CHAPTER 4
Marla tried to steady her breathing but only succeeded in starting to hyperventilate. She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard the front door crash in, hitting the wall with the force. She heard shouts of ‘clear’ throughout the house and finally a gentle knock on the door.
“Marla, it’s Pete, you can come out now.”
Marla’s response was anything but calm as she opened the door and rushed straight into Pete’s chest. She flung her arms around his neck, sobbing into his chest. He wasn’t sure what to do at first, he wasn’t really the touchy feely kind of guy, but for some reason he wanted to comfort and soothe her. He hugged her tightly to him until she stopped her sobbing. He gently rubbed her back and murmured words of encouragement into her ear while he gently rocked her back and forth, comforting her the only way he knew how. She felt so good in his arms, he found himself wishing she could stay there forever, fighting the urge to kiss away her tears. When someone behind him loudly cleared their throat Pete suddenly stiffened and remembered he still had a job to do. When her grip around his neck began to loosen he pulled away and resumed his stiff, professional persona.
“Have a seat in the living room, Marla, while I have a look around.” Marla nodded and obediently went to the couch, blowing her nose and wiping her eyes with the tissues on the coffee table. When Pete sat down in the chair across from her he had a worried and puzzled look on his face.
“What?” Marla asked nervously.
“Well for starters, I think that the dog security system you have in place is inadequate. You need to look into an alarm system ASAP. There are signs of tampering on the front door handle and someone has slid a piece of wood into the pet door so the dogs were locked out, again. Someone wants something from you or thinks something’s in this house that they need to get their hands on. I certainly don’t think this is a fluke. Again, we’ll have the fingerprint team check out everything and see what we can find.” Pete rubbed his hand down his face while trying to figure out things. “How hard have you tried to regain your memory?” He asked as if it probably hadn’t been hard enough.
“I’ve tried hypnosis, injections of sodium pentathol, you know, ‘truth serum’, therapy and even free association. Basically everything modern science has to offer. Why?” Marla asked sternly. She resented the insinuation that she wasn’t really trying very hard, and that pissed her off.
“I can’t help but feel that this has to do with your past life, whatever that was.” Pete waved a hand in the air in frustration.
“And I resent the implication that I’m not doing my best to recover my memory or that I’m withholding information from you. Check the records at the police station if you don’t believe me. They investigated for over a year before they gave up,” She spat out in disgust. Pete just stared coldly at her without comment.
“I don’t even know how old I am!” Marla yelled. “The only thing I do know is that I don’t have any children wandering around somewhere and even then the doctor had to tell me that because I couldn’t remember.” She was standing now and gesturing wildly with her arms, enraged and hurt that he didn’t believe her.
Pete suddenly stood and started out the door. Frustrated with himself for not handling things better. He let his personal feelings affect his job. He needed to take a moment for himself. Time to get things back into the proper perspective.
“I’ll be back later, once you get a hold of yourself.” He stormed out the door and went straight to his car.
Marla tried to slam the front door shut but it was in tatters after being kicked in by the police, leaving her just another thing for her to have to deal with. She grabbed her phone and called Hal at the hardware store, explained the situation, and was assured that Hal himself would come out and install her new door before nightfall. When she looked out the front window again, Pete was gone. Good, now she could get to work on her canning and freezing, which she did with a vengeance.
Three hours later Marla had just finished cleaning the kitchen when Hal arrived with the new door, complete with deadbolt. It reassured her to have Hal there, whistling softly as he worked.
Pete was furious as he stormed out to his car, intending to sit just long enough to get his self -control back. This woman would be the death of him if he wasn’t careful. How could she be so sweet one minute and raging like a bull in a China shop the next? He tried to remember his vow of not getting involved with anyone, ever, but those thoughts kept getting interrupted by the memory of her and the feelings she stirred in him. He tried to conjure up his ex-wife’s face, hoping for the old feelings of anger and betrayal to surge through him. She had made his life a living hell and he needed to keep that in mind when dealing with Marla, but try as he did it just wasn’t working. Maybe it was the old damsel in distress syndrome that men in romance novels were stricken with, although he knew plenty of other cops with the same malady. Did he feel sorry for her? Maybe a little about the memory thing but overall he felt she was smart and capable of taking care of herself. Was it her looks? Yeah, she was beautiful, although he was sure she had no idea she was. But that wasn’t what was nagging at him. At least he hoped he wasn’t that superficial, it was her everything. Beauty, brains, smell of fresh baked goods, but the thing that put her over the top was the feel of her in his arms. That quivering, quaking little body wrapped tightly around his. All he could think about was how she’d feel under him, longing to be the man that made her quake and quiver in excitement. It would be magnificent. He closed his eyes and imagined exploring her silky skin as he slowly stripped her naked, using his hands and lips and tongue to bring her with him into ecstasy. He moaned loudly as his erection grew to huge proportions at just the thought. Sweat had broken out on his brow as he opened his eyes and remembered he was still sitting in his car in Marla’s driveway. Startled, he quickly started the engine and pulled away, deciding to head to the office and dig up the investigation files on Marla. Maybe a set of fresh eyes might pick something up. The sooner he got this case over with the better. Then he could go back to being his self-absorbed, distant self.