neatly arranged on the coffee table. Opening the cover, she was met by a picture of a smiling family in front of the famous garden at Disney World: Matt, his wife Erin, and two kids were standing in front of a concrete ledge. Rachel remembered taking a similar picture withher daughter when Mallory was three years old. Right before she disappeared. That trip had been their last time at Disney World together. She flipped through more of the album pages, recognizing all of the most popular places for taking pictures at the theme park. She flipped past Erin and the kids in front of Cinderella’s castle, the kids in front of the Haunted Mansion ride, Erin and the kids posing right out front of Toontown, and the kids in front of the Splash Mountain log ride. Rachel could tell that Matt was the primary photographer on this trip due to his absence in most of the photos. She laid down that album and picked up a smaller one. This one was mostly of Matt and Erin. The couple looked almost like models posing as the snapshots moved from one on a boat, to one in front of a cute bungalow, to another with a gorgeous pool in the background.
“Little Palm Island, down in the Florida Keys. I took Erin there for our ten-year anniversary,” Matt said.
Rachel turned to find Matt standing behind her. She closed the album, feeling like she’d been caught trespassing on another person’s memories. She looked up to see Matt staring at her curiously.
“Right,” she said, clearing her throat. “It looks like you had a lovely time.”
Matt shrugged. “From what I remember, we always have a good time, no matter where we go.”
Chris stepped into the room and quickly moved to shake hands with Rachel and then Red. “Thanks for coming over, guys,” he said, gesturing for them to sit back down.
Rachel observed Matt as he took a seat across from her. She thought he looked a little tired. His eyes were red rimmed and he had stubble on his face. He looked different from the way he did in the pictures she had just been looking at. He seemed to be a shell of the confident, strong man she’d seen in photos. It wasn’t unlike the look of other people she’d worked for who had lost someone close to them. Having a loved one missing had a particular way of taking a toll on someone, and Matt seemed to be feeling his loss.What made him different, Rachel thought, was that Matt claimed not to have any memory of what had happened to his family. She wished she felt more confident. But this was the first case she’d been involved in where amnesia was an issue, and she didn’t feel qualified to make any assessments. Rachel wasn’t even sure where to begin. She raised her eyebrows at Red, and thankfully, he nodded discretely and took the lead.
“How are you feeling, Matt?” Red asked.
Matt rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. “Better. Still no memories. Chris brought over some of our family photo albums from the house, hoping we could jog my memory. I’ve been poring over them trying to recover the last couple months of my life, but it’s not working.” He motioned to the albums. “After hours of staring at photos…nothing. Well, nothing and everything. What I can remember is how much I love my wife and my kids.”
Rachel thought how strange it must be for him to look at all the pictures of him and his beautiful family and not know what happened to them. Chris cleared his throat. “In addition to being up all night looking at pictures,” he said, “I’ve been talking over the last couple of months with Matt in detail, covering work and family stuff that happened, but he doesn’t remember anything. The doctor told us it could take some time for him to get his full memory back.”
Melinda brought in a tray of drinks. “Homemade lemonade and chocolate chip cookies. Please help yourself,” she said, putting the tray down on the huge leather chest. Rachel thought she caught a look of annoyance as Melinda picked up the photo albums and
“Little Palm Island, down in the Florida Keys. I took Erin there for our ten-year anniversary,” Matt said.
Rachel turned to find Matt standing behind her. She closed the album, feeling like she’d been caught trespassing on another person’s memories. She looked up to see Matt staring at her curiously.
“Right,” she said, clearing her throat. “It looks like you had a lovely time.”
Matt shrugged. “From what I remember, we always have a good time, no matter where we go.”
Chris stepped into the room and quickly moved to shake hands with Rachel and then Red. “Thanks for coming over, guys,” he said, gesturing for them to sit back down.
Rachel observed Matt as he took a seat across from her. She thought he looked a little tired. His eyes were red rimmed and he had stubble on his face. He looked different from the way he did in the pictures she had just been looking at. He seemed to be a shell of the confident, strong man she’d seen in photos. It wasn’t unlike the look of other people she’d worked for who had lost someone close to them. Having a loved one missing had a particular way of taking a toll on someone, and Matt seemed to be feeling his loss.What made him different, Rachel thought, was that Matt claimed not to have any memory of what had happened to his family. She wished she felt more confident. But this was the first case she’d been involved in where amnesia was an issue, and she didn’t feel qualified to make any assessments. Rachel wasn’t even sure where to begin. She raised her eyebrows at Red, and thankfully, he nodded discretely and took the lead.
“How are you feeling, Matt?” Red asked.
Matt rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. “Better. Still no memories. Chris brought over some of our family photo albums from the house, hoping we could jog my memory. I’ve been poring over them trying to recover the last couple months of my life, but it’s not working.” He motioned to the albums. “After hours of staring at photos…nothing. Well, nothing and everything. What I can remember is how much I love my wife and my kids.”
Rachel thought how strange it must be for him to look at all the pictures of him and his beautiful family and not know what happened to them. Chris cleared his throat. “In addition to being up all night looking at pictures,” he said, “I’ve been talking over the last couple of months with Matt in detail, covering work and family stuff that happened, but he doesn’t remember anything. The doctor told us it could take some time for him to get his full memory back.”
Melinda brought in a tray of drinks. “Homemade lemonade and chocolate chip cookies. Please help yourself,” she said, putting the tray down on the huge leather chest. Rachel thought she caught a look of annoyance as Melinda picked up the photo albums and
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