Out of Sight Out of Mind by Evonne Wareham Page B

surprised her. She’d have bet on him tracking her down way before this.
    He was asleep on the sofa, remote control in hand.
    She gave him a long, considering look, then went to make tea. She tipped half a packet of biscuits on to a plate. Not one of the major nutritional groups, but hell – food was food.
    Deep in thought, she licked the chocolate off a digestive as the kettle heated. Feeding a man. She opened the fridge. There
was
healthy stuff in here. Salad, fresh pasta, Sandra’s home-made spaghetti sauce. She shook the container. Neil had done all the creative stuff in the kitchen. She’d been strictly slicing and chopping. Sometimes he’d let her grind herbs and stir things. She cooked a decent fry-up, and her knowledge of the controls on the microwave was second to none, but that was all. She puffed out her lower lip. Spaghetti sauce.
How hard can it be to boil tomatoes?
    ‘Garpgh.’ Jay woke with the lightest touch on his arm, sitting up with a jerk and cursing under his breath as he jarred his shoulder. He scrubbed his hand over his face and accepted tea. ‘Must have drifted off.’
    ‘Not surprising.’ She pushed the biscuits towards him. ‘You need to eat. You’ll have to put as much into this as I do. You need all the stamina you can get.’
    ‘In that case—’ He took two biscuits, raising his brows when Madison put a set of keys on the table.
    ‘There’s a studio flat on this floor. It’s meant to be staff quarters.’ She made a face. ‘It’s yours, for as long as you want. There are more clothes in the hall cupboard. We’ll get whatever else you need.’ She looked pointedly at his bare feet. Jay gave her a bland look and swiped another biscuit. ‘First we get that shoulder looked at. I’ve thought of someone—’ She forestalled him when he started to shake his head. ‘Not a hospital.’
Not a doctor, either
. ‘Hospitals ask too many questions, right? Like who you are and where you live?’
    ‘You got it.’ He shifted, not meeting her eyes. ‘Did you find anything? On the Internet?’
    ‘Nothing particularly useful.’ She tilted her head. ‘You know a lot of homeless people have been in the Forces?’
    ‘Yeah, I met a few. Mostly ex-army …’ His voice faded and his whole body stilled. ‘You think I might be a military experiment that went wrong?’
    Or maybe way too right.
    She studied his face, watching for a reaction, saw him reaching and coming up blank.
    ‘Nothing.’ A frustrated sigh. ‘An experiment – military, or whatever – that would mean I’d got away from somewhere.’ A slight but unmistakable shudder. ‘Or been turned loose. Someone may be looking for me. Or have no further use for me.’ His eyes were dark, turned inward. ‘If the amnesia isn’t natural … if it was
done
to me – that’s a whole new raft of who and why questions.’ Abruptly he focused on her. ‘I shouldn’t be dragging you into this.’
    ‘I said I’d help.’
Try keeping me out
. ‘If it was done, then it can be undone.’ She hesitated. ‘The work I do – it’s a small, tight, professionally jealous world. Not exactly public, but not secret, either. I would have expected—’ She gathered the corner of her lip into her teeth. ‘If something like this was going down, I’d have expected a whisper. Rumour, gossip – something. There isn’t anything – which means it’s very well hidden, or it doesn’t exist.’
    ‘Which makes me a
paranoid
amnesiac!’
    ‘Not knowing who you are is grounds for paranoia.’
    ‘Thanks for the vote of confidence.’ He held her eyes. His were very deep, dark blue. She noticed the length of his lashes again, feeling a disturbing quiver in the pit of her stomach. She looked away first, reaching to pick up the empty biscuit plate. ‘Shall we go and look at the studio?’
    It was bigger than she remembered, with a large, light main room, a compact bathroom and a kitchen alcove that gave on to a tiny balcony. She showed Jay how the