Forgotten Past by Mary Alford
Chapter Twelve
“Can you talk?” The undertone of excitement in Will’s voice made JT sit up straighter.
He’d been in the study watching as the waves crashed against the shore off in the distance. It was just past midday. The outer edge of Hurricane Tyler was close. It was only a matter of time now.
“What’s up?”
“I have Ben Jennings on the phone. I’m conferencing him in.”
JT breathed a silent “Thank You, God.” Then said, “Go ahead.”
It took only a matter of seconds before Will came back on the phone. “Ben, I’ve asked my colleague, JT Wyatt, who’s assisting Faith, to join in the call. As I explained earlier, there have been several disturbing incidents recently that have led us to believe whoever tried to kill Faith two years ago is stalking her still and has increased his violence.”
“I still can’t believe it,” Ben exclaimed, seemingly in shock. “I had no idea anything was happening to Faith. As I said earlier, I haven’t spoken to her since she left Austin and she never mentioned the calls to me. How can I help?”
“We are hoping perhaps there’s something you may have forgotten to mention to the police in the past. Maybe something you’ve remembered recently. Anything at all, even if it seems unimportant.”
“Absolutely. I’m happy to help in any way I can. Off the cuff, I can’t really think of anything new. As you can imagine, it was the worst night of my life. Even now, it’s hard to believe they’re gone. Everything changed that night.”
Will was one of the best at interviewing witnesses. He knew all the right questions to ask to elicit the information he was seeking. “I’m sure it was difficult and I apologize for having to ask you to rehash the tragedy, but with Faith’s lack of recollection concerning what happened, well, we’re working at a disadvantage. Can you tell me how well you knew Faith before the night of August 14?” Will’s question didn’t surprise JT. It was standard to confirm a witness’s report.
“Not very well, I’m afraid. Faith and I have never met in person, so I only know what Rachel told me about her. I don’t believe they were friends very long...before.” Ben cleared his throat.
“Did Rachel ever mention Faith having a problem with anyone prior to that night?” Will asked. He was trying to substantiate Faith’s memory of the man who attacked her at the ranch prior to the murders.
“I’m not sure what you mean. Are you thinking my uncle and Rachel’s death weren’t part of a robbery, as the police believed? It always seemed kind of unbelievable to me.”
“That’s the theory we’re working on.” The chief didn’t offer anything further.
A lengthy silence followed. It was hard to determine what Jennings’s reaction to this news was. “I can’t even comprehend what Faith must be going through, thinking she’s responsible for their deaths,” Ben said at last.
“You said Rachel and Faith hadn’t been friends for long. Do you know how they met?” Will asked. “They didn’t really hang out in the same social circles.”
“No, not really...” Ben stopped for a second as if he’d remembered something. “I believe it was when Carl’s business accountant retired. He asked Rachel to hire a new one. Rachel told me Carl wanted her to take a more prominent role in the business. At the time, Rachel worked as Carl’s office manager so she agreed to interview the potential accountants. Rachel said she saw Faith’s ad online, interviewed her briefly and then hired her on the spot.”
“Faith must have been extremely qualified for Rachel to hire her so quickly.”
“I suppose. Rachel was quite pleased with her.”
“Can you think of anything unusual about the days leading up to the night in question?” Will asked. “Maybe something jumps out at you now as being odd that might not have seemed so at the time?”
“Believe me, I’ve racked my brain trying to come up with something to help figure out who did this awful thing to my family...” Again, Ben hesitated and JT leaned forward. He knew something.
“Now that you mention it, there was something. I’m not sure how important it is, though.”
“Why don’t you let us be the judge? As I said, you never know what might be useful at this point.”
“It was something Rachel said to me maybe six months before... We were at the ranch talking one evening, just the two of us, and she told me something scary had happened to her and Faith. I asked her what she meant and she said someone Faith used to date showed up at the restaurant where they were having lunch and made a big scene by demanding Faith go home with him. He said something about her belonging to him. It terrified Rachel.”
JT wondered why Jennings hadn’t mentioned this before now.
“You think it’s important?” Ben asked.
“It could be,” Will told him. “We’ll check into it.”
“I’ll be honest with you, at the time, I forgot about it. When the police were convinced it was a home invasion, well, I guess I just didn’t think it mattered.”
JT grabbed a piece of paper and jotted down some notes. They would need to find out who Faith was seeing back then. Maybe with her memory loss, her brain had simply mixed up the name of the real stalker with Carl’s friend, Phillip Masters. The only question was how to uncover this information. By her own admission, she didn’t have many friends. They’d need to find some way of identifying the man, but at this point, it seemed like an impossible task.
“What about your uncle or Rachel? Were they having any problems in their personal lives? Did your uncle ever mention having any specific problems with his friend Phillip Masters?” Will continued with the questioning.
“Phillip? No...not at all. They’d been close friends for years. Why do you ask about Phillip?”
“His name came up in our investigation. I needed to rule him out.” Will kept his answer as noncommittal as possible.
After another pause, Ben said, “As far as I know, everything was going great for both Carl and Rachel. Carl loved his work and Rachel was settling in to take over for him one day.”
“I see. Well, I appreciate your honesty, Ben. I know this has been difficult for you. Thank you for talking to us.”
“It’s no problem. If you have any more questions, let me know. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t miss them both so much. I’d like to see the person responsible for their deaths pay for his crimes.”
JT waited until Will disconnected Ben from the call. “This certainly corroborates Faith’s memory of being held hostage at the Jennings ranch. I’m just wondering if perhaps with the memory loss she’s confused the name. What I don’t understand is why there’s no record of anything being reported. She was very certain about reporting the attack to the police.”
“I don’t know. Clearly, Phillip Masters isn’t our guy. You need to speak with her again, JT. Let her know what Ben told us. See if you can jog any memories free. She has the missing piece to solve this locked away in her memory and we desperately need it.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” JT wasn’t sure how much more Faith could stand. She was barely hanging on as it was.
◆◆◆
“It’s really starting to come down out there.”
Startled, Faith turned to find JT leaning against the door frame. She wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting in the great room staring out as the rain battered the wall of windows facing out to the ocean below.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” he added when her hand flew to her heart.
Something in his expression made her uneasy. “Do you think we’ll be safe here?”
He shoved away from the door. “Yes. The house is high enough on the cliff. We don’t have to worry about flooding and Mason reinforced the structure to withstand a category 5 hurricane. The windows as well. We’re safe.”
Once her heart slowed to normal again, she asked him, “Have you ever been in a hurricane before?”
“Oh, yes. Several in fact. When I was around fourteen, a category 4 struck Hope Island. It took years to rebuild the island. A couple of others have come close enough for us to suffer some damage.”
“And yet you still live there,” she said in amazement.
He laughed and she couldn’t help but join in. Being with him made her happy. That had to be a good thing. “Yes. Call me a glutton for punishment, but I love Hope Island.”
She could certainly understand that. “I saw the patrol cars leaving. They’re needed in town?”
The laughter left him. “Yes. Let’s hope Whaler’s Point doesn’t take a direct hit.” He sounded tense.
She couldn’t help but wonder what had brought so much edginess to his voice.
Below, the sea churned up foamy waves onto the shore. The local stations were predicting Tyler was due to strike soon. It seemed as if everything were coming to a head, including the weather.
JT settled into the seat next to her. Even with him beside her, she couldn’t seem to relax. His fingers entwined with hers. “We’re getting closer. It’s only a matter of time now.”
She continued to watch the rain fall. “You have no idea how much I want to believe you.”
“Then do. It’s going to be all right. Soon, all of this will be just a bad dream and you can concentrate on living again.” His thumb stroked her wrist gently. It was just the two of them. They could be any normal couple enjoying a quiet afternoon alone.
Being with him made her happy yet she couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to them once this nightmare ended. Was she just a client to him? She had to believe from the way he looked at her, touched her, that he cared about her. But would any of that matter once they identified the killer? How would she feel if he disappeared from her life for good? Pain seared her heart. She didn’t want to think about losing him. He’d become far too important to her. She loved him. She swallowed softly and glanced his way. He was watching her. Had he seen what she wasn’t ready to reveal to him just yet?
He leaned closer and kissed her tenderly and she knew she couldn’t be wrong. He did have feelings for her.
Slowly he let her go. “I have news. I just got off a call with Ben Jennings.” He waited for her to take this in before adding, “Ben remembered something we believe might help confirm your memory of being held hostage.”
An unbelievable sense of relief swept over her. “That’s good, isn’t it?”
“I think so. He mentioned something that happened several months before the murders. It might be significant. He said Rachel told him about an incident that took place at a restaurant where the two of you were having lunch. A man came up to your table and demanded you leave with him. Rachel said you told her the man was someone you dated in the past. The man said you belonged to him.”
She closed her eyes and concentrated hard. She didn’t remember the time JT had mentioned, but she could almost picture him. He was so angry. So different from the man she had first met at the hospital benefit. That man made her feel special. Cared for. Safe. It was his profession to take care of people...
Her eyes flew open. “He’s a doctor.”
He stared at her in disbelief. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, yes, I’m positive.” She stopped as another memory nudged in. “I think I met him at a hospital benefit. That’s something, isn’t it? It’s a start, right?”
He didn’t share her enthusiasm. “Maybe. The thing is, I told Will about your remembering the name Phillip Masters and the description you gave me for him. He checked with the Austin detective handling your case and it turns out Phillip Masters is a doctor.”
“Then I was right. He has to be the person.” Yet something was wrong. She could see it in his eyes.
“What is it?”
“Phillip Masters is sixty-five years old. A well-known heart surgeon in Austin, and he was performing surgery the night the Jennings were killed. It wasn’t him.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling as if her whole world had just collapsed at her feet. “No, he is a doctor. I’m positive. And his name is Phillip Masters. He works at one of the hospitals in Austin. He has dirty-blond hair. Dark eyes. I went to see him at the hospital to break it off, and he lashed out at me. It’s him, JT. I’m sure of it.” She looked at him hopefully. “Maybe there’s another Phillip Masters out there.”
She could see from his expression that it was a long shot. “Maybe. I’ll do some digging and see what I can find out.”