August Unknown (6 page)

Mike shook his head. “Not necessarily. For all we know, you
went out in a boat alone without telling anybody.”

“Doubtful. Any good sailor knows not to do that.”

He regarded her curiously. “Do they?”

August glanced from Mike to him, and back. Geoffrey saw the
confusion in her expression.

“It’s common knowledge,” she contended. “Just because I know
that doesn’t mean I’m a sailor. Even if I was, how would that help find out who
I am?” She swung her legs over the side of the bed and picked up the clothes.

Mike sat in the leather chair beside the bed. “We’d have to do
some investigating, but it might be a lead.”

August stiffened. “What kind of investigating?”

Before Mike could answer, Geoffrey stepped in. “Maybe it would
be best if you didn’t.”

His brother-in-law’s expression hardened. “All right you two,
what is it you’re not telling me?”

August glanced at Geoffrey. He nodded. “It’s okay. You can
trust him.”

She set her clothes down and turned, but her gaze fell. “What
are my rights, Officer Gaffney?”

“First of all, call me Mike. If you’re going to be a guest of
my brother-in-law, I’m not only officially investigating your case, but I’m
here as a favor to my family.”

Immense gratitude swelled inside Geoffrey.

“Thank you, Mike,” she said in a tiny voice.

His brow furrowed slightly. “And as your new friend, I’m
wondering why you’d ask a question like that.”

“Does there have to be an investigation at all? Can’t I decide
to stay missing?”

Mike’s frown deepened into what Geoffrey recognized as his
suspicious policeman’s stare. “Why would you want to?”

“August and I were talking yesterday,” he cut in. “She’s
afraid, because she can’t remember what happened to her. Wouldn’t you be?”

“I can’t answer that. I’m sorry, August. I can’t even begin to
fathom what you’re going through.” Mike’s frown melted away. “I know my family
would be worried to death if I disappeared. I’d move heaven and earth to find
them again.”

“But what if you found yourself injured and you didn’t
remember how it happened? Wouldn’t you suspect, even a tiny bit, that someone
might have tried to hurt you?”

“Well now, I suppose maybe I would.” He folded his arms across
his chest. “Is there a reason you think someone did this to you on purpose?”

August sighed and paced away. “The truth is I have a bad
feeling, but the harder I try to get a hold of it, the farther away it goes.
But I can’t escape it, either.” When she turned back, her expression held
defeat. “I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, and that alone tells me there’s
something to it.”

“Can you be more specific?”

“I wish I could. But there is this—” She moved close to Mike
and used her right hand to lift her broken arm. She gingerly splayed the
fingers of her left hand. “I have a tan line on my wedding ring finger, but no
ring.”

Mike looked at her hand, and then glanced at him. The wariness
Geoffrey found in his brother-in-law’s eyes turned his blood to ice.

“Maybe I was running away, maybe I wasn’t—I don’t know,”
August said in a deadly serious voice. “But I do know that before I let anyone
find me, I need to be sure I want to be found.”

Chapter Five

The minute August stepped through the front door of Geoffrey’s
lavish beach home, she knew she was unaccustomed to this level of luxury.

The immense house sat alone on a narrow street on the beach
side of the coastal highway, at least a half mile from any neighbors. It was
built into the rough cliff face, staggered right down to the sand. The outside
was painted a very pale blue that almost blended into the hazy sky. With a
driveway that sloped downward, only part of the roof was visible from the street.
A wood fence painted ocean blue, and expertly placed juniper, pine, and ice
plant further aided its chameleon-like presence within its environment.

Several steps down from an elevated foyer, the spreading
living room boasted an entire wall of windows looking out over the ocean. Plush
leather couches and elegant accent pieces contrasted with the white pile
carpet. Enormous abstract paintings in muted colors reached high into the vaulted
ceiling on each side of the elegant room, complimenting the spreading view of
the dunes and sea.

The sky had turned overcast before they’d left the hospital,
and now a blanket of gray hung over the ocean, swallowing the line where sea
met sky.

“You have a beautiful home.” August felt out of place, a
little like Cinderella at the ball.

“It’s my dad’s,” Geoffrey told her as he closed the door
behind her. “The whole family uses it as a getaway. We all meet here for
birthdays and holidays.”

Geoffrey had a large, happy family who enjoyed celebrating
together. Why did that seem foreign as well?

She followed him down the connecting hall to the right and
into the massive, galley-style kitchen that opened to a formal dining room perched
above the immense living room. The entire house was masterfully designed on
staggering levels, worthy of a
House Beautiful
magazine spread.

A wrap-around deck appeared to stretch the entire ocean side
of the house, the lower half of its railing covered with Plexiglas to ward off
the cold Pacific winds.

August walked through the dining room to look out the windows.
About two miles away, a gleaming white lighthouse tower stood on a jutting
point.

“That’s Yaquina Head, Oregon’s tallest lighthouse. Does it
look familiar to you?”

She shook her head. Nothing did. No part of the town they’d
driven through, the lonely ocean road that had taken them to the house, or even
the section of highway where their accident had occurred.

August slid into a bar stool at the kitchen’s massive island
as Geoffrey crossed the room and punched a button on the answering machine. His
father left the first message, telling him he would be staying in Portland
longer than planned. Then a second message about a banquet for the Northern
Sierra Foundation benefit.

“It looks like it’s just you, me, and Jocelyn until next Tuesday.”

August felt a guilty rush of relief. She wouldn’t be required
to meet any more of Geoffrey’s family until she’d had a few days to settle.
“Thank you for everything. I don’t know what I’d do if it weren’t for you.”

“You wouldn’t have a broken arm.”

“Not necessarily.”

He stood across from her at the island. “Has something come to
you?”

“No, but I’ve been thinking about what might have happened. If
someone was attacking me, trying to hit me over the head, maybe I threw my arm
up in defense.”

“Probably not. Dr. Carlson said it was a good thing I got you
to the hospital right away before the bones started knitting in the wrong
position. Besides, I heard an awful thump when the car hit you.” He grimaced.
“I’ll never forget it.”

She sighed and turned to stare out into the milky gray
afternoon. The ocean seemed to be calling her, reaching for her. She felt
precariously perched above it in this cliff-constructed home. “I wish I could
remember something. Anything. It’s so frustrating not knowing a thing about
myself.”

“It’ll come to you. In the meantime, relax and enjoy a few
days off. When you get your memory back, your life will be more hectic than you
can imagine.” He gave her that warm, comforting smile she already treasured so
much. “And if you are a bank robber, this place is most definitely better than
jail.”

He laughed, but August barely managed a smile.

Geoffrey cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry. That was funny.” She wondered what lucky stars
had aligned her with this sweet man who went so far out of his way to take care
of her.

I don’t deserve this
. As quickly as she had the
thought, she wondered why such a thing would enter her head.
I couldn’t
really be a criminal, could I?

“Come on, I’ll give you a tour of the house and show you your
room.”

The rest of the tri-level home was as impressive as the main
level. The next floor down had another deck running the ocean side of the
house, also with Plexiglas sheltering the lower half of the railing. As they
moved through the halls, Geoffrey pointed out each room and told her who
occupied it.

“This is Jocelyn’s room,” he said, stopping at an adorable
room decorated like a 1950s soda shop in red, black, and white. “Leah and
Jocelyn moved in when Leah and her husband separated. They live here year-round
and Jocelyn attends the elementary school in Newport.”

“It’s a wonderful room for a child.”

He checked his watch. “The carpool should be dropping her off
soon. She’ll be thrilled to see you. She took an instant liking to you.”

“I like her, too.” August stared into the room any child would
love, but few were lucky enough to have.

Jocelyn had her own television set with an attached set of
joysticks. A large fish tank boasted an exotic arrangement of salt-water fish.
She even had her own personal computer. One entire wall was a floor-to-ceiling
bookcase crammed with dolls and stuffed animals.

“Jocelyn was a preemie. She almost died at birth, and had us
worried again when she was two and caught pneumonia. I guess as a result, we
spoil her.”

When she glanced at him, Geoffrey smiled. “I could read your
mind.”

She smiled back, instantly comforted by the kindness in his
eyes. His was a face she could spend a lot of time gazing at. “Could you look a
little further in there and tell me what
I
can’t read?”

The more she saw of the luxurious house, the more August was
sure she didn’t live like this. She gawked at the expensive décor and
fashionable design. It was so perfect it almost didn’t seem lived in, more like
a showplace than a home.

“This is the den,” he said as they continued down the hall.
“It’s my office away from the office, so if you ever can’t find me, chances are
I’ll be here.”

Inside, the walls were covered with rich burgundy wallpaper.
Bookcases filled with leather-bound books stretched across two sides. A sleek,
impossibly thin laptop computer sat on a mahogany desk. Covering one wall,
eight-by-ten photographs displayed luxury buildings. Like the rest of the
house, floor-to-ceiling windows on the ocean side brought the surrounding
nature into the room.

“Are you one of those people who bring your work home with
you?” she asked him.

“My grandfather founded Palisades Hotels. I’m the vice president
of operations at our West Coast headquarters in Portland.” He shrugged. “It’s
all title, really. I can do the work from anywhere, and they don’t miss me much
when I’m gone.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.” She moved inside and looked out
the windows at the lighthouse on the point again. She didn’t recognize it, but
somehow knew she should.

“I have a loft in Portland, but with Leah and Richard
separated, I spend more time here so I can help with Jocelyn,” he told her. “I
don’t miss the daily grind. It’s not as satisfying as I thought it would be
when I was in school. But, you know, family legacy and all that.”

She turned around. “University of Portland?”

He glanced away. “UC Berkeley, California.” He said it as
though it tasted sour in his mouth. “I have some work to do, but afterward you
can try some more memory tests on the keyboard like you did with the pen and
paper at the hospital. See if anything comes to you.”

“I’m not even sure I know how to use a computer,” she said,
eyeing the laptop. “But I’ll try anything.”

“Your room is down the hall.” Geoffrey stepped out of the
doorway and waited for her to follow.

She started after him but stopped. “Do you have a blank
notebook I could use? Maybe I should keep a diary of my intuitions.” She didn’t
feel comfortable telling him the first thing she would write was how she was
certain she didn’t live in this kind of opulence.

Geoffrey retrieved a spiral-bound notebook and a pen from the
office. He led her to the end of the hall to a pretty room decorated with blond
pine furniture, and bed coverings matching the flowery wallpaper. Soft peach
hues reminded her of summer, even though the gray sky outside threatened with
another storm.

“It’s lovely.” She stood in the doorway, gingerly cradling the
heavy cast with her good hand, almost afraid to venture in. Her arm had begun
to throb again, and with it, her head.

“Better than the shelter, I’ll bet.” He moved to the window
and fully opened the blinds. The cedar deck at this level met the sand dunes
without a railing. It wound out of sight to the right. A fluffy juniper in a
massive pot stood on the left side of the window, partially obstructing her
view of the ocean. Beside that, ice plant covered the sandy hill that slanted
toward the beach.

“The lower master-suite is on the far side on this level, but
no one is there so you’ve got the deck all to yourself. You’re welcome to use
the hot tub if you like.”

“Where’s your room?”

He turned back and faced her. Opaque light filled the bedroom
with a gentle glow. “Top floor, opposite side.”

It sounded as though he wanted to assure her she had all the
privacy she could possibly want, and that he’d stay far away from her. She
wanted to tell him she appreciated it, but was afraid it would sound like she
was hoping that was the case.

Already this arrangement felt like a bad idea.

He crossed the room to stand before her, silhouetted by the
gray light filtering through the window. August studied his features in the dim
light. His brown eyes were gentle, with a touch of sadness at their edges. She
suspected this man wasn’t only shy around women, but had a past as deep and
mysterious as her own.

“Is your arm starting to hurt again?”

She nodded. “But not so badly I want another of those pills.
They make me feel groggy.”