Thank you again for all your great reviews. It is a real pleasure to write for you. I'm having a lot of fun and I try to do the best job I can! Hope you're all still alive out there and the suspense hasn't killed anyone! It will lighten considerably in a few moments I think...

Four years later

Jack goes through a thin stack of old clippings. A private detective in the mid-west, an old acquaintance dating back to Jack's days in the military has gone through the archive of small town newspapers.

Jack knows he is really far out now. In a short flash he sees himself, years from now, going through newspaper stories from small towns in Europe. Maybe even China. That almost makes him chuckle but it does not make him waver.

The next article he picks up contains a picture of a group of four people: an elderly couple, a young man and a young woman. The man has his arms wrapped around the woman in a tight embrace, her face is half hidden. The caption reads: Eleanor Carter, only child of Robert and Matilda Carter is home again after eighteen years.

Jack starts to read the story. Eleanor is the Carter's only daughter. The family is affluent and influential on their small town scale. One of Matilda Carter's ancestors, Stewart Ross founded the town and her husband owns a plant producing fertilizer. Eleanor herself ran away as a teenager and remained missing for eighteen years. Three months ago she was admitted to the local hospital after a car accident. Apparently she was on her way to see her parents but nobody knows that for sure. Eleanor sustained a head injury in the accident and she has lost her memory. The article states that small glimpses of memory have returned but full recovery will take time. Nevertheless the Carter's are happy to have her back. So is the young man in the picture, Nick Carter, Eleanor's cousin who was raised by the Carter's, after his parents died. He and Eleanor are planning to marry.

The article is written more than three years ago.

Jack's eyes wander back to the half-hidden face of the young woman. He sees her eyes, her nose and half a curve of a smiling mouth. Her hair is short and blonde. The man is holding her very tight and Jack notices that she is not hugging him back but has crossed her arms over her chest.

He puts the clipping down and looks out of the window. He thinks that he is probably going crazy. It is, of course, again late at night. With a sigh he rubs his eyes, opens a drawer and takes out a magnifying glass. He studies the face of Eleanor Carter very carefully. His heart starts to beat heavily in his chest. Breathing is suddenly difficult. He puts the picture and the magnifying glass down again and decides to get some coffee. He will not be able to sleep after that but he does not care.

He drinks the hot liquid in small sips while looking out of the window. Finally he wanders back to his desk again, sits down, picks up the magnifying glass and studies the picture one more time. He knows then that it is her. Gently he puts everything down, covers his eyes and after four years finally starts to cry.

Eleanor Carter looks at herself in the mirror. There are dark smudges beneath her eyes. She has not been feeling well lately – to tell the truth, she has not been feeling well for as long as she can think.

At first things were not that bad. Everyone was kind and loving. They talked about that she would soon get her memory back, and although things around her seemed alien to her mind she told herself that was probably only a side-effect of the amnesia. Yes, she would soon get her memories back and remember everything, the town she grew up in and where she belongs, her parents who adopted her when she was just two days old, who adored her and spoiled her until she could stand it no longer and ran away and of course her cousin Nick who has loved her since she was just a kid and who has lately taken to beating her because she still wants her memory back before she marries him. That is where she belongs and where she feels like a stranger.

She still has headaches and nightmares after the accident.

Eleanor turns her head, pushes aside her long hair and looks at the scar which runs across her temple and continues to the back of her head, concealed by her hair.

Apparently she was hit by a car.

She remembers nothing about that. She was found near a bus stop, on the side of the road, unconscious. Cousin Nick identified her at the hospital and since then he has basically run her life and that of her elderly, well-meaning, fussy, keeping-up-appearances parents.

Eleanor is lost and helpless. She has no choice but to let it happen. She tries to regain her strength, but Nick does not want her to be strong. He needs to be in control, he needs to rule and he does not need anyone to tell him otherwise.

Eleanor is tired. The constant fight against Nick, against giving up whatever shred is left of her identity, the fight against giving up hope is becoming more than she can bear.

There is only one thing that keeps her going. She knows there is someone waiting for her. How she knows, she can not say. It is not a memory, it is a feeling and it is at the core of her being. Who that is, she does not know, but she is sure he waits, patiently. She is sure he would wait forever; waiting to see her – later.

Eleanor knows that late is starting to get very late and will soon be too late.

The door to the bedroom opens and Nick enters the room. He smiles his radiant smile when he sees her. She smiles back, valiantly. She raises her arms to tie back her hair because she knows he likes it that way but winces with pain when her left arm reaches shoulder height.

"I'm sorry," Nick says, "I guess I've been a little rough yesterday. Just try not to make me that angry."

He comes closer and rests his hand on her neck.

It could be a caress. It could also be a threat.

TBC