“I woke up in a cave with a bump on my head, and all my memories are gone. When I came out, a man attacked me, but just when I had this feeling of recognition, my mind went...blank. I almost passed out. Something inside me didn’t want to remember who he was.” She shook her head again. “Even when you asked my name back on the mountain, I didn’t know it until the moment I spoke. Then it just...came.”
Michael blinked. The story sounded...well, a little far-fetched. Amnesia? Or maybe she was protecting herself, making something up that meant she didn’t have to tell him more. But he’d seen that strange confusion and surprise in her expression when she’d said her name. And it made sense that she wouldn’t want to see anyone if she didn’t know who was after her—as much sense as any other explanation.
“It’s really strange,” she continued. “When we were in the stall, I remembered my horse, the one I had growing up.”
“Do you remember anything else?”
She was quiet and a crease formed between her brows. Finally, she sighed. “It’s like a handful of pictures in my mind. I can see my parents at the dinner table. I can taste my dad’s chili, and I can hear my mother saying my name, but I can’t see outside the edges of that picture.”
“It’s okay. It’ll come,” he said, though he had no idea if that was true. “Did you check your pockets for anything personal?”
“That was the first thing I did.” She dug into her pockets and emptied the contents onto the table. The only thing that was close to personal was the car key. “I’m sure I have a phone. Why wouldn’t I have it with me?”
Michael studied her carefully. “And what were you doing in that cave...?”
Her pink lips pulled down into a frown and her gray eyes looked lost. Then Ellie’s eyes brightened, as if a piece of this strange puzzle had clicked into place.
“I knew the man who attacked me by the cave, but I didn’t recognize anything about those other men.” Her voice was filled with a mix of confusion and realization. “Which means neither of them was the person who attacked me outside the cave.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. The first attack...the man’s voice triggered this feeling, like my brain was shutting down. This time, I was terrified, but it wasn’t the same. I didn’t feel like I would pass out.”
Michael was doing his best to trust her, but the story was hard to put together. “How would these men know to come around here?”
“They must have been in that white truck that stopped at the end of your driveway. Maybe the person from the cave told them the direction I went?”
Michael nodded. It was a long shot. Then again, his family owned all the land for miles in either direction. It wouldn’t be hard to narrow down where she might go.
“They could have followed our tracks here,” she added.
It was the only thing that made sense, but it seemed a little extreme. Unless those men had a very strong incentive to find her and bring her back.
“So three men have tried to attack you, and you don’t know why?”
Ellie closed her eyes. “They said they were going to take me somewhere.”
Now she was watching him closely, as if she was gauging his reaction.
“You must think I’m a little...unbalanced,” she added, shaking her head slowly. “Frankly, I’m thinking the same thing.”
She looked behind him, out the windows, and he did the same. The snow was still coming down, and Michael wondered how long they had until the men returned. He was sure Ellie was thinking the same thing.
“I need to get out of here.”
Michael nodded slowly. Her story definitely pushed the boundaries of believable, and yet those two men were very real and willing to drag her out of his house. What was he supposed to do with this?
Guide me, Lord.
The prayer flowed through his mind so naturally, the way prayer used to. And, for a moment, he zipped back to the time when it was a part of his life. When Sunny was a part of his life. Michael gave himself a little shake. This wasn’t the time to probe his own past. He knew what he had to do. Deep down, he had known it from the moment she had come charging down the mountain. Even if Ellie was having some sort of mental health crisis and needed professional help, she also needed an ally now. He was going to be that person. He had to stay close until he was sure she felt safe.
“We should call the police,” he suggested.
The moment he said it, she recoiled. “No police.”
She looked like she was going to bolt. He glanced at her bare feet and put up his hands in surrender.
“No police,” he repeated. “Can you tell me why?”
“I don’t know.” Her brow furrowed and she frowned. “Something about it scares me.”
Was he going to trust her instincts? It was either that or leave her to fend for herself in the cold—which he definitely wasn’t going to do. For now, he was going to trust her.
“I don’t suppose you would know of a safe place I can take you?” he asked.
Her brow still wrinkled, she shook her head. “I—I don’t think I live around here.”
“But you’re not sure where you live?”
She grimaced. “I think my best hope is to trace my path and try to figure out where I was before the cave. I kept this key.” She picked up the key and stared at it in the palm of her hand. “It must lead to a car, and it can’t be too far away from that cave where I woke up.”
“You’re planning to go on foot?”
“I’ll be fine.” She glanced at her bare feet then back at her boots, wilted into a soggy heap. “But I’d really appreciate a pair of boots to borrow.”
There was no way Michael was sending her out into a blizzard on foot by herself when she had no idea who she was or where she was going.
“I can drive you around, see if you recognize anything.”
