Silent Run - Barbara Freethy [46]
Jake’s gaze met hers, and she saw something in his eyes that she couldn’t define. She didn’t know if he was pleased by her declaration or wondering whether or not she was trying to play him again. Not that it mattered. She was in the building where she’d lived. There had to be clues to her past here.
“I want to go to my apartment,” she said. “But I don’t have a key.”
“I have one,” Amanda replied. “Are you sure you don’t want me to call the police? You were really scared the other night when that guy tried to get in the elevator with you. You told me that someone wanted to kill you, that you were in terrible danger.”
Sarah’s nerves tightened. Her memory of the elevator had been true and very recent. Maybe she was on her way to remembering everything. “Did I say who was after me?”
“A man from your past. And here you are with a man from your past.”
“It wasn’t Jake,” Sarah said quickly.
“Was Sarah actually physically attacked?” Jake asked.
Amanda looked from Sarah to Jake, then back at Sarah again, obviously not sure how much to reveal. Finally she said, “No. Mr. Harrington, a tenant on the first floor, ran the guy off.”
“Did I call the police?” Sarah asked.
“You refused. I couldn’t change your mind.”
“Where was Caitlyn? Was she with me?”
“No, I was watching her while you ran to the store,” Amanda said. “She was fine.”
Sarah let out a breath of relief. “What happened after that? Did the guy come back?”
“Not that I know of. I called you later that night, and you told me everything was fine, but you might take Katie and go away for a few days to visit some relatives.”
“When exactly was that?”
“Tuesday. Wednesday morning when I knocked on your door you didn’t answer.”
“Weren’t you worried about her?” Jake challenged.
“Of course I was,” Amanda said defensively. Looking back at Sarah she said, “I called your cell phone, but it went to voice mail. I called the place where you work, but they said you weren’t scheduled to be there, so I assumed you’d left town.”
“I didn’t say where my relatives lived?”
“No. You were very cagey about your past.”
“So I left Wednesday morning and went somewhere,” Sarah murmured, her initial hope beginning to fade again. “Where did you say I worked?”
“For a janitorial service, cleaning commercial office buildings at night. The name of the company is Gold Star Cleaners. It’s over on Fifth Street, a few miles from here.”
“Who watched Caitlyn for Sarah when she was at work?” Jake asked.
Amanda hesitated. She seemed more willing to answer Sarah’s questions than Jake’s. “Sarah took Katie along with her. It was night, and no one cared if Katie slept in her car seat while Sarah cleaned. She said it was a perfect setup. No one was around when she did her job, and she didn’t have to pay for a babysitter.”
It was also a great job for someone who wanted to live in the shadows, Sarah thought. Since she’d left Jake, she’d lived like a ghost in the night.
“And she never told you anything about me—the father of her child?” Jake asked, his voice edged with impatience and frustration.
“She didn’t say one word about you. I thought you were probably the one she was running from, some kind of abusive boyfriend or husband situation. Maybe that’s still the case, and she just doesn’t remember.”
Amanda’s challenging statement hung in the air between them.
“That’s not what went down,” Jake said. “I didn’t hurt Sarah. She left of her own free will.”
Amanda didn’t look convinced, but Sarah didn’t have time to wait for Amanda to trust Jake. “I have to find Caitlyn,” she said, bringing the conversation back to the single most important truth. “I must have left her somewhere, and I need to figure out where.”
“Maybe with those