Just a Memory Read Online Free PDF

one."
    Uncomfortable with her comments, Mac shifted from one foot to the other. He couldn't let her know just how temporary his appointment was–that he might be out of there tomorrow if his memory returned tonight. She didn't want to hear he probably wouldn't last the year until a permanent chief was found and installed. "I appreciate that," he said instead.
    "It's great to work with you and Hines. It means a lot to have both of you respect me as a woman and as a police officer."
    "Hey, that's not a problem for us, Ellie. From what I've seen in the short time I've been here, you're good at your job."
    "Well, thanks. I'm just grateful you don't treat me as if I'm less than capable just because I'm a woman. That's all."
    Mac looked at her pixie face and noticed she'd done her long black hair in a severe bun, as she did each day. To make herself look more serious and less cute, he suspected. She'd been a policewoman for three years and the former Chief had thought of her as little more than a meter maid, or worse, a coffee maker and file clerk.
    "I'd hate to have any of my people gender-challenged!" Mac jested, getting the smile he sought to put Ellie at ease. He looked at her pretty face, her wide hazel eyes and long dark lashes, and wondered why in the weeks he'd worked with her she'd never affected him on a personal level the way Carolyn Blake had in only twenty minutes.
    "Thanks." She smiled and returned to her desk, absently rubbing her shoulder where it had clipped Hines's chin.

 
     
     
    Chapter Three
     
     
     
    Mac wished finding a fast lunch in Lakehaven was easier. The restaurant downtown was too slow, the motel coffee shop tables would be full by now because of the popular view of the lake, and there were only two small family-run drive-thrus on the county road. One of those was open only in the warm months of the year.
    He chose the open drive-through and ate as he hurried to meet the realtor. He couldn't remember her name at the moment, but he remembered her heavy perfume had clung to his jacket for hours after looking at a couple of places with her last week. He thought of the light fragrance Carolyn had been wearing. Disturbed that she'd popped into his head again, Mac crumpled the sandwich wrapper, shoved it into the little bag and tossed it onto the back seat. Minutes later he pulled up the driveway of the prospective house. He knew at first sight that it wasn't what he wanted, but he walked through it anyway.
    The realtor's name was Sandi Houseman, she quickly reminded him. She talked incessantly about everything from how much she loved selling real estate to inviting him to lunch for the third time since they'd met. The look in her eyes told him lunch was just the beginning of the things she would like to invite him to.
    Mac turned her down gently, blaming job responsibilities. The thought came to him that there must not be many chances for socializing in this small town, or why else would the lovely Widow Blake still be unmarried?
    Just as simple as that, she was in his thoughts again.
    Damn.
    While Mac waited for Sandi to lock up the house, his gaze went to the lake where the waves splashed over the stones on the shoreline. Typical of the many glacial lakes in the area, it looked clean and good and pure–so unlike his former work environment.
    There has to be a place on the lake I can call home, he thought with renewed determination.
    Home. The word was almost foreign to him. He thought of where he'd lived as a child–the old brownstone that always smelled of last night's dinner. That had felt like a home. After his policeman father was fatally shot on duty and his mother died soon after, Mac saw no reason to keep the place once he'd started college.
    Selling it and investing the money turned out to be a smart move. By the time he completed his studies in criminology, the old neighborhood had changed. Instead of looking like the friendly setting for a Sesame Street episode, it more closely resembled