Sudden Alliance. Jackie Manning
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it’s Liam. Were any accident reports filed today, or any missing persons reported in the past couple days?”
“Hmm. I don’t hear from you in six months and I don’t even rate a ‘Hi, Francie, how ya been since I stole those ten bucks from you?’”
Liam smiled. “Don’t be a sore loser, Francie. You lost that sawbuck fair and square. Next time, bet on a winning team.”
He heard her warm laughter on the other end of the line. “Don’t you know that it’s an act of treason for a New Englander to bet on any team except the Red Sox?”
“That’s not loyalty. That’s stupidity.” He grinned when he heard her swear.
“Hold on while I check.”
The light teasing with Francie did little to distract Liam’s thoughts from the mysterious woman lying in the next room.
“An eighty-two-year-old man wandered from the Bellwood Harbor Nursing Home last night,” Francie said, coming back on the line. “But he was found several hours later. We had a report of a missing seven-year-old boy at 10:05 a.m. yesterday, but his mother called back to say he’d fallen asleep in the back seat of his grandfather’s car. That’s it, Liam.” She hesitated. “Why, what’s up?”
“Nothing,” he said, surprising himself when he realized that he’d decided to wait until the woman regained consciousness before reporting the incident to the police. More surprising, he didn’t know why. Maybe it was because she’d seemed so terrified. Until he knew who or what she was afraid of, he’d trust his instincts. “I’ll stop in and say hi before I head back to the city. I promise.”
“You’d better. Al will be wicked mad if you dare leave for the Big Apple before he has a chance to trade war stories with you.”
“Well, I know better than to tick off your partner. Take care, Francie. And thanks.”
He clicked off the phone and absently hooked it back onto his belt, his mind on the unconscious woman. Maybe she wasn’t from this area of Cape Cod. The tourist season wouldn’t be starting for another four weeks or more. Maybe she had been visiting one of the new year-round homes that had sprung up along the coast recently, and she’d taken a wrong turn. He hadn’t seen her car, which brought him back to his first thought—that she’d been dropped off to fend for herself.
He strode back toward his room, determined to solve the mystery. When he knocked, he heard his sister say, “Come on in, Liam. I’m just about finished.”
As Liam stepped inside, he was surprised to find the woman alert. She jerked her head up and glanced around the room.
“You’re safe, dear,” Bridget said in a gentle voice. She was sitting beside the bed. “You’re with friends.”
The woman’s green eyes fixed on Liam. Her face had been washed, so the cuts and scratches stood out even more against her ivory complexion. Her hair had been smoothed back, and she was dressed in one of Bridget’s flannel nightgowns.
Liam stepped to the fireplace mantel and leaned against it, wondering if she recognized him as the man who’d found her. Her stare held no sign of recognition.
“That’s my brother, Liam,” Bridget said, as if to remove the woman’s confusion. “He’s the man who found you on the road. I’m a doctor. A pediatrician. He brought you to our cottage because he knew you’d be safe here. I’ve called a neighbor who is an internist. I want her to have a look at you. Then I’d like to take you to the local hospital—”
“No!” The woman swung around and stared at Bridget. “I can’t stay here!” She threw the cover back and struggled to sit up.
Bridget shot a worried look at Liam. “You’re free to go, dear,” she said, “but please let us help you.” This woman was in no condition to leave on her own. “Can I call someone for you? It’s four in the morning. Do you have a husband, a boyfriend, someone who is worried about you?”
The woman looked confused, then rubbed her head. “I—I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Bridget repeated, then glanced worriedly at Liam again.
Liam knew from the bump on her head that she might be suffering from amnesia. He motioned to Bridget, then stepped back into the hall. A minute later, she met him outside the door.
“She’s terrified of being confined and suffering extreme panic—symptomatic of hysterical amnesia. Did you find out anything at the police station?” she whispered.
“No. Nothing. Do you think she’s been attacked?”
“I’ll wait for Willie to take a look at her. Willie helped organize the local rape crisis center here on the island and will know how to approach her. The woman should be x-rayed, and checked by a trauma team at the E.R.”
“Not without her permission. When I offered to take her to the hospital, I think she would have bolted off across the dunes if she hadn’t collapsed first.”
“Why don’t you go downstairs and wait for Willie while I stay with our mystery guest?”
“Did you turn on the security alarm? You’ll need to keep an eye on her,” Liam said. “I’ve got a feeling she’ll try to sneak off the minute your back is turned.”
Bridget rubbed her forehead thoughtfully. “Okay, brother. I won’t forget.” She gave him a playful shove toward the stairs.
He remembered how reluctant Bridget had been when he’d first suggested that TALON-6, the security company in which he was a partner, install the latest bells-and-whistles surveillance system to protect the family’s summer cottage. Regardless of his older sister’s suspicions of high-tech gadgets, he knew she realized that the equipment he’d installed at the beach cottage was a good idea.
Several minutes later, Liam was pulling a set of sheets, a blanket and a pillow from the hall linen closet when he heard Bridget’s light footfalls behind him. “I’ll sleep on the living room couch,” he said. “I’ll keep an eye on the front door in case our houseguest decides to sneak out.”
Bridget stood on tiptoe, reached up to pull out a handstitched quilt from the top shelf. “That might be a good idea.” She shrugged. “She seems very agitated. Who knows what she might do?” She walked toward the stairs with Liam. “She’s very lucky. With the darkness and the patchy fog, it’s a wonder you saw her.”
The coincidence wasn’t lost on Liam, either. His sixth sense had been tingling ever since he’d spotted the woman. Something wasn’t right.
Maybe he was just paranoid. He’d had very little sleep in the last twenty-four hours, and had been back in the country only since last night. No doubt what he’d been through was finally catching up with him.
Liam took the quilt without argument. “I’ll send Willie upstairs as soon as she arrives.”
“SO YOU’RE SAYING she wasn’t raped?” Liam asked awhile later as he studied their neighbor. He’d known the gray-haired woman for as long as he could remember. Dressed in a faded flannel shirt, sleeves rolled up to her deeply tanned elbows, Dr. Wilhelmina Prescott returned his gaze over the top of her wire-rimmed glasses.
“That I’m sure of,” Willie said, folding her stethoscope inside her black leather medical bag. “I can’t tell you much more until she’s x-rayed. She might have short-term memory loss from that bump on the head.”
“Did she tell you what happened?”
Willie shook her head. “No, but I gave her something to relax her. After she’s rested, I think she’ll be more receptive.” She leaned over to stroke the collie’s head. “Keep an eye on her. Don’t let her sleep too long. Bridget knows what to do, and she’ll take the first watch.”
Willie peered at Liam with a no-nonsense look in her gray eyes. “Your sister said you drove up