August Unknown (26 page)

Suddenly all August’s jumbled, whirling thoughts came to an
abrupt halt. She faced Geoffrey. “You knew?”

“I learned this morning. Mike found the missing person’s
report on you. I was going to tell you now.”

“I don’t believe him,” Colin shot.

Geoffrey glared back. “I don’t care what you believe.”

Colin turned on him. “You can go now. She doesn’t need you
anymore.” He poked Geoffrey in the shoulder in a definite challenge.

In a lightning fast reaction, Geoffrey grabbed his hand,
twisted his arm behind his back and shoved him away.

Geoffrey was larger and more muscular, but Colin was strong,
and used to heavy work. The last thing she wanted was to see a fight break out
between them.

“Stop it!” she shouted. “Stop, now!”

Colin whirled around, but both men froze at the same instant,
a distance apart.

She pressed her fingers to her forehead, rubbing away a
rapidly growing ache. “I can’t take this right now.”

They both started shouting at the same instant.

“Stop!”

Emily took a deep breath. Her heart pounded in her throat.

“You! Go that way.” She pointed behind Colin, and then turned
to Geoffrey. “And you, go that way.”

Colin’s brows shot up. “Hell no! I’m not letting you out of my
sight again.”

“Where are you going?” Geoffrey asked.

“I’m going back to the Mirthful Mermaid to finish my shift.
Alone!”

They both erupted in argument so fast and so loud, she
couldn’t distinguish any of it. She sliced through the air with her good hand.

“No buts! I need to sort this out. Do you hear me?”

Both men settled on their heels.

“And I won’t tolerate any fighting.” She held her breath for a
long moment, and was satisfied when they both kept quiet.

By the time she reached the Mirthful Mermaid, all the confusion
seemed to have lifted like a fog that had suddenly blown off.

My name is Emily Atkinson. I am twenty-six years old
.

She lived in a quiet suburb of Astoria, Oregon, renting the
little house her parents hadn’t been able to sell when they retired. The
seventy-six foot ketch, her pride and joy, now belonged to Colin’s father, Graham,
and Northwest Expeditions, their fishing and charter company where she worked.
Her heart surged with a happy ache. Graham! Dear, sweet Graham, how she missed
him.

Gran Millie looked up when she walked through the door. She smiled.
“Did you forget something, child?”

“No, I’ve remembered something.” She strode across the nearly empty
restaurant and extended her hand. “I’d like to introduce myself. I’m Emily
Atkinson.”

* * *

So he’d found the little bitch. She watched from the car and
couldn’t help but snicker when Colin and Emily’s new guy started swinging.

It was just like Emily to have two men fighting over her. Back
in eighth grade, Colin got into a fistfight with Brent Nelson because Emily had
asked him to the Sadie Hawkins dance.

I’d asked Brent first
. A bitter taste accompanied the
memory. But Brent had dropped her like a lump of dog shit when pretty, blue-eyed
blond-haired Emily asked him. They’d been kids then, and as adults, incidents
like that had been forgiven, chalked up to immaturity and childish antics. But
never forgotten.

Brent had been my first crush, and the first time Emily had
snatched it away
. But not the last.

Emily looked confused. She muttered to herself as she left
them both and strode back to the restaurant. She never even looked up, passing
right in front of the parked car.

Wouldn’t that be another pisser, to look up and see me
sitting here?

She must not have remembered everything. Surely the police
would be pulling up by now if she had.

“It’s not too late for you, Emily.”

Just because Colin had found her didn’t mean it was too late
to finish what should have been the end three weeks ago.

* * *

“There now, this will make everything better.” Gran Millie
poured two cups of her magic tea blend and sat down at the table with Emily. “I
suppose this is a real doosey for you.”

“It’s like my head is a blender set on high.” She groaned, and
then couldn’t help but laugh. Her spirits were soaring.

She remembered! And it felt wonderful.

“There’s all this information in there whirling around, but I
can’t quite pin it all down. I have to grab for things one at a time, or I
won’t get anything.”

“Don’t you worry about any of it. It’ll come to you when it’s
good and ready.” Gran Millie picked up her cup, and then urged Emily on with a
wave of her hand.

She took a sip of her tea.

“Emily. I like that name, it’s pretty.”

“It feels a little...foreign.” She smiled as she thought back
to Geoffrey’s teasing when they’d first met, when he’d wondered if her name was
Prunella or Grizelda.

“I suppose a lot’s going to feel strange to you over the next
few days.”

“It’s all coming back fast. I remember my parents, and I
remember Colin and his father, Graham.”

“That’s Colin, out there?” Gran Millie tipped her head. Emily
twisted around in her seat. Colin sat on one of the short pylons connected with
old ship chains that created the artistic fence around the parking lot, his
hands stuffed into the pockets of his coat.

“I bought him that coat for his birthday last year,” Emily
said softly. “It’s March twelfth. He’s a Pisces.” He looked so desperate, her
heart lurched for him.

Far across the parking lot, Geoffrey paced in front of the
SUV, using his cell phone. Both men glanced secretively at each other, careful
not to let the other see it.

“What are you gonna do?”

Emily turned back to Gran Millie, but only shook her head. “I
don’t know.”

The older woman smiled. “Well, you’re a lucky woman, with two
men panting at your heels.”

“It was more like fighting than panting.” Emily sipped her
tea. “And I don’t feel very lucky.”

Of the confusion churning inside her, this was the most
turbulent. What would she do?

She loved Geoffrey with the sharp, vivid intensity of new
passion, but Colin...Colin was ingrained on her soul. She could feel it
already, and she hadn’t even remembered everything.

“I think the first thing we should do is talk about this woman
who’s been following you. Did he spark any memories of her?”

Emily shook her head.

“Maybe your young man will know who she is.”

Your young man
. A few hours ago, she would have put
Geoffrey in that role. Now Colin had been returned to it, but she wasn’t sure
that was right, either.

“Well, we shouldn’t leave them out there.” Gran Millie rose
from her chair and put her hands on her hips as she looked through the Mirthful
Mermaid’s front windows. “We need to talk this thing through.”

She knew Gran Millie was right, but the idea made her heart
flutter.

She turned back to Emily. “Shall I bring them in?”

Emily swallowed and nodded. Ready or not, they had to talk.

Gran Millie went to the front door and leaned out. She
gestured to Colin, who leaped to his feet and started over, and then to
Geoffrey. He snapped his phone shut and followed.

“Come on in, boys, and have a seat.” She held the door open
until they’d both come through. “My girl here is a little upset. So we’re all
going to try our best not to make it worse, aren’t we?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Colin said.

“Of course, Gran.”

Colin sat down beside her and took her hand. He leaned
forward, balancing his elbows on his knees, and brought her fingers to his
lips. “I still can’t believe it. I’m so glad you’re all right.” His eyes still
had a glossy quality.

She smiled as she turned his hand in hers and gripped it. She
then released him and stood, pacing a few steps away.

Geoffrey sat in the chair his grandmother had vacated,
watching them with sad eyes. She knew what was on his mind, and it broke her
heart to imagine the pain he was feeling.

She took a deep breath and started in as even a tone as she
could manage over the tremors wracking every muscle and nerve.

“I know that you both have a lot of questions for me, but
right now I don’t have the answers. I need some time to get my thoughts
straight. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Colin jerked upright in his chair. “You’re going to come home!
People want to know what’s happened to you; your family needs to know. For
God’s sake, Emily, your parents had a
funeral
. They buried an empty
casket.”

She had not been prepared to hear that. Emily sagged into a
chair before her rubbery knees gave out.

Gran Millie returned to the table with two more teacups. “Let’s
all keep a cool head, now.”

Colin let out a grumbling sigh. “How do you expect me to feel?
I thought I’d lost my fiancée.”

“Colin, last night somebody with a knife attacked me in the
alley right outside that door.” She pointed to the back hallway. “It was a
woman. And someone broke into Geoffrey’s house when I was there alone.”

He stared at her with shocked disbelief written on his face.
She shoved to her feet and stood before them. Both men looked so forlorn, a lance
of misery sleeted through her chest.

“Do you have any idea who it might have been?” Geoffrey asked
him.

Colin’s brows drew together. “How would I know who it was?”

“Do any of our friends have red hair?” she asked him.

He glanced away, silent over whatever was going through his
mind.

“I just remembered something.”

Colin’s gaze snapped back. “What?”

“That look. What are you not telling me?” When he remained
silent, she pressed. “What happened the night I went overboard?”

He shoved out of his chair and paced away. “I don’t know.” He
stopped and faced the group of them. Emily could feel everyone waiting on bated
breath, most of all herself.

“I wish I did. My father and I suspected you and Sonja had an
argument. The two of you had been...at odds lately. We told the police and they
brought her in for questioning, but they didn’t have anything to hold her on.”

“Do you think this woman pushed Aug-Emily overboard?” Gran
Millie asked.

Geoffrey leaned forward and set his elbows on his knees. He
clasped his hands together and pressed them to his mouth as if trying to hold
back an inappropriate comment.

“Pushed? No,” Colin finally answered. He shook his head. “But
was there a terrible accident? Only the two of you know for sure.”

“Colin, I don’t remember what happened that night on the boat.
But I keep having these strange, transparent memories of a woman with red hair
that scare me so badly I get sick to my stomach.”

“Does this ‘Sonja’ have red hair?” Geoffrey asked. He’d been mostly
silent until now.

Colin’s shoulders sagged. “Yeah, she has red hair.” He
returned to his chair and sat heavily. “She’s been your best friend since grade
school. I can’t believe she’d do something to hurt you. I sure as hell don’t
believe she’s trying to kill you now.”

“How can you be certain of that?” Geoffrey asked. “It seems to
me you’re the least informed person here.”

Colin clenched his jaw but didn’t respond. After a scalding glare
Geoffrey’s way, he rose from his chair again. “I need to make a phone call.”

“Now hold on a minute.” Geoffrey jumped to his feet. “Who are
you calling?”

Colin swiveled around to face him. The tension between them
was so sharp, Emily could almost smell its bitterness.

“My father.”

Geoffrey glanced at Emily. She stepped forward. “Who else was
on board that night?”

A horrified look slipped over Colin’s features. “You can’t
possibly believe my father had anything to do with what happened!”

Emily approached him and reached for his hand. Colin took it
and squeezed. His expression softened as he gazed down at her.

This, she remembered: his sweet smiles, his kind eyes, and the
way he gazed at her as if she were a princess. She had loved this man with an
intensity that had ruled her entire life. Bits and pieces came back stronger
now, memories of the excitement and exuberance that had been life with Colin.

“Listen to me, Colin. I don’t remember what happened that
night, but I have these really bad feelings about it. Until I remember exactly
what happened, I don’t want anyone to know I’m alive.”

“It would appear the person who wants to hurt you already
knows,” Gran Millie tossed in.

“I won’t say anything,” Colin promised. “If I told him I’d
found you, he’d think I was crazy anyway. He’d probably assume I grabbed some
poor woman who looks like you.”

He flipped open his phone, dialed, and paced a few steps away.

“I don’t like the way this feels,” Geoffrey said.

“Nor do I,” his grandmother agreed.

“Dad—” Colin glanced back at Emily as he spoke. “Sorry about
that. No, there was a bad connection. Yeah, I got here okay. Listen, where’s
Sonja?”

Emily returned to her seat beside Geoffrey. Colin turned away,
as if watching it upset him.

Heaven help me, what am I going to do?
She loved two
men, each in such a completely different way it couldn’t be compared.

“When was the last time you saw her?” Colin turned back to
them. “Are you sure? What time? All right, thanks...I don’t know. I’ll call you
back soon. Yes, I’m fine—I swear. Dad...I love you.”

He flipped the phone shut. “Sonja was in Astoria last night.
My father saw her having dinner with her mother at Trudy’s Café at about eight
thirty.”

“It’s almost a three-hour drive from Astoria,” Gran Millie
said. “She would’ve had to drive like a bat out of hell to be here by eleven.”

“Do I know anyone else with red hair?”

“And a black Labrador,” Geoffrey added.

Colin’s gaze flicked over him. “When we were in high school, Sonja
had a black Lab named Rocky.”