Just to clear up any confusion: This story is finished, I just thought it would be fun to post in chapters (well, for me anyway:) I'll do one a day, promise! I did two today, since 3 was short.
Chapter 3
"Wha-? Who did? Did you bring me food?" Her lip was set in a permanent pout.
Lee yanked her roughly from the bed by the elbow. "Whoever you're working for. They did a really great job. Now why don't you just tell me what you're up to?"
A visible shiver ran through her as she looked down at the gun in his other hand.
"Lee, honey, what are you doing with that?"
Beads of sweat began to work their way down his face.
"I want you to tell me who you are working for, and I want to know if my wife is in danger." His hand began to shake in time with his voice. "And I swear to you, that if anything happens to her, or the rest of my family, while you are sitting here playing this stupid game, I will kill you." The steel certainty in his voice finally seemed to get through to her.
"Lee, baby, I don't know what you think, or who this wife is you keep talking about, but I'm pretty sure you're not married. You've asked me out three times in the last six months, along with every other girl in the steno pool." Tears came to her very blue eyes. "Please put the gun away, honey. You're scaring me."
Convinced she was telling the truth, or at least that she believed what she was saying, he lowered the gun and loosened his grip on her arm.
Her hand rose slowly to his forehead. "I think you need to see a doctor. Maybe you did have something weird last night."
"It is possible that I was poisoned. That could explain the memory loss, and why I don't remember how I got here."
Lisa's eyes widened as she slipped slowly out of bed. "Look, I'm just gonna get dressed, okay?" and proceeded to set a new land speed record for getting the hell out of that apartment.
Now alone, Lee sat down hard on *his* couch. It had to be a setup. An elaborate one, obviously. But who would do this? His fingers began to twist his wedding ring, a habit he'd developed when deep in thought.
But it wasn't there.
Panicked, he looked in the floor around the sofa.
Nothing.
By the time he'd turned the apartment upside down, he'd made a couple of discoveries.
Every piece of documentation in the apartment listed Lee Stetson as single.
Lee Stetson had no dependents.
And he never did find his ring.
Chapter 4
He had to get out of there. He had to find Amanda. Everything would be alright, if he could just get to Amanda.
"Where are my car keys?" he muttered, looking at the small table by the door where he always left them.
Nothing.
He wouldn't have put it past the little tramp to steal his car, but no, when he looked out the window he could see the vette parked on the street.
He finally found the keys in the pocket of a leather jacket lying in the floor.
They'd even taken Amanda's house key off the ring. Very thorough, he admitted.
On the drive into Arlington, his mind still raced as he processed all that had happened that morning, and tried to figure out who would do this to him. And why now? It was all very elaborate, very personal. His worst fear was that Amanda and the boys had been hurt while he'd been conveniently distracted. "Please be okay, please be okay."
Pulling up to 4247 Maplewood, he didn't even bother to turn off the ignition. Running up to the front door, he threw it open, hoping the element of surprise would be to his advantage.
It was, in a way.
The house was empty.
But it wasn't their house.
Just as he had wandered through his apartment that morning, he now stared, open-mouthed, at what had once been his home.
"How long have I been gone?"
Flipping on the TV, he searched for a date. Nope, as far as he could recall, as of yesterday's date he had been cleaning a bathtub, in this house.
The home had been completely redecorated. Another family's photos rested on the mantle. Tearing open drawers, he found not one familiar item.
It was as though his whole life, everything that mattered, had just been...erased. He couldn't think of a better word.
Someone had taken his family from him, and he had not a clue how they had done it.
Anguish took over, crumpling his body onto the sofa. "Where *are* you?" Dropping his head into his hands, he was trying to come up with some sort of a plan, when there was a tapping on the kitchen window behind him.
"Amanda!"
