August Unknown Read Online Free PDF

think there might have been foul play
involved?”
    She closed her eyes and pressed two fingers to the bridge of
her nose. “I don’t know what I’m saying. But I have a strange feeling I can’t
get past.” She leveled a determined gaze on him. “Why hasn’t anyone reported me
missing?”
    “I may have the answer to that.” Officer Gaffney stood in the
doorway holding a folder. Geoffrey knew his brother-in-law well enough to
recognize the solemn look on his face as bad news.
    * * *
    The sight of a uniformed officer made August’s heart kick
against her ribs. Geoffrey seemed to recognize the man. He stepped around the
bed and offered a handshake to Geoffrey.
    “Heard you had a bit of an accident last night. What in
damnation were you doing out in a storm like that?”
    “I was after Gran. Jocelyn wanted her to come home with us.”
    “I think Leah’s better off not knowing Jocelyn was in the car
with you,” the officer warned.
    Geoffrey held up both hands. “She won’t hear it from me.”
    “You must be Geoffrey’s brother-in-law.” August hoped the
sheriff was here as a friend to Geoffrey and not on some grim, official
business.
    “This is Mike Gaffney, Sheriff’s Department Investigator. Mike
is married to my sister, Paige.”
    The officer gently shook her good hand. “Dr. Carlson tells me
you took a nasty bump on the head and can’t remember much.”
    August nodded, fighting a sudden stinging of tears. She took a
deep breath.
    “Don’t you worry. I’ve seen it before and it always passes.
I’m sure it’ll all come back.” He craned his neck to look at the paper on the meal
tray. “I see Dr. Lohman gave you a homework assignment.”
    “She’s been writing numbers in case something comes out
naturally, like a phone number or address,” Geoffrey told him.
    “May I?” Officer Mike picked up the paper. “These don’t look
like local prefixes or area codes, but I’ll run them through my database.” He
folded it up and placed it in his pocket. “Is there anything at all you can
tell me, even something simple, like a hobby that interests you, or a favorite
food?”
    August’s frustration came barreling back. “Favorite food? How
in the world is that going to help?”
    Officer Mike twitched his bushy mustache. “You might be
surprised.”
    “Sure,” she snapped. “I like the white clam chowder better
than the red.”
    The men glanced at each other.
    “I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I know you’re just trying to
help.” She sighed. “Actually, I like them both.”
    Geoffrey smiled and August couldn’t help but smile too. There
was something comfortable about his face that made her feel safe. Though he was
a virtual stranger, she was glad he was here with her during the officer’s
questioning. All day, a dark and frightening presence had been lingering in the
shadows of her mind, and in a strange way she couldn’t quite identify, the
officer’s appearance made it worse.
    Good God, I wasn’t a criminal, was I? She shuddered
before she could stop herself. The nagging ache in her arm spiked.
    “I’ve been trying to picture a house, but I can’t see
anything,” she told them. “I have to have lived somewhere, didn’t I? I feel
like I’m reaching through a dark doorway for something to grab onto, but
there’s nothing there.”
    A long moment of silence hung in the air. Dr. Lohman had
explained there was no cure for amnesia. No one knew how to help her. She was
desperately alone.
    Officer Gaffney laid a manila folder on the tray. “Last night
a sailboat sank off the coast, near Astoria.”
    As though someone had opened a furnace, a blast of heat struck
August. Behind the two men, the room drifted away.
    “Three people up on deck trying to keep her afloat were washed
overboard. There was one survivor, an older woman who didn’t know how to use
the radio. The Coast Guard found the boat adrift, partially submerged this
morning.”
    “And the three people?” She hardly