Murdered Memories E-Book

David Harder

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Krimi
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

"Murdered Memories" takes you back to 1994 and to a man, Darien, with no memory of his past, yet it's a past that is trying to kill him. 

He knew he needed answers, answers from her and answers from himself, but all he had right now were "Murdered Memories."

Leseprobe

David Harder

Murdered Memories

Thank God for all His blessings in my life. Thanks to the Topeka Barnes and Noble Writers’ Group who encouraged this project in the first place and who then spent many hours listening to it, reading it and giving feedback. Thanks to my wife for supporting the effort and the time involved and for liking it even when she didn’t know it was mine. Thanks to special friends who encouraged me to complete the book and get it into print. And thank you for taking the time to read it. I hope you find it enjoyable but beyond that I also hope you find it thought- provoking as you follow the emotions Darien experiences in dealing with all that comes his way. BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

Title Page

MURDERED MEMORIES

BY

DAVID L. HARDER

© 2012 by David L. Harder. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.

[email protected]

PROLOGUE

Night crept over the harbor like a lion stalking prey. Slowly, deliberately, almost unnoticed, it painted the evening sky, changing the color from bright blue to yellow then to orange and finally black. As if on cue from some hidden conductor, the wind began blowing in from the ocean, bringing an end to the calmness of the day and a chill to every creature in its path. Darien, at least that’s what Lanette had called him, turned up the collar on his overcoat and stuffed his clenched hands deep into the empty outer pockets. He leaned forward into the wind, cursed the cold and trudged onward toward the cafe. His mind raced again, as he questioned the few things he supposedly knew, and searched in vain for answers to questions that shouldn’t even exist. Questions about who he really was, where he was from, and why he couldn’t remember anything before yesterday. He was confused. Confused about his life. Confused about his past. Confused and angry.

Chapter 1 - The Awakening

He thought back to last night when he woke up in a storage room that adjoined a cafe kitchen, wondering where he was and for that matter, who he was. An attractive lady had been standing in the doorway. “Hey there Darien, you’re awake.”

“Yes…I guess…I must be,” he said with hesitation. Confusion immediately set in along with consciousness. “But where am I, and what am I doing here? What day is it? What did you call me? Damn, I don’t remember anything!”

“My name is Lanette,” she said, “and you’re Darien. I found you lying in the street, out in the cold, soaked to the skin from the rain. I helped you get into this cot in the back room of my cafe and covered you with blankets to try to warm you up. Your clothes are drying here by the oven. Don’t try to talk right now, just lay back and relax.” He knew he needed answers; answers from her and answers from himself, but he didn’t seem to have the strength to pursue them right now, so he laid back and watched her through the open door. The only thing he knew at this point in time was that she had to be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. How he knew that seemed strange and almost humorous because he couldn’t even remember knowing another woman. Funny how some thoughts were present while others were missing.

Her long blonde hair had been put up in a French braid, but some of it now hung loosely around her face. Possibly the wind, rain and the struggle of helping him into the cafe had caused the braid to loosen. Food stains from the lunch and breakfast times earlier in the day covered her apron. Somehow, in his mind, that made her even more beautiful. As he watched her work, he realized that part of her beauty was much more than her slender, yet shapely physique. Something inside of her radiated out in everything she did and said. Her every move fascinated him and he didn’t even realize he was staring into space, lost in a dream.

“Would you like some coffee?” She was standing right in front of him with a steamy pot of a very aromatic brew. She couldn’t help but be amazed at his muscular build and steely-blue eyes.

“Yes…yes I would”.

“Where were you just now?” she asked. “After the third time of asking you about the coffee, I was concerned that the bump on your head might be serious after all.”

“What bump?” Instinctively he reached to his forehead. The sharp pain and burning sensation that coursed through his entire being as his hand made contact with the large tender knot, answered that question. Now he could only wonder how it got there. “Well, since I don’t remember anything about my life or how any of this happened, I think it’s safe to say it’s serious.”

Lanette smiled, “I called Doc Travis and he’ll be stopping by later to check you out. He owes me a few favors.”

Feeling embarrassed about staring at her, or at least for getting caught at it, Darien began, “I’m sorry…” She smiled and blushed ever so slightly as she turned out of the storage room and headed into the kitchen.

He knew from the sounds of the clanging pots and pans that she was working at the stove, so he stood up, wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and leaned on the doorjamb. “So, Lanette was it?” She nodded an acknowledgment. “Well, Lanette, where’s my stuff?” he asked.

“What stuff?”

“You know, wallet, keys, money, whatever I had with me when you found me.”

Lanette grabbed something off the counter, placed it in his outstretched hand, and said, “Here you go.” He looked at the treasure in his palm and found one solitary key and thirty-four cents. No wallet, no identification, and no clue to who he was. The first thought that crossed his mind, for some strange reason, was how he was going to pay for the coffee.

Surprised at the meager bounty in his hand, Darien asked, “This is it? This is all I have?”

“That’s it,” she replied almost too casually as she headed through the swinging doors into the dining area.

“Well then, how do you know my name?” The swinging doors bounced back and forth and back and forth, smaller bounces each time, until they met in the middle. The question went unanswered.

He laid back on the cot, realizing now how much more his head throbbed when he stood up. He heard Lanette come back into the kitchen and start working again, pots and pans clanging, drawers opening and closing, but his head hurt too much to allow him to stand. She came into the storage room carrying a plate covered with beans and topped with a sandwich. It shocked him when she stopped and placed the plate on the small table next to the cot. “I’m afraid I can’t take that,” he said. “I don’t have any way to pay you for this or anything you’ve done for me.”

She looked at him with compassion and replied, “You have to be hungry. The sandwich will do you good. If it would make it easier for you to accept some help, maybe you could give me a hand around here when you feel up to it.” He mumbled a quick acknowledgment, which got muffled by a mouthful of the delicious sandwich. Until now, he had been unaware of how famished he actually was.

Darien became slightly aware of voices around him. He slowly opened his eyes and tried to focus in the darkness of the room. He realized he had gone to sleep while still eating, at least that would be the logical assumption based on the crushed piece of sandwich in his right hand. As his eyes painfully focused on the voices, he saw Lanette talking to a rugged looking man, dressed all in black and holding a black medical bag. The man’s graying hair had been neatly combed back, and he wore a designer silk suit. His dark complexion made a stark contrast next to the fair-skinned Lanette.

“Must be that doctor she was talking about,” he muttered to himself. As he tried to place the remains of the sandwich on the plate, he inadvertently knocked over the coffee cup.

Startled by the noise, Lanette turned toward him. “You’re awake. Hey Doc, he’s awake.”

“Yes…I didn’t expect him to come around so quickly. That’s really amazing for someone who’s had the kind of…well, the kind of blow to the head like you have.” Darien again felt at the knot on his head, only to find a bandage covering it.

“Am I going to be okay, Doc?” Darien asked anxiously.

“Yes, but I want you to stay in bed here for a couple of days. I’ll be back to check on you. What you need right now is to rest and take it easy. You’ve got a great nurse here. Enjoy it.” Doc Travis put his arm around Lanette’s shoulder, and they whispered to each other as she let him out the back door of the cafe. Darien laid down and immediately dozed off again.

The smell of bacon frying and biscuits baking tickled his senses and once again stirred Darien to consciousness in that small storage room. How long had he been here now? Was this all just a bad dream? No, it had to be real. He still couldn’t remember anything, and the feeling of knowing he should remember, yet being unable to, was becoming overwhelming to his entire system. He wanted to get up, but his head hurt way too much. She looked in on him and saw that he was awake. “Would you like something to eat? Something to drink?”

“Just something cold to drink would be fine. I don’t think I could eat right now.” He spent the rest of the day between restless sleep and painful consciousness, hearing activity in the kitchen, but not really aware of what the sounds were. He wished for time to pass, answers to come and the pain to subside.

It was late afternoon when he woke again, and despite how he felt and against the doctor’s orders, Darien knew he had to get out of the dark room. Lanette was busy in the dining room with the early dinner crowd, so he grabbed the clothes she had dried, folded and placed on a chair next to the cot. The stiffness of the denim jeans and polo shirt as he began to pull them on spoke of their need to be washed. After getting dressed as quietly as he could, he silently crept out the back door. He only intended to get some fresh air and take a quick look around, to see if anything would jog his memory, but instead, he spent several hours wandering all around the area looking for clues. He was afraid to ask questions of strangers; therefore he was getting no answers. No one spoke to him or for that matter even seemed to give him a second glance. He felt totally invisible. If he was familiar with the area, he surely couldn’t tell, because nothing he saw held any memory for him. By looking at a newspaper, he knew it was October 16, 1994, and a few signs he spotted let him know he was in Grays Harbor in Washington. Supposedly his name was Darien. That wasn’t much knowledge and it wasn’t enough to cause any light bulbs to glow within his obstructed memory. Oh well, it was only one day wasted, but since it was the only day he could remember, it bothered him deeply.

Now as the welcome lights of the cafe came into view, he packed these thoughts of the previous day deep into his subconscious, shivered deeply and quickened his pace. He knew Lanette would give him something to eat, something warm and nourishing. That was assuming she wasn’t too mad at him. He actually felt good enough that he planned to give her a little help cleaning up after closing time today. Cleaning up. Was that all he was good for? That was like working for his supper. He had a feeling this was not normal for him, but if only his shackled memory would set his thoughts free. He now struggled against the cold wind, as he looked forward to getting back to the cafe and Lanette. He couldn’t help but think that the cheery aura of the cafe looked out of place in the dark, eerie shadows of the warehouse district. The warm appearance caused the cold of the evening to bite even deeper, yet the relief he felt as he grasped the door handle was like a great inner peace. This place seemed to give him happiness, yet for some unexplained reason, uneasiness at the same time. He struggled with the wind as he pulled the door closed behind him. It was beginning to feel like he was always battling nature in some way.

Lanette was just coming through the swinging doors from the kitchen as Darien got the front door to latch. “Darien! Where have you been? You know what Doc Travis said. I was worried to death that the po…,” she stopped abruptly, “I mean, I was worried to death, hoping you were okay.”

He forced a smile and said, “I’m fine. I actually feel pretty good, and I’m sure I’ll be okay. I’m sorry you were worried though.” Inside, he really felt like screaming. Screaming with pain, screaming for help, or just screaming for nothing more than the sake of screaming.

“Just please go lie down, and I’ll bring you some food.”

“I’d rather sit here at the counter if that’s okay with you. No offense, but that little room is starting to feel like a cage.”

Lanette looked around nervously and responded, “I guess that will be fine, just be careful.” Darien wondered why he had to be careful to sit at the counter. Was she afraid he’d fall off the stool? He surely wasn’t injured that badly. Did she mean something else? He wondered, but only for a moment. His mind was too busy trying to invent history to really care. He climbed onto a stool near the front door and casually surveyed the room. There was a rugged and very dirty looking man in the corner booth, probably a transient, and four fishermen sat at a table over by the window, laughing and swearing within the cloud of cigar smoke surrounding their heads. Even for this cafe in this area, it had to be a slow night.

He didn’t know how Lanette could make a living, let alone seem so happy all the time. Apparently she was the sole proprietor of this place, and the only employee. He found himself beginning to admire her. The long hours she must work, cooking and serving the rugged likes of the fishermen and warehouse workers had to be tough. He knew she was there early serving breakfasts, that she also worked very late taking care of the dinner crowd, and then spent hours cleaning up the place, getting it ready for the next day. Still she seemed happy. He really wanted to get to know her better, maybe a lot better. He longed to know what made her tick. He wanted to understand why joy and happiness radiated from her. He wanted to be able to pay for his dinner. He had already thought how nice it would be to take her away from this place, to a home in the country, where they could enjoy the peace and quiet, and she wouldn’t have to work so hard. But it was only a dream. After all, he had only known her for a day, and he didn’t even know himself right now. Would he really like to live in the country? Had he lived in the country? Why did he even think that would appeal to him? Hopefully his memory would return and he would be able to answer these questions. Besides, other than some polite conversation they hadn’t really talked, and she showed no interest in him other than possibly as a friend, or a patient. She wouldn’t even tell him how she knew his name.

Chapter 2 - House Call

Lanette came through the swinging doors with a bowl of steaming soup in one hand and a basket of crackers in the other. She placed them in front of Darien and immediately headed to the table of fishermen. “You boys need anything else?”

The apparent leader of the group pushed back from the table and tugged at his waistband where the dirty, discolored suspenders attached, as if hoping to stretch the straining fabric of the pants. He took a breath so deep that his already substantial girth increased two-fold, and let out half of it with a heavy sigh. “No ma’am, we’re needin’ to get on our way. Gotta be at the boat pretty early tomorrow. We want to make sure we’ll get out there and back before the storm really sets in. Here you go, keep the change.” He placed two twenty-dollar bills in her hand. Lanette thanked him and put the bills into her apron pocket. She began picking up dishes from their table, stacking them against gravity, against the laws of physics almost, yet not a single piece dropped. She whirled around, and quickly headed for the kitchen. She moved so fast that the breeze caught Darien by surprise. She turned again, and in one fluid motion, went backwards through the swinging doors, and twirled again to head to the sink. By the time the doors had swung open on their second bounce, she was out of sight. The fishermen shuffled out the door, letting a blast of cool air enter as they left, and now it was only Darien and the transient in the corner. Darien realized he had not seen the old guy make any noise, or even move for that matter, the entire time he’d been there. As Lanette came back through the swinging doors, Darien had to ask, “Hey, Lanette, what’s up with that guy?”

“Oh, he’s been coming in here every night for the past week. He says his name’s Bill. He always buys a bowl of soup and a cup of coffee. He wants only one refill on the coffee, and he pays the whole bill with coins. He always tips me a quarter too. After he’s finished eating he sleeps there until I wake him and tell him it’s time to go. Pretty sad actually…to think he’s probably out in that weather all night after he leaves.”

“Pretty sad that he sits in here and takes up space,” Darien replied with disgust.

“Don’t you talk like that, Darien! We all need some help sometime. Just look at you for instance.”

Darien immediately felt a little embarrassed about being put in his place, but he couldn’t help it, he still didn’t like to think of that dirty man sleeping in the cafe. Lanette went over and started collecting dishes from the booth where Bill sat. The old man stirred. “Is it that time already?” he asked, almost whistling when he talked.

“I’m afraid so Bill, but I’ll see you again tomorrow night, right?”

“You sure will. You know I love your soup.” He picked up a broken and stained bowler hat from the bench, and placed it on his head. He pulled gloves from the pockets of the coat and slowly pulled the right one on. Darien noticed that three of the fingers of the glove were totally worn off, and there was also a hole in the palm. The left one wasn’t any better. Darien shuddered as he thought about the old guy sleeping out on the docks somewhere.

Lanette walked Bill to the door and locked it behind him. She lowered the blind on the door, turned over the sign in the window so it showed “Closed”, and flipped off the light switch that controlled the sign above the front of the cafe. Now, there was no bright and cheery area in the district; all was cold and dark. Lanette continued around the dining room, lowering every shade, closing out the oppressive nighttime. Darien realized he was staring again. “So, what could I do to help you out?”