LITMIR.BIZ

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now, he didn’t have the luxury of being choosy. Folding the sheet, Luc tucked it into his shirt pocket. “Thanks.”

      Alison was getting antsy. “And you have my number.” It wasn’t a question.

      Donnelley held up his notepad. He’d written the information down on top of the page. “Right here.”

      She began to back away. Being the center of attention had never sat well with her, and the crowd kept growing rather than diminishing. “Then we can go?”

      The detective gestured toward the taxicab. “Already said you could. Feel free.”

      Free was the last thing she felt, but it was all she needed to hear. “Let’s go,” she tossed over her shoulder at Luc.

      For a second, he’d thought she was going to leave him behind. Apparently she thought of them as being in this together. He found that oddly comforting, considering that they apparently hadn’t known each other before the fateful cab ride.

      He followed behind her. But when he started to open the passenger door in the front, she looked at him in surprise. “What are you doing?”

      He stopped. It seemed pretty clear to him. “Getting in.”

      Her eyes indicated the back seat. “Why aren’t you getting in the back?” After all, that was where fares were supposed to ride. In the back. Away from her.

      He hesitated, then decided to put the matter to her. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather sit up front with you. I feel too isolated sitting back there.” He’d sat there earlier, waiting for the police to arrive and there had been this pervading feeling of being cut off. He couldn’t successfully deal with that right now.

      Alison caught her bottom lip between her teeth. She didn’t know if it was a line, or if he was being serious. She supposed it wouldn’t do any harm. He looked far too unsteady to try anything in his present condition. And these were unusual circumstances.

      “Okay,” she murmured, getting in on her side. “You can ride up front.”

      Luc stared at the seat belt a full moment, as if analyzing it, before he slid the metal tongue into the groove. “Where are we going?”

      Picking her way through the alley, she turned the car to the south and prayed for no traffic. “To get you checked out.”

      That was going to cost. “I don’t have any money,” he pointed out needlessly.

      She flipped her blinker on, easing into the turn lane. “Don’t worry, I know the doctor there.”

      The doctor she knew turned out to be an intern. And her brother. Alison knew for a fact that Jimmy, three and a half years her senior, was on call in the emergency room at University Medical Center. With any luck, Luc could be quickly walked through this ordeal.

      And then what?

      The question drummed through her head as she brought the taxi to a halt in the tiny lot.

      And then, she told herself, she’d take it one step at a time. Who knew? Maybe he’d get his memory back by the time they walked out through the doors again.

      She was on nodding terms with half the staff on duty during the early-afternoon shift. It was something she was counting on.

      “We’re here,” she announced needlessly to Luc.

      Getting out, trying not to move quicker than his head, Luc looked around. “Shouldn’t we be going through the front?”

      This was the back entrance, reserved for ambulances and paramedics. And the staff. “This is faster.” She ushered Luc in through the electronic doors.

      The receptionist glanced up from her book as Alison hurried by. Her fingers marking her place, she appeared vaguely annoyed at the sudden disturbance.

      “Jimmy around, Julie?”

      It took the young woman a couple of seconds before recognition set in. A smile followed. “Sure. He’s in the lounge. Slow morning,” she commented just before returning to her book.

      “Not anymore,” Alison muttered.

      Realizing that Luc wasn’t beside her any longer, she glanced over her shoulder. She’d lost him at the entrance. There were two nurses in front of him, questioning his presence. And just possibly, she observed, trying to draw a little personal information from him, as well.

      You’re out of luck, girls.

      Not that she could fault them for trying. Luc was definitely in the cute category, she allowed. Actually, she decided, scrutinizing him, he was more than cute. A lot more. Not that that was either here or there. At least, not for her.

      Retracing her steps, Alison planted herself between the two nurses and Luc. She knew one of the women. “Grace, I’m looking for Jimmy.”

      “In the lounge.” Grace hardly spared her a glance. “Anything we can do?” The question was directed at Luc. “A sponge bath while you’re waiting?”

      Without thinking, only reacting, Alison laced her hand through his and pulled Luc away. “He can give himself his own bath.”

      Despite his condition, Luc couldn’t help smiling. “Are they always that friendly?”

      She led him down a hallway whose walls were long overdue for a painting. Cracked in a number of places, the paint was beginning to peel here and there along the perimeters.

      “They usually don’t have enough time to be that friendly. Looks like you picked the right time to be mugged.”

      He doubted if there was such a thing. At least, not from the way his head was feeling.

      “This way.” Pushing open the unlocked door, she called out to her brother. “Jimmy.”

      He looked like her, Luc thought, picking Jimmy Quintano out of the small cluster of men in green livery sitting or standing inside the stuffy room. They had the same color chestnut hair, the same blue eyes and the same winking dimple in their right cheek.

      Right now, Jimmy looked a good deal more indolent than his younger sister.

      Half turning from the program he was watching on a small, beat-up television someone had donated to the cause, Jimmy leaned back in one of the chairs that framed the kitchen table, another donation.

      “Hey, Aly, what’s up?” He looked back at the screen. “I thought you were driving the cab today.”

      “I was.” She would have preferred sharing this with him alone, but she couldn’t always pick her locations. Besides, she knew how fast word spread within the infrastructure of the hospital’s staff. “Until two guys decided they wanted the fare money.”

      The easy smile vanished. Jimmy was on his feet instantly, crossing to her. “You hurt?” Even as he asked, his eyes washed over her as he passed his hands over her arms.

      “I’m okay, but I probably wouldn’t have been if he hadn’t come to my rescue.” For the first time, Jimmy noticed that his sister hadn’t come in alone. He wasn’t accustomed to Alison being with a man. Not since her divorce. “Jimmy, this is Luc. Luc, my brother Jimmy Quintano.”

      A few of the others in the room clustered around them, silently giving their sympathy to Alison, respecting her space. Jimmy focused on Luc. Grateful, Jimmy grasped Luc’s hand in both of his. “Hey, man, thanks. I mean it.” Sincerity clouded his mind for a second. “I didn’t catch your last name. Luc what?”

      She wanted to spare Luc as much as possible. “That’s part of the reason we’re here,” Alison told Jimmy.

      He looked from Luc to his sister. “I don’t understand.”

      Before Luc could say anything, Alison began explaining the situation to her brother.

      “Luc can’t remember anything. One of the muggers hit him from behind and he went

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