The Passenger by Jacqueline Druga (ebook reader ink .TXT) 📕

said. “You haven’t said anything in a week.”

“Yeah, well, you and I haven’t been talking much.”

“What are you going to do, Grant? Just ... go out there and look. Look where? How?”

“I’m retracing his steps that night and go from there. I don’t care, I’m doing this,” Grant said. “I will find our son.”

◆◆◆

Doctor Jenner sat in his office at the hospital, staring at a sheet of paper, while Russ watched him as if waiting for some specific reaction.

“Why am I looking at a picture of a guitar?” Doctor Jenner asked.

Russ set his mug on the desk.

“Ah.” Jenner shifted his eyes from the mug to the picture. “The patterns are a dead ringer for each other.”

“They are.”

“Are you thinking of getting this guitar? I thought you hated that mug.”

“I do. And I came to ask your opinion. When Chip saw this mug last week, he said the pattern looked very familiar. I was at Guitar World and that guitar was on sale. It was brought into the store to pawn.”

“And you think this is Chip’s?”

“I don’t know. A week ago, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. But the kid’s memory is creeping back. He gardens, knows about mixing sound, and plays the guitar really well.”

“Did you ask Chip about it?”

Russ shook his head. “I will when I have more of the facts.”

“What’s the guitar store telling you?” Doctor Jenner asked.

“Not much. The manager confirmed only that it wasn’t our Chip that brought it in. He wass being kind of a hard nose. I get it. There are laws regarding pawning. I have to get a court order in that jurisdiction,” Russ said. “Shouldn’t be hard since we are dealing with a John Doe case. But I won’t be able to try until Monday.”

“You’re really looking into this?”

“I have a hunch this guitar will help his identity. Just a hunch.”

“Yes, but if this is his guitar, how does the guitar of a kid from Kansas or Missouri end up in a Nebraskan Guitar World?”

“May he sold it to someone before the accident? I just don’t think Chip was as clean cut as he looks to be now.”

Doctor Jenner nodded. “Reminds me of the Baker boy.”

“Exactly.”

“He could have had the guitar on him. I mean middle of the night,” Jenner said. “Maybe playing in his band. It could have gotten thrown from the car. Maybe we didn’t see it, and someone found it days later.”

“Or that night.”

“Like one of our EMS workers?” Jenner asked.

“More like … the passenger.”

Jenner leaned back and breathed out heavily.

“What? You don’t think that?” Russ asked.

“No, actually, I don’t. I don’t believe anyone was in that car with him. One, he was given a hallucinogenic and he was heavily under the influence. And two, that crash was brutal. The chances of a second person not only lucky enough to walk away, but walk away and steal a guitar …” he shook his head. “No. It’s near impossible.”

Russ took back the picture and folded it. “I feel so strongly this is a lead.”

“Then follow it. But I don’t think it was a passenger.”

“Thanks, Doc.” Russ stood. “I’ll let you get back to work. I’m headed to the church.”

“For your coffee?”

“Think I’ll check out services.”

Doctor Jenner laughed. “You? Russ, come on. Why the suspicion all of the sudden?”

“It’s not suspicion, it’s the need to know the truth. You don’t think … you don’t think he’s faking this all do you?”

“Chip? The amnesia?”

“Yes.”

“Why would you think he is?”

“Because that kid picked up a guitar, played and sang a difficult song, without effort, like he played it a hundred times.”

“He probably did,” Doctor Jenner said.

“How does someone with amnesia not remember their name, yet remembers someone in the car with them, and how to play guitar?”

“Amnesia doesn’t work that way,” Jenner explained. “The brain is complicated. Amnesia affects memory, right? There are two types of memory. Declarative and procedural. Declarative is something you force yourself to remember, like studying for a test. Procedural is stuff we learn in life and it becomes a habit or something we do without thought. Walking, talking, eating, riding a bike. He may have gardened and played his guitar all his life. That’s procedural.”

“And you don’t think he’s faking?” Russ asked.

“I can’t believe you do. You can’t fake that accident or the brain swelling. If he’s faking, he’s a heck of an actor. What’s the gain, why fake?”

“Maybe he’s a criminal or running and hiding. Maybe he wants to gain our trust and get all he can from us and take off.”

Doctor Jenner’s mouth opened dramatically. “Wow. Once bitten twice shy is an understatement with you. I know you watched it happen. I know you watched good people in this town get misled then ripped off. “

“Yes, I did, and it all seems too familiar,” Russ said.

“It’s not the case here, Russ. It’s not a repeat of the Baker kid.”

“When we met him he was angry, confrontational, combative and arrogant. Now he’s … look at him. I just … I have a hard time believing someone you know can just move in with a pastor, work at a church and …” Russ snapped his finger. “Flip the personality switch. Can someone with amnesia have a polar opposite of a personality change?”

“Yes. Yes, they can. Especially if they don’t remember who they were, they’ll adapt to their surroundings.”

“And when he remembers who he is?” Russ asked.

Doctor Jenner shrugged. “Who knows. Maybe he’ll like who he became.”

Russ felt somewhat satisfied with that response. It was his job to be suspicious. He supposed that was part of his personality. He thanked Doctor Jenner, then went on his way.

He was late. Not that he really went into the church farther than the vestibule when he stopped at the mingle for coffee. Seeing how he was in uniform and expecting people might worry he was there on official police business, he took a seat in the back, last row.

Pastor Rick was before the congregation in his contemporary service, relaxed