The Stranger In Room 205 (Hot off the Press! 1)

He opened his eyes, blinking in the darkness, his mind filled with echoes of other voices. “What?”

Serena was leaning over him, holding the sheet to her breasts with one hand. “You were dreaming.”

“I know.” He rubbed a hand over his gritty eyes.

“I didn’t know whether I should wake you, but you seemed…agitated.”

“It’s okay.”

“You were saying something. It sounded like…” She hesitated, then whispered, “Jane. I think you were saying the name Jane. Do you…do you remember who she is?”

“It wasn’t Jane. It was Shane.” He could see the guy’s face again even as he repeated, “Shane.”

“A man?” Serena sounded both relieved and puzzled. “You remember a man named Shane?”

“Sort of. I don’t know for certain, but I think he’s a friend. Maybe…a brother.”

“A brother?” She sat up straighter, tucking the sheet beneath her arms. “Sam, this could be important. What else did you remember? His last name? Your own?”

He shook his head, his thoughts starting to clear, the images beginning to fade. “They weren’t clear memories. Just flashes, like I’ve had before. And as for the guy—Shane—I don’t really know who he is. Probably not a brother. I said that only because he felt like someone who’s been a part of my life for a long time.”

“A brother or a friend. Either way you know there are people out there somewhere who care about you. Who are missing you, maybe looking for you. There has to be a way to find them.”

His laugh sounded hollow even to him. “You seem rather anxious to get rid of me.”

“You know better than that,” she chided softly, then added, “I would think you’d be more anxious to find the answers yourself.”

He reached up to stroke her tumbled hair, smoothing it away from her face. “I rather enjoy being Sam Wallace,” he murmured. “I’m not so sure I’d like the guy I was before.”

She rested a hand on his chest, just over his heart. “I don’t know what happened to you, or how you ended up here the way you did, but there’s one thing I do know. Whatever your name is, you’re a good man. An honest man, with a kind heart and a deep sense of honor. You’ve suffered hardships, but they’ve only made you stronger. You remember friends, which means you know how to be a friend yourself. I don’t think you have anything to fear about facing your past.”

She didn’t know about the crying woman, of course. The one he’d somehow hurt so badly. But her faith in him touched him immeasurably. “I hope you’re right,” he said.

“I’m right.” She spoke with a certainty he envied. “I can’t believe amnesia would change your entire personality.”

Maybe not. But it could certainly change his circumstances. He was certain that Sam Wallace’s life was very different from the one he’d led before. For one thing, his life before hadn’t included Serena. How could it have been better than this?

Because the thought of going back to a life without her depressed him, he reached out to pull her into his arms, holding her tightly, reminding himself that at least they had the rest of this night. He didn’t want to waste a minute of it.

She let go of the sheet to wrap her arms around him, clinging to him as if her thoughts were similar to his. As their mouths met, Sam decided that he’d be perfectly content to remain right where they were. No past. No future. No doubts or uncertainties. Only this. He couldn’t imagine finding anything better, no matter what he learned tomorrow.

Before she slipped out of his bed at dawn, Sam convinced Serena to delay their trip to Dan’s office until after his shift at the diner. He assured her that Marjorie needed him that day and that the big confession to Dan could wait a few hours.

Serena made him promise not to tell Marjorie anything yet. Not until after he’d been thoroughly checked over by Dr. Frank, anyway. “Mother’s grown so fond of you,” she explained. “She’ll worry herself sick if we don’t assure her that you’re fi

ne except for your memory loss.”

Though Sam still felt guilty for the lies he’d told, it wasn’t hard for Serena to convince him to put off telling Marjorie the truth. He wasn’t quite ready to face the certain disillusionment in her kind eyes.

Telling her he’d meet her at the police station after the diner closed, he kissed Serena at his door, then watched her hurry to the main house where she hoped to slip into her room without her mother being aware that she’d been gone. The sky was just beginning to lighten in the east. He’d had very little sleep, but he certainly had no regrets about that. He felt totally revitalized by the hours he’d spent in Serena’s arms.

Breakfast at the diner was actually even busier than he’d expected. There’d been another fire during the night, a recently vacated rent house this time. The word arson was being used quite a bit. The citizens of Edstown were concerned that a firebug had moved into their area. Justine spent the morning complaining to anyone who would listen about the deteriorating state of society.

By the time the lunchtime crowd arrived, news of another crime had spread. Another business had been broken into during the night, a pawnshop this time. The break-in hadn’t been discovered until the owner had arrived to open his shop just before ten, finding that guns, jewelry and money had been taken during the night. He had a rudimentary security system, but it had been circumvented. “I told Herman a long time ago that his security system was obsolete,” one of the diners told Sam during a discussion of the crime. “These new crooks are too smart to be put off by a couple of trip wires and motion lights.”

“An arson and a burglary,” Justine fretted when she and Sam crossed paths in the kitchen as they collected orders. “The world really is going to hell in a handbasket.”

And she was thoroughly enjoying the scandal that ensued, Sam thought with a smothered smile. Residents of small towns had their own ways of finding entertainment, gossip being among the favored choices.