Page 61 of D for Dead

‘I can’t imagine how that feels.’

‘It wasn’t great. Lots of bumps and bruises, but otherwise I was okay.’

‘Except for the nightmares,’ Shinnick said gently.

‘Yeah, except for the nightmares.’

‘How long after the accident did they start up?’

Amy thought back. Fifteen had been a long time ago. Back then she’d had her whole life ahead of her. Had thought her dad would one day get to walk her down the aisle, her mom get to hold grandchildren. How innocent fifteen had been.

‘I dunno. I guess maybe a few weeks, a month later.’

‘Are you comfortable talking about the nightmare? It’s the same dream each time I believe.’

‘Yeah, it is.’ And no I’m not. ‘I guess.’

As she had done with Sullivan the previous night, she talked Shinnick through the dream. The stone steps leading down, the sense of dread as she neared the bottom and the room she entered, where the dream always finished.

Shinnick was nodding slowly, looking thoughtful.

‘And you have no idea where this staircase is or what this dream might mean?’

Amy shrugged. ‘It’s a dream; it’s not real. I used to think it was to do with being in a coma. Maybe the stairs were me finding my way back to consciousness.’

‘Possibly,’ Shinnick agreed, but he didn’t look convinced. ‘You said you were hit by a car. What were the circumstances leading to your accident?’

Amy wrung her hands together, biting into her bottom lip. ‘I don’t know.’

‘You don’t know? Is that a realistic statement?’ Shinnick raised his eyebrows. He had so far been good at masking his reactions, but this time his surprise was evident.

‘I don’t know,’ she repeated, offering him the ghost of a smile. ‘I suffered memory loss with the car accident. I had been staying with friends and we had dinner; I remember lying on my bed reading. After that I woke up in hospital. The doctors said it was temporary amnesia and I would likely remember what had happened within a few days. I never did.’

‘You said you were staying with friends? These were friends of your parents?’

‘Yes. Deanna was my mom’s best friend from high school. Her daughters were the same age as me and if my folks were ever away, I would go stay with them.’

‘Was this in your home town in Montana?’

‘No, they lived here in Oregon. In a town called Melford; it’s an hour or so east of here.’

‘Do they not know what happened leading up to the accident?’

‘No.’ Amy shook her head. ‘Deanna and Pete, that’s her husband, they thought I’d gone to bed. They were as shocked as hell when they got a call from the hospital. That kind of killed my mom’s friendship with them. She never trusted them to look after me again and I haven’t seen them since it happened.’

‘So you were in your bedroom, then you were hit by a car and no one knows how it happened, how you got there?’

‘That’s right.’ Amy shrugged her shoulders. ‘Guess I always figured I was sleepwalking.’

‘Sleepwalking? You’ve done that before?’

‘Well… no. It could’ve happened as a one off, right?’

Shinnick was silent for a long moment as he made further notes. Eventually he looked up.

‘Have you ever considered hypnotherapy?’

Amy’s guard immediately went up. ‘No, and before you ask, I don’t want to.’