CHAPTER TWO
poirotsgirl: Ever notice how the person who dies in cozies is always some jerk nobody likes?
mysterybkluv: I know it’s like the town is slowly killing off all the bad elements until they are perfectly serene
poirotsgirl: lol wish that was my town
THE DISCOVERY OF THE phone was a revelation. In the contacts she’d found a picture of the strange man with the name “Pete” beside it, and another of the little girl with the name “Stephanie.” So she knew the names of her husband and child, at least.
She also found photos in the camera roll of herself at therestaurant—sometimes dressed in a white blouse and black pants and standing at the hostess station, sometimes in the kitchen in a T-shirt and blue jeans wearing an apron. There were also photos of her with otherpeople—clearly staff members, who conveniently wore name tags. Celia spent several minutes carefully memorizing names and faces.
The person who’d called her was named Jennifer, and a photo of a smiling blonde was next to that name in Celia’s contacts. Celia listened to the voice message.
“Hey, Ceil, I just wanted to know if you had time for a run this morning before you went into the restaurant. I’m assuming since you didn’t pick up, you’re either out on the road already or on your way to work. If you’re at home and want to join me, I’m going to do the Cedar Creek loop. Maybe I’ll see you out there.”
Celia disconnected from the voice mail and stared at the phone.Run? She didn’t like to run. At least, she didn’t think she liked to run, but then everything she remembered about herself seemed to be wrong, and everything she didn’t remember was all around her. Maybe she was a runner. Maybe she was the type of person who loved to train for marathons.
She looked down at her body. Slender, but was it runner-thin? She had a flash of seeing herself in a studio mirror, wearing yoga tights and a loose top, extended out into triangle pose. That seemed more her style, but it was possible that all these memories were just a dream she’d had, a dream that was causing this temporary amnesia, or whatever it was.
Celia sank to the floor in the kitchen, her arms wrapped around her knees, and stared at the phone. Whatever she thought her life was obviously wasn’t true. The truth was all around her. She just needed to take a deep breath and play along with everyone until her memories came back.
Fake it ’til you make it, she thought, watching her hands tremble. She took deep breaths until the trembling stopped.I am strong. I am capable. I will get through this.
Then she went upstairs, showered, dressed, placed all the loose items on the bed back in her purse, and went downstairs again to seek out her keys, shoes and car.
The keys were hanging on a hook in the kitchen; the Nike sneakers with light blue swoops on the side fit her the best. Celia carefully locked the door and went outside to find a small Toyota Camry. She climbed into the car and turned the ignition on, setting the phone to give her directions to the restaurant.
She turned right out of the driveway and drove slowly toward town, taking in everything around her as she went. To the left, as far as she could see, was a wooded area. The tree cover was thick, and she couldn’t tell if there were hiking paths inside. On the right was the occasional residence, every few hundred feet or so. Most of them looked like two-story middle-class homes, with white or blue or gray siding and reasonably priced cars in the
