Page 32 of Hunted in Hope Town

“You don’t have to cook for me.”

She walked over to the table with a skillet in hand. She met his gaze. There were dark circles under her eyes like she hadn’t slept any better than he had. But there was a determination in them.

“I do what I please, thank you.”

He almost laughed. It wasn’t the first time she’d said that to him. Did she know that? Remember it? Based on the way she finished plating the food, he didn’t think so.

It was some hash browns and sausages he imagined had come out of the freezer. He hadn’t really been hungry, but he sat down to eat because it would make her eat as well, he hoped. She needed it.

“It snowed quite a bit last night,” she said, when the silence had stretched out for most of the meal.

Ellis didn’t even look at the window. He was calculating the odds of someone getting up here in the snow though—not great. But also not great odds that the two of them could get down if they needed to.

“Zach has a PI watching Dr. Leigh, and some eyes on the road leading up here. We should have a heads-up if anything funny goes down after our meeting with her.”

“How would she…” She shook her head. “I guess the point is we don’t know how any of this happened.”

“Zach is also trying to find a connection between Dr. Leigh and any of the people involved with the Caruso family, but we have to be careful not to involve too many people.”

Especially when it felt like there were already too many extraneous people. He understood Zach’s view. Hoped Zach’s faith in the people he was working with was earned. But the almost-worst had already happened to him, so trust was hard to have faith in.

They ate in silence for the rest of the time. Then Ellis cleaned up while Kirsten disappeared into the bathroom. He was setting up the computer for the video conference when she returned.

She was dressed in the clothes she’d switched with Deputy Morris—the red turtleneck and jeans that were a little short, but definitely more put together than the sweats she’d had on last night. Her hair was a little damp, but he’d heard the hair dryer going, so he figured she’d spent some time doing it. She didn’t have any makeup on to cover the circles under her eyes, but her lips were a deep berry color—she must have had some lipstick in the purse she carried.

He gestured at the couch. “We’ll set up here on the couch. Just our shoulders and above in the frame. If you’re uncomfortable, or you want to end the session, you just reach over and give my hand a squeeze. I’ll make our excuses.”

Kirsten studied the couch, the laptop balanced on a stack of books. She didn’t look nervous, exactly, but she certainly didn’t look eager.

“I’m going to stay as close to the truth as I can,” she said. “Because there are things I do remember.” She said this almost…antagonistically, like she wanted to pick a fight with him.

He refused to rise to the bait.

“That’s good. I’ll just be observing her reactions. Noting her questions to see if they’re off. I might take over the conversation if there’s a path I want her to go down, but at least to start I’m going to let you take the lead. She’s your doctor after all.”

Kirsten nodded and said nothing else. Then they both stood there, awkward and silent for too long. It was just about ten o’clock. Time to get this show on the road.

So he sat down, waited for her to take the seat next to him. There was some space between them. If they were going with the story that Jessica remembered her life as Kirsten, then they should probably be closer.

But Ellis couldn’t bring himself to bridge the gap. He tapped the link on the screen and waited until Dr. Leigh let them into the video conferencing room.

Kirsten was the one who scooted closer, so they were hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder, right before Dr. Leigh appeared on the screen.

She was a nondescript middle-aged woman with a thin face and unbrushed hair. She had glasses with thick green frames, but shrewd dark eyes that narrowed immediately.

“This isn’t Jessica’s apartment.”

“No. I didn’t want to do this there,” Kirsten said before Ellis could offer the explanation he’d come up with. “I can’t explain it, but it feels very…confusing. To be somewhere where I was only Jessica, while remembering parts of Kirsten.”

It was a hell of an excuse. Better than his, really.

“And, to be clear, what exactly are you remembering?”

Kirsten looked over at him, offered him a tremulous smile that was mostly acting, he figured. “Ellis, mostly. That we were married. Things about being married to him. I still don’t know what happened to me, and Ellis has been hesitant to fill me in. He said you recommended letting me remember difficult things on my own.”

Dr. Leigh pursed her lips together. “Yes, I felt that was best. Remembering a traumatic event might lead to…distress. I’d much rather you be in a safe, controlled environment with people you trust. Where exactly are you?”

Ellis didn’t like the direction of that question and was all set to stop Kirsten from answering it, but she nodded along, then leaned forward as if to get closer to Dr. Leigh.