Lost Rodeo Memories

“She’s been admitted to the hospital, so I’m going by there later this evening to check on her. Maybe she will have recovered some of her memory by then.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’ll be back over there at the crime scene in a few minutes.”

Luke disconnected and turned to Peter. “Is there anything else you can think of to tell me?”

Peter cleared his throat. “No, sir.”

The kid was still pretty pale and his hands were trembling. After ten years in the military, including several tours of combat, and his time as a deputy sheriff, it was hard for Luke to imagine how he would have reacted at the age of eighteen to having his employer attacked while he was just a short distance away.

He’d played football in high school and grew up on a ranch, so when he was eighteen he’d thought he was tough. But he wasn’t. Witnessing how inhumanely people could treat each other was shocking. You had to learn how to keep your emotional distance so you could be useful at your job. So you stopped being shocked by brutality. Or told yourself that was the case, anyway.

Luke’s brother, Jake, had warned him on one of Luke’s visits home on leave that he was getting too good at the emotional-distance thing. And after he’d moved back to Idaho to help Jake with his kids, Luke had tried to work on that. Leaving the Army after his enlistment period ended was a tough decision. But it was one he’d had to make, because he’d had no idea how long his brother would need his help.

“How are you holding up?” he asked Peter. “You’ve been a lot of help, and I appreciate it. Do you need me to have a deputy drive you home?”

“No, sir. I called a friend to come pick me up and he’s waiting in the parking lot.”

After Peter left, Luke wrapped things up with Don and went back to the crime scene to see how the investigation was going. The perpetrator hadn’t been found, but he’d left a trail through the woods that looped back to the two-lane highway winding through this part of the county. The guy could be anywhere by now.

If Melanie could eventually remember what the perpetrator looked like, there was the slim chance they could find an image of him on video. And from there, maybe link him to a vehicle license plate. A purchase made with a credit card at the fairgrounds. Something.

Confident that everything was being properly taken care of at the crime scene, Luke headed for the hospital. He arrived just as visiting hours were ending. When he stepped into Melanie’s room, he was immediately greeted by a young red-haired woman who introduced herself as Melanie’s cousin, Anna.

“How is she doing?” Luke asked Anna in a quiet voice. He could see Melanie lying in bed, a blanket pulled up nearly to her chin, looking tired and groggy.

“She has a concussion,” Anna told him. “But no fractures. And no gunshot wounds.”

“Thank You, Lord,” Luke said softly.

“Amen,” Anna agreed. “They’ve given her some painkillers and a sedative so she’ll sleep.”

“Has she regained any of her memory?”

Anna shook her head. “She still doesn’t remember anything since she left Wyoming two weeks ago.”

Melanie’s eyelids fluttered open and she called out to Luke. “Hey, deputy.”

Luke walked over to her. “How are you feeling?”

“Sleepy.” She had bandages on one side of her head, and dark circles under her eyes. “Thank you,” she mumbled, giving him a half smile. “And please thank the event security man who found me.” Her smile started to falter and tears formed in the corners of her eyes. “Something happened to me,” she said, with confusion evident in her eyes. She reached her hand up to touch the bandages on her head and gave him a pleading look. “What happened to me?”

“I’m going to do my best to find out.”

Over the intercom, a voice announced the end of visiting hours.

“I’ll talk to you again later,” Luke said to Melanie as he headed for the door. And then to Anna, he said, “Can I speak with you for a minute?”

She followed him out into the hallway, calling back to Melanie that she wasn’t actually leaving for the night just yet.

“Do you have any theories on who might have attacked her?” Luke asked. “Does she have an angry business partner? Maybe a boyfriend she broke up with?”

“She has an ex-husband, Ben,” Anna said. “But he was the one who insisted on the divorce—told her he wanted to start a new life without her—so I wouldn’t suspect him. I really can’t think of anyone.”

Luke glanced up and down the hallway, frustrated that he had no idea what the perpetrator looked like. “Do you know how long she’ll be in the hospital?”

“There’s a good chance she’ll be able to leave tomorrow morning.”

“Do the doctors have any idea how long it will take for her to regain her memory?”

“They said it could happen as early as tomorrow morning. Or it could take a few weeks.” Anna’s eyes teared up. She looked away and blinked rapidly. “Or the memories of the past two weeks might be gone forever. So she’d never be able to remember who attacked her, and that criminal would get away with it.”

Luke sighed. He could not let that happen.

* * *

“When you get home try to relax as much as you can,” the doctor said to Melanie as she tapped the information for Melanie’s prescription into an electronic tablet. “You need to heal from the emotional trauma, as well as the physical injury. So don’t try to force yourself to remember things. Otherwise you could end up right back here in the hospital again.” The doctor’s smile was kind, but she also managed to make it clear that she wasn’t kidding.

Melanie remembered waking up in the woods last night. But prior to that, she still only remembered going to bed at the hotel in Wyoming. Not trying to remember what happened during those missing two weeks was difficult. Like trying not to scratch an itch.

The doctor left and Melanie turned to Anna. “All right, cousin. Let’s roll.” Hospital protocol required Melanie to sit in a wheelchair and be pushed out to the parking lot, even though she felt like she could walk.

“I need you to take me back to the fairgrounds, to get my truck and the trailer,” Melanie said as soon as they were in Anna’s sedan.

Anna turned to her with a cheery smile. “No.” Despite the upbeat tone, Melanie could see the dark circles under her cousin’s eyes, and the paleness of her skin made the freckles scattered across her face stand out even more defiantly.

Melanie wasn’t the only one suffering in the aftermath of this bizarre attack on her. Anna had already done so much for her. And she had a husband, Tyler, serving in the military, overseas. Anna had enough weight on her shoulders. She didn’t need anything added to that.

“That deputy said your truck and trailer are securely stored at the fairgrounds,” Anna added as she turned the key and fired up the car’s engine. “The smart thing for you to do is to go back to the house and unwind. We’ll get your stuff later.”

“Fine.” Actually, going back to Anna’s restored Victorian house, where Melanie rented a couple of rooms, one to use as a bedroom and the other for an office, sounded like a good idea. Closing the shades, lying in her bed and hiding from the world sounded like a great idea. Maybe she could numb her brain with mindless TV, as well. Because, although she was trying very hard to stay upbeat around Anna, her thoughts wanted to drift to some very dark places.

Someone had tried to kill her. Apparently for money. She had come in contact with someone evil. How was it possible someone could be like that? And how safe was anyone, ever, when there were people like that in the world?

Melanie began to tremble. A cold black wave of fear crashed over her, seemingly from out of nowhere. She couldn’t catch her breath, and she quickly rolled down her window for some fresh air.

Anna glanced over at her. “You all right?”

“Coffee,” Melanie said hoarsely. “Coffee would make me feel better.”

“Sure.”

Anna made the turn to take them to their favorite coffee shop. Melanie flipped down the sun visor and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Pale. Bruised. Looking like someone who’d been attacked.

The trembling got worse, and the midsize sedan suddenly seemed way too small. Melanie wanted to get out of the car. She wanted to jump up. She wanted to run. She needed to get away. It didn’t matter that she didn’t know why.

The coffee shop didn’t have a drive-through. Anna pulled into a parking space behind it, near the back entrance, and Melanie threw open her door before the car was completely stopped.

Anna gave her a questioning look.

“I’ll take my usual,” Melanie said to her. She gestured toward the front of the store, where there was a strip of grass and a couple of picnic tables. “Let’s drink our coffee while we sit outside. In the sunshine. I’ll meet you over there.”

Hiding in her bedroom seemed like a horrible idea now. She needed to be outside, where she could move. Where she could run. For a split second she had a flash of memory. Of being chased in the woods.

The coffee shop was in an area with both businesses and residences. Moving down the alley, Melanie could see into people’s backyards. See the houses, where normal life was going on. Where people felt safe.

Suddenly someone threw something over Melanie from behind her. A thick, heavy dark cloth that covered her head and shoulders and arms, down to her elbows. Before she could react, they wrenched it tight, pinning her arms to her sides, forcing the air out of her lungs. Then they started dragging her backward.

She tried to scream, but the cloth was tight across her mouth and she couldn’t get enough air. Terror and panic set her heart racing. She fought again for a deep breath, but the cloth was pulled even tighter across her mouth.

The world began to spin. The sounds around her were muffled, but she could hear a dog barking. She started to feel strangely detached from everything that was happening around her. After that, there was nothing.

TWO

“The guy who lives in the house next to the coffee shop, Jon Stoker, called the cops to report the attack on you,” Luke said to Melanie. “His dog wouldn’t stop barking. He came out to see what the problem was and saw someone with a blanket pulled over your head, dragging you across the parking lot.”

Melanie touched her fingertips to her lower lip, grateful to be alive and appreciating more than ever the ability to take a deep breath.

“When Mr. Stoker saw what was happening, he yelled and the person dragging you let go of the blanket and ran. Mr. Stoker hurried into his house for his phone and then came back outside while he called 9-1-1. He heard the roar of some kind of vehicle driving off, but he couldn’t actually see it.”

Melanie had apparently regained consciousness right after the attacker had let go of her. Anna had heard the commotion and hurried outside. She had pulled the blanket off Melanie just as Melanie was opening her eyes.

“The Bowen city police have been out, patrolling the neighborhood and going door-to-door, looking for anybody who witnessed anything. They also talked to customers and employees inside the coffee shop.”

Melanie, Luke and Anna were sitting in the front parlor of Anna’s house. Both Melanie and Anna loved vintage clothes, jewelry and home furnishings. The heavy furniture, thick curtains tied back with knotted silk tassels, crocheted doilies on the table tops and richly colored rugs on the hardwood floor gave Melanie a familiar feeling of stability and comfort. Something she desperately needed right now.

Luke had called ahead to ask if he could visit with Melanie for a few minutes. He’d arrived a short time ago, and Anna had invited him in and offered him tea, which he’d politely declined.

Luke sat in an upholstered club chair, with his sheriff’s-department-issued cowboy hat in hand, leaning forward a little as though he were already anxious to leave. Melanie was across from him, seated at the end of a couch, clutching the couch’s arm so tightly, her right hand was nearly numb. But she didn’t care. It was something solid. And right now there wasn’t much in her life that felt solid. Instead everything seemed disturbingly dreamlike. Normal life felt like something that had vanished a thousand years ago.

Anna sat close to her in a rocking chair.

“Did you go back to the hospital and get checked out by the doctor after this second attack?” Luke asked.

Melanie started to nod. Pain made her stop. Her neck was stiff after being grabbed and dragged in the alley, and she had a pounding headache again. Those pains didn’t mix well with the slight wave of dizziness that had come and gone, repeatedly, since she woke up this morning. For the moment it seemed best to stay as still as possible.

“I did see a doctor,” she answered. “I have no new injuries, other than a sore neck.” And a sense of impending panic that had started as soon as she had left the hospital, and it was apparently going to hang around for a while.

“This time I had nothing for anyone to steal,” she said to the large lawman sitting across from her. “I didn’t have my purse. I left it in the car. I wasn’t even wearing any of my jewelry. They made me take it off when I arrived at the hospital, and I put it in my purse.” Not that it was extremely valuable. She wore what she made. She’d splurged and made a few pieces using gold, but the vast majority of her jewelry was made of silver and semiprecious stones. She couldn’t afford anything more elaborate.

“This wasn’t a robbery,” Melanie said, with her voice sounding scratchy and tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “So, why is this happening to me?”

“I don’t know. But I intend to find out.” Luke cleared his throat. “Tell me what was in the lockbox,” he said. “Maybe that has something to do with all of this.”

Melanie blinked several times, trying to figure out what he was talking about. “What lockbox?”

“Peter told me you had a blue lockbox with you, all three days of the rodeo, and that it was with you in the truck when he saw you just before the attack at the fairgrounds. After that it was missing. It hasn’t turned up yet.”

Melanie stared at him, trying hard to remember her time at the rodeo, here in Miles County. But her efforts brought her straight to a blank wall. And the harder she tried to remember, the closer she got to that feeling of panic. “I can’t remember,” she whispered, afraid that if she spoke normally, she’d burst into tears or scream.

“You have that beige metal box you’ve used as a cashbox for a while,” Anna said. “Where is it?”

Melanie glanced at her cousin. “You can’t seriously be asking me that,” she said. “I don’t know where I’ve been for the last two weeks. How could I possibly know where that box is?” She started to shake her head and stopped when the pain started. “I don’t even know where the items I had left over at the end of the rodeo are.”

“Your trailer is still locked,” Luke said. “I haven’t seen inside it. But I have seen inside your truck. There are several clear storage boxes stacked in the back seat. Looks like your jewelry is in there.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Melanie said. At least that was one less thing to worry about.

“I can drive your truck and trailer back here,” Luke said. “Or wherever you’d like me to take them. You live here, correct?”

“Yes.” Melanie glanced at Anna, feeling bad for having just snapped at her. “I’ve lived here for the last year.”

Luke turned to Anna. “So, you know for certain that Melanie has been in town for the last two weeks, even though she doesn’t remember it?”

“Yes.” Anna nodded. “You came straight back here after your trip to Wyoming,” she said, directing the rest of her response to Melanie. “You arrived on time. You were happy. You’d sold some jewelry and that oak-dresser-and-nightstand set you’d restored. The one you bought from the Wilsons.”

“I remember that,” Melanie said, feeling like recalling it was some kind of triumph. “I remember arriving in Leopold early and going to the big flea market in the parking lot outside the rodeo, looking for things I could buy and fix up and then resell. I remember getting my booth set up inside the rodeo grounds and talking to customers. And I remember selling that oak-dresser-and-nightstand set to a newlywed couple.” Why was it that she could remember being at the rodeo in Wyoming, remember making that sale, remember packing up when it was all over and then...nothing?

“Stop it,” her cousin commanded in a kind tone. Anna glanced at Luke. “Her doctor told her not to try too hard to remember that missing stretch of time and risk getting herself upset. She’s supposed to relax and let her mind and body heal.”

“I’d like to see you relax after going through what I’ve been through,” Melanie grumbled. “I just think something must have happened after I packed up in Wyoming. Otherwise, why does my memory end there?”

“The doctor said recent memories sometimes disappear after a head injury like yours,” Anna said. “That trip was recent. Doesn’t mean anything significant happened there. And the doctor said there’s a good chance your memory will come back.”

Anna turned to Luke. “If you look at the security video from the bank and from several different stores in town, you’ll see she was here. And we can find plenty of witnesses if we need to.” She looked at Melanie. “You’ve got a hard head. Getting hit by a tree branch couldn’t have done that much damage. You’ll be fine. Give it time.”

Despite feeling miserable, Melanie mustered a slight smile. She didn’t have much family living around Bowen anymore, just a couple of cousins on her mother’s side and her dad’s widower uncle, and sometimes that bothered her. But the family she did have always came through in a pinch. Then she glanced down at her hands. They had scrapes all over them. She swallowed thickly. “Why do you think the guy who attacked me today didn’t just shoot me?” she asked Luke. “Apparently shooting me wasn’t a problem for him last night.”

“I don’t know. My best guess would be that he was afraid of witnesses. It was broad daylight. In the center of town. The sound of gunshots would have drawn a lot of attention.”

The doorbell chimed and Melanie’s heart sank. It could be some kind soul coming by to check up on her. And with her emotions all over the place and her strength fading, she wasn’t sure how polite she could be.

Luke got to his feet. “You expecting anyone?”

“No,” Anna said, walking to the door. Luke followed behind her. She pulled aside the narrow gauze curtain covering the strip of glass beside the door and looked out. “It’s a police officer,” she said.

It was a patrol officer stopping by to deliver the message that the chief of police wanted to make certain Melanie understood the police department would be working with the sheriff’s department to find the person who’d attacked her. Since the first attack took place in county jurisdiction, the sheriff’s department was taking the lead in the investigation. “But then I guess you already knew all this,” the officer said, glancing at Luke. “Since Lieutenant Baxter is officially in charge of your case.”

No, Melanie hadn’t known that. She glanced at Luke and he gave her a slight nod. From what she’d seen so far, the lieutenant was capable and compassionate. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she felt a flutter of attraction and the whisper of some deeper emotion in the center of her chest. Was it possible he’d had himself put in charge of her case because he felt something like that, too?

The officer didn’t stay long. As soon as he left, Anna ran upstairs to Melanie’s office to look for her beige lockbox. She came back a few minutes later, carrying it. There was a big dent in it, and as soon as Melanie saw it, she remembered dropping it in the parking lot behind The Mercantile.

“That’s right. It got dented and I remember buying the new blue one,” Melanie said to Luke, thrilled at the inkling of memory. “But I planned to use it the same way I did the old one. I didn’t keep drugs or secret government files or anything else you might be imagining in there. Just money. Not even very much, really. And a little jewelry.” Yet someone tried to take her life over that. It was hard to fathom.

Luke nodded and got to his feet.

He glanced around. “I don’t see any signs of a security system for the house,” he said. “I’d strongly suggest you invest in one. The police will patrol by here as often as they can,” he added. “Make sure you keep your doors and windows locked.”

A look of panic flashed across Anna’s face. “Let me check the back doors,” she said, heading for the kitchen.

Melanie stood up and walked with Luke to the front door.

“Tell me something,” she said, her words stopping him before he opened the door. “Both attacks must be related. Why do you think the guy came after me a second time?”

He hesitated, obviously thinking over his answer before he spoke. “Well, since he shot at you, it could be argued that the initial attack was attempted murder and not simply a robbery. And that could mean a pretty lengthy prison sentence. He’d have no way of knowing you were having trouble with your memory and couldn’t identify him. So maybe he came after you because he was afraid you’d identify him and send him to prison.”

“But that seems irrational. Even if I could recognize his face, what are the odds I’d ever see the guy again?”

“Apparently he thought the odds were pretty good,” Luke said. “Which makes me think he is someone you know.”

Luke stepped outside. Melanie closed and locked the door behind him. All the while a chill passed through her. Was it really possible someone she’d known had attacked her twice?

* * *

“Uncle Luke, come out here! Billy Clyde is in the mud again!”

Luke stood inside the stables at his family’s ranch. At the sound of his five-year-old niece Kayla’s voice, he turned toward the big open door to look at her standing in the sunlight. “Come on!” She waved impatiently at him.

Luke finished drying his hands on a tattered red shop towel and walked outside. His niece was already running ahead of him. She stopped and called out “Billy Clyde!” while slapping her thigh.

Billy Clyde, a scruffy brown-and-black dog of uncertain breed, was happily rolling in something on the ground in the corral. A couple of horses had been in that corral until an hour ago. Luke was fairly certain it wasn’t mud the dog was rolling in. And he was doing it right after they’d given Billy Clyde a bath.

“Billy Clyde!” Jake Baxter, Luke’s younger brother, walked from the ranch house, down the slight hill, and hollered to his dog. “Billy Clyde, come here!”

The dog paused, looked at him, then went right back to rolling around.

“I think that dog’s going deaf,” Jake said when he got up alongside Luke.

“There’s nothing wrong with him,” Luke said as both men watched Kayla and her seven-year-old brother, Alan, race over to the dog. At their approach, Billy Clyde jumped up and started barking and playfully running away from them. “That dog’s getting up in years and he’s going to do what he wants to do,” Luke added.

“He’s always done what he wanted to do,” Jake muttered. “When he first showed up, he was skin and bones. Limping. Patches of his fur missing. Janelle felt sorry for him and spoiled him rotten. That is the true source of the problem with Billy Clyde.”

Luke glanced over at Jake, relieved to see that his brother could mention his late wife’s name without choking up. Jake and Janelle had married right out of high school. They had settled here, at the family ranch, while Luke joined the army and took off to see the world. Luke had come back to visit when he could. And, of course, when their father had died. Their mother had passed away when they were both young.

Luke had been energized by the adrenaline rush of serving in the military. Couldn’t imagine ever coming back and settling for a quiet ranch life, just a few miles outside of Bowen.