“Do you think Wyatt is okay?” he asked his brother.
Cam shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s what we’re here to discover, right?” He reached for his door to get out.
“Yep,” Diesel replied, but remained seated. “I heard his family put him in the hospital for several days after Hunter Valero found him unconscious at his home.”
“They only did it as a precaution because he had such a terrible headache. Hunter told me he got out of there as soon as he could.”
“Still, his pain was because of our procedure.” The news of Wyatt’s painful memory erasure upset Diesel. Valene was nearly inconsolable when she heard.
“I know. It’s unusual. No one has ever exhibited that symptom before. Gage is looking into it.”
“What’s he doing?”
Cam shook his head. “Pfft. I have no idea. Science-y Gage stuff like usual. You know how he is.”
Diesel knew Gage was almost more upset by the side effects than Valene had been. “He just didn’t expect Wyatt to have such a hangover after the memory wipe.
Someone passed in front of their vehicle, swiped an access card at the back door and entered the rear entrance of the Skeeter Bite Sheriff’s Office. Diesel and Cam would have to go around to the front.
“We should get inside and check Wyatt before too many more people show up.”
Diesel opened his door. “Let’s hope he’s blissfully ignorant of what we did to him. Plus, I’d hate to see him like Valene.”
“That’s the truth. She is one miserable chickadee since Wyatt lost his memory about us.”
Diesel cracked a smile. “She hates it when you call her a chickadee.”
Cam grinned. “I know. That’s why I do it. Come on, let’s get this over with.”
They exited Diesel’s vehicle into a warm and very humid day and quickly made their way to the front door, stepping into air-conditioned bliss inside the station. The receptionist recognized them and waved them back to Wyatt’s office at the rear of the building.
“Hey, Diesel.” He stood and extended his arm to shake hands. “Cam,” he added and shook his hand as well. “What brings you boys to Skeeter Bite?”
Diesel and Cam sat in the chairs stationed in front of Wyatt’s desk. “We heard you’d come back to work today and wanted to check up on you. Heard you spent some time in hospital after some sort of head injury.”
“That’s nice of you. I appreciate it.”
Cam leaned forward and looked carefully into Wyatt’s face. “So, how are you? What do you remember about your…accident?”
Wyatt’s smile dimmed. “I don’t remember what happened that knocked me unconscious in my own yard, but Hunter suspects I got hit by a loose limb that fell on my head. He was the one who found me, along with one of my sisters.”
“That’s pretty scary,” Diesel said, also studying Wyatt. He seemed okay.
“Well, I feel bad because technically it was scary for everyone except me. I don’t remember a thing.”
Cam seemed to relax back in his chair. “Maybe that’s for the best.”
“Only one drawback that I can see so far.”
“What’s that?” Diesel asked, also easing back in his chair.
“It seems that my lost memory has prompted pretty much everyone I meet to let me know I owe them money. Turns out I’m in debt somewhere in the neighborhood of three years’ worth of salary. Makes me wonder what I was spending all that borrowed money on.”
Diesel and Cam both laughed.
“Oh, yeah, lots of knee-slapping fun on that score.”
“I’ll bet,” Diesel said.
