Forgotten (3 page)

“
Is that right?” The
manager looked even more interested. “You have a gift for
languages, do you?”

“
You could say that,” Kate
said.

“
And are you looking for
employment?”

“
As a matter of fact, I
am.” Kate had stepped up and held out her hand. “Kate
McMillan.”

“
Arthur Myers,” he’d said,
taking her offered hand. The minute she touched his hand, Kate had
known this was a good situation for her. But she needed to take
things carefully.

“
Come back to my office
and we’ll talk,” Mr. Myers had said. Kate had allowed him to usher
her into the back, knowing from the single touch of his hand that
he wouldn’t hurt or assault her. Besides, even if he tried, she had
her Glock 42 concealed under her dressy business suit
jacket.

The 42 was one of the smallest guns Glock
had ever made, which made it ideal both for Kate’s small hands and
a concealed carry. She’d found it along with a few small pieces of
her past and she wasn’t willing to give it up.

After a few weeks of living with Mimi, more
of Kate’s memory had come back and she’d been able to get some of
her personal effects, which had been stored in her mom’s house back
in Mississippi. Mimi had driven her there—happy to go on a road
trip—and though Kate didn’t have the keys, she knew just how to
jiggle the handle of the back door to get in.

Inside, stored in the attic, she’d found her
driver’s license, birth certificate, social security card—and of
course the gun. It had cost her some time and trouble to get the
concealed weapons carry permit here in Florida but Kate considered
it money well spent. She had a feeling there was something else
hiding in that three year time gap—another memory not nearly as
useful as her sudden ability with languages. A dark memory—one she
might need protection from.

So she carried the 42 with her everywhere
she went and even slept with it under her pillow at night. It made
her feel better—as though she was somehow in control. As though she
hadn’t lost three whole years of her life somehow and wound up
naked and alone in a Sarasota park with no knowledge of how she’d
gotten there.

“
Have a seat, please.” The
manager had indicated a plush, leather chair across from his
own.

“
Thank you.” Kate took the
seat and smiled sedately. “Tell me why you want me to work
here.”

Mr. Meyers looked rather flustered.

“
Oh, well that’s usually
my
line.
You
tell
me
why you want to work
here.”

“
Well, I need a job. Right
now I’m living with my good friend Mimi and I want to be able to
help out—pay half the rent and groceries.”

“
That sounds responsible
of you.” Mr. Meyers looked sympathetic. “So are you having a hard
time finding something in today’s market? Maybe your degree isn’t
very useful? Lourdes, the nice woman you helped make that sale, has
a Masters degree in Sixteenth Century Spanish poetry. Not very
practical I’m afraid.”

“
Actually, I have a degree
in Communications. Not terribly useful but not a complete waste of
time either,” Kate said pleasantly. “The reason I can’t find a job
is that I have a three year gap in my résumé—most employers don’t
like that.”

“
Hmm, as an employer
myself I can see why.” Myers had frowned. “Can you tell me
why
you have this
gap?”

This was something Kate had struggled with
over and over in other job interviews. She didn’t like to lie but
it sounded both crazy and dramatic to explain that she’d been
abducted, had three years of her memory wiped, and been dumped
naked in a park in Sarasota. She supposed she could say she had
been working for the government on some kind of black ops mission
but she didn’t exactly look like a spy. Also, she had no Army
record of any kind and it would be easy enough to trace the
falsehood.

The only lie that fit the situation made her
very uncomfortable to use but what else could she do? She really
needed this job and just one little falsehood wouldn’t hurt—she
hoped.

“
The Kindred,” she said,
the words tasting like dust on her lips. “I…I was called as a
bride. Went up to the Mother Ship and stayed for the past three
years.” Since the Kindred didn’t make their claiming files
available to the public, this would be very difficult to confirm or
deny. It was the perfect excuse—she just wished it didn’t give her
that itchy, uncomfortable feeling between her shoulder blades, like
someone was watching her.

“
A Kindred bride, eh?”
Myers raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Forgive me but it was my
understanding that the Kindred took wives for life. Almost no one
ever comes back after being mated to one.”

“
It doesn’t always work
out,” Kate said tightly. “I’d rather not talk about it, if you
don’t mind.” She straightened up in her chair. “I think it would be
a better idea if
I
told
you
why you want to hire me.”

“
All right.” Myers
steepled his fingers under his chubby chin and gave her an
interested look. “Tell me.”

“
Aside from my
multilingual capabilities, you want me working here for you because
I would be a great saleswoman. I know things about people the
minute I meet them and shake their hand.”

“
You do? Go on.” Mr. Myers
looked more intrigued than ever and Kate mentally breathed a sigh
of relief. She’d gotten an impression when she shook his hand that
he would be open to her gift, just as Mimi was. But it was always a
risk telling someone about the Knowing.

“
I know that you’ve been
married to a lovely woman named Melinda for the past twenty-two
years, that you have two daughters named Jessie and Dawn, and that
you live in South Tampa,” Kate began, getting the easy stuff out of
the way first.

Myers frowned. “Anyone could find that out
just by doing an internet search on me.”

“
Yes, but could they also
know that you have never—not once—cheated on your wife? Even that
time in Vegas at the jewelers’ convention. That girl at the bar was
so pretty! She had red hair and green eyes like mine. She bought
you a drink and you talked half the night. She wanted you to come
up to her room and you were halfway there…then you thought about
Melinda and Jessie and Dawn—how much you loved them. How you didn’t
want to betray them. And you resisted temptation.”

As she spoke her piece, Myers’ face went
first red, then white. But he didn’t start shouting at her or
ordering her out of his office, which was a good sign. Some people
didn’t take their most private moments being exposed very well.

Kate knew that she was lucky that particular
memory had been at the top of his mind when he shook her
hand—probably because she reminded him of that long ago girl that
got away. It was a good memory too—one he could be proud of. So
much better than if she’d caught a flash of him kicking a stray dog
when he thought no one was watching or binge eating Chunky Monkey
ice cream straight from the carton at three o’clock in the morning
when no one else was up.

Myers drew a deep breath.

“
Well,” he said at last.
“You’re right. That’s certainly something unique that no one else
should know. I thought I’d take that memory to the grave. Can you
read everyone’s mind or just mine?”

“
It’s not mind reading—I
just know things about people when I touch them sometimes. It’s a
family gift,” Kate said, trying to downplay it a bit. “You can
imagine how useful it would be here on your sales floor. As I greet
each customer and shake their hand, I’ll be able to tell if they’re
really intending to buy and what exactly they’re looking for. I’ll
be able to steer them in the right direction.”

“
Yes…” Myers rubbed his
balding head thoughtfully. “Yes, I
can
see how that would come in
handy.”

“
I can also tell if they
have…dishonest intentions.”

“
That could be useful,” he
said thoughtfully. “We had some trouble here a few years ago. Maybe
you heard about it?”

Kate shook her head.

“
Well some gentlemen came
in here… Ha! I say gentlemen but they were basically thugs. Anyway,
they used sledgehammers to break into our Rolex cases and made off
with half a million dollars worth of merchandise.” He frowned.
“Insurance covered our losses, of course, but it was still a bad
situation. The sound the sledge hammers made was very like a
shotgun blast. People assumed there was some kind of terrorist
attack. The whole mall was evacuated and shut down…just a mess.” He
shook his head.

“
That won’t happen on my
watch.” Kate lifted her chin. “Someone intending to shoplift or rob
the store will have to get through me first.”

“
Oh, well…” Mr. Myers
smothered a laugh. “Of course I would ask you to keep an eye on
anyone you had reason to suspect but I would never expect someone
of your, er, stature to get involved in any kind of
altercation.”

“
You think a tiny, petite
little thing like me can’t defend herself, let alone defend your
store?” Kate raised an eyebrow at him.

“
Well…I mean, you are
rather…uh,
small.”
He cleared his throat. “You must admit that.”

“
I admit it, all right. I
know it to my bones—I am always going to be the smallest one in any
given situation,” Kate said. “That’s why I make sure I’m always
prepared.”

Opening the left side of her suit jacket,
she exposed the butt of the dainty Glock 42.

“
Oh my!” Mr. Myers
scrambled backwards quickly, nearly losing his balance in his
swivel chair.

“
It’s all right.” Kate let
her jacket fall closed. “I’ve got a permit to carry concealed.
“I’ll show it to you if you want.”

“
Yes, well…that would be
necessary if I hired you.”

Good—he was still talking about hiring her.
Kate blessed her gift again. She’d been pretty sure he would be
receptive to her little show of force but it was impossible to know
for sure until you tried.

“
All right,” she said
quietly.

“
But…do you even know how
to use it?” Myers nodded at her hidden gun again.

“
Let me tell you, Mr.
Myers, I grew up in Mississippi without a daddy or any male
protection. One of the first things my mother taught me was how to
shoot. The second was the right way to clean house—she was picky
that way.” Kate smiled and got an answering smile in return which
encouraged her to continue. “I can promise you I’d never draw my
gun unless somebody else drew a gun on me or one of the other
employees first.”

“
What if I asked you to
leave it at home?” he’d asked, frowning a little.

Kate sighed. “I can’t do that. I need it for
protection.”

“
From your ex-husband?”
His frown deepened. “Is he going to come here hunting you and want
to shoot up the place?”

“
No, no—nothing like
that,” Kate assured him. “It’s just I’m a woman alone—a
small
woman alone. And
Tampa is a pretty big city with a high crime rate. If you want me
to work evening shifts and lock up for you some nights, I’ll need
to feel protected. And in my experience, I can’t rely on anyone but
myself for that protection.”

She felt a twinge as she said it and a
little voice whispered in her head that once she’d had someone else
to protect her—someone to get her back. But Kate pushed it away. It
was all foolishness—she was all she had and she had to stick to her
guns. Literally.

“
Well…having an armed
sales person on the floor is
highly
unusual. In fact, I don’t think I know of a
single other manager who would allow it. If you actually did ever
shoot anyone I would have to disavow any knowledge of your…er…armed
state. I’d have to be crazy to even consider it. Still…”

Kate could see that Myers was wavering.

“
Just think of me as an
extra security guard,” she said, smiling at him comfortingly. “An
undercover one no one knows about. And you don’t have to pay me any
extra—I’ll work on commission the same as everyone
else.”

“
Yes…and if your gift is
everything you say it is, I dare say you’ll be making more
commission and more sales than any of my other sales people inside
a month.” Mr. Myers had smiled at her. “All right, Ms. McMillan,
you’ve convinced me. We’ll have to do a background check of
course.”

“
Of course.” Kate nodded
easily, her heart pounding. Was she really getting the
job?

“
If that all comes back
clean, shall we give it a one week trial period to start? And then
if we’re a good fit, we can take it from there.”

“
I’m grateful for the
opportunity.” Kate held out her hand again. Myers had hesitated
briefly but then took it and gave it a firm shake.

“
Nice to have you aboard.
Now let’s just get you set up with the right paperwork…”

“
So what time do you get
off tonight?” Mimi asked, breaking Kate’s train of thought. She was
almost finished with her huge pile of noodles, Kate saw a bit
enviously. If
she’d
eaten a pile of carbs like that, her pants wouldn’t button
for a month but Mimi would stay slim and gangly forever—she had the
metabolism of a racehorse.