LITMIR.BIZ

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driving off, but he couldn’t actually see it.”

      Melanie had apparently regained consciousness right after the attacker had let go of her. Anna had heard the commotion and hurried outside. She had pulled the blanket off Melanie just as Melanie was opening her eyes.

      “The Bowen city police have been out, patrolling the neighborhood and going door-to-door, looking for anybody who witnessed anything. They also talked to customers and employees inside the coffee shop.”

      Melanie, Luke and Anna were sitting in the front parlor of Anna’s house. Both Melanie and Anna loved vintage clothes, jewelry and home furnishings. The heavy furniture, thick curtains tied back with knotted silk tassels, crocheted doilies on the table tops and richly colored rugs on the hardwood floor gave Melanie a familiar feeling of stability and comfort. Something she desperately needed right now.

      Luke had called ahead to ask if he could visit with Melanie for a few minutes. He’d arrived a short time ago, and Anna had invited him in and offered him tea, which he’d politely declined.

      Luke sat in an upholstered club chair, with his sheriff’s-department-issued cowboy hat in hand, leaning forward a little as though he were already anxious to leave. Melanie was across from him, seated at the end of a couch, clutching the couch’s arm so tightly, her right hand was nearly numb. But she didn’t care. It was something solid. And right now there wasn’t much in her life that felt solid. Instead everything seemed disturbingly dreamlike. Normal life felt like something that had vanished a thousand years ago.

      Anna sat close to her in a rocking chair.

      “Did you go back to the hospital and get checked out by the doctor after this second attack?” Luke asked.

      Melanie started to nod. Pain made her stop. Her neck was stiff after being grabbed and dragged in the alley, and she had a pounding headache again. Those pains didn’t mix well with the slight wave of dizziness that had come and gone, repeatedly, since she woke up this morning. For the moment it seemed best to stay as still as possible.

      “I did see a doctor,” she answered. “I have no new injuries, other than a sore neck.” And a sense of impending panic that had started as soon as she had left the hospital, and it was apparently going to hang around for a while.

      “This time I had nothing for anyone to steal,” she said to the large lawman sitting across from her. “I didn’t have my purse. I left it in the car. I wasn’t even wearing any of my jewelry. They made me take it off when I arrived at the hospital, and I put it in my purse.” Not that it was extremely valuable. She wore what she made. She’d splurged and made a few pieces using gold, but the vast majority of her jewelry was made of silver and semiprecious stones. She couldn’t afford anything more elaborate.

      “This wasn’t a robbery,” Melanie said, with her voice sounding scratchy and tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “So, why is this happening to me?”

      “I don’t know. But I intend to find out.” Luke cleared his throat. “Tell me what was in the lockbox,” he said. “Maybe that has something to do with all of this.”

      Melanie blinked several times, trying to figure out what he was talking about. “What lockbox?”

      “Peter told me you had a blue lockbox with you, all three days of the rodeo, and that it was with you in the truck when he saw you just before the attack at the fairgrounds. After that it was missing. It hasn’t turned up yet.”

      Melanie stared at him, trying hard to remember her time at the rodeo, here in Miles County. But her efforts brought her straight to a blank wall. And the harder she tried to remember, the closer she got to that feeling of panic. “I can’t remember,” she whispered, afraid that if she spoke normally, she’d burst into tears or scream.

      “You have that beige metal box you’ve used as a cashbox for a while,” Anna said. “Where is it?”

      Melanie glanced at her cousin. “You can’t seriously be asking me that,” she said. “I don’t know where I’ve been for the last two weeks. How could I possibly know where that box is?” She started to shake her head and stopped when the pain started. “I don’t even know where the items I had left over at the end of the rodeo are.”

      “Your trailer is still locked,” Luke said. “I haven’t seen inside it. But I have seen inside your truck. There are several clear storage boxes stacked in the back seat. Looks like your jewelry is in there.”

      “I’m glad to hear it,” Melanie said. At least that was one less thing to worry about.

      “I can drive your truck and trailer back here,” Luke said. “Or wherever you’d like me to take them. You live here, correct?”

      “Yes.” Melanie glanced at Anna, feeling bad for having just snapped at her. “I’ve lived here for the last year.”

      Luke turned to Anna. “So, you know for certain that Melanie has been in town for the last two weeks, even though she doesn’t remember it?”

      “Yes.” Anna nodded. “You came straight back here after your trip to Wyoming,” she said, directing the rest of her response to Melanie. “You arrived on time. You were happy. You’d sold some jewelry and that oak-dresser-and-nightstand set you’d restored. The one you bought from the Wilsons.”

      “I remember that,” Melanie said, feeling like recalling it was some kind of triumph. “I remember arriving in Leopold early and going to the big flea market in the parking lot outside the rodeo, looking for things I could buy and fix up and then resell. I remember getting my booth set up inside the rodeo grounds and talking to customers. And I remember selling that oak-dresser-and-nightstand set to a newlywed couple.” Why was it that she could remember being at the rodeo in Wyoming, remember making that sale, remember packing up when it was all over and then...nothing?

      “Stop it,” her cousin commanded in a kind tone. Anna glanced at Luke. “Her doctor told her not to try too hard to remember that missing stretch of time and risk getting herself upset. She’s supposed to relax and let her mind and body heal.”

      “I’d like to see you relax after going through what I’ve been through,” Melanie grumbled. “I just think something must have happened after I packed up in Wyoming. Otherwise, why does my memory end there?”

      “The doctor said recent memories sometimes disappear after a head injury like yours,” Anna said. “That trip was recent. Doesn’t mean anything significant happened there. And the doctor said there’s a good chance your memory will come back.”

      Anna turned to Luke. “If you look at the security video from the bank and from several different stores in town, you’ll see she was here. And we can find plenty of witnesses if we need to.” She looked at Melanie. “You’ve got a hard head. Getting hit by a tree branch couldn’t have done that much damage. You’ll be fine. Give it time.”

      Despite feeling miserable, Melanie mustered a slight smile. She didn’t have much family living around Bowen anymore, just a couple of cousins on her mother’s side and her dad’s widower uncle, and sometimes that bothered her. But the family she did have always came through in a pinch. Then she glanced down at her hands. They had scrapes all over them. She swallowed thickly. “Why do you think the guy who attacked me today didn’t just shoot me?” she asked Luke. “Apparently shooting me wasn’t a problem for him last night.”

      “I don’t know. My best guess would be that he was afraid of witnesses. It was broad daylight. In the center of town. The sound of gunshots would have drawn a lot of attention.”

      The doorbell chimed and Melanie’s heart sank. It could be some kind soul coming by to check up on her. And with her emotions all over the place and her strength fading, she wasn’t sure how polite she could be.

      Luke got to his feet. “You expecting anyone?”

      “No,” Anna said, walking to the door. Luke followed behind her. She pulled aside the narrow gauze curtain covering the strip of glass beside the door and looked out.

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