Shifting Calder Wind by Janet Dailey Read Free Book Online Page A

omits one important detail—following the crash, the car burst into flames. The body was burned beyond recognition. Granted, I didn’t get a good look at your robber, but to the best of my recollection, he was about your height and build. He could have even been about your age. We may never know, unless the family requests an autopsy. At this point, the authorities definitely haven’t ordered one. Why should they when they are convinced they know both the man’s identity and the cause of his death?”
    “But there’s someone who knows the dead man isn’t Chase Calder,” he murmured, thinking out loud.
    “That’s right,” Laredo said with a decisive nod. “The man who tried to kill you. It’s possible that he might not know that the thief took off in your rental car, but not likely.”
    “He won’t know for sure unless I come forward—assuming I really am Chase Calder.”
    “The newspaper archives might have a photo of Chase Calder,” Laredo told him. “That’s one way you could find out. Of course, there is another way.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Someone from your family is flying in this morning to arrange to have the body shipped home for burial. I have the name of the mortuary they’ll be using on the Fort Worth end. All you would have to do is show up there and wait to see if you are recognized.”
    “I could.” But doing so would only answer whether or not he was Chase Calder. It wouldn’t solve anything else. If anything, his situation might be worse. His killer would know he was alive, but he wouldn’t know who that man was.
    “You could, but you won’t,” Laredo guessed.
    “No, I don’t think so.”
    Hattie looked up from the article, the reading glasses perched on the end of her nose. “Why not? Think what your family is going through right now,” she protested.
    He experienced a twinge of guilt, but it didn’t change his decision. “I regret that, but—”
    “You regret it! That is the most heartless thing I have ever heard.” She glared her disapproval.
    “Maybe it seems that way, but I think it’s best for now,” he replied calmly.
    Hattie stared at him long and hard, her lips pressed tightly together. “And as long as you think it’s best, that is all that matters, isn’t it?”
    “This isn’t the time to come forward.” It was a gut decision. Right now his instincts were the only thing he could trust.
    “It could take months for your memory to return,” Hattie warned.
    “And in the meantime,” Laredo spoke, “there’s a man out there who wants him dead. For all he knows it could be a member of his own family.”
    That possibility had clearly never occurred to Hattie. It showed in the sudden doubt that flickered in her expression. “Still,” she began, “you must be curious about your family. Don’t you want to know if you have a wife? Children?”
    “Of course I do.” Impatience riddled his voice, but it was born of his inability to remember for himself.
    “I can find out the answers to those questions.” Laredo pushed off the chair and stood up. “Hopefully without raising too much suspicion.”
    Gratitude tinged the look he gave Laredo. He was fully aware of how much he already owed this man. But, in addition to that, there was a connection between them that he couldn’t fully explain. Perhaps it was the sense of mutual regard.
    The irony of it wasn’t lost on him. He was a man with no memory, seeking his identity. Laredo, on the other hand, sought to conceal his identity under an assumed name.
    “I don’t know where you plan on going,” Hattie said, “but you aren’t leaving this house until you’ve had breakfast.”
    “I wondered how long it would take before you offered me some of those bacon and eggs you served him.” Laredo walked over to the counter and helped himself to some coffee.
     
     
    By midday the temperature had climbed to well over ninety degrees, and it felt even hotter than that on the concrete streets and sidewalks of