I studied my group. Stunned expressions stared at Hector. I understood, and regardless that I didn’t really want to speak to Hector my brain made the decision to anyway. “What do you mean by that? Like you were drunk or something?”
He shook his head. His eyes that appeared bottomless, and downright scary, zoned in on me. “I don’t remember the past ten years of my life.”
Of all the things I expected him to say that wasn’t it.
Kipp’s icy touch brushed against my elbow. “Ask him why?”
“Can you explain that?” I asked Hector.
He lifted a lazy shoulder. “I would if I could, but I can’t. All I can tell you is that the attack that I’m in here for, I don’t remember. In fact, I can’t remember anything at all.” The chains rattled again as he shifted. “A week ago, I woke up with one of the guards in my cell, and he explained what happened and why I was here.”
Had anything been so confusing? I didn’t need Kipp to intervene since the next appropriate question was obvious. “What was the last thing you remember?”
Hector’s eyes glazed over, lost in a memory. “I remember that one night I was walking home from a bar, and suddenly I felt the urge to walk north. I came up to a house and that same pull made me walk down to a creek.” He blinked, his focus snapped back. “I saw a woman going into the water.”
“So you saw Lizbeth walk into the river?” Zach urged.
Hector’s brow creased. “I remember watching her walk in, yes. But that’s when it all gets blurry. I remember seeing her go beneath the water, but I remember not wanting to help her.”
I snorted. “Wasn’t that kind of you?”
Hector glared at me. “That’s the thing. I would have. I swear to it. I remember fighting against myself, if that makes any sense at all. I told myself to go in and get her out. But I never did. Almost like my feet couldn’t move.”
Liar! “What happened after you watched her go into the water?”
“It all goes black.” He drew in a breath, l
eaned back against his seat. “It wasn’t until the other day, like I said, that the haze cleared, and to put it simply, I returned.”
I wasn’t a cop. I had no experience with this. But what Hector said, and how he acted, he didn’t seem guilty. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was telling the truth. “Do you understand any of this?” I asked Zach.
“No,” he replied, with a firm shake of his head. “But you did see Lizbeth walk into the water alone and drown herself?”
Hector nodded. “There was no one else there. She killed herself. But as to what happened after that, I’m sorry I don’t know.”
I blinked, still stuck in confusion, and tried to piece it together. “Do you think it’s odd that you have no memories?”
Hector laughed, a low sound of frustration. “I remember walking down a street to a house and the next time I wake up I’m in a prison for an attack I don’t remember committing ten years ago.” He gave me a knowing look. “Do I really need to answer that?”
How strange. Then again, I had the real sense that maybe he was in fact telling the truth. One he’d concocted. Maybe he had lost his mind, then all of a sudden snapped back in reality. Weirder things have happened.
“You have nothing more to tell us?” Zach asked.
Hector shook his head. “If I knew more, then I’d tell you. Believe me, I’m trying to remember so I can find a way out of the hell I’m now in. But I’ve got nothing.”
Zach nodded toward the guards, who removed the chain, unbinding Hector from the table.
I watched every step Hector took as he exited the room. He might not have seemed like the man I expected to encounter, but that didn’t mean I trusted him. He had, in fact, attacked someone. It was enough of a concern for me to watch him in case he decided to turn around and go Hannibal Lecter on me.
The door shut behind the guards, and I exhaled the breath trapped in my throat. “Besides the fact that guy is royally off his rocker, I’m never…” I glanced at Kipp, then Dane, and glared at Zach too. “And I mean, never, coming here again. Lesson learned. There’s not a single ghost in this building.” I shuddered. “I mean, why would there be? Who in their right mind would want to stay in this place? So I’m making a big statement right now that y’all come to places like this by yourselves.”
“That was an unusual conversation,” Zach said, ignoring me.
I cleared my throat. “Did you hear what I said?”
“Heard you loud and clear,” Zach grumbled. “I’m choosing not to answer you since I can’t make that promise.”
“Y’all make it very hard to like you.” But I caught Zach’s sternness and doubted my refusal would mean anything now or in the future. No one ever listened to me. “All right. Where do we go from here?”