Chasing My Shadow (10 page)

“I’m not sure, as I was on the buying end. Jerry had the books and later when he left, you took over. I just know it was a few thousand dollars.” he replied, “but Jerry paid back part of his share and said the balance would be sent before tax time. Knowing Jerry, I’m sure it will be,” and he added, “I’ll be able to pay mine as soon as I get paid at the end of the month.”

“I wish I knew what was going on?” said Stone, in dismay. “Did I pay my share or anything on it?”

“That I don’t know, but don’t worry about it. Everything will work out when you get your memory back, or I’ll locate the books or some copies. There’s no hurry.”

Suddenly Clem said, “I know why you look different. What’s with the glasses?”

“I had to get some while I was in Colburgh. Also I’m older.”

“Not to us, you aren’t.”

“Oh, that’s right,” replied Stone, and they all laughed.

The men soon left with a promise to check with them soon.

Stone was so nervous he couldn’t concentrate on anything. The furnished apartment had a small living room, two bedrooms, one full bath, a half bath, and a combination kitchen and dinette. It seemed to have been newly cleaned and well-furnished.

He and Tara Lee went to their respective rooms to freshen up and rest a while.

Stone paced the floor as his mind concocted one idea after another of possibilities of where he could have got that money, and nothing added up. And why did he write a check for such a large amount to this Selina person? The Chelsea guy had been astounded at that.

His shirt was so wet from his nervous perspiring that he had to change to another. Then, exhausted from the pacing, worrying, and trying to figure it all out, he sat down on the sofa in the small living room and gazed out the window. It wasn’t the best of addresses but it sure beat Malsheba Rd., and they wouldn’t be here long. At least he hoped they wouldn’t. He didn’t like the idea of hiding out from the police either—but that was exactly what he was doing. He wished they had gone to the police as they had intended and explained that he simply couldn’t remember. Surely they would have understood that. But if they checked it out by calling the hospital they would be told that there was no record of amnesia. Darn! He wished he knew what was going on here that he should get away from. He remembered when he arrived he had immediately wanted to turn around and leave. But he was curious too and wanted to find out what had been going on. Now he was just hoping to find out that he wasn’t a criminal.

He got up and called softly at Tara Lee’s door in case she was napping, but she answered at once, then joined him in the living room. “This isn’t a bad rental,” she said, “but I don’t like your hiding out.”

“My thoughts exactly,”he said, “but this Chelsea guy went to so much trouble to help that I feel honor-bound to at least talk with him before doing anything else. We have been letting him tell us just what to do and haven’t even had a chance to think what this move means. It seems as though I’ve just been running from one place to another ever since I found out my collectibles store was gone. I’m tired of trying to catch up. Will I ever find the real me?” Then he suddenly remembered, “What about the car rental? We’ve got to go back to the hotel and pay our bill and get the car.”

“I paid the hotel bill,” she said. “After the clerk saw us leaving with both suitcases and motioned that man to help you, I went to the desk and paid as quickly as I could. I told him we were called away.”

“Yeah, I remember. I thought you were going back for your sweater.”

“But neither of us thought of the car,” she said.

“Chelsea didn’t think about that either did he? But what if we go back and the police are there?”

“I don’t know—and we can’t even telephone for a cab without going out somewhere.”

They were both sitting on the sofa and looking out through the sheer curtains behind the drapes when they saw a car drive up outside. They thought nothing of it, since this was an apartment house with a lot of people coming and going, then they saw through the curtains the shadow of a man get out and start toward their door. All Stone could think of was that the police had found him—and that would be a lot worse than contacting him at the hotel as it was obvious now that he was trying to hide from them. When he got to the door he was relieved to see Clem, the driver of the car today.

“What’s up?” Stone asked, as he opened the door for him to enter.

“Ray and I remembered that you said your nurse was your driver, so we realized you must have rented a car. We decided I should go over to the hotel and tell them you had asked me to pick up your rental and return it to the agency for you. I told the parking attendant that if he didn’t feel comfortable giving me the keys that I would get a written statement from you. Thankfully, I must have looked honest as I had no problem.”

“But that’s not the car we rented,” said Tara Lee.

“I know. After I returned your rental, I went to another place and rented this in my name—just in case the police had a description of the other one. He handed Stone the keys, and Stone handed them to Tara Lee. “My chauffeur,” he said, then added, “Boy, I sure feel like a criminal—and maybe I am.”

“Ray and I don’t think so,” said Clem, “and we really know you better than you do.”

Stone laughed. “Yes, I guess you do.”

“I thought you might like this,” he said, as he handed Stone a map. It’s a map of this area. “Good luck!” Clem had paid a cab driver to wait for him at the corner and he went out the door. Tara Lee suddenly rushed to the door and called to Clem, who immediately returned. “I…I just happened to think that you would know. I know from what you said, and from the paper, that Stone and this Selena aren’t married, but have they ever been?”

“Lord, no. I can put your mind at rest there. He wouldn’t have even considered it, so just relax and I know things will straighten out soon. He wasn’t married to anyone the last I knew.”

“Thanks,” she called, and ducked back in. After she had closed the door she told Stone what Clem had said. He jumped up and hugged her and said, “How will we celebrate? That’s the best news we could have. Why didn’t we think to ask them before? Of course they would know.”

“Just being together and knowing you aren’t married to anyone else is celebration enough for me,” said Tara Lee. “At least he said you weren’t married to anyone the last he knew. Is that enough proof?”

He held her close as he was thinking to himself, I just hope we don’t find out I’m a criminal. I still don’t know what I have to offer her except all my love, then he suddenly realized what she had said, “Clem said ‘the last he knew’?”

“Yes, but he’d know if you were…wouldn’t he?”

“Oh yes, I’m sure,” but he didn’t look sure. He was thinking of his dream.

“I don’t know about you, but I feel better now that we have someone helping us,” said Tara Lee.

“I guess I do too,” he said, “but I’m wondering how much it will help me if they find out I have been involved. How could I have known this woman and not know what was going on…and yet, if I had known? Darn! It’s that money—so much of it. It can’t be explained any other way.” Suddenly he realized that Tara Lee had used “we” and “us” again and that calmed him down and made him feel better.

After they had eaten lunch and had everything put away, they were relaxing on the sofa. Stone said, “I keep thinking of all this money in my account and no checks to write on—but I guess I wouldn’t dare write one anyway until I know where that money came from.”

“And you know I have plenty in my checking account just in case,” Tara Lee said, “so please don’t worry about it, and once everything is straightened out you’ll know where the money came from.” Suddenly she looked at him and said, “I wonder where all of your things are? Surely you had personal items, and you said nothing was in the Malsheba apartment. Where are your clothes, personal papers, that sort of thing—and the books of your business that Chelsea mentioned?”

“Maybe everything I wanted to save was in my luggage that was burned up with the plane. They said all luggage was lost.”

“Don’t be silly, you surely had more clothes and personal items than you would be allowed to take on a plane.”

Stone sighed and said, “I sure can’t answer that so we’ll just add that to the other things I can’t remember and stop trying to figure it out. After a few minutes he said excitedly, “Dollar sign can’t be this Selina woman because those letters were both sent while she was in France and were both postmarked from somewhere in this state.”

She thought for a minute then said, “Well, so we know who dollar sign isn’t, but we have no idea who she is—just that she seems to know you very well. You surely had a special place to meet and mutual plans, and this person obviously expected you to go along with what she suggested.”

“It looks that way, but there really weren’t any clues to what it was about. Not much to go on—just that we both knew what and where the Rainbow was, and I was supposed to make up my mind about something. Let’s try and forget all of the unknowns and get out of this apartment and do something.”

After a moment Tara Lee jumped up and said, “And I know what”, as she rushed to get the map from the coffee table and grabbed the telephone book.

Stone said, “The phone isn’t connected yet. Remember?”

“I know. I just want to get Selina Avery’s address, then find it on the map. Let’s at least try to find her place and see what it looks like. If it doesn’t give the whole address, we can get in the area and inquire. Maybe seeing her place will jog your memory. Who knows! Any place or anything that we think of we’ll try. You never know what will start you remembering again.”

“Oh, gosh, I don’t think I want to do that.”

“You do want to get your memory back, so why not try anything we can think of? Besides, I’d like to see this mansion.”

He sighed, and said, “I suppose you’re right. I sure do want to get my memory back.”

It took them a long time, but finally, with the help of the map, they found their way to the address. All of the houses in that area were beautiful, but they were both speechless when they came to the impressive residence of a castle-like elegance where Selina Avery lived. A guard started toward the driver side of the car as she had slowed almost to a stop. Stone whispered, “Let’s go….Quick!” and she sped off. They had both noted the large entranceway to a three-story mansion. It had a beautiful domed entrance with angel statues on either side of a tiled patio. Shrubbery and trees were lined up on each side with a fountain of colored lights among some palm trees. They had stared in disbelief. “It…it was fabulous,” said Tara Lee. “I’ve never seen anything like it—anywhere.”

“I hope no one saw me who might have known me,” said Stone.

“I don’t think that guard, or whatever he was, even saw you. He was on my side of the car and too far away to see much.”

“Whew, I’m glad we’re out of there,” said Stone.

“Maybe that wasn’t a good idea,”said Tara Lee, “but I was partly curious and partly hoping seeing the house might help you remember,” then added, “Are you all right?”

“Physically, yes, I’m fine.” he replied, “just so darned confused.”

“I know. Chelsea said you had lived with this Selina for several months. I wonder if you really lived with her….or just in the same house.”

“I may not remember any of this right now, but I think I know what kind of person I am, and can’t imagine living in a place like that for any reason. I have never seen anything like….”

“Stone, you keep saying you have never seen someone or some place when you know you have.” Then, longingly, “I just wish something would make you remember, and I can’t think of anything else to try.” After a moment of thoughtful silence, “It didn’t look this far on the map, but it took us a long time to get here and we had probably better get back to the apartment, hadn’t we?”

“Yeah, we may as well go back there and wait. I’m afraid it will be a long wait, but I guess Chelsea will contact us as soon as he can.” Tara Lee drove around aimlessly at first then said, “One of us had better pay attention to where we are going if we don’t want to be lost forever. Have you got the address of that apartment?”

“No, haven’t you?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“We’re quite a pair, aren’t we?” he laughed. “Neither of us ever knows where we are. When you told me about the time you ended up in the restaurant kitchen, all I could think of was the times I got lost walking around that hospital. I once heard someone refer to our problem of no internal compass as ‘directional dyslexia’. Whatever it’s called, I just consider it one more thing we have in common—one more bond.” Then he asked, “Do you think it shows? Clem seemed to think we needed a map.”

“Then I’m glad it shows as we sure need one—and aren’t you glad I remembered to bring it? At least we have an excuse for being lost today as we’ve never been here before. We may be lost but it doesn’t matter as long as we are together, does it?”

“Nope, let’s enjoy while we can.” He couldn’t help thinking they might not be together long if the police came to pick him up. He tried not to think about it, then reached for the map that Tara Lee had returned to her purse. They finally got in the right area, but still needed the map to find a street that they recognized as theirs. “Whew,” Tara Lee said, as they finally parked in front of the right house. I’m just glad we made it.”

It had been nice being away and free for a while, but once back they felt trapped again, and realized anew that they were hiding from the police. They were also tired from the long drive.

CHAPTER 10
 

About 9:00 P.M. Chelsea arrived at the door. “Have you read the latest?”

he asked. “Did you get a paper?”

“No, what is it?” asked Stone.

“I just read the paper and was surprised to learn that the police know about the large sum of money you received and are wondering how you got so much. I can’t imagine where you got that money, Stone. I have been trying to think of something—anything that would explain it and I can’t think of any way….”

“But how did the police know how much money he had?” asked Tara Lee. Nobody knew but us.”