Act III

A light, warm breeze swept across the surface of the pond, generating a continuous ripple effect on the water.  It went unnoticed by Lindsay who sat slumped in a canvas folding chair, her long legs stretched out in front of her with one ankle crossed over the other.  Dark glasses covered the fact that she wasn’t watching the cork on the end of Claire’s fishing line as she’d promised.  It was a little hard to do with her eyes fully closed.  The scents and sounds of their surroundings were making it damn hard to stay awake.  If she'd had her favorite reporter to cuddle with consciousness would have been a lost cause completely.

Claire wasn’t watching either; she had her focus well past the red and white bobbing sphere and on the two women who stood on the other side of the pond near an old, gnarled oak tree.  Cindy had both hands around a thick rope that was suspended from a limb that hung out over the water, and she and Jill appeared to be deep in conversation.  Claire was fairly certain they were deciding who should be the first to test the old-style swing.  Snatches of the conversation drifted to her from across the water, and even though she couldn't make out the words, the warmth in their familiar tones was obvious.

“Those two are like a couple of kids,” Claire remarked fondly, tempted to toss her pole and join them.  If she weren't fishing for their dinner, she would have.  “Can you just imagine the trouble they would’ve gotten into had they been friends when they were growing up?” she asked as she watched Cindy climb onto the knotted end of the rope while Jill held it steady.  The mother in her wanted to yell at the two to be careful, the rest of her just enjoyed the moment.  Claire felt a surge of joy; Kiss-Me-Not and the Hallelujah killers had deprived them all of a lot of things, but thankfully, it seemed, not of everything that mattered.   

“That is a very scary thought,” Lindsay answered, her reply seconded by a light ‘ruff’ from Martha who sat near her side.  Reaching out blindly, she patted the dog on the head, enjoying the feel of sun-warmed fur slipping through her fingers.  Reluctantly, Lindsay opened her eyes as she turned her attention to the other side of the pond.  A half grin appeared on her lips when she discovered the pair.  “Jill would’ve been like a mother hen.”

“Yeah,” Claire agreed.  “Maybe if Cindy had been around, things would’ve been different for Jill, although William Carter would’ve still been in the picture.  I don’t think even Cindy could’ve helped Jill through that nightmare.”

Lindsay tensed up instantly.  Just the mere mention of Jill’s stepfather brought Pete Raynor’s sick, smiling face to mind.  She could just see his smug expression when he told Denise that he’d killed Carter before playing another card from his seemingly endless deck to coerce Lindsay into paying him a visit.  He’d made a critical mistake; however, he’d underestimated Jill.

“Whoa!”

Claire’s excited shout snapped Lindsay’s attention to her friend and Pete Raynor once again disappeared into the shadows of her mind.  Claire pulled back on her pole and began to reel with urgency.  “Get the net, Lindsay!”

Lindsay scrambled up and grabbed the net that lay near Claire’s feet.  Martha joined in the fun as she moved around to Claire’s other side, her focus on the tiny ball that rushed toward her.  She barked and edged closer to the water, her yelps drawing interest from the other side of the pond.

“Hey,” Cindy yelled to her personal swing-pusher.  “Claire caught a fish!  A really big one by the looks of it.”  She didn’t dare let go of the rope to point toward Claire and Lindsay.  It was a little too late in the season to take an unwanted dip in the water. 

Jill ducked out of the way of Cindy’s swinging body and looked over at her friends.  Claire was shouting at Lindsay to ready the net but apparently Lindsay didn’t seem too keen on getting her shoes wet.  Seconds later, Lindsay pushed off her hiking shoes, quickly rolled up her jeans and splashed into the pond just as the line went slack and Claire screamed in frustration. 

“Uh oh,” Jill whispered as she noted the look Claire was giving Lindsay.  She could just imagine what the medical examiner had to say about losing her fish.

“Damn it, Lindsay, you were too slow!”  Claire grumbled and reeled in her fishless, baitless hook.  She scooped up another worm and continued to mutter under her breath as she wound it around her hook.

“Me?” Lindsay asked in surprise.  She looked over at Martha who stared at her in disappointment and seemed to be of the same opinion that it was all Lindsay’s fault that the fish had gotten away.  “What did I do?”

“Not net the fish,” Claire stated the obvious.  “Next time, I’ll let Martha hold the net.”  

“C'mon, Claire, I’d have had to wade out another 10 feet to catch that fish,” Lindsay defended herself as she leaned over to roll her jeans back down.  She wasn’t actually sure how far she’d have had to go to cover the distance but it had looked plenty far to her.  She did know, however, that her feet felt like twin blocks of ice.  That water was damn cold.

“Hmmph,” Claire grunted unhappily and gave her fishing line a healthy tug before casting back in the general vicinity where she’d landed the whopper fish.  She pretended to ignore Lindsay but kept a concerned eye on her friend.  She’d noticed the slight shiver that had coursed through Lindsay when her friend had pushed her pants legs back down and was secretly pleased when Lindsay had settled into her chair to put on her shoes.

A high-pitched laugh crossed the short distance from one shore of the pond to the other and Lindsay and Claire were drawn to the two women who seemed to be having a world of fun with just a tree and an old rope to keep them occupied.  Lindsay smiled at watching her friends’ antics and hearing their childlike laughter.  Claire had been right:  sometimes Jill and Cindy really were like a couple of kids who gleaned an almost innocent enjoyment out of the simplest things in life.

It was Jill's turn on the swing, and she laughed out loud as Cindy pushed her higher and higher.  Holding on tightly to the rope, she leaned back and closed her eyes, her blonde locks appearing to glow as the sun shown down brightly on the crown of her head. 

“Woohoo!” Jill yelled as she soared to a height where Cindy could no longer reach to push her.  She hadn’t felt this light and this free in years.  Jill looked back at Cindy, seeing the sun catch in her red hair and a smile that had won over the hardest of hearts.  She waved at her friend, savoring the sound of Cindy's light laughter that floated upward at her antics.  

*CRRAACK*

*SPLASH*

Lindsay nearly fell out of her chair laughing when Jill hit the water and Claire almost lost her fishing pole in the pond as she struggled to reel in her amusement.  Even Martha’s bark came out as a dog-like chuckle as she slowly pushed to her paws and stood next to Lindsay’s chair.

The trio waited for Jill to sputter to the surface so that they could tease their friend, but their smiles fell from their faces as they watched Cindy kick off her shoes and dive into the pond.  Claire threw down her pole and raced toward the other side, while Lindsay and Martha hit the water, heading directly for where they’d last seen Jill.

The sun beat down and raked across the surface of the water, searching for blonde hair in which to highlight.  There was none to be found.

***

“Jill?  Jill, honey, can you hear me?”  Claire asked in concern as she eased the tips of her index and middle fingers to Jill’s wrist.  The skin was ice cold and damp, but a strong, steady pulse beat back against her fingertips.  Claire nearly shuddered in relief.

“Uhhhggg...” Jill groaned and coughed.  She screwed her eyes closed more tightly, feeling the bright sunlight behind her eyelids and trying to avoid it for as long as possible.  “Did someone get the license number on that bus?”  She moaned again for good measure just in case she’d forgotten to before.

Lindsay smiled in relief.  “She sounds fine to me.”  Lindsay wasn’t so sure she could say the same about herself.  After swimming across the pond, diving down to help Cindy pull Jill to the surface, and tugging her friend to the shore where Claire was waiting, she should be exhausted, but adrenaline was still rushing through her bloodstream.  She didn’t look forward to when it would all crash down on her.

A blue eye rolled open, slammed shut, and then tried again.  Its counterpart followed behind at a much more sluggish pace until they were both halfway parted.  Looking to her right, Jill was mesmerized by red hair that appeared as if it had been set on fire by the sun’s bright rays.  Cindy’s face swam into view as the reporter shifted until the sun was a mere backdrop.

“You...  are...  beautiful!” Jill exclaimed, a rather goofy look settling on her face.  She continued to gaze up at Cindy in adoration.

“Okay," Cindy drawled with a bashful, and slightly baffled, smile.  "She seems fine," she said, lifting her gaze from Jill to focus on Claire.

Claire wasn’t at all convinced.  She needed much more than just a couple of hasty diagnoses made by well-intentioned, non-medically trained friends.  She brushed a finger across purplish skin near Jill’s temple and detected a slight bump. 

“Jill, did you hit your head?”

Jill reluctantly moved her gaze from Cindy’s cute little smile to Claire’s troubled expression.  She’d seen that exact look before and she struggled to remember the circumstance.  A vision of the other woman leaning over a dead body and frowning into an open chest cavity almost caused her to toss her cookies, but she swallowed the bile that rose and focused on the reason for the rather stumped look.  She imagined it probably had something to do with the apparent victim’s cause of death. 

A thin eyebrow rose slightly.  “Am I dead?”  She reached out and grabbed hold of Cindy’s hand for reassurance but it felt as chilled as her own.  Her eyes widened as she glanced around the tight circle that surrounded her.  “Are we all dead?”

Lindsay and Cindy let out an amused chuckle, while Claire stayed completely focused on

Jill’s face.  One of Jill’s pupils had definitely reacted much slower than the other when the DDA had stared wide-eyed at her friends.  Claire changed her questioning strategy.

“Cindy, did you see Jill hit her head on anything?”

“Sort of,” Cindy replied, suppressing another giggle when she grasped the seriousness of the question that was being directed at her.  “When the tree limb fell, it brushed against

her.  At first, I thought...”  She suddenly realized why Claire was so focused on head injuries.  “Oh my God, that’s bad, isn’t it?”  She gripped Jill’s hand tightly and looked down into deep blue eyes.  “I wasn’t laughing at you just now, Jill, honest,” she started, hesitating at telling an obviously blatant lie.  “Well, maybe I was, but I didn’t mean anything by it.  Really.”

Jill just smiled another goofy grin.  “I know you didn’t, sweetie,” she said, her jaw beginning to quiver and her teeth starting to chatter.  A full-body shiver followed and Claire realized she had another problem.

“We need to get you out of those wet clothes before you catch pneumonia,” Claire said with authority.  She quickly ran her hands along the back of Jill’s neck and partway down her spine.  “Do you feel any pain or tingling in your limbs?”

“Nnnoooo,” Jill answered, her reply drawn out by her nearly uncontrollable shaking.  She kept her focus on Cindy.  She did have tingles, but they definitely weren’t in her arms and legs.

Standing quickly, Claire looked over at Lindsay.  “Help me get her to her feet and we’ll worry about any other problems when we get back to the cabin.”

Lindsay nodded in understanding and grimaced as she pushed to her feet.  Her own clothing felt ice cold against her already chilled skin and her shoes made a squishing sound when she moved behind Jill.  Unlike the fishing net fiasco, she hadn’t taken the time to remove her footwear in her haste to get to her friend.

“Think we should call Jacobi to send us some medical assistance from Bakersfield or somewhere else nearby?”  Lindsay eased her arms underneath Jill’s and slowly lifted.  Her friend was overly compliant and hadn’t taken her eyes off Cindy since she’d answered Claire’s last question.  Lindsay frowned, turning her gaze on Jill's profile to watch her friend carefully.  She was starting to get a bad feeling, and too many years as a cop had taught Lindsay not to ignore that twist in her gut she was feeling now.

Cindy visibly cringed at her lover’s suggestion to call for help and she slowly reached back to her rear jeans pocket, struggling to remove its contents from tight, wet denim.  With two fingers, she finally managed to free the object and brought it around to where she could see it.

There was no sign of life from her cell phone and her fears were confirmed when she opened its cover to find more darkness.

“Houston, we have a problem,” she said as she pushed a non-responsive button and then hit the phone against the flat of her palm as if to shock the device back into working order.  A push of another button and still nothing.

“Try again,” Lindsay told Cindy as she slid an arm around Jill’s waist to steady her friend.  Her adrenaline levels were rapidly tapering off, especially with the news that they had more than likely lost their only means of communication with the outside world.  Jill's cold, shivering body wasn't doing much to help warm her own freezing skin, either. 

Cindy pressed every button on the display... twice.  “Maybe it’ll work after it dries out.”  Her doubtful tone did little to reassure herself or Lindsay.  "I bet Jill brought a hairdryer..." 

“Forget the phone,” Claire ordered as she moved around to the other side of Jill and eased her arm along the top of Lindsay’s to settle on Jill’s hip.  “We really need to get Jill back to the cabin.”  She felt a tremor race along her arm, but this time it had come from Lindsay.  “And you two need to get out of your clothes, too.”

Jill giggled.  “Hey, I know,” she somehow managed to say loudly and clearly, despite the shivering that was rendering her legs virtually useless.  “We can all get naked together!”

Lindsay and Claire shot forward and guided a snickering Jill along with them, while a red-faced Cindy followed closely behind.  None of them had realized that Jill hadn’t referred to any of them by name.

***

 

Claire gently closed the bedroom door and motioned for Lindsay and Cindy to follow her into the kitchen.  Her two friends had managed to take a shower in the very small bathtub and a shared one at that, but only because they’d both been shaking so badly when they’d finally arrived back at the cabin that Claire had shooed them out of the room with orders to climb into the shower and then into some warm, dry clothes.  It would’ve been virtually impossible for them to have engaged in any ‘water aerobics’ even if they’d been so inclined. 

“Well?” Lindsay asked impatiently when Claire veered to the coffeemaker instead of the table where she and Cindy had headed.  She pulled out a chair for her lover before plopping into the one next to Cindy.  Martha had been toweled off as well and was now settled on the floor next to Lindsay.

Scooping some coffee grounds into the machine’s filter, Claire swiveled the container back into place as she readied to draw some water.  “Physically, Jill seems fine,” she reported, turning on the faucet and filling the glass container. 

“And mentally?” Cindy questioned nervously.  Something about Claire’s demeanor set off bells and whistles in her head.  She shifted in her chair.

“She’s a little confused,” Claire answered cryptically as she turned off the tap and poured the drawn water into the lid of the coffeemaker.  She flipped the switch to the on position. 

Lindsay tilted her head curiously and stared at Claire’s back.  The medical examiner was definitely stalling.

“Exactly how confused are we talking here?” Lindsay asked, not able to keep her detective tone out of her question.  She folded her arms across her chest and waited for a reply.

Turning, Claire leaned her back against the counter and mimicked Lindsay’s cross-armed position.  “She knows we’re all friends, she knows what we do for a living,” Claire began as Martha sat up on her back haunches.  Claire smiled.  “And she knows Martha, too.”  The dog wagged her tail and seemed to relax at the good news.

“But?” Lindsay questioned knowingly.  A bombshell had been loaded and was about to be dropped.

“She doesn’t seem to remember that she’s dating Maggie,” Claire announced to the couple.  A little good news never hurt and might even soften the blow for what she’d have to report next.

Cindy couldn’t stop a grin from creasing her face.  “Is there any way you can make that stick?”  She’d love to see the expression on Maggie’s face when the detective found out that Jill had no memories of their time together.

“What about other stuff?” Lindsay didn’t need to be specific; Claire knew exactly as to what her friend was referring.

“I didn’t ask her about anything else.  I didn’t want to upset her should she not remember Pete or David Arnold, and I certainly didn’t want her to try to dredge up those particular memories if she didn’t.”

“Okay, I get that,” Lindsay agreed with Claire’s strategy.  “Do you think we should try to get her to a hospital?”

“Normally, I’d say yes, just to make sure there isn’t an internal injury of some kind,” Claire replied, glancing over to check the progress of the coffee.  The container was half-way filled.  “But since we don’t have a way out of here at the moment, I think we should stay put.  We certainly don’t need to send out for help and then chance one of us getting lost or hurt.”

Lindsay ran a hand through her hair in frustration.  “If that damn raccoon hadn’t stolen my keys...” she grumbled, stopping her rant mid-sentence, although there wasn’t any need to continue.  Her point had been made.

“Well, he did and now we need to figure out how to get them back,” Cindy said, her mind already turning over the possibilities.  They just needed to find something that had more of an appeal to Rocky than the Jeep keys. 

Claire reached into the cabinet and removed three mugs.  “You two focus on Mr. Raccoon and I’ll tend to Jill.”

“Can’t we do something?” Cindy pushed to her feet and moved over to help Claire serve the coffee.  “You can’t stay with her 24/7.”

“She needs to be awakened every hour.  I’ll take the first several shifts as that’s usually when a problem will occur.”

Cindy nodded in understanding.  “We can help with that and, if we think there’s something wrong, we’ll come get you.”

Lindsay stood suddenly and started for the door, Martha right on her heels.  Claire called out to stop her before she could even turn the knob.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“To see if there’s a way inside the little shit’s hideaway,” Lindsay growled, her hatred of the critter shining through in her words. 

“Drink your coffee first; he’s not going anywhere,” Claire ordered and pointed toward a dark blue mug.  “You need to drink something hot.  You’re not any good to us if you get sick.”

Grumbling under her breath, Lindsay crossed the room and took the steaming mug from Claire.  The heat from the cup felt wonderful against her palm and she wrapped her other hand around its middle to take advantage of the ceramic hand warmer.

“Hey, Claire?” Cindy asked as she stirred some sweetener into her mug.  “Why’d you mention Maggie right away?”  Her eidetic memory had swung back to the beginning of their conversation and had immediately stopped on Claire’s initial report on Jill.

“What do ya mean?” Caught off guard, Claire hid her face behind the rim of her cup and sipped on her coffee.  She was too slow for Lindsay.

“Cindy’s right,” Lindsay said, placing her mug back on the counter and facing Claire.  “With everything you could’ve started with, you chose to focus on Jill’s relationship with Maggie.  I don’t think it was because you knew how happy it would make us, either.”

Cindy replayed Claire’s words over and over again in her mind.  There’d been a touch of regret in her friend’s tone, as if Claire wasn’t looking forward to telling them something.  She’d said Jill was confused and then had said Jill knew who they were and then...

“Oh Lord, don’t tell me she thinks she’s dating Denise,” Cindy blurted, her mouth finally catching up with her thoughts.

“Nope,” Claire replied honestly.  “It’s not Denise.”

The hairs on Lindsay’s arms rose up and this time it wasn’t because she was chilled to the bone.  “Not Denise?”  Her next question didn’t need to be voiced.  Claire understood completely and figured now was as good a time as any to inform her friends of what they faced next.

“Jill thinks she and Cindy are dating.”

A stream of coffee flew from Cindy’s mouth and landed directly in the center of Lindsay’s nice, clean shirt.

***

 

“Where are you, you little shit?” 

Lindsay leaned forward and angled her head to peer inside a small hole.  Her knees still ached from their earlier abuse and, now, the mistreated joints screamed their displeasure of the current ‘all fours’ position.  Lindsay just ignored the pain and focused on her mission.

Reaching for her back pocket, she removed a small flashlight, flicked it on, and aimed it inside the raccoon’s living quarters.  Martha inched closer to her mistress and looked through an even smaller hole as the two searched the underside of the house for any sign of the varmint. 

“See him, Martha?”  Lindsay whispered her question as she directed the light across the

darkness, the beam dancing over stone piers, dull metal pipes, and wooden boards that lined the outside of the house as well as the ones that provided flooring to the cabin.  The crawlspace was too narrow for Martha and Lindsay had to wonder who could’ve possibly installed the plumbing.  “Think there are some fairy people living nearby, girl?

Martha whined softly in response.  

“There!” Lindsay said excitedly as she shone her light in the middle of the darkened area.  The Jeep keys were lying in the dirt next to the center pier, but her phone didn’t appear to be nearby.  And neither did the raccoon.  Lindsay stared at her rainbow beaded key chain that, even from a distance, looked mangled and chewed on.  “I think I need a new keychain,” she grumbled, having grown fond of the colorfully beaded chain Jill had given to her as a joke.  It made Tom flinch every time she fiddled with it in his presence. 

“Having any luck?” Claire called down from the porch and scared the crap out of Lindsay, who’d believed she and Martha were alone.  She jerked her head up and hit it against the underside of the cabin that jutted out a couple of inches from her crouched position.

“Shit!” Lindsay cursed and reached up to rub the sore spot.  She was certain she’d be sporting a nice-sized knot later.  “Don’t sneak up on me like that.” 

Claire chuckled.  “Sorry.  Just be glad it was me and not Mr. Raccoon.  He might have taken offense to you blocking the doorway to his home and bitten you in the ass.”

“Ha ha,” Lindsay returned sarcastically.  She lifted to her knees and pushed to her feet. “I spotted my keys.”

Claire straightened and turned serious.  “Can you reach them?”  She’d feel much better if she could put Jill through a battery of tests just to make sure the only problem was her friend’s faulty memory. 

“No, the little bastard made sure of that,” Lindsay reported in frustration.  They couldn’t possibly be so lucky.  “I think we’re going to have to go with Cindy’s plan and try to find something else to entice him and then hope that he’ll trade like he did before.”

“Hmm, he seems to be drawn to shiny objects,” Claire suggested as she mentally inventoried the different things she’d packed.  She didn’t think he’d trade the items for her cell phone as it wasn’t as new and fancy as Lindsay’s and was nowhere near the hot pink of Cindy’s iPod.  She secretly held the notion that the raccoon had only turned over the fluorescent pink media player because he didn’t like Cindy’s taste in music.

“Maybe he’d be attracted to my gun,” Lindsay plotted, an evil grin beginning to take shape.  “He brings back my cell and keys, picks up the gun, looks into the barrel, and… BAM!  He blows himself away.”

Claire shook her head.  “You really don’t like the little guy, do you?”

“He’s a little…”

“Shit.  Yeah, I know,” Claire finished the raccoon’s moniker and forged on to try to distract Lindsay from visions of animal suicide.  “Let’s go see if we can find something that he won’t be able to resist.”

Still holding out hope for her gun, Lindsay put a foot up on the porch and used the rail to pull herself up.  She scissored over the top and Martha leapt up behind her. 

“Where’s Cindy?” Lindsay asked as she followed Claire to the door.

“She’s waking Jill.”

Lindsay tripped over a loose board and almost fell on her face.

*** 

 

Cindy stood near the bunk bed and stared down at a soundly sleeping Jill.  Her friend looked so peaceful that she really hated to wake her, but Claire had stressed that it was a necessity.  Reaching out a hand to shake Jill on the shoulder, Cindy veered at the last second to brush blonde bangs off a cooled forehead.  Except for the bruise near Jill’s temple, she’d have never known that her friend had been injured.

“Jill?” she said softly, leaning forward and stroking lightly across fair skin.  “Jill, you need to wake up and talk to me for a few minutes.”  Claire had also explained to Cindy that she needed to make sure Jill was responsive.

Before the thought had left her mind, a strong hand suddenly snaked up and around her neck and pulled her onto soft pink lips.  There was no longer any doubt in Cindy’s mind as to the level of Jill’s responsiveness.

“Mmmph, whoa, wait,” Cindy pleaded helplessly against Jill’s lips until she finally managed to pull free of the other woman’s grasp.  Breathless, she looked down into a teasing smile and eyes as blue as the ocean.

“Hey,” Jill said sweetly.  “I’ve been wondering where you were.  Claire said that you needed to shower and change.”  She shifted onto to her side and rested her head on a bended elbow.  “Are you okay?”

“Um,” Cindy started, easing back a step and just out of Jill’s reach.  “I’m fine.”  Her voice raised a pitch and she worked to clear her throat.  “But you need to take it easy.”

“I have been taking it easy,” Jill complained, her bottom lip pushing out into a pout. “All I’ve done is sleep the day away.”

Cindy stared at a moist pink lip that poked out further than its mate.  Normally, she’d tease Jill for such a childlike expression, but this particular situation was far from normal. 

“You need your rest.” 

Jill tilted her head and smiled smugly.  “What I need is for you to come over here and kiss me again.”

“You kissed me!”

“Hmm, you’re right, I did,” Jill admitted with pride.  “And if you won’t come to me, I’ll just have to come to you.”  Rotating her hips, Jill placed her feet on the floor and moved to stand, but that was as far has she got as the world began to spin off its axis.  She closed her eyes and tilted forward.  Only Cindy’s quick reflexes kept her from landing headfirst on the hardwood floor.

Gently cradling Jill in her arms, Cindy called for help.

“Claire!!!” 

***

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