“After that, I’m afraid the officer outside will need to speak to you, as well.”
“The officer?”The beeping of the machine sped up as my pulse picked up its pace.
“The police.”Her frown conveyed how little she’d wanted to tell me the news.
“Yes, the doctor mentioned the police before, but I still don’t know why.”
Bewilderment ricocheted in my mind.Why would the police want to see me?I was a dignitary from another country, not a common criminal.
Approaching my bedside again, she gently patted the back of my hand.“You must not worry on these things.Think of your health.”
“I just don’t remember why the police need to see me.”If a local officer had been sent to escort me from the airport, I’d never known one to cuff me before.
“It is not for me to say.”She sighed.
“Please,” I murmured.“Maybe you can help me start to put the pieces of my memory back together.”
“Well...”she hesitated, her otherwise flawless brow creasing.“I know only that you were in custody when you became unwell.”
Wait, what?
“Custody?”I could barely even get the word out.
“Yes.”Her reticence continued.“And already I have said too much.Wait there while I confirm the MRI.”
With a final pat to my hand, she turned and stalked out of the room, leaving me alone with only my puzzled thoughts.
Why the hell was I in custody?And why was I in Zurich?
Closing my eyes, I concentrated on trying to identify at least one strand of the answers.What could I remember about being in custody?Anything?Presumably, the Swiss police had arrested me, but when and how had that happened?
In the bright light of the hospital room, nothing was obvious, but behind my lids, there were shards of potential clarity.Slivers of what might have been memories darted in my mind’s eye, my hand tightening on the blankets as a partial scene was finally revealed.
In the center of the disturbing picture was me, on my knees in a tiny hallway, surrounded by multiple armed officers.I couldn’t have said I remembered the event, yet there were fragments of the experience buried in my psyche, as though I had lived through the deed before my brain had decided to bury it away from plain sight.
“Fuck,” I whispered.“What the hell happened to me?”
I didn’t recognize the hallway I was kneeling in, and, as the extent of my awareness expanded, I realized there was a brunette wrapped in what looked like a bed sheet standing beside me.Her expression spoke of concern as my rights were read, and she stepped closer to hold my shoulder.
Eyes fluttering open, I glanced to that same shoulder.It was covered with an unsightly hospital gown, but in the mental image, I’d been topless, the touch of her caress by the staircase almost tangible on my skin as I thought of her.
“Who are you?”
My eyelids closed again, my focus trying to draw the image back into my mind.Relief reverberated through me when the scene reappeared, and the ease with which it came reassured me that the experience was indeed a real recollection, and not just a figment of my imagination.
Freezing the frame in my mind, I focused on the brown-haired woman with her hand on my shoulder, taking in as much detail about her as I could recall.Long brown hair that almost reached her shoulders created a veil around her face, and she had a sympathetic smile and a body that seemed almost too slim to be healthy.
How do I know her?
When no answer bubbled to the surface, I relaxed, allowing the memory to move forward.Some of the details of the place and the police were sketchy, but my attention was so fixated on the brunette that it hardly mattered.
Shemeant something.
I didn’t know how I knew, but I did, and focusing on her seemed entirely natural.She’d stayed by my side in that hallway, and while I couldn’t remember what the charges against me had been, I did recall how upset she’d seemed, and the way my heart had pounded when she’d slipped past the officers with the guns to stand in front of me.
Face to face with her, I’d stared straight into her compelling gaze, and even though I’d known we only had a few seconds before the police took me away, every fiber of my being was engrossed in what she was about to say.Holding my breath, I concentrated, sensing that if I just paid enough attention, I could recall those precious words and piece together another part of the puzzle of my identity.
She leaned closer then, the scent of her hair catching in my nostrils.I remembered how badly I wanted to reach for her, but my hands had been cuffed behind my back, preventing the deed.
