Heir to Secret Memories

She had a tape recorder. He was impressed.

The voice from the phone called her name again.

Without a word, Jay held the phone up to her ear.

“Katie,” she sobbed dryly, pressing her head tightly against the phone. He held it steady for her.

“I’m sorry. I…dropped the phone. Where’s Katie?” As if just remembering the tape recorder, she held it close to the cell phone. She listened for a moment, then cut her eyes over at Jay, looking away when he met her gaze. “Yes. I found him. You should know. You had me followed.”

She listened, breathing in short bursts. She was obviously in pain.

He pushed away the easy compassion that rose in him. She was negotiating with these people, using him as a bargaining chip.

“I swear. I will. You just tell me where and when. But I have to talk to Katie. I won’t do anything for you unless you prove to me she’s all right.”

Jay glanced at her pale, pinched face. He was surprised at the strength of will in her voice. She was obviously in pain, judging by the way she avoided moving her left arm. He was pretty sure she had a dislocated or broken shoulder. He hoped to hell it wasn’t broken.

“Katie, honey? Hi.”

Jay held the phone, feeling her inner struggle. He could tell she wanted to drop the tape recorder and press the phone as close as she could to her ear. He had to give her credit for having the presence of mind to record the call.

He didn’t look at her, offering her as much illusion of privacy as he could. Her voice was thick with tears, and at the same time deliberately and pitifully cheerful.

“Are you okay, sweetie? They’re being nice to you?” She paused, and took a long, shaky breath. “It’s dark at night? Oh, Katie. I know you don’t like the dark.” Her voice quivered. “But remember what I told you? God wraps us up in the soft dark night to keep us safe.”

Jay winced. They were holding the child in the dark. An echo of the panic that had seized him earlier rippled through him again. He rubbed his temple where a headache was starting.

“You have Ugly Afghan? I’m so glad. Keep it wrapped tight and pretend it’s my arms, okay?”

Jay heard her voice almost break. She swallowed audibly. “Be brave, okay?” Paige continued. “No, I know you don’t like canned soup, but you eat it and stay strong. We’ll have p-pizza real soon, okay, hon—”

She stopped abruptly, listening. Jay glanced at her. Her face was still pale, her lips white with tension. “I understand,” she grated. “If you hurt her, I swear I’ll—”

She slumped. “They hung up.”

Jay glanced at the phone. Nothing showed on the display window except the battery indicator and the digital clock.

She took it away from him.

After he’d pulled back onto the road, Jay glanced at her. “So your plan is to trade me for your daughter?”

She looked at him, her eyes dark and haunted, but her chin held high. “What do you think? You’re a grown man. She’s just a baby.”

Jay allowed himself a wry smile at his earlier thought that he might be able to trust her.

“They told me they’d kill her. They’re keeping her in the dark. Katie hates the dark.” Her voice broke. “Will you help me?”

“How do you think I can help? I don’t know you. I sure don’t know them. What do you want me to do, offer myself to them?”

She met his gaze. “The Johnny I knew would have done anything in his power to protect a child.”

Jay’s heart slammed into his chest with the force of a blow. The Johnny she’d known.

“And you think I’m that man?” he asked. The effort of holding hope at bay inside him harshened his voice.

She held his gaze for a moment, her eyes wide and haunted. Then she shook her head. “I don’t know.”

An odd pang of hurt and disappointment sliced through his heart at her words.

It wasn’t hard for him to imagine how frightened and alone the child must feel. Ever since he’d awakened, wounded and lost, with murky water closing over his head, he’d been haunted by nightmarish visions of unrelenting darkness and suffocating panic.

But he’d also been comforted by the vision of a beautiful young woman, this woman. If he weren’t careful, she could make him believe in himself.

She moved to put the phone back into her pocket, and cried out softly when she moved.

“That was smart of you to record the call.”

She didn’t say anything.

Jay turned left, into what looked like a part of the swamp but was really a road. As many times as he’d driven this route, daylight, nighttime, rain, he still had trouble navigating the deep, narrow ruts.

Precisely two-tenths of a mile later, he turned again and pulled up in front of a broken-down cabin.

His safe house. It was ironic that he was here with this woman he didn’t remember who wanted him to give himself up for her child.

Paige winced in pain as the car came to an abrupt stop in front of an old abandoned shack. Ever since she’d regained consciousness and realized she was in a car with Johnny driving, she’d felt every bump in the road through her hurt shoulder. She couldn’t move it, and the pain radiating down her arm and up her neck was excruciating.

When the car stopped, she raised her head, biting back a moan. “Where are we?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Well, you can’t stop here. We have to find Katie—” She paused, realizing she had no idea where to even start looking.

Her plan had ended at Johnny’s door. She hadn’t considered what she would do after she found him. Now pain and exhaustion were making it hard to think.

Johnny came around and opened the passenger door.

“No, wait. Please. We have to go back. My daughter’s out there. They have her locked in the dark.”

“We can’t do anything until we see how badly you’re hurt. You’re just going to have to trust me.” He leaned down and looked at her. “Can you stand?”

“Of course I can.” Paige tried to move, but the seat belt held her trapped. She fumbled with the catch, her shoulder screaming with agony.

“Hold on. Let me.”

Johnny leaned over her and placed his large, callused hand on top of hers, stilling her desperate movements. She pulled her hand away and sat stiffly as he quickly and efficiently unbuckled the seat belt.

Then he slid his arms gently behind her back and under her knees.