The Memory Agent & Fool Me Once by Joany Kane Read Free Book Online Page B

and doctor attend to Duke.   They manage to get his convulsions under control before wheeling him
away.
    A short time has passed.   Outside of Duke’s room Claire sits next to the cop, waiting,
worrying.   The doctor exits the
room, closing the door behind him.   He stands in front of Claire.
    “It was just a seizure.   A result from the wound.   He does have his memory back though.   I told him I was obligated to alert the
authorities.”
    The doctor walks away.   Claire removes her cell-phone from her scrub pants pocket and calls
Whitmore.   “He remembers.”   She says into the phone.   She hears him respond, “I’ll be right
there.”  
    Claire stands up and paces for a while, a bit nervous about seeing Duke
now that he has his memory back.   She contemplates whether to wait for Whitmore to arrive, let Duke know
she’s not a nurse or keep up the ruse until after the surgery for his safety
and sake.   By the look in her eyes
she’s chosen the later.   She enters
Duke’s room.
    Claire approaches Duke.   He's now hooked back up to several monitors.   His expression is dour.
    Claire tries to lighten him up.   “Please tell me you're not married to a broad that goes by the name of
Mean Jean or that you own a Chihuahua.”
    “Guess you heard.”   Gone is
the playful, flirtatious, vulnerable Duke, back is the
strong, silent Duke.
    “The doctor told me,” Claire says softly.
    “He's calling the police.”
    “He told me that, too.”
    “You don't want to know me, Claire.   I am a criminal.”
    “The man I have come to know, and care about , is not a criminal.”
    “I've done time.”
    “Whatever has happened in the past, is in the
past. It's how we move into the future that matters.”
    “I liked it better when I couldn't remember.”
    “So you have a few more thoughts happening in that head of yours, it
doesn't change anything.   Not for
me.”
    Duke's eyes lock with Claire's.   He really needed to hear her say those words and looks grateful for
it.   He takes her hand is his,
their eyes still locked.
    The moment is broken when the cop guarding the room peeks in.   “Nurse, you’re needed.”
    Claire removes her hand from Duke’s and leaves the room.   She joins Whitmore who has just
arrived.
    “You should interrogate him, Whit.   I’m keeping the nurse ruse up until he makes it out of surgery.”
    “Fine,” Whitmore responds.

 
    “Duke is at a fragile point.   With the right encouragement you could get him to cooperate.   Please be kind, gentle.”
    Whitmore takes out his cell-phone and hits a button.   “I'll be on line two.”
    Whitmore enters Duke's room leaving Claire in the hallway with the
cop.   She turns her cell-phone onto
line two so she can listen in to Whitmore's interrogation.
    Whitmore approaches the bed where Duke lays handcuffed.   Whitmore’s demeanor is anything but
kind and gentle.   He’s doing his
best to act commanding, intimidating, menacing.   He's gung ho to play bad cop and ignore Claire's advice.
    “Duke Reeves,” Whitmore snarls.
    “I know it now.”
    “So you know what you did.”
    “I was on look out.   I got
to the scene just as the security guard shot at my brother.”
    Whitmore puts a photo of Brent on Duke's lap.   “He wasn't a security guard.   He was an undercover agent for the FBI.”
    “You're a fed?” Duke sounds surprised.
    “Yes.   That agent is dead.”
    “He shouldn't be, my shot was a flesh wound.”
    “It wasn't your shot that killed him.   It was your brother's.   He hit the young agent straight between the eyes.   He fired the kill shot after you fired
the wound shot.   The agent, Brent
Langer, was newly married.   His
wife is pregnant.”   Whitmore
informs Duke with venom dripping off of every word.
    Duke is mortified to hear this.   “He wouldn't do that, why would he do that, why would he kill if he
didn't have to?”
    Whitmore places a photo of the dead jewelry store
owner on Duke's lap.