“What did you do with it?”
“I crumpled it up and tossed it.” She hunched forward, gripping her knees. “It could still be there, Rob. It might be faster than waiting for my memory to return.”
Luna coughed. “Not tonight you’re not. Sun’s already going down.”
Rob rubbed his hands together. “Let’s go back to Paradiso. We can head out to the crash site tomorrow morning. If we take some of Luna’s magical tea with us, maybe we won’t need to go out there. Maybe you’ll get your memory back and you can draw it again. We can get it, and his name or alias, into the system and let him and his associates know we’re on to him. It’ll be too late for them then, Libby. They’ll leave you alone.”
“Except for that revenge thing.” Luna pushed out of her camp chair. “Zeke’s back. I hear his bike.”
Tilting her head, Libby picked up the sound of a high whine in the distance of the still night. “If Rob was joking, I’m not. Can I take some of that tea with me?”
“Of course.” Luna climbed the steps into the RV and returned with a plastic baggie of loose tea leaves just as a motorcycle pulled into the campsite.
The biker cut the engine and rolled his Harley to the RV. An old Native American climbed off the bike, throwing his long gray braid over his shoulder. “Libby’s back.”
Luna planted a kiss on the man’s brown weathered cheek and turned to Libby. “Do you remember Zeke, Libby?”
Libby rose on unsteady legs, unsure what to do. Should she pretend she remembered him? Shake his hand? Hug him?
“Remember me? Have I aged that much in a week?”
“Zeke.” Luna rested her hand on Zeke’s shoulder. “Libby’s had a rough time since she left us. She had an accident and lost her memory.”
“That’s crazy. How’d you make it back to Luna, Libby?”
“It’s a long story, Zeke. I’ll tell you about it later. These two have to get back to Paradiso.” She thrust the bag of tea at Libby. “Take this. Relax, clear your mind, think.”
Zeke stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Libby, squeezing her close. “Be careful out there, Libby. These desert roads at night... Just saw another car veer off the road, not far from here.”
Luna’s brow wrinkled. “Did you stop, Zeke?”
“There was another car behind him, and it pulled over. Didn’t think an old guy like me without a phone would be much help.”
“This is Rob Valdez.” Luna waved her arm in Rob’s direction. “He’s Border Patrol... But he’s helping Libby.”
Zeke shook Rob’s hand. “As long as you’re helping our Libby, you’re okay with me. She’s had enough trouble rolling her way lately.”
“She knows about Tandy.” Luna stood on her tiptoes and kissed Libby’s cheek. “Take care and let us know if we can do anything to help. You know, I don’t like the direction this camp has been moving—too much riffraff, too many rough types. But those same rough types are not going to let anyone in here who’s not on the guest list.”
Rob jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “We noticed.”
“We’re going to hit the road, Luna.” Libby rubbed her stinging nose. “Thanks for all your help. I’ll be back—when I remember everything.”
“When you do, and this man is caught—” her gaze flicked to Rob “—you can go back to your beautiful life. Because you do have a beautiful life waiting for you, Libby.”
Zeke escorted them to the truck, and as he shook Rob’s hand again, he said, “Watch yourself out there, but I suppose I don’t have to warn a BP agent.”
Zeke gave Libby another hug and stood at the entrance of the compound, watching them drive off.
Libby patted the baggie. “Maybe I should drink this at my next appointment with Jennifer. I can sort of see how this is going to work.”
“How what’s going to work?” Rob had started the truck and maneuvered back onto the access road with the truck shaking and rattling with every mile.
“This memory thing.” Libby tapped the side of her head. “I thought everything would come back to me in a flash, but it’s more like bits and pieces—conversations, scenes, faces, even feelings.”
“As if we needed any more proof that the mind is strange and mysterious.” He brushed her cheek with his knuckle. “I’m sorry about your mother. I don’t care what she was doing—nobody deserves that. Maybe she was trying to protect Elena, the other woman.”
“I’ll hold on to that thought.” She propped her elbow on the armrest and cupped her chin in her palm. “Now we have to tell April her father is dead.”
“But we can also tell her he’s not EGV.” Rob accelerated when he hit the dark highway, his high beams creating a cone of light on the road.
“He was still involved with him in some way.”
“She already knew C.J. was no angel. True, it turned out he didn’t murder April’s mother, but the reason his son was able to manipulate him into running was because of his association with the drug trade. When will people learn?”
“It must seem like easy money to them. Look at your own family. Is that what drove them? The money?”
“I’m sure that was part of it—power, control... There are a lot of moving pieces.”
“But it never got you.”
“It never got you, either.”
They drove in silence for a while, maybe both of them pondering how they’d escaped the shared curses of their families.
Libby grabbed Rob’s hand and kissed the back of it, savoring the feel of his flesh against her lips and the scent of the fire that lingered on his skin. “I’m so glad you found me that night.”
“I am, too.” His gaze flew back to the road and he jerked the steering wheel. “Whoa. That must be the wreck Zeke mentioned, but it’s still there. The car that pulled over didn’t call 911?”
She
