Silent Run - Barbara Freethy [43]
As they drove through the city she studied each street sign, each building, searching for something familiar to jog her memory. Her nerves tightened with each passing block. She began to feel on edge, wary. But she didn’t know why.
She glanced into the side-view mirror, repeating an action she had done many times in the past few hours. Looking over her shoulder felt natural to her, too, as if it were part of her normal existence. Unfortunately there was a ton of traffic, and it was impossible to tell whether the cars behind them were on their tail or just going about their business.
“We’re almost there,” Jake said, checking the map they’d picked up at a gas station. “With any luck, maybe we’ll find your past and my daughter before this day is over.”
Sarah didn’t like that he referred to Caitlyn as his daughter, but she’d save that battle for another time. She didn’t know what to make of Jake or the way she’d left him. She wanted to believe she’d had a good reason, but so far that reason eluded her. She’d seen no hint of violence in Jake. Anger, yes, definitely. And his words could cut like a knife. But she’d never felt physically afraid of him. He could be putting his best foot forward, hiding his dark side, but she didn’t really think so. His emotions were too raw, his pain too real. He hurt too much over the loss of his daughter. And even perhaps her own betrayal. Despite the fact that he professed not to care about her at all anymore, sometimes she wondered if he wasn’t trying to make that true, rather than it already being true.
And then there were her own feelings, an odd stirring whenever she looked at him. On some elemental level she recognized him, maybe trusted him, perhaps even loved him. That thought shook her to the core. She couldn’t love a man she couldn’t remember, could she?
The silence and intimacy of the car suddenly became too much for her. Reaching for the radio, she turned it on, blasting the car with music. She flipped through a couple of stations until a familiar beat tugged at her memory. She knew this pop song. She’d heard it playing before. Where? Closing her eyes, she let the melody run through her head.
The music was coming from a bedroom down the hall. How odd, she thought. No one should be in there. As she reached the door, she saw that it was half-open. She gave a knock, a push.
She heard a shriek and didn’t realize it was coming from her until the two naked people on the bed rolled over to look at her, shock and horror on their faces—or at least on the woman’s face.
Betrayal ripped through her, and she ran from the room.
“This is the place,” Jake said.
“What?” Her eyes flew open as Jake stopped the car and turned off the engine. “What did you say?”
“I said we’re here.” His brows drew together in a frown. “Where were you?”
“In the past. That song on the radio just now was playing in my head. I remember walking into a house, down a long hallway. I opened the bedroom door and there were two people having sex. I don’t think they were supposed to be having sex.”
“Who were they?” he asked quickly.
She licked her lips, wondering why their faces were now so vague. “I . . . I don’t know. It’s like the memory is just out of reach, hiding in the shadows. I felt a sense of deep betrayal.” She thought for a moment. “Maybe it was my parents.”
“So you were a child in this memory?”
“No, that doesn’t feel right. I must have been an adult. And the fact that these two people were having sex mattered to me.” A sudden thought occurred to her, and she turned to him with a question in her eyes. “Is it possible that you—”
Jake gave an immediate and definite shake of his head. “No, it wasn’t me. I didn’t cheat on you, Sarah.
I don’t know why you left me, but you didn’t leave because you saw me with another woman.”
His green eyes were honest and true and, of course, angry, as if he couldn’t believe she was questioning him about his fidelity