He still goes? I nod my head. “If he’s still attending his appointments, yes. But early on, he decided he was their experiment, to see if he could remember things he’d lost from inside his head. He thought they were treating him like a guinea pig, and for all I knew, they were.”
Chapter Six
Mace
Christ. I don’t know what to think. Vanna’s finished her heart-breaking-if-true story and is now quietly sobbing but also making an effort to compose herself. I go over the way Lizard was today, giving no sign he recognised her. But if what she said is true…
“Vanna,” I address her directly. “You said you lived together. So he knows you from after the explosion that fucked with his head. Why did he blank you today?”
She shakes her head. “Who knows how the brain works? That was the short-term memory loss as I said. Each day seemed like a fresh start. Each morning, I was greeted as though I was a stranger. It’s as if he couldn’t keep a memory of me or Cas in his head. As if a tape was constantly being rewritten.”
“Just you?” I ask.
Another side-to-side movement of her head. “Memory is a strange thing. As far as Lizard knew, he was twenty-two. They got him a job as a mechanic when he recovered enough, he could do that, remember a trade, but couldn’t remember the way to work. He could drive a car, but not remember a route. Other things he never forgot, like how to draw. He was always a good artist.”
“He functions normally now. Wouldn’t have gotten past his prospect patch if he had problems with remembering shit.”
Now her head moves up and down. “He improved. I kept tabs on him via his therapist. I suggested going back and confronting him again, but I was told he was getting to a good place and perhaps I was somehow bad for him, was holding his recovery back. I always hoped he’d return, so just settled back to wait. I knew gradually, he was beginning to learn new things and remember them. But still, his doctors thought I should stay away, make a clean break. Eventually he moved and I lost track of him.”
“But you knew where to find him today?”
“He left San Diego, and I didn’t immediately know where he’d gone. Then a year later, I learned he’d come to Denver to stay with his friend, Hatch. I, er, I know it sounds stalkerish, but I moved there too.” At the mention of Hatch, my eyes meet Demon’s.
“Go on.” Demon chooses not to enlighten her.
“I hoped one day he might remember. If he saw me around, saw me with Cas… but it didn’t work. By the time I’d completed my move, he’d disappeared again. I went to Hatch’s address, found the place locked up and for sale. The realtors said they didn’t know where the previous renter had moved. I couldn’t uproot Cas again, so we stayed in Denver. A couple of years back some paperwork caught up to me, it had been chasing me halfway across the country. It had his current address on it.” She breaks off and looks at each of us in turn. “This MC in Pueblo.”
“But you didn’t come to find him then?”
“I was scared. Scared of exactly what happened today, that I’d come, and Lizard wouldn’t recognise me anyway.” Her hands gesture around. “Nine years ago, I might have tried. But it’s been ten years now. Eight before I knew where he was.” She shrugs. “I’d made sure people knew where I’d gone, so if Liz wanted to find me, he could. That he hadn’t come knocking meant one of two things. Either he’d remembered and moved on, or his memory hadn’t come back.” She pauses for breath, then carries on, “It wasn’t until I thought I had no other option if I was going to help Cas that I made the decision to come and see whether anything had changed. As you know, it’s been a wasted trip.” Her shoulders slump in defeat, and she makes a weak dismissive gesture. Then she lets out a sigh. “Look, I’ve got to get back to Cas. You know I haven’t been lying, so please, let me leave. I’ll just have to think of something else to do, some way to get my son’s life back on track.”
From the look on her face, she’s at her wits’ end. I exchange glances with Demon. We know only too well what happens when someone gets onto the wrong side of the law. Some pull themselves back up, we’ve got examples of that in the club, some continue the downward spiral, never learning from their mistakes and end up serving a long sentence or dead.
Demon picks up his phone. “Vi, can you come to my office?” Then he puts it back down. “When my wife comes in, I want you to go with her, Vanna. Give us a moment to talk about your situation.”
“I’ve got to get back to Cas,” she protests. “I’ll be late if I don’t leave now.”
“Your friend okay with him staying a bit longer?”
“She would be, yes, but it’s a school night…”
“Not going to do the kid any harm to stay up late for once. Give her a call and sort it out. We’ll be as quick as we can.”
She’s got no choice, and she seems to know it. Vi comes in, and Demon calls her over and whispers to her quietly. Vi nods her head and smiles Vanna’s way.
Vanna stands. “I’ll clear it with Lindy, but I might as well leave. Lizard’s not going to be any help, there’s nothing more you can do.” Her lips purse. “I’m sorry I laid that all on you. Please, don’t think any the worse of Lizard. He can’t help what he doesn’t know.”
Prez nods. “Vanna, I understand. But please, give us a moment to talk.” He regards the woman who looks like she’s carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, staring her down until she nods and turns to go with his old lady.
When Vi guides her out, I plop down in her now vacated seat. “What do you reckon, Prez?”
“I was going to ask you that,” he unhelpfully replies.
I don’t try to pretend I don’t know what he’s asking. I’m longing for a smoke, but in deference to the prez and VP, refrain from lighting up in his office. Well, to be honest, I don’t want my ass kicked. But nicotine levels low or whatever, I try to think.
“Liz gets headaches, sometimes bad ones. I know he’s going to the VA, thought it was just for that. Knew he’d got a bang on the head, didn’t know it was so serious.”
“You’ve known him since he was a prospect, Mace. Her story add up? I’m wracking my brain and I can’t think of anything to either support or disprove it, but you were closer to him than I was.”
He means, until I made my promotion to officer, I was just a lowly member like Liz. I speak slowly, gathering my thoughts as I do so. “He’s spoken at length about his first tour but wouldn’t go into the others. That’s not unusual for someone who’s served, some things you don’t want to remember.”
“He was quiet at first,” Demon says, his brow creased. “He didn’t come out of his shell until he was patched in.”
“He can speak without thinking at times,” Beef contributes. “Even I’ve noticed, just thought he was being an ass, but some of the things he comes out with…” He shakes his head. A fleeting smile crosses his face but disappears quickly.