Page 92 of Montana Memory

He’d think I left. Walked away without a second thought. No warning. No explanation. Just…gone. Like the nights we’d spent holed up together hadn’t meant a damn thing. Like I wasn’t falling for him harder than I knew how to handle.

He’d see that stupid note—short, cold, impersonal—and he’d believe it. Of course he would. Because who writes a goodbye like that unless they mean it? Especially after my freak-out at the family dinner.

He wouldn’t be looking for me. Nobody would be looking for me because they would think I didn’t want to be found.

I heard voices just outside the door. Muffled but close. A second later, the door opened. I kept my eyes shut.

“I’m telling you, she looked like she was waking up,” Johnson muttered, low and tense. “Things are going to hell, man.”

“Relax.” Kelly’s voice had that oily smugness that made my skin crawl. “Lachlan Calloway is a nosy, small-town deputy. Of course he called to confirm who we were. Standard practice. Doesn’t mean anything. He’s nosy, not psychic.”

“I don’t know, man.”

“You have got to calm the fuck down.” A pause. “We went back into the office today. Everyone saw us. We’re golden—alibi airtight. We can do whatever we need to with her, and it won’t come back on us.”

My breath caught in my throat.

“Even if someone asks why we stopped by to see her, what’s it prove? We had questions about Ard. It was reasonable we’d want to talk to her.” Kelly kept talking, calm and bored, like they were discussing a sandwich order. “Deputy Dumbass forcing usto come to the station to question her just adds another layer of authenticity.”

“I just don’t like it. Too many people have seen us with her,” Johnson responded.

“But we had reason for it. That’s why it works. We’ll get the money then hide the body where nobody will ever find it.”

My pulse thundered in my ears and I wanted to get up and run, but I didn’t move. Just kept breathing. Shallow but even. I couldn’t let them know I was awake.

Johnson was pacing. “I guess so.”

“As far as everyone else is concerned, she was just someone with memory trauma who ran off and was never heard from again. And besides, who would think to look for her here anyway?”

Here? Where washere? I blinked slowly, careful not to move my head, and forced myself to look around more.

A couch, a table and chairs, a door.

One thing about not having a lot of memories is that it crystallized the ones you did have. I knew this place. It was where I—the new me—had been born.

We were back in the cabin where Alan had injected me with the memory drug. Where Hunter had saved me. Where everything had started and, evidently, would end—if I didn’t find a way out of this.

“You awake, sweetheart?” Kelly’s voice slid like grease down my spine. “I think you are.”

I stayed still. Maybe if I didn’t breathe, didn’t flinch?—

A fist tangled in my hair and yanked me upright so fast my vision whited out.

“Let’s find out,” Kelly growled, dragging me across the floor by my hair. My feet scrambled uselessly for traction, but I couldn’t stop him.

He hauled me across the room and slammed me down in a wooden chair at the table. My body pitched forward. I tried to suck in a breath but instead gagged. Violently.

Dry heaves tore through me. Nothing came up—there was nothing to come up—but my stomach kept spasming, my throat burning like acid. Behind me, Kelly laughed.

“Damn, she’s a mess.”

“Thought you were gonna puke on my boots.” Johnson sounded almost disappointed. “That’d be rude.”

I forced myself upright, swallowing against the bile that still clawed at the back of my throat. My hands shook against the tabletop, but I made myself meet his eyes.

“Where is the money?” Kelly asked, stepping into view. His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Alan gave you the five hundred thousand. You were supposed to keep it safe. So, where is it?”

“I don’t—I don’t have it.” My voice cracked. “Alan never gave me money. Hetookmoney from me. Cleared out the only bank account we shared. He never mentioned half a million dollars to me, much less gave it to me—I don’t have many memories, but I know that. I don’t have anything.”

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