Chapter 2
Rather than reply tonot being aSam, she studied the tall, masculine arrival overpowering the feminine atmosphere. Mariah and Dinah didn’t flinch at his entrance. Unlike them, she observed the uniformed officer from a perspective of fear—and not just because her eyeswere on a level with his powerful chest. The mirrored shades tucked between the buttons of his khaki shirt oddly escalated her fear. Had he come in because her car was a stolen vehicle? She bit down on her tongue to keep from freakingout.
Finally daring to lift her chin, Sam looked straight into single-lidded green eyes in a flat-nosed, taut-jawed visage that indicated mixed-race parentage.For some reason, the tightness in her chest lessened. He met their stares with a hardened expression and a nod. Studying his full lower lip, Sam swallowed for different reasons. She was definitely heterosexual. Or terror turned heron.
He took off his official cowboy-style hat, revealing short-cut dark hair. “Good morning, ladies.” His laser-beam gaze focused on Sam. “Don’t think we’vebeenintroduced.”
“Sam, this is Deputy Chen Ling Walker. Walker, Sam is staying up at Cass’s place. She’s brought Emma back, so all is well.” Mariah poured a mug of coffee and slid it across the counter. She gestured from Sam to Dinah. “Sam, this is Dinah, the best cook in town. If you’re looking for work, she’s the place tostart.”
Dinah held out her hand. It was callused, blunt,and strong. “Sammy here has a blue aura that bodes well, hon. If she’s staying, I’mhiring.”
Was she staying? It wasn’t as if she knew where else to go. “Thank you. Let me sleep for a few hours so I can think straight before I make any major decisions.” And pray she’d wake up knowing who she was. Was it possible to hire people withoutID?
“That coffee won’t help you sleep.” The deputythrew his leg over a counter stool one away from hers. “That your Subaru in thelot?”
Oh gulp, here it came. “Good car,” she murmured evasively. “Didn’t give me a bit of problem even when the deer jumped atit.”
“I’ve been thinking of getting one for the traction in winter, but they’re not very tall. You’ll have to give me a ride sometime.” He drank his coffee and looked at Dinah,adding a note of hope to his voice. “Don’t suppose you have any of that pie leftover?”
Sam looked guiltily at the last piece on herplate.
“Don’t you worry, hon, I brought in a fresh one just for you. Give me a minute to get set up, and I’ll be right out.” Dinah sashayed out as if she were in full eveningregalia.
“Blue aura?” Deputy Walkerasked.
Sam mentally thankedhim forasking.
“Blue has all the positive connotations of the universe,” Mariah said, polishing off her piece of pie. “Clear thinking, healing, calm, intuitive, and in the right shade,clairvoyant.”
“You read auras too?” Sam asked, wanting to believe in hocus-pocus because she had nothing else to go on. She didn’t feel very clairvoyant though. Orcalm.
“Nah, I just watchand learn. Pays to keep up with the crazies in this town. Dinah is one of the sane ones, though. I’m sure the good deputy here can tell you all about her past, but it doesn’t matter up here. I’ve got to get back to my route. If you want me to show you Cass’s place, I’ll ride along with you. That’s easier than bikinguphill.”
Sam would have liked to have heard about Dinah’s past, but theknowledge that the deputy checked everyone out scared the bejeebers out of her. Although—if she wasn’t a criminal—maybe she could ask him to trace her licenseplate?
What happened if she couldn’t get into Cass’s place? Could she leave her car in the driveway and sleep init?
She savored the last bite of pie, finished her coffee, and stood up. “Good meeting you,deputy.”
Hesaluted her with his mug but didn’t bother looking up. Well, so much for that quiver of attraction. She probably looked like dirt. She felt like itanyway.
Mariah shouted at Dinah that they were leaving, then led the way out. To Sam she said, “We all have our secrets out here. Not all of us keep them. Be careful to whom youtalk.”
“Like the deputy?” Sam unlocked the car doors, notcertain whether it was safe to open the back door to re-cage the cat. Was Emma an escape cat? And how did she know some cats liked toescape?
Mariah solved the Emma problem by opening the passenger side, finding the cat on the front floorboard, then settling down with it in her lap. Emma seemed to accept that position. “Walker is a decent guy, but he’s here for a reason he’s not tellingus. There’s more to him than meets the eye, so watchout.”
Well, so much for asking for a license plate trace. She’d wait for desperation to set in—which could be right after she’d had a few hours of sleep. It belatedly occurred to her that since she had no purse, she had no driver’s license or insurance card.Shit.
Apparently, she was someone who used foul language. She backed thecar out and turned south, as Mariahindicated.
“Does everyone here have something to hide, then?” she asked, wondering if that included Mariah and afraid to find out. She’d like to think she had onefriend.
“Nah, the mayor and his family own half the valley. He’s been here all his life and is as straight as they come. Boring, arrogant, and a bully, but he doesn’t try to hide it.There are a few other people who were born here, not many. Everyone knows the entire past of the locals and some of everyone’s future, if you believe inclairvoyance.”
“I don’t think our fates are carved in stone, so fortune-telling doesn’t make sense to me,” Sam said, thinking it through as she drove. It wasn’t as if she knew what her former self thought. If her memory didn’t return, shemight have to become a whole newperson.
“But it might be possible to predict a future based on current paths,” Mariah argued. “Let’s face it, if a con man keeps on conning, then eventually he’ll get caught. That’s not hard topredict.”
