt responsible for her. He’d captured her in the first place, when she tripped and fell while he chased her. She’d hit the ground hard. He’d always wondered if that was what had caused her to lose consciousness. “Have you talked to the doctor today?”

“Not yet, but last night he told me he wants to make sure the swelling has gone down. If so, he thought I could leave here in a day or so.”

“Where are you going to go?”

Her light brown eyes widened. “I don’t know. Did I have a purse with me?”

“No, but you had some money stuffed in your jean pocket.”

“How much?”

“Four hundred in twenties.”

Surprise flitted across her lovely features again. “Where did that money come from?”

“Good question. I don’t suppose you remember?”

She shook her head slowly.

“As far as the police are concerned, it’s your money and will be returned to you. I can bring it to you tomorrow.”

She met his eyes. “Will you wait until I leave here? I don’t want to keep that much money here.”

“Fine. In fact, Heidi, I’ll take you where you want to stay. Unless you have somewhere else to go, we would like you to stay in Sagebrush at least until you remember. In case you recall something about the men in the woods that day.” He paused. “Don Frist will stand trial, and if you could testify to his presence or that you saw him with the young boy, that would be great.”

Her forehead creased. “What if I don’t remember?”

“Don’t worry about that. I don’t like taking on extra worrying because it’s a waste of time. I figure I’ll leave the future in God’s hands. He’s very capable of taking care of it.”

“Any suggestions about where to stay?” she asked.

“I’ll check around and see what I can come up with.”

“I appreciate it, but I don’t want to cause you a lot of extra work...”

Her vulnerability poured off her and ensnared him. “It’s not. I know a few people who know a few others. We’ll find somewhere for you to stay.”

Her smile reached deep into her eyes and lit them. “I don’t know why you’re doing this, but thank you. I don’t know where to turn.”

“My pleasure, Heidi. Now I’d better leave you to get some rest. I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon to see when you’ll be released from the hospital.”

He strode from her room and headed for his SUV in the parking lot, his dog poking his head out the window. The second Lee opened his door, Kip barked, peeking his head over the front seat and licking him on the cheek.

“Glad to see me? I wasn’t gone long.” He started the engine and rolled up the window. “Lie down. We’ve got a mission. To find Heidi a place to stay.”

* * *

The next day Lee paused in the doorway of Molly’s kitchen at his boarding house, a large Victorian home near downtown, a block off Sagebrush Boulevard. He took in a deep whiff of her coffee, the best in town. Two things that appealed to him about the place besides its quaint atmosphere were its owner, Molly Givens, like a second mother to him, and a large fenced backyard for Kip.

At the sink rinsing some dishes, his landlady glanced over her shoulder. “Did you bring your mug?”

“Yep. Wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to have some of your coffee. It sure beats what I make myself.”

“It smelled like you were brewing burned rubber. Here, pour yourself a big cup. I certainly don’t need to drink any more. Doctor’s orders. Watching my caffeine intake.”

Lee filled his travel mug, relishing the aroma wafting from the glass carafe. “I seem to remember you talking a few weeks ago about fixing up those couple of rooms on the third floor and taking in another boarder. Are you still interested in doing that?”

The kindhearted older woman dried her hands and faced him. “What are you up to?”

“I know someone who needs a place to stay while she recovers.”

“Recovers from what?”

“She was injured. A head trauma. She has amnesia. She can’t even remember her name.”

Molly quirked a brow. “That lady you found out in the Lost Woods?”

“Yes, but it’s not common knowledge. How’d you find out about her being here?” He should have realized if anyone knew what was going on in Sagebrush, it would be Molly. She didn’t have to work, but she’d been lonely after her husband died five years ago, and she’d opened her second floor for two tenants. She was a people person and couldn’t see living in a huge Victorian house by herself. He’d been glad he’d snatched up the first apartment, and shortly after that another coworker had taken the second one available. Mark Moore, a fellow police officer who worked the graveyard shift, lived across the hall from him.

“Lorna Danfield spilled the beans. We’re good friends. From church.”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot. Lorna was the one who reminded me of your empty third floor. I should have remembered you two take care of the flowers for church.” Lorna was the secretary at work and was always looking out for the officers and dogs that were in the K-9 Unit.

“I’ve been talking of doing something. Now is as good a time as any. When will your lady friend be getting out of the hospital?”

Lady friend? That made what he was doing sound like more than someone helping another. And that was all this was. After his breakup with his fiancée, Alexa, eight months ago, he certainly wasn’t ready to jump into a relationship beyond casual. “I’ll find out today, but I think in the next day or so.”

Molly blew out a deep breath. “There’s a lot of work to do in a short time.”

“I think I can get some of the guys from the unit to help. We could work on it in the evenings.”

“And if she gets out before that, I have a spare bed in my apartment.”

“If she stays for a while, I don’t know how far her money will stretch to cover expenses.” Lee dumped two spoonfuls of sugar into his coffee.

“That’s okay. She’s in need.”

“Thanks—I knew I could count on you. She feels alone.”

“I can imagine.” Molly set her hand on her hip. “Well, maybe not really. I’m who I am because of my memories. It would be awful not to remember anything.”

“Some people might like a clean slate.”

“A do over? As far as the Lord is concerned, every day is a new beginning in His eyes. He forgives and forgets.”

Lee shifted under the intensity of Molly’s gaze.

“Let what Alexa did go, Lee.”

“She wasn’t who she appeared to be. I’m a cop. I’m trained to read people. She had me totally fooled.”

“The only one you’re hurting is yourself.”

“How am I supposed to just forgive and forget?” he ground out. “She slept with another man and is having his baby. We were talking about getting married the whole time she was seeing this guy—a fellow cop.”

“At least Dan works on a different shift.”

“Yeah, but we still run into each other.” Lee glanced at the clock over the stove. “I’ve got to go. Work calls.”

“You might have a hard time pulling Kip away from Eliza this morning. They’ve been playing and chasing each other around the backyard.”

“I think Kip has his eye on the Malinois. They both like to herd and try to with each other.”

When he stepped outside, he spied the two dogs lying together under a maple tree. Kip saw him, jumped up and hurried toward him. Eliza, Mark’s dog, raced toward him, too. She looked similar to a small-size German shepherd with tan fur and a black muzzle. He greeted Kip in his usual manner, then patted Eliza.

“Gotta leave your girlfriend, Kip. We’ve got a job. We’re heading for the Lost Woods. Captain wants us to start a grid search of it, see if we can find any more bodies. Several people are missing.”

Kip rubbed up against Eliza, yelped once then loped toward the gate. With one last glance at Eliza, her head tilted, her ears perked forward, Kip barked again as though to tell him to get moving. There were times he felt the dogs they worked with understood every word they said to them. As they were all highly trained and intelligent, he wouldn’t be surprised if they did.

“Sorry, girl, gotta take him to work,” Lee said before jogging toward his dog.

In the driveway he opened the back of his SUV for Kip. “We have to make a quick stop at headquarters, then to work.”

Kip lay down, putting his head between his two stretched out legs, his tail wagging.

“I figured you’d go for that. See all your buddies.”

Ten minutes later, Lee snapped a leash on Kip and they entered through the back of the one-story red brick police station where the K-9 Unit was housed. Lorna Danfield, the secretary for the K-9 Unit, sat at her desk near Captain Slade McNeal’s office.

When Lee covered the distance to her, Kip planted himself right next to her chair and waited for her to acknowledge him. She finished a call then turned to lavish attention on Kip. He loved it and always liked spending time with her.

“Is the captain in his office?” Lee asked while his partner enjoyed Lorna’s pampering.

“Yes, he’s expecting you. I’ll take care of Kip while you go inside.”

He started to leave, rotated back and said, “Thanks for the suggestion about renovating Molly’s third floor for our Jane Doe. I mean for Heidi.”

“She remembered her name?”

“No, but she has a locket with that name in it so that’s what she’s decided to call herself.”

“That poor dear. I’ll have to pay her a visit once she settles in at Molly’s.”

“I haven’t asked her to move in yet. I will today after work. She may have other plans.”

“Where’s the young lady going to go? She doesn’t know who she is or know anyone.” Kip bumped Lorna’s hand, and she scratched behind his ears.

“True, but she might not appreciate a stranger coming in and planning her life.”

“Or she’ll appreciate it because she doesn’t know what her options are right now.” The secretary nodded at Lee. Go see the captain. I hear you’re gonna have a busy couple of days.”

“Yeah, a thousand-acre wooded area will take some time to cover properly. With the discovery of Ned Adams’s body, Captain thinks there could be others out there. With all that has happened lately connected to the Lost Woods, it could very likely be a burial ground for those others like Pauly Keevers and a couple of low-level criminals like Adams.”

“If any dog can find a dead body, it’ll be Kip.”

He winked. “You’re just partial, but I agree with you.”

Lee knocked on his captain’s door then stuck his head into the office. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, I know you heard Pauly Keevers is missing. No one has seen him in the last three days. Normally with someone like Keevers I wouldn’t be overly concerned. He’s been known to go off drinking and disappear for days. I hope that’s the case here.”

“But you don’t think it is?”

Slade shook his head. “I wanted to emphasize how important it is we find Pauly. The chatter in the criminal community is that he was killed for talking to the police. Now no one is talking. With Adams’s body found in the Lost Woods, people are wondering who else is out there. Adams wasn’t a snitch but he worked for Charles Ritter.”

“The lawyer who was arrested for being involved in the murder of Eva Billows’s parents?”

“That very one. I’m sending Austin and Justice with you to search the woods. Austin has something of Pauly’s that he’ll give Justice to track him while you look for any other buried bodies. Austin has already checked Pauly’s hangouts in town yesterday afternoon. As I said, no one has seen the man in several days. Justice had his scent leaving Pauly’s apartment but lost it at the street.”

“Maybe he got into a car.”

“Pauly doesn’t own one so it was someone else’s. Where did they go? We owe Pauly. He gave us our first big lead about what’s going on with Rio’s kidnapping and my dad’s beating.”

“Just so you know, I’m asking our Jane Doe—who will be going by Heidi—to stay at Molly’s boarding house. That way I can keep an eye on her and maybe help her remember what happened to her.” He exhaled slowly. “It could be connected to this case. She was there that day Brady was found. What did she see? We still think there’s another guy out there involved in the kidnapping.”

“Good thinking. Let me know if she agrees.” The captain picked up his pen and scribbled something on the paper in front of him.

“I’m asking a couple of guys from the unit to help me fix up Molly’s third floor for Heidi over the next few nights. You’re invited. Six tonight. I’ll supply the pizzas.”

“I’ll be there. Give me something else to think about other than this case, my missing dog and my dad still in a coma. At least Heidi came out of hers. Maybe that means Dad will soon.”

When he left the captain’s office, he peered at Kip and knew how he’d feel if anything happened to his dog. They were partners. He’d feel the loss. At least Slade had Rio’s sire to fill in the gap. But that still wasn’t the same.

* * *

Using the grid pattern, Lee followed Kip, on a long leash, in the Lost Woods. So far, nothing. Austin and his bloodhound Justice hadn’t found anything, either. He paused for a few seconds to get his bearings and scanned the tall trees that shaded the forest floor as if it were late afternoon. Up ahead a ray of sunlight streamed through the foliage as though pinpointing one spot.

His cell rang. He pulled it off his belt and answered, “Calloway here.”

“I found a wrecked car on the outskirts of the woods on the north side by the highway,” Austin said, then gave him the coordinates.

“I’m not far. I’ll be right there.” Lee hung up and noted his position on his GPS, then set out in a jog toward the area.

Ten minutes later, he arrived at the dark green Buick sedan, which was partially covered by branches and greenery. The front end was smashed. One tire was shredded as though there had been a blowout. The air bag in the driver’s seat had gone off, lying limp now, a fine white powder all over the place. From the small ditch it was halfway lodged in, the car sat at a thirty-degree angle.

“Someone tried to hide it.” Detective Austin Black came around from the other side.

“That’s what it looks like to me. Have you called in the license number?”

“Yeah. It’s registered to a William Peterson from San Antonio. Where is he? Was it a stolen car? Captain is sending out a couple of crime-scene techs to process it, maybe they’ll be able to pull some fingerprints. Then we can tow it to the police impound.” Austin hesitated. “He wants us to continue our search. Do you think this was one of the kidnappers’s cars? That this Peterson is involved in the crime syndicate?”

Or was this how Heidi ended up in the woods that day? “Maybe, but if so, why would he leave it here in light of what went down in the woods a couple of weeks ago? It could have just been abandoned by Peterson. It looks pretty damaged, and it’s an old car. He might have decided to walk away from it.” As he said that to Austin, Lee kept picturing Heidi pushing open the driver’s door that was still ajar, then stumbling out. Disoriented. Hurting from the wreck. That would explain her injuries. “Maybe our mystery woman is connected to this car.” But why would she attempt to hide it?

“That thought already occurred to me, and the captain is looking into it.”

“If she’s tied to this car and Peterson, I’d love to be able to tell Heidi some good news,” Lee said. “At least give her a name and some facts about her life. Maybe be able to contact family and friends.”

“She’s going by Heidi?”

Lee nodded at his teammate. “Yeah, she didn’t want to use Jane Doe.”

“I don’t blame her. So she hasn’t remembered anything?”

“No. Do you see any evidence in the car?” Lee approached the vehicle, careful not to disturb any footprints. But with the dense leafage on the ground, he didn’t see any.

“Not from the passenger’s side.”

Lee peered inside from the open driver’s door and spied a cloth stuffed between the seats. After donning gloves, he reached in and pulled out a bloodied cloth. “Whose blood?”

“Maybe William Peterson?”

Or Heidi? Did a car wreck cause her injuries? It fit. Lee took out an evidence bag and dropped the cloth in it, then pulled out his cell and called the captain to report the development.

Will the name William Peterson mean anything to Heidi?

“You staying until the crime-scene techs show up?” Lee asked Austin.

“Yeah. No use both of us standing around waiting. But I thought it might be a good idea to have Kip check this area in light of the car being found. Something might have gone down here.”

“I agree. We’ll work our way out from here, then resume our search where we left off when you called.”

An hour later, Lee determined the area surrounding the car was clear of any dead bodies and trekked deeper into the woods to the last place Kip and he had searched. He gave his dog a long lead on his leash and Kip went to work, nose to ground. As the border collie went back and forth through the forest, Lee kept thinking about the car Austin had found and couldn’t help wondering if it was connected to Heidi. As soon as possible, he would delve into William Peterson’s life and see if Heidi and Peterson knew each other, because even if she didn’t remember who he was, there could be a link between the two.

* * *

As the door to her hospital room opened, Heidi tensed, scrunching the sheet up in her hands. Nurse Gail entered with her medicine she needed to take. Heidi drew in a composing breath, causing pain to stab through her chest. One of her ribs had been cracked and was healing, but it still hurt her when she inhaled too deeply. The list of her injuries from minor to major only confirmed something bad had gone down right before the police found her.

“Hi, how are you this afternoon? The earlier shift told me the doctor is releasing you if your lab work comes back okay.” Gail gave her the little cup with her pills in it, then poured her some water and handed that to her.

“Yes, that’s what he said to me, but...” What am I going to do? Where am I going?

“But? Are you concerned about not being well enough to leave?”

“No.” She’d examined the dark recesses of her mind until she had a headache. “I’m not sure what to do next.”

“I can understand that, but officer Calloway called earlier when you were down in X-ray to see if you were going to be discharged today.”

“He did?”

“Sorry I didn’t get the message to you sooner. This has been a busy afternoon. He’s coming right after work. He has a place for you to stay, at least temporarily.”

In the darkness that surrounded her, there was a ray of light. “He mentioned he would ask around.”

“When Lee says he’s going to do something, he does.”

Maybe they were in a relationship. Gail was an attractive redhead about Lee’s age. “You’ve known him long?”

“We went to school together. He’s a good friend of my husband, Harry. He’s a trainer at the K-9 Training Center next to the police headquarters. Harry got Lee interested in becoming a K-9 officer. He was a natural. Lee is like Harry. They’re big animal lovers.”

Did she have a pet in her other life? Was it left alone because she wasn’t there to take care of it? “I remember hearing barking in the woods.”

“You do? That’s good. It was probably the K-9 Unit searching for Brady. By the time Lee found you, the kid had been rescued.” Gail lifted the tray of medication she had. “I need to make my rounds.”

Heidi scanned the almost-bare hospital room with no flowers or cards. It hammered home how alone she truly was. Even sitting in bed, she had little to think about other than trying to remember and meeting a dark screen. It would be good to get out of here and try to build some kind of life for herself while she waited for her memory to return. If it returned.

The least she could do was try to make herself presentable to one of the few people she knew. Maybe she should dress. She went to the closet and checked its contents. A set of clothes was hanging up. They must be hers, but she didn’t remember them—buying them or wearing them.

Inside the bathroom, she quickly donned the jeans, which fit her perfectly, and the gray fleece sweatshirt. The small amount of energy she expended dressing herself tired her out. Apparently she wasn’t going to bounce back as fast as she wished.

When she came out of the bathroom, she glimpsed a movement out of the corner of her eye right before a beefy hand covered her mouth and nose.

“The third time is the charm. Good thing I’m a patient man.”

The deep voice of the custodian penetrated her panic-filled mind.

THREE

Lee ascended the stairs to the hospital’s second floor two at a time. He’d hoped to be here earlier, but Austin and he had stayed a little longer in the Lost Woods because reporting the wrecked car had delayed their search. But almost a third of the area had been covered, making for a long day. They didn’t find anything other than the Buick, which might or might not be linked to the kidnapping. To Heidi.

No scent of Pauly in the forest or another grave, however, had been found. He counted that a good day. Pauly could still be alive, passed out drunk somewhere they hadn’t looked.

He caught sight of a custodian going into Heidi’s room at the other end of the hall. Several staff members rushed toward him, passed him and went into a patient’s room nearby. A code blue sounded over the intercom. A nurse hurried with a cart. Lee stepped out of the way and slowed his pace.

* * *

I won’t be a victim, screamed through Heidi’s mind as she twisted and pummeled her attacker. That managed to increase the constriction about her. Finally she went limp, dead weight, which threw off the custodian. He stumbled forward, still holding her, but the hand about her mouth slipped.

“Help. Help,” she yelled.

His hand clamped again over her mouth. “You’ll pay for that.”

The door crashed open, and Lee charged into the room, his gun drawn. “Let her go. Now.” He aimed his weapon at the man’s head.

“I could snap her neck.”

“And you’ll be a dead man. Is that what you want? Right now you’ll be charged with assault. If you hurt her, you’ll be dead.”

Through her haze of terror she heard the man’s heavy breathing. She felt his sweat drip on her, the roughness of his hand. The scent of his body odor as though he hadn’t showered recently assailed her, gagging her.

The hammering of her heart thundered through her mind. She focused totally on Lee before her, a fierce expression on his face, his feet braced apart, both hands on the gun, steady, pointed toward her attacker. Seeing Lee dressed in a uniform accelerated her fear even more as though she’d faced a police officer before with a gun aimed toward her. Was she a criminal?

Slowly the man released his grip on her. She closed her eyes for a few seconds. When he dropped his hand from her mouth, she hastened away from her attacker—away from Lee. She collapsed against her bed, clutching the sheets.

Lee hurried to the assailant, put him up against the wall and handcuffed him. Then he reached into his pocket, withdrew his cell and placed a call to the police station. Taking her attacker by the arm, Lee pulled him to the chair nearby and shoved him down.

“Stay put,” Lee said to the six-foot man then approached her. “Are you all right?” His gaze skimmed over her briefly before he returned his full attention to his suspect.

“Yes.” The word came out on a shaky breath. She glanced down at her hands trembling and sat on the bed, tucking them under her legs.

“I have a patrol officer coming to take this man in. Once he leaves, I want to do some checking here about—” he flicked his gaze to the name badge on the guy’s custodian uniform “—Gus Zoller.”

Her assailant glared at Lee. “I ain’t talking.”

“That’s your prerogative.”

Dazed by all that had happened, Heidi dug her teeth into her lower lip and studied the man. His icy gaze nipped at what little composure she had left. If she could remember, she might know if he was someone she knew—had a reason to try and kill her. But she couldn’t answer that. There was nothing about him that seemed familiar except his eyes. Should she say something to Lee about that?

She glanced at her rescuer and as long as she kept her gaze on his face she was all right, but when she looked down at his badge and dark blue uniform, her throat closed, her stomach clinched. Frustration swamped her. She had reactions to certain things and didn’t understand where they came from. Did she have something against the police?

“Still doing okay?” Lee asked, his gaze trained on Gus Zoller.

“Yes. Thank you for being here.” Her voice still quavered, but she was regaining her composure.

“I’m not sure if I’m glad I was late or not. If I had come earlier, he might not have attacked you.”

“But he would have waited until later. He’s been in here before.”

“Other than yesterday morning?”

“Yes, yesterday evening.”

Lee’s glare drilled into the man. “What happened?”

“I woke up from a bad dream, and he was hovering over my bed. I panicked and pushed the call button.”

“Obviously a good thing you did. Why didn’t you tell me?”

She gestured toward Gus. “Because he said I was thrashing around and he claimed that he was putting up my railing. I woke up punching the air, so I thought he was right.”

“That must have been some dream.”

“You know how dreams are. Often weird with strange things happening.” She hoped that was the case because her nightmare had scared her. Not knowing what was real or not real only heightened that feeling.

The door swung open and a patrol officer came inside. “Is that the suspect you want me to take down to the station?”

“Yes. I’ll be down later to have a little word with him. Book him on assault, for starters.”

“Will do.” The officer grabbed hold of the man and pulled him to his feet.

When her assailant left, some of the tension in Heidi drained away. She dropped her head and inhaled a deep breath. “I wanted to ask him why he was trying to kill me. What have I done to have someone after me?”

“That’s a good question. One I intend to find the answer to. I’ll be asking the man later and will see if I can’t convince him to tell me why.”

“Please do. It may help me figure out who I am.” Even if she discovered something bad, this not knowing was driving her crazy.

“I’m going to talk to the staff and personnel about the suspect. I’ll be back in a little while.”

“Please...don’t leave me alone.”

Lee gave her a reassuring look. “You aren’t alone.” He walked to the door and motioned for someone to come into the room. “This officer will be standing guard. While I’m gone, I’ll have the doctor make sure you’re still all right to leave the hospital.”

“Thanks.” She lay back against her reclined bed and closed her eyes, trying to picture anyone from her past.

The same dark screen mocked her. She’d never felt so alone in her life. She didn’t have to remember her past to know that was true.

* * *

After paying human resources and hospital security a visit, Lee caught his friend Gail in the hallway coming from the room where there had been a code blue earlier. “What happened?”

“Someone unplugged that man’s life support, and he crashed, but thankfully we revived him and he’s fine now.”

How convenient for Gus that everyone was in Room 253. Planned or a coincidence?

The nurse looked around him. “Why is an officer standing outside Heidi’s room?”

“One of your custodians assaulted her.”

Alarmed, Gail pushed forward. “Is she all right?”

Lee stopped his friend. “She’s fine. Just confused and scared. I asked her doctor to check her out before she’s discharged from the hospital.”

“Who was it?”

“Gus Zoller. What can you tell me about him? Any reason you can think of why he would do this?”

Her forehead creased, and she slowly shook her head. “It doesn’t make any sense. He’s new here. He started in January. But he always did his job and was pleasant to the patients when he interacted with them.”

“Was he friendly with anyone? Another staff member?”

“No, come to think about it. He kept to himself. Did his job and went home.”

Lee nodded. “If you think of anything else that might explain why he went after Heidi, call me.”

He continued toward Heidi’s room with the information he’d received on Gus from human resources. Later tonight after he interviewed the suspect, he intended to check his apartment out.

When he entered the room, he found Heidi lying on her bed, staring at the wall. “Are you sure you’re all right?” Lee brushed his gaze over her cheeks, which were still drained of color. He couldn’t blame her for being jittery with anyone she saw. She didn’t know what happened to land her in the hospital. Who was a friend? Who was a foe? Her aching despair spiked his protective instincts.

Heidi nodded slowly.

“Did Gail tell you I found a place for you to stay?”

“Yes.”

“I live in a Victorian boarding house run by Molly Givens. She lives on the bottom floor and another police officer lives on the second floor in an apartment across from me. Molly has wanted to open up her third floor for another tenant. It doesn’t require a lot of work so a group of my friends are going to put the finishing touches on it over the next several nights.”

“The doctor said I could still leave today,” she informed him. “And after what just happened, I want to get out of here.”

“I don’t blame you. I can keep an eye on you at the house so there isn’t a repeat of this afternoon. Molly has a spare bedroom downstairs for you to use. Your place should be ready for you to move into in two days. Are you okay with that?”

“Are you sure Molly is all right with it?”

“Meet Molly. You’ll see she’s fine about you staying. Like I said, I’ll feel better if you’re nearby.” He smiled gently. “Mark, my neighbor, works the graveyard shift. He’ll be around while I’m working if you run into a problem. I’ll be there at night.”

Her eyebrows slashed downward. “I hate not knowing what’s going on. I don’t feel like I’m the kind of person who made someone angry enough to want me dead.”

“This has to be hard on you, but I’ll help you find answers. I know you feel alone, but you aren’t now.” He couldn’t shake from his mind the haunted look he glimpsed a few times on her face.

Tears glistened in Heidi’s eyes. “Why are you doing this for me?”

“Several reasons. First off, I’m a cop. I became one to help others in trouble. And you’re most definitely in dire straits. Also, I want you to remember. You might be able to help us with what’s been going on here in Sagebrush.”

“What’s going on?”

“Last month Captain Slade McNeal’s father was almost beaten to death. He’s still in this hospital. Like you, he slipped into a coma. My captain’s K-9 dog was stolen at that time. Brady, the seven-year-old who lives down the road from Slade, was kidnapped because he witnessed both the beating and Rio’s abduction. I know how I’d feel if something happened to Kip. My dog is my partner. We’ve been through a lot together.”

“I think I like dogs.”

The vulnerability in her expression chipped away at his declaration he was through with women after Alexa. “In a while you’ll find out. There’ll be two dogs at Molly’s. Besides Kip, Mark’s pet is an ex-K-9 dog—Eliza, a Malinois.”

“Why would someone take your captain’s dog?”

“We’re working on that,” Lee said, not wanting to reveal to Heidi what Pauly Keevers had told them—that Rio was taken to find something valuable in the Lost Woods. “In addition to Slade’s father being hurt, his dog stolen and young Brady Billows being kidnapped, a number of lowlifes have disappeared. One turned up dead in the Lost Woods the other day.

“Who?”

“Ned Adams? Have you ever heard that name, seen him?” Lee showed her a photo of the dead man.

She shook her head. “Was he a criminal?”

“Yes, he was dealing drugs and working for another man we have jailed and awaiting trial. He was shot execution style. Someone is making a point. Something big is going on here, and no one is talking.”

“But you said you’ve checked around here and I’m not from here. At least you don’t think so.”

“True, but you may know something about what happened in the Lost Woods that can help us.”

“You think that’s why that man came after me?”

“Maybe, especially since you woke up and could possibly remember and talk. Speaking of which...do you know a man named William Peterson?

“You found another dead body in the woods?”

“No, but we found Peterson’s car wrecked at the edge of the woods, not far from the highway. He lives in San Antonio, but his neighbors said he left on business weeks ago and wasn’t expected back for a few more days.” He cleared his throat. “SAPD checked with his employer, and he never showed up to see any of his business clients. He’s a sales rep for a manufacturer. When his daughter hadn’t heard from him, she filed a missing-person’s report.”

“You think I know him?”

“It could explain your injuries.” He showed her a driver’s license photo of Peterson, a fifty-two-year-old with balding dark hair and a plain face.

She examined it for a long moment then scrubbed her hands down her face. “I don’t know. The name doesn’t sound familiar at all. Nor does his picture look familiar.” Frustration, mixed with concern, marked her features.

“Don’t worry. It might not have anything to do with you.” He wanted to touch her and comfort her, take the strain from her expression. He kept his arms at his sides. “I’ll go see if the doctor has signed your discharge papers while you get dressed.”

“Speaking of clothes, I need to go by a store and pick up some extra items. What you found me in is all I have.”

“There’s a Super Mart not too far from here. We’ll stop there, then maybe Molly or Gail can take you shopping when you get settled in.”

* * *

“I can’t believe all these people came to help fix up this place for me,” Heidi said, standing back from the group painting and preparing the hardwood flooring to be refinished. “I should be helping.”

“Didn’t anyone tell you that you just got out of the hospital a few hours ago? You’re to rest. Isn’t that right, Gail?”

Lee’s friend stopped taping the floorboard and looked up at Heidi and him. “I’d better not see you lifting a finger tonight. Consider this your welcome-to-Sagebrush greeting. It’s got to be better than the first one.”

“Yes. Hands down.”

Heidi’s laughter floated across the room, drawing a couple of his friends’ attention. Lee liked the sound, light with a musical quality. He hadn’t seen her smile and certainly not heard her laugh much in the short time he had known her, but for some reason he wanted to make that his mission, to see and hear more of that.

“I thought you were resting downstairs.” Lee touched her elbow and led her toward the exit to the three-room apartment.

“I was getting bored. Resting is all I’ve done for the past few weeks.” Heidi leaned closer to him, her fresh scent of apples and cinnamon instantly reminding him of his childhood home at Christmas. “Molly went into the kitchen to make some sweet tea for y’all and see to her chocolate chip cookies. I snuck up here when she left.”

“You said y’all. Maybe you’re from the South. You have a faint accent.”

She cocked her head and stared off into space for a long moment. “I don’t know. I like the sound of cold sweet tea even though it’s the first of February.”

“I can’t say it gets that cold here in southwest Texas in the winter.” He guided her toward the third-floor landing. “It’s not that I wouldn’t love for you to join us. I just don’t want you to overdo it.”

“I have to admit I’m tired. You would think after resting and sleeping so much I wouldn’t be. My body isn’t wanting to cooperate with my mind, which would like to be upstairs with y’all pitching in, especially with how nice Molly has been.”

He descended the stairs with Heidi next to him. “Tell you what. Come join us about seven when the pizza is being delivered. Until then, take a nap.”

“All I can promise is I’ll rest. I’m tired, not sleepy.” At the bottom of the steps on the first floor, she turned toward him. “I can find my own way back to Molly’s spare bedroom after I see her in the kitchen.”

“You’re going to go in there and help her?”

She pointed to herself innocently. “Who, me?”

“Don’t answer. I don’t want to know you aren’t resting. See you at seven, and I’ll introduce you to the folks you don’t know.”

She headed for the kitchen while he went back upstairs. He hadn’t had a chance to talk with Gail. She’d gotten off work late and arrived here as soon as her shift ended. Not three minutes afterward, Heidi had come into the room. He didn’t want her involved at this time.

“Is she going to behave herself and take it easy?” Gail asked when he entered the first room in the new apartment.

“Probably not. She may not know it, but I have a feeling she has a stubborn streak.”

“I call it determination. She went through an ordeal and is alive. Someone wanted her dead in the woods attacked her earlier today.” Gail pursed her lips. “I can’t believe Gus Zoller tried to hurt her. On my floor. Bold. Desperate, maybe. So why go after Heidi unless she knows something?”

“That’s what I’m thinking. I’ve talked to everyone but his supervisor in housekeeping. She had already left for the day, and I wanted to bring Heidi here.”

“Mrs. Hanson is a tough one, but all you have to do is flash that great smile of yours and that badge, and you won’t have any problems.”

“Mrs. Markham, are you flirting with my friend?” Gail’s husband joined them, with beige paint in splotches all over his clothing.

Looking her husband up and down, Gail fisted her hand and planted it on her waist. “Harry Markham, I declare I’ve never seen a man so messy except when it comes to the dogs. Everything has to be neat and precise with them.”

Harry flicked his brush at his wife.

Her eyes grew round when she saw the paint spatter her shirt. “Good thing for you this is an old blouse.” But as Gail said that, she pushed the brush he held upward into his face.

“I’ll leave you two to work this out,” Lee said and crossed the room to continue painting the far wall with Mark and Slade.

“I don’t get it. I would have thought by now we would have a flood of leads to run down with Dante Frears coming forward and offering $25,000 for any information on the whereabouts of Rio and the person responsible for my father’s beating.” Slade finished his section and moved to the next one.

Lee picked up his brush and dipped it into the paint. “Give it time, Captain. I can’t imagine someone passing up that kind of cash for long. Someone’s gonna come forward. We’re going to find your dog and get the person who hurt your dad.”

“The criminals in town are scared and keeping their mouths shut, especially with Keevers’s disappearance. And now that we found Adams’s body in the woods, they are even more nervous. Who has them so afraid?” Slade applied his long strokes to the wall. “You would think we’d be aware of some criminal with that kind of power.”

“Maybe it’s a cop, and he’s got all the bad guys quaking in their boots,” Mark said with a chuckle.

Slade laughed. “Yeah, I’d like to be able to make the criminal element in Sagebrush quake with fear.”

Was that the person that had Heidi so frightened? Lee thought back to her reaction a couple of times when she looked at his police badge on his shirt. She’d tensed. Did she know more than she was letting on? His gut told him no, but he’d been all wrong about a beautiful woman before and ended up hurt.

Mark Moore, his neighbor across the hall, glanced toward him. “I think you’re smart, Calloway, keeping our mystery lady close. Easier to keep an eye on her. She could be involved in all of this.”

“Why do you think that?” Lee’s hand tightened about the brush. “Someone tried to kill her today.”

“She was in the woods that day the police found Brady. She could be part of the crime syndicate. Others have gone missing. Ned Adams, a petty criminal connected to Charles Ritter—one of the three middle managers in this crime syndicate—ended up dead. Maybe he angered The Boss. Maybe The Boss is cleaning up loose ends. The only others found in the Lost Woods were the two kidnappers. What was she doing?”

Lee bit back his response, Running for her life. There was a slim possibility she was involved, but he didn’t doubt she had amnesia. It would be hard to fake that lost look or the scared vibes pouring off her. Someone was after her. He wasn’t convinced it was someone in the crime syndicate. Besides, she wasn’t from around here. “She’s in trouble. I think a crime was committed against her, not the other way around.”

“If not the kidnapping, then what about the wrecked car and the missing man?” Mark retorted. “Maybe she had something to do with William Peterson, instead.”

Lee’s protective instinct welled up in him. “Haven’t you heard of innocent until proven guilty? I’m counting on you, Moore, keeping an eye out for her while I’m at work.”

His neighbor attacked his section with angry strokes. “Sure. But I get to tell you I told you so if she proves to be involved.”

Lee ground his teeth together and again kept his mouth shut. It was a good thing he and Moore worked on different shifts.

Slade jumped into the fray. “I’ve talked with the police chief. I want both of you to watch our mystery woman. Someone did go after her today. She may still be in danger, and until we know for sure, we need to protect her. I still think she knows something about what happened in the woods the day Brady was found.” He glanced at Lee. “Have you talked with Zoller yet?”

“I’m going to after you all leave. I want the man to stew for a while. Maybe then he’ll be ready to talk. He wasn’t earlier.”

His captain frowned. “I hope so. We don’t have many leads to follow.”

* * *

Later that evening, Heidi sat at Molly’s kitchen table. “Those cookies smell great. Are you sure I can’t do anything to help you?”

“Nope, other than help me take this upstairs to the workers. I want you to rest and take it easy.” Molly used her metal spatula to remove the last batch of chocolate chip cookies from the baking sheet. “The pizzas should be here any minute. We should be ready. Are you hungry?”

Heidi’s stomach gurgled. “I wasn’t until I started smelling the cookies. I might just go right to them and skip the pizza.”

The landlady glanced toward her. “You must have a sweet tooth.”

“I guess so.”

“You wouldn’t know it from the looks of you. You’re thin and petite. Almost frail.”

“I haven’t eaten much in weeks. A forced diet you could say.”

Molly patted her rotund stomach. “I need something. The doctor says I should lose at least fifty pounds. I just don’t know how and when they crept up on me. But then you wouldn’t know anything about that.”

Heidi looked down at herself. Was that the case? She concentrated on thinking about what she might like to eat. Chocolate chip cookies. That was a definite, but what else?

The doorbell rang.

“Will you get the pizzas and head on upstairs? I’ll follow with the tea and glasses.”

“Sure,” Heidi said, but the thought of opening the front door to a stranger—and most everybody was one right now—constricted her chest as she made her way to the foyer. The pain from her healing rib cage intensified. She inhaled a series of shallow breaths, but her palms sweated as she reached for the handle and pulled the door toward her.

“Don’t, Heidi,” Lee said from behind her.

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