Chapter 7

Gretna

Alex wasn’t really surprised that Jack hadn’t turned up for the recital. Classical music – even if it had only recently been composed – wasn’t exactly his style. She thoroughly enjoyed the evening and, during the intermission, had renewed a lot of .. associations, and had even turned some into friendships. Many of the residents apologized for their earlier mistreatment toward her. In all, it was a good evening. It was only when she was heading back to the cabin that she realized Jason hadn’t been present either.

Well, maybe they’re both busy tracking down this unknown founder, she rationalized. I wouldn’t have said it was worth missing a new composition by Mozart but men can be singularly focused at times.

The cabin was in darkness when she arrived and Alex crept in, making as little noise as possible. She paused by Jack’s bedroom door to listen but she couldn’t hear anything and, as it was so late, she didn’t call to find out if he was okay. She quickly prepared for bed and turned off the light. She slept quickly, her mind full of music and art, her lungs full of clean, country air.

The next morning when Alex woke, she was aware that she’d slept long and deeply yet it felt like no time at all had passed. She stretched, smiling, expecting the hurried knock on her door, Jack’s voice saying breakfast was ready, it was another lovely day, and time was wasting while she lay there. A week just wasn’t long enough to do justice to the place called Gretna. But the cabin was silent and the voice didn’t come.

Alex felt just a little disappointed. Jason hadn’t deliberately hijacked her vacation companion but she was doing alone all the things she’d wanted to do as a couple. She sat up, pulled on her robe and went into the lounge. From there, she went into the kitchen. The coffee pot was cold. There was no evidence at all that Jack had risen, made his breakfast, and left. Alex made a fresh pot and decided against breakfast. She thought she’d eat at the diner. She headed back to her room, grabbed her wash bag and then showered. Still no sounds from the other bedroom. Maybe he was still asleep, she thought. Maybe he and Jason had solved the identity of the guy by the pond and relief had caused Jack to oversleep. He had been pretty wound up about it.

She dressed, tidied her hair, applied a little makeup, then, just to satisfy her concern or prove it unwarranted, she knocked on his door.

“Jack .. are you in there?” she called. “Jack ..?”

Wincing, Alex quietly opened the door and peeped around it. Then she pushed it open wide and stepped over the threshold. The bed hadn’t been touched.

“Okay,” she muttered. “Don’t jump to conclusions.” His bag is still here. He may have risen early to follow up on a lead and he made his bed, skipped breakfast and basic daily hygiene, and just gone.

It sounded eminently reasonable but she still had doubts.

Alex drove into town and parked behind the diner. The doubts meant that walking took too long. Jack was only here because she’d asked him to come along. He was a grown man but she still felt a sense of responsibility toward him. He was her friend.

“Good morning, Alex!” Dominic greeted as she entered. “It’s another beautiful day, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s lovely.”

He frowned and leaned on the counter. “What’s up? I got the feeling that, if I’d said it’s pouring with rain an’ they say snow’s coming, you’d’ve given me the same answer.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just a little distracted today. I seem to have lost Jack. Have you seen him?”

“Not since yesterday morning. Then, he was the one a little distracted by something. City folks are prone to that, so I’ve discovered.”

She hesitated, unsure whether to sit down and order breakfast or go find her friend.

“Where’d you last see him?” Dominic inquired.

“I left him with Jason.”

“Then why don’t you let me fix you breakfast an’ you call Jason to find out what Jack did when you left an’ where he was going when he left?”

“Of course,” she half groaned. “Everything’s so laid back here, I keep forgetting you all have cell phones. I could’ve called from the cabin. Good idea, Nic. Fix me some breakfast.”

“Coming right up,” he grinned.

She sat down at the counter and accepted the cup of coffee he put in front of her. He turned away to start toast and scrambled eggs. “Noah says you’ve quite a gift for channeling.”

“I’m sure it was beginner’s luck,” Alex smiled. “I just hope the painting sells and does something good for Gretna.”

“It will. What’re you gonna try next? Doesn’t have to be a psychic exercise. There’s a lot of pleasure to be gained in throwing a pot, y’know.”

“I wanna find Jack first, make sure he’s okay.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and pressed out Jason’s number. “Then, maybe, I’ll try my hand at a potter’s wheel.”

“Something else you could try. Celine – one of our newcomers – runs a jewelry workshop. She does some really nice stuff.”

“Really? Yeah, that sounds interesting – oh, Jason? Is Jack with you?” she asked.

There was a moment of silence.

“Yes,” Jason eventually replied.

“Is he okay? I don’t think he came back to the cabin last night.”

“He’s .. recovering. He stayed with me last night.”

She blinked. “Recovering? Is he ill? My God, what happened?”

Again, Jason hesitated. “I thought that’s why you’d brought him here, Alex. Why you brought him to me.”

“I – I don’t understand.” She turned away from the counter. “I brought Jack here for a vacation. Nothing more.”

“But he was damaged. Now he’s been healed. He’s complete again.”

Alex went cold. “What have you done? No, I’m coming over, right now. Tell me when I get there.”

“He doesn’t want to see you, Alex. He says you betrayed him.”

“I never betra - ! Jason, what did you do?” she gasped.

“I restored his memory,” Jason replied.

“Oh no,” Alex whispered. “I’m coming over. Don’t try and stop me.”

She ended the call before he could argue, and rose from her chair.

“Bad news?” Dominic ventured.

“The worst,” she replied, heading for the door, her appetite vanished and her breakfast left unwanted.

*****

Jack lay on the small, narrow bed in Jason’s guestroom in the exact same position he’d lain down the previous night. His eyes were red rimmed with tiredness. He was hunched over, a tight ball of misery. Jason stood in the doorway, watching him with obvious concern.

“Jack, can you hear me?” he asked.

“My name’s Jeffrey. Jeffrey Starr. I’m a con man. I cheat people. It’s what I’m good at. My whole life has been nothing but a fraud.”

“Alex is on her way.”

Jack’s face twisted. “I don’t wanna see her. I don’t wanna see anyone.”

“I understand. I’m sorry. I thought .. this was what you wanted. To learn about yourself. To know your secret.”

“I know who I am.”

“Do you want some breakfast? Can I get you anything at all?”

Jack shook his head.

“Starving yourself won’t help.”

“Maybe later,” Jack mumbled.

Jason nodded and went out, closing the door behind him. I really think I’ve screwed up in a very big way, he considered. I only wanted to help, to heal the scars … I seem only to have opened old, painful and bloody wounds.

The bell rang, and rang again. Jason sighed and shook his head. This would be a difficult meeting.

Alex looked flustered, angry and breathless when he opened the door.

“How could you do that?” she demanded. “I left Jack here because he wanted to solve a mystery! And, instead, you’ve put him back in a nightmare!”

He was a healer and he made his diagnoses in several ways. One was by gauging the emotions. And Alex’s emotions were running high at this moment. They practically jumped at Jason and shook him by the throat. The strange thing was that they didn’t match her expression or tone of voice. She looked and sounded angry. She felt anxious, hurt, and guilty.

“Come inside,” he said. “Try to keep your voice down. Jack’s in enough pain right now. Hearing us arguing won’t help him.”

She shuddered and closed her eyes but she swallowed the accusations and tried to compose herself. Jason led her into the lounge. The room was at the back of the house and overlooked a private walled garden. He left her there to pace while he went to fetch coffee.

When he returned, he sat down. A moment later, Alex sat as well.

“If I have spoiled our friendship, Alex, I’m sorry, but I won’t apologize for healing your friend. It’s what I do. And .. I did it because I honestly believed that’s why you brought Jack here. Even though you may choose to believe that Jack was fine, he wasn’t. He was hurt inside. He told me he had fog in his memory. At times, it irritated him that there were things he couldn’t remember.”

He paused. “He won’t tell me anything, only that you betrayed him and he doesn’t want to see you. He doesn’t want to see anyone. But he is obviously in more pain now than he was before. While he is so .. uncooperative, there’s very little I can do for him. Maybe you should tell me what happened for him to react in this way.”

She shook her head, not in refusal but in disbelief that this situation had occurred at all. A simple vacation, a week away from the bustle and pressure. A week in a place where psychics were valued and not seen as strange. She’d brought Jack here. To a place she’d thought he’d feel welcome. To a place which, once, had specialized in memories. How could she have been so stupid ..?

“Why do you feel guilty, Alex?” Jason asked softly. “Did you betray him?”

“No. I didn’t .. not exactly. Look,” she said, leaning forward, “I first met Jack a few years ago and, back then, he .. was a con man who went by the name of Jeffrey Starr. The Luna Foundation got involved and Jack was arrested and put in the lock up. The gift of sight ran in his family but he didn’t have it, or so he thought. But then he got into a fight and he hit his head, got knocked out. When he came round, his gift was present. It was there all the time but latent. We tried to help him, get him on the straight and narrow but .. he was Jeffrey Starr,” Alex sighed. “A year or so after that, we ran into him again. He was more legit than he had been but he was still into showmanship and using his gift to make money more than to help people. We helped him out, again, and then he went back to Vegas. I never heard anything more from him till I got a phone call a couple of years ago. Jack needed my help in a case. Yes, at first, I was suspicious that I was being dragged into something I really should leave well alone but something inside me said I could trust him and it turned out to be an honest situation. Two apparent ghosts yet they weren’t dead. We tracked them down … ”

Alex paused again. “It’s a long story but the place they were trapped in had a penalty. You had to dance to remember who you were, why you were. And you had to want to remember. If you didn’t, if you danced without truly wanting in your heart to keep your past, you forgot. Everything. We knew there was a chance it could happen so we wrote letters to ourselves so we could learn again the important things. I gave my letter to Jack. He gave his to me. I managed to escape only because Jack sacrificed his chance to get out. He knew what he had to do. Jack danced. And he forgot. He didn’t want to remember. His past was wiped from his mind. While he was stuck in that place, I read his letter, Jason, and it was heartbreaking. He’d wasted his life and he knew it. So .. when he was rescued and brought to San Francisco, I gave him a past to make him proud. I buried Jeffrey Starr and made Jack Chivikian an honorable, decent guy. It wasn’t good of me to do that but it was the right thing to do. And I have never regretted it. But .. I do feel guilty because I lied to him. And I feel hurt that he now knows that I lied, and he knows all the bad things he’s done in the past. And I’m anxious because, deep inside, Jack is a good man who has scraped thru all the dirt at the bottom of the barrel and yet pulled his life around. He did all that before we ever got into that hotel. He deserved a second chance, Jason, and I gave it to him. But now .. all he can see is how he used to be before I met him.”

She sighed as she straightened. “I guess I did betray his trust in me but .. I did it for the best reason.”

Jason nodded. “I understand now. I never considered you to be a bad person, Alex. You have too much compassion for that. And what you did was for compassionate reasons rather than overt manipulation.”

“Can you undo what you’ve done?” she asked.

“No.” He shook his head. “The fog has been lifted. But we can help him realize what has happened in the past, why it happened, what led to your actions, and ease him into acceptance. First, he has to deal with the trauma .. and that is down to me. I caused it. It may be that Jack will remain here when you leave. As you say, he may have a checkered past but he is still a psychic. The town will rally around him and give him support. He can learn to trust again and find his place in the world.”

“Some vacation,” Alex murmured sadly. “He was happy before. I should never have brought him here.”

“Perhaps,” Jason agreed. “Gretna has the power to heal, given time. Strange. The man Jack met told him those exact words. The damaged, the hurt, are called to this place and made whole.”

“Did you find out who the man is?” she asked.

“No. And now I’m too busy and Jack has lost his motivation.”

“Then I’ll track him down,” Alex decided. “Jack’s my friend. Even when he was trouble, I liked him. This is the least I can do to show him I am on his side.”

“He’ll appreciate it. Maybe not now but, in time, he will.”

She hesitated. “Jason .. is there no way that Dominic can remove the memory of what you did? Wouldn’t that put him back to how he was before?”

“I wouldn’t even ask Nic to consider it. We made the decision, Alex, to put all that behind us. Nic’s moved on. Don’t approach him over this. He wouldn’t do it, not for friendship, not for need.”

Alex sighed and shook her head again. “Will you tell Jack I’m sorry?”

“No,” Jason replied. “I won’t do that because .. you’re not sorry, nor should you be. When Jack has recovered enough, you can talk with him and you can explain why you did what you did but, now he has his proper memories restored to him, he’ll probably figure that out for himself. A friendship meant to last will last, Alex, no matter what obstacles are placed in its path. You have to trust him to find his way back to you.”

She nodded, her shoulders slumping. “I’ll call, see how he’s doing.”

“I’ll tell him you’re thinking of him,” Jason remarked, rising with her. “About this man he spoke with – I can tell you it wasn’t Dominic or Noah. I have no idea who he might be but he is honest. He took one look at Jack and knew his secret. He told Jack he often visits the pond at sunset and this is his favorite time of year.”

“Then I’ll make a start there,” Alex said with a wan smile. “I’ll see myself out. You have a patient who needs you.”

*****

Alex called Noah to explain why she wouldn’t be showing up for her session that day.

“Well, Innogen isn’t calling by today either so I am at a loose end. How about I help you?” he offered. “There’s nothing quite like a mystery to solve. Gretna doesn’t have mysteries. It used to be one but that’s old news now.”

“Okay,” she accepted. “I could use some company. I don’t feel I’m a happy camper right now.”

“I’ll meet you at your cabin. You can tell me all about it,” he said, his voice soothing.

Alex drove back home. It was the middle of the morning by this time and she realized she hadn’t eaten yet today but her appetite had been swamped by a lot of other events. She forced herself to eat some toast but it almost choked her. She threw out the coffee and put on a fresh pot. Coffee on its own wouldn’t help her sleep but, right now, she doubted if dreamless rest would come easily anyway.

Noah arrived within the hour, the picture of good health. “Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad,” he declared as she opened the door. “Did Jason say you have some incurable disease that even he can’t heal?”

“No,” she said.

“Then it isn’t that bad. What’s brought on such a long, sad face?”

Alex told the story again but abridged it, keeping it to the most pertinent facts. “And now Jason’s cured him. Jack thinks I can’t be trusted, and I feel like I’ve lost a friend.” She sighed. “And it’s all thru a simple misunderstanding.”

Noah nodded slowly. “They’re easily made, Alex. To be honest with you, I thought the same as Jason. Jack’s a nice guy, I like him, but he’s .. too hyperactive for Gretna. Too mouthy. We like a slower pace here. In the old days, an’ I mean history, a surgeon would have bled him to let out some of the energy. The bad humors. You an’ him .. chalk and cheese. But I guess that’s why you get along so well. You act as a natural brake on his high spirits.”

“I pull him down?” she queried, horrified.

“No, you calm him down. Totally different. You’re kind an’ patient. He wants results now. You show him that he has to wait.”

Alex nodded. It was true. Jack was always wanting to charge in, Alex was the hand on his arm telling him to reason it thru first.

“I hate to tell you this but .. Jack’s always been that way. I could never change his personality, Noah, only the factual events of his past.”

“I see. Well, Gretna will do what it can, if it can, if Jacks wants it to. It’s his choice. He may choose to slip back into bad habits.”

“That would be a tragedy,” Alex declared. “He knows he’s a good person. It’s just the methods he used to use, methods he gave up voluntarily … ”

“Enough. You wallow long enough in self pity, you’ll drown in it,” Noah stated. “We have a mystery to solve. And, I have to admit, I’m damned fascinated. A guy who says he’s one of the founders .. yet isn’t me or Nic. We’ve either got a liar in our midst or .. I have no idea. But, if a town of psychics can’t solve this, I don’t think anyone can.” He looked at her. “Where do we start?”

“I came here to get away from mysteries .. but I guess I don’t have a choice,” she breathed. Alex paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. “Jack said the guy sounded old,” she related. “You know all the residents. It doesn’t have to be an old man. Who has an old sounding voice? Do any of the women here have a gift for altering their voices? If none of them do, we halve our search area.”

“Okay, that’s one thing to consider,” Noah agreed.

“From what Jason told me, this guy seems very perceptive but everyone here is very perceptive so knowing that is no real advantage.”

“Yes, we are perceptive but it depends. Jason is perceptive to emotions, auras, someone’s state of health. Others here are perceptive to thoughts. Others are in tune with nature, and yet others with machines or inanimate objects. In what way was our mystery guy perceptive?”

“Jason said he took one look at Jack and knew his secret.”

“That someone had given him a false memory.”

“I guess so.”

“Or that his memory had been wiped clean? We need to know, Alex. I don’t see how Jason could’ve restored Jack’s memory if it had been wiped. There’d be nothing there to restore, yes?”

Alex blinked. “You’re right.”

“So .. what’s the secret? That Jack had a false memory, or his original memory had been wiped, or merely hidden or blocked, or is it something else? And how do any of us know that what Jack remembers now is what really happened to him? Maybe someone else has given him a false memory which could be even worse than the truth.”

Her eyes widened. “Who would do such a horrible thing?”

“Well .. that’s what we have to find out, isn’t it?” Noah remarked.

*****

They returned to town after lunch. Alex had felt her appetite creep back while she and Noah had talked and so she’d fixed something light yet sustaining. It might prove to be a very long afternoon and evening.

Noah had discussed with her if she wanted to involve anyone else in this investigation. Jason was already a part of it and so was Noah. Alex and Jack were in too, obviously. The faceless, nameless mystery man had started it. Noah advised bringing Dominic in. There were two reasons.

“One, he’s a founder. That means more than being here at the start, Alex. It means he’s lived here since the start. He knows everyone who has also lived here, past and present. Two .. this whole thing involves memories and Nic is our resident expert. He won’t give away any trade secrets but he will be able to advise what is an’ isn’t possible. I’d also advise speaking with Innogen. She’s blind but she sees a whole lot in ways we don’t yet understand. Now, it could be that .. someone dumped a memory from Jack’s head into hers, or drew a memory from Innogen an’ put it in Jack. She’ll know if something’s missing or something’s been added.”

Alex considered while Noah did the dishes. “Yes, definitely Dominic. And we’ll talk with Innogen but not necessarily give her the whole picture.”

“As it were,” he grinned.

“Right,” Alex smiled. “It isn’t that I don’t trust her, Noah, it’s just .. this is Jack we’re talking about, like he’s a sweater one of us bought in a store. I know we’re doing it to help him but I feel we’re invading his privacy, okay? I’d like to keep it as contained as I can.”

“Fair comment,” he accepted.

The diner was quiet after a rush over lunchtime. A bus had come in from a nearby town and visitors had hit the stores with a vengeance. Dominic had just finished clearing up when Noah and Alex came in.

“How is he?” Dominic asked at once. “The way you took off this morning, I figured it had to be bad.”

“I don’t know,” Alex replied. “He won’t see me. It is bad, Nic. Jason isn’t sure what to do to help him.”

“What is sure is that we need your help,” Noah added. “More to the point, we need to ask you some questions to pick your brains on a certain subject you know a lot about. You don’t have to tell us how, just if something’s possible or not. Okay? It’ll be tough but Jack’s mental well being is at stake here.”

Dominic poured three cups of coffee and carried them to a booth. “Sit down,” he invited. “I’ll just shut up the shop for a while.”

After he had turned the sign over and locked the door, Dominic slid in opposite them.

“Whatever I can do, tough or not, I’ll do it. Jack’s one of us, an’ we stick together. Shoot.”

Noah and Alex between them related Jack’s story, and Dominic listened, nodding every so often, frowning occasionally.

“I’ve never heard of that, having to dance to forget or to remember,” he remarked.

“Well, this particular hotel was a trap,” Alex replied. “And it wasn’t there all the time, just from sunset to daybreak, then it vanished again. Jack got trapped inside at daybreak.”

“Interesting. So .. you wanna know about memory.”

“Not specifics, just in general,” Noah nodded. “Is it possible to totally wipe someone’s memory?”

“Don’t know,” Dominic promptly answered. “It is possible to selectively wipe a memory.”

“Okay. Is it possible to restore a memory which has been wiped?”

“Yeah, if that memory has been stored someplace else.”

“What if it hasn’t?” Alex asked.

“Then, in my opinion, it’s gone for good,” Dominic stated. He watched Alex’s face. “Is there a way you can check for sure?”

“There may be. I could make some calls,” she murmured.

“I’m glad you haven’t asked me to do what I used to do,” Dominic commented. “I bet you thought of it.”

“Yeah, I did. I asked Jason about it,” Alex confessed. “Did he tell you?”

Dominic shook his head. “He wouldn’t. The reason I wouldn’t do it, Alex, isn’t because I’ve realized it was wrong an’ that may surprise you. We thought we were doing good, protecting ourselves. We weren’t. In the end, it became a nasty habit. But that isn’t why I won’t do it again. It’s because it’s an easy way out of a problem but it doesn’t make the problem go away. You taught us that. So it doesn’t really matter if the reason behind the request is malicious or beneficial. It doesn’t solve the problem. What you have to do is find out the root cause an’ work on that.” He leaned back. “If there’s anything else I can do to help, you just let me know, okay?”

“Thanks, Nic. I appreciate it,” Alex smiled.

*****

Jack sat up. He felt awful. His head throbbed and it made his stomach churn. His mouth was dry. But, more than anything, he was angry and disappointed. The number one thought rolling ceaselessly around his head was ‘wasn’t I good enough just as I was?’

He put his feet on the floor and leaned forward, hanging his head and groaning.

Why did she do it? Why did she tell me all those lies ..?

The door swung open. “How are you feeling?” Jason asked.

“Terrible. You keep away from me. You’ve done me enough good to last me quite a while, thank you.”

“You still have a sense of humor. That’s a good sign.” Jason took a few more steps into the room. Jack watched him with blatantly narrowed and suspicious eyes. “I won’t come any closer. I was just wondering if you’re hungry enough to eat. It’s been almost eighteen hours since you touched anything.”

“I’m thirsty. I have a headache. I’m mad enough to go do something stupid .. an’ I guess that’s about right for me. Appropriate behavior.”

“I’m going to sit in this chair,” Jason said. “Talking is a good first step, Jack.”

“I told you – my name is Jeffrey.”

“No, it isn’t. Your name is Jack. Jeffrey Starr was an alias belonging to a man you left behind. Alex didn’t make you leave him in the past, you decided to do that on your own.”

Jack glanced up. “She told you that, did she?”

“Yes.”

“And you believed her.”

“Alex has no reason to lie to me.”

“But she had every reason to lie to me. I thought she was my friend,” Jack muttered with dull bitterness.

“She was, and still is your friend. You wouldn’t say what she’d done so I got the story from her. I can’t fault her intentions, Jack. She acted with compassion. She did it not for herself but for you. I suggest you try to set aside your disappointment and distress, and listen to what she has to say. I can tell you that Alex feels guilty, anxious and she hurts .. for you. Please, Jack. At least consider it.”

Reluctantly, Jack nodded. “Okay. I’ll consider it.”

“Will you come downstairs and eat something?”

Jack regarded him. “When are you gonna kick me out? Send me packing? Tell me to get my ass outta Gretna an’ Canada, an’ hightail it back over the border? I’m a con man. A fraud. I cheat people of their money.”

Jason gazed back. “Why are you fixed on that period in your past? Does it hold a fascination for you? Is a part of you admiring what you did?”

“Why?”

“I’m just curious.” Jason rose to his feet. “I think your mind is being clouded by fresh doubts. You need to hear the truth. Alex knows the truth, Jack. Yes, it’s biased because she saw it thru her eyes, not yours. But you were there too. You can add the balance. Meet with her. It doesn’t have to be a confrontation. I’ll be present to mediate, if you wish. Don’t you want to know the truth?”

Jack twitched. “Okay. Set it up.”

*****

Alex’s cell phone beeped and she glanced at Noah. “Hello?”

“Alex, it’s Jason. Jack has agreed to see you.”

“That’s great! When?”

“When would be convenient? Can you come now?” he asked.

“I guess so. I have some questions I need him to answer. In fact, we need him to help in this investigation.” She paused. “How is he?”

“I’m concerned. His general health is good but he appears to be fixated on the fact he conned people. I think it’s time you spoke with him, explained why you did what you did.”

She nodded. “All right. I’m on my way.”

Noah was watching. “We’re gonna go see Jack?”

“Yes. Will you come with me? If I go alone, Jack may feel threatened. You’re impartial.”

“Sure. Then we’ll go speak with Innogen.”

They arrived at Jason’s house within twenty minutes. Jason escorted them into the lounge then went to fetch his patient. Jack came in, hunched and sullen, and not wanting to meet anyone’s eyes. Alex felt her heart twist.

“Hello, Jack,” she said softly.

“Alex. Noah,” he acknowledged. “This some kind of deputation?”

“Of course not. We’re trying to help you,” Noah retorted. “Sit down an’ listen.”

Jack’s knees folded and he sank onto the sofa. “Okay. What d’you have to say to me?”

“What do you remember?” Alex asked.

“I remember .. oh, let’s see. You lied to me. How about that?”

“Yes, I did. But I did it because I honestly believed it was what you wanted.”

“To have my past changed beyond recognition?” he accused.

“No, and I didn’t do that. Do you remember the hotel? Why we went there? Why I went with you?”

His eyes flickered. “Yeah.”

“To save two people trapped in that place for years,” she nodded. “You called me and asked for my help. Do you remember my reaction?”

He met her eyes. “You didn’t believe me. You thought it was another con.”

“Yes, I did. Why did I think that?” Alex asked.

“Because that’s what I do. Did,” he frowned.

“That’s right. You persuaded me, Jack. You told me the truth. You’d given up that life. Paid back all the money you’d taken. Do you remember how you were living?”

“In a motel.”

“It was a sad place but you felt you didn’t deserve to have more. When we were in the hotel, do you remember writing the letter?”

He nodded slowly.

“How scared you were? How scared I was? How you told me we’d get thru it? Do you remember what you wrote in your letter?”

“Yeah … ” He looked up again. “Is that why?”

“Yes,” Alex replied. “You’d completely pulled your life around. You’d made a fresh start but you couldn’t erase the past. When you sacrificed your chance of escape to let me get out, I knew that you’d changed inside. Jeffrey Starr, con man, would’ve left me there and run. He would’ve regretted it once he was outside but he would have done it. Jack Chivikian didn’t do that. And the dance … You had to want, really want hard, to remember, or you would forget. You forgot, Jack. When you finally got out, you were a blank sheet. I just .. gave you a past worthy of you. Yes, I lied. I left out a lot of bad things but I included a lot of the good things you’d done. And I did it because your letter broke my heart.”

There was silence for a long moment. Then Jack nodded. “But it was my past, Alex. For good or bad, it was my life, my deeds, decisions an’ mistakes. I made them. I deserved to know where I went wrong an’ how I got out of it.”

Alex nodded too. “You’re right. I interfered and I had no right to do that. At least you remember now.”

“Yeah, I do.”

“And no one here is going to kick you out, send you packing, or tell you to go home,” Jason declared. “You may not have started out as a legitimate psychic but you’re one now. We all have a past, Jack, and it’s something we leave behind when we come here. Gretna is a fresh start for everyone.”

“The thing you gotta .. remember, Jack, is that con men are basically cowards. People with guts, with courage, they don’t run out on their friends. They don’t hide away from the truth. The fact you’re sitting here, listening to this, doesn’t that tell you that you have guts?” Noah queried.

Jack blinked then looked at him. “I’m not sure what it tells me.”

“Trust me on this,” Noah winked. “The thing we have to find out now is what exactly you do remember. So far, it seems Jason’s worked another miracle cure. If your memory was wiped clean an’ Alex just .. painted a new history on it, how could the original memory be replaced? If it was just blocked or hidden from you, Jason’s cure would work. And we need to make sure nothing else fake has crept in. Why are you so fixed on being a con artist?”

Jack hesitated. “I can’t believe I actually did that .. an’ yet I can. I did. I can’t argue with the facts. And .. there’s a small part of me which says I don’t wanna go back there.”

“Only a small part?” Alex asked, unable to hide the dismay in her voice.

He shrugged. “I must’ve been good at it.”

“No, you weren’t. It got you into trouble. What you’re good at is what you do now. You help people.”

“I guess. I don’t know anymore. I’m confused.”

“Okay, time out,” Noah decided. “No more with the memory thing, not for a while. Memory accrues over time. Trying to unravel it takes time as well and, if there’s one thing we have here in Gretna, it’s time. So we can afford to leave that for now. Let’s work on the mystery instead. Jack, you up for it? Wanna help us out? You’re a fresh pair of eyes. A newcomer. You don’t know anyone well enough to tread dainty around their personalities. With you an’ Alex on the case .. I think we could crack it.”

“It’s a good idea,” Jason agreed. “You’d get to learn that Alex can be trusted, Jack. It’ll help settle your confusion.”

Jack looked wary. “Why do I feel like a rabbit caught in someone’s hi-beams?”

“Cos you’re uncertain,” Noah replied. “We’re all friends here, Jack. Help us out. Hell, it’s your mystery. Why should we do all the work?”

“Good question,” Jack nodded. “Okay. I’ll help.”

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