her had him thinking all kinds of crazy thoughts. What was it about her that had him wanting to be the knight in shining armor? That was the last role he wanted to be cast in.
Everything worked much better when he kept behind the scenes and did his thing. In and out like a shadow, then on to the next assignment. Alone. No entanglements. Responsible for no one but himself.
Not that it had been like that in Montana. That was the first and last time he ever wanted to go so deep undercover.
He leaned against the kitchen counter and washed away the memories with a gulp of lemonade. The past could stay in the then and gone. He needed to concentrate on the here and now.
AJ’s equipment was as good a place to start as any. The fact that she’d left the room without the bag could be considered something of a breakthrough. Maybe she’d decided to trust him.
Or maybe she’d clung to it as the only connection to her identity. Now, with a name, at least she had another piece of the puzzle.
Or maybe she thought whatever might be hidden there was safe.
He picked up the camera bag. While considerably lighter than when it had been packed, it still seemed heavy for a nylon bag this size. He sat down with the bag in his lap.
Maybe one of Jamie’s focusing exercises would help. Taking a couple deep breaths, Ryan cleared his mind of conscious expectations and blocked out his surroundings. The only sounds he kept tuned to were those of AJ’s movements in the bathroom. He closed his eyes and let his fingers drift over the surfaces of the bag, not seeking with expectations of finding anything in particular. Just feeling for whatever existed.
When nothing presented itself, he turned the bag over and repeated the process. The base seemed to be a solid piece set into the bottom of the bag. Four small pads punctuated each corner. He fiddled with each one, humming with surprised satisfaction when they loosened.
Down the hall, everything was quiet. His eyes snapped open. He held his breath, waiting. When the shower turned on, he blew out a sigh of relief. Let’s hope she likes long showers.
The pads unscrewed easily. The solid base lifted off revealing a false bottom. There was only about an inch of space, but it was ample room for the small black book he found.
He lifted the thin volume from its hiding place and set it on the table. Using the very tips of his fingers, he opened the black vinyl cover. Letters and numbers filled the first page. He flipped through several more pages. Something had been written on all of them.
This didn’t look like AJ’s record book of locations and settings. He flipped open her spiral-bound notebook. Her notes, easily decipherable, were written in a back-slanted looping hand.
A neat, angular handwriting filled the pages of the mystery book with nonsensical combinations of letters and numbers. About halfway through, the cursive writing changed to printed block letters. Neither sample matched AJ’s penmanship.
He tugged on his earlobe. Whoever the author was, the contents had been sensitive enough to prompt the use of a code. He could think of a few reasons something like that would be hidden, none of them good.
AJ, sugar, whatever it is, you are in it deep. And it’s not gonna get better anytime soon.
Whatever the information might be, it had been recorded in a code too complex for him to decipher at first viewing. He’d need some time to do a proper job of it.
The water shut off in the bathroom. He cursed. His window of opportunity had just slammed shut. The little black book would have to wait.
He pulled a sandwich bag from one of the counter drawers and slid the book inside, zipped the seal and slid the package into his pocket. He screwed the bottom panel back into place and set about repacking the camera equipment.
Moving quietly around the kitchen, Ryan tidied up, then settled back at the table with his laptop. He logged on to the Internet and began surfing a few of the medical information sites. Outside, he could hear waves brushing onto the shore. Down the hall, the bathroom door opened.
Chapter Three
Her shower left the bathroom steamy. Too steamy to stay hiding in there any longer. It had taken forever to get rid of all the grit and sand. As for the pain—no matter how long she’d stood under the pounding spray, the pain refused to leave.
When she opened the door and peeked out, cool air rushed into the room. A chill shivered over her skin and she pulled the huge bath sheet tighter around herself. Down the hall, she could only see Ryan’s shoulder and arm as he sat at the kitchen table with his back to her. She padded across the hall to the guest bedroom, slipped inside and closed the door.
Whoever had decorated the room had had nice taste. The pale blond wood furnishings blended with the palette of soft colors used on the walls and bedding to give the room an airy, cool feel. A bowl of potpourri sat atop the dresser, scenting the room with a tangy citrus fragrance. Small handcrafted treasures nestled among the books on the shelves of a bookcase. A small bowl filled with an array of colorful semiprecious stones sat next to an elegant stained-glass lamp on the bedside table.
The overall effect was soothing, offering a sense of peace, of sanctuary. Everything looked so…homey. As though someone actually lived there, rather than a professional decorator had laid out a magazine spread.
She trailed her fingers over the quilted bedspread. Even that had the look of having been lovingly handmade from favorite bits of fabric.
Another shiver danced over her naked shoulders when she encountered the neatly folded pile of clothes. Were they Ryan’s? Or did the owner—Jamie—keep a supply of extra clothing tucked away for his guests along with the extra toothbrushes?
She turned from the bed and came face-to-face with a stranger.
No, not exactly a stranger. She faced a large wood-framed mirror hanging on the closet door. That was the only reason she recognized the woman watching her with guarded eyes. No sense of familiarity stirred. No flood of memories rushed forth to fill in the blanks.
The woman just stared back. She concentrated on the reflection but recognition still eluded her.
Why can’t I remember? She stepped closer, leaning in to search for some clue, some detail that would trigger her memory. AJ? A vague sense of recognition stirred as she tried connecting the name Ryan had dubbed her with the reflection in the mirror. She traced the outline of her face on the cool glass. Unfamiliar gray eyes stared back. She leaned closer, looked deeper into the eyes.
Nothing. Nothing except emptiness that went deep, all the way to her heart. She backed away from the stranger in the mirror and sank down on the edge of the bed.
Tears threatened but she forced them back. She’d cried enough already. In the shower where the running water washed away the tears and the sounds of her quiet sobs. And earlier.
She had awakened on the beach to the sound of her own sobs. Her dreams were a jumbled confusion of images, none of them making sense, all of them fading as she became aware of her surroundings. Then she’d realized the dreams weren’t the only things fading from memory. She had no memory of anything. A void existed where her identity should have been. She had no idea why she had been sleeping on a beach, or even where that beach was.
“AJ, are you okay?”
She jumped at Ryan’s voice coming from the other side of the bedroom door. “Yes, I’m fine. I’ll only be a few more minutes.”
“No rush, sugar. We can head into town to drop off that film whenever you’re ready. If you feel up to it.”
“Sure. Fine. That’s…fine.” She lied. She wasn’t fine. How could she be with her mind so empty?
No. Not empty, not exactly. It was more like a drawn curtain, transparent enough to let shadowy images through but too opaque to allow any real detail to show.
She sensed rather than heard Ryan’s quiet steps as he retreated, leaving