28 Days(11)

She waved to the doorman to let him know she was fine before she slowly moved toward the coffee shop. Alex watched her walk past him and turned to follow. Once inside, the waitress led them to a table by the window.

He didn’t like the fact that the shop was so busy, but he was desperate and would take anything he could get at this point.

A young waitress strolled up to their table, took their orders and she was gone as fast as she appeared.

Saige rubbed her brow and frowned, her eyes searched his face. Tilting her head to the side, she asked, “Have we met before today?”

He stared at her wondering what to say because she genuinely seemed confused.

“You really don’t remember me, do you?” He searched her face, looking for the truth in her expression.

“No.” Tears sat thickly on her lashes, but they didn’t fall as she blinked them away. “I think I should...my head has started to ache.” She kept rubbing at her forehead. “When did we meet?”

He wouldn’t mention her time with Quinten, but he could give her something. “We first met the summer before you were taken.”

The waitress returned with two steaming cups of coffee and set them down before leaving them alone.

“I don’t remember.” Saige gritted her teeth and wrapped her hands around the cup. “I don’t remember the summer before at all.” She swiped at a lone tear as it trickled down her pale face. “I wish I did. My memory has a large black hole in it, and it drives me crazy. Surely, if anything, I should have only blocked out the five days I was...I was tortured. Instead I have two and a half years missing.”

“What?” He was stunned by her words.

No way!

“Are you sure?” he questioned, leaning forward.

Her hands shook as she raised her mug, sloshing droplets of coffee onto the table. She gave up and placed the cup back down. “Am I sure? Of course I’m sure.” She waved her hands around. “Don’t you think I want to remember? I’ve no desire to remember what he did to me, but I sure as hell want to remember the rest.” The anger she felt was evident in every sharp movement of her hands and body as she became agitated.

“I was found at the end of November. I know that simply because people told me that, but I don’t remember it. All of my memories end at the Easter party my stepmother had arranged for her friends. It was boring, but I was there and remember it. My next memory starts two and a half years later when I woke up in that horrible, private hospital. My father finally came and took me home. I want and need to remember, but every time I’ve tried over the years, I get one hell of a headache. Sometimes it’s a migraine that makes me physically sick.”

He sat back and let her words sink in because she certainly believed what she told him.

“I don’t know what to say about that, but if you don’t have any memory of what happened, how were you able to make a statement accusing my brother of taking you? How were you able to identify him from a selection of photographs given to you?”

He loved you and you betrayed him.

A barrage of emotion crossed Saige’s face—shock being the main one.

“I don’t know,” she whispered, and buried her face in her hands. “I really don’t know. How could I have done that if I don’t have any memory?”

Her tear stained eyes lifted to his and Alex found himself swallowing back the harsh words he’d had prepared for the last eight years.

“That’s a good question that I think you need to ask your father,” he hissed.

Saige dried her tears up with a napkin that he passed to her while staying silent. She stared out of the window and drank some of her coffee, her fingers only shaking slightly around the tall cup.

“I tried to ask my father about the trial.” She faced him. “He wanted me to leave it in the past.”

Alex clenched his jaw in anger. “I heard.”

Saige paused and then nodded. “I agreed, but had no intention of letting it go.”

“Why? Why would you lie to your father?” He knew she lied but needed to hear the reason from her, and he knew how close she was to her father. She always had been and he overheard enough of their conversation earlier to know that she still was.

“He’s protecting me.”

Alex wondered if there was something more to her father wanting her to leave it in the past. Did he have secrets too?

Saige’s attention went outside the coffee shop again, as though she was seeing something he couldn’t.

“If I tell you something, will you tell me if you think I’m crazy?” she asked so quietly.

He nodded, his curiosity piqued.

“When I saw your brother’s picture on television yesterday, that was the first time I recall seeing him. I know I can’t remember, but I didn’t feel anything like I thought I would if I ever saw the man who took me. I felt safe. I don’t understand why I didn’t fear him if he was the one responsible for what happened to me. That’s what set me off wanting to know what happened.” She leaned forward. “And now, are you telling me that it was my statement, and selecting him from a photographic lineup, that got him convicted?”

If she was lying, then she was a damn good actress. He wanted to believe she was lying, except his gut told him she wasn’t.

So he decided to be even more honest. “There was evidence at the scene of the crime to suggest that he was responsible. After your statement, they didn’t look for anyone else and went after Quinten. Eventually they charged him, not only with your abduction and torture, but also with five counts of first-degree murder of the college girls who disappeared before you. As far as they were concerned, they had their man so why look elsewhere.”