Silent Run - Barbara Freethy [34]
“I’m glad you’re both here,” she said, taking the first step. “I want to go to the accident scene this morning. I want to start looking for Caitlyn.”
“So do I,” Jake said. “I think we should retrace your steps from the site of the car crash back to LA, to the last-known address of the woman who gave you the car.”
Sarah liked the idea of taking action, but she had one big concern. “Are you sure it’s a good idea for us to leave the area? What if Caitlyn is around here?”
“She’s not in that canyon,” Jake said decisively. “She has to be somewhere else. And since no one has come forward from the immediate area, I’m guessing she’s nowhere close by.”
“What about the news broadcast last night?” she asked. “Did it generate any leads?”
“There were several calls.” Jake glanced over at Dylan. “You have the details. Why don’t you tell her?”
“The first call was from a gas station attendant about thirty miles from here,” Dylan said. “He stated that he saw you fill up the tank, and you gave him two twenty-dollar bills for payment. You didn’t bring the child inside, nor did he see a kid in the car. He admitted that he wasn’t paying much attention. There were also a few calls from obvious cranks.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, one man said you’re his daughter, and you owe him five hundred dollars. He’s a homeless man well-known by the police, and he has no children. Another woman said you ran out on a bill at her coffee shop; she’s also hoping to gain some cash by taking advantage of your memory loss.”
“That’s it?” she asked, feeling depressed. Wasn’t there anyone who knew her? Who cared about her?
“Well, there was another woman who said you look like a friend of hers who disappeared eight years ago. She lives out by the coast, north of here, in San Luis Obispo. Manning talked to her, but said she had no facts to connect her friend with you, just a feeling. She wasn’t completely sure she recognized you, and apparently she fancies herself something of a psychic. He thinks it’s extremely doubtful there’s any connection.”
Sarah’s heart had taken a jump at the thought of a friend, but neither Dylan nor Jake seemed excited by the news. “You don’t think she could be telling the truth, then?”
“I thought I’d drive out there and talk to her today,” Dylan replied. “Just to be sure. We don’t want to overlook any leads. It’s a long shot.”
Sarah blew out a breath, wishing there were more information, but in an odd way strangely relieved that there wasn’t. Her reaction was wrong, she thought. She should have wanted someone to come forward and identify her, but her instincts told her it wouldn’t be that easy. She’d taken great pains to hide herself away. “Shall we go?”
Jake hesitated. “Do you want to eat something first, see the doctor before we go?”
“I’m not hungry, and I don’t need to see the doctor. He’s obviously not going to give me back my memory. The sooner we start, the sooner we’ll find Caitlyn.” She glanced at Dylan. “Could you hand me my coat, please?”
He grabbed her coat off the chair and tossed it to her. She realized her mistake a split second too late. As the jacket flew through the air, the money slipped out of the unzipped pocket and landed on the floor in a wash of green bills.
“What the hell is this?” Jake asked as he knelt down to collect the money. He glanced up at her, shocked. “Good God, Sarah, there must be fifteen hundred dollars here.”
“Fourteen hundred and forty dollars,” she corrected. “I counted it yesterday when I found the money in my coat, and before you ask, I don’t know where it came from. It was in a zippered pocket in the back of the jacket, almost like a hiding place. There was nothing else there.”
Dylan grabbed the jacket and ran his hands through it, obviously intent on making sure she was telling the truth. “Nothing.”