Chapter 2

Sam carried the woman up to the back door and used his foot to bang on it.

"I'm coming!" Madelyn opened the door with a smart exclamation on her lips, but it died when she got an eyeful of the woman in Sam's arms dressed in a luxurious ivory lace gown that still dripped with saltwater. "Oh my god, what happened, Sam? Who is this?"

"Maddie, please let me get her settled somewhere first. Then I'll try to answer your questions."

"Of course!" She held open the door, allowed Sam to pass, and then closed and locked it behind him. She was learning fast. "Put her in the guest room." She stubbed out her cigarette, let out a large puff of smoke, and followed him into the room.

"She's still wet, Maddie."

"Don't worry about that. Let me take care of her, and then we'll talk, okay?"

"Sure." His rich brown eyes held concern, but he needn't have worried. Maddie would be gentle, he had no doubt about that.

She may be gentle with the girl, but as for Sam...she pushed him forcefully toward the door. "Go out there and have a beer or something. You can't stay here."

Sam threw up his hands and retreated. "Okay, okay! Jeez, you don't have to get violent." He closed the door soundly behind himself and made a beeline for the fridge. His favorite beer awaited inside. As he twisted off the top, he grinned. Maddie always took good care of Michael's friends.

Maddie emerged from the room and found Sam sitting at the dining room table. He was on the phone, his beer barely touched. "Yeah...yeah...no reports, huh?" His brow furrowed. "Okay, Danny, let me know if anything crosses your desk, okay?...Yeah, it may have something to do with something I'm working on." He laughed nervously. "Yeah, top secret, pal. Look, I owe you a beer..." He nodded. "Okay, ten beers. Keep running that tab, man. You know I'm good for it!" He closed his phone and set it on the table with a long sigh.

Maddie filled a glass with iced tea and sat across from him. "Okay, what the hell is going on here, Sam?" She lit a cigarette and sat waiting for his answer, glaring at him.

"I was on the phone with my buddy at the Miami PD. Nobody's put out a missing persons report on her. I'm gonna check with the FBI next, but I'm not holding out much hope." He sighed and ran a hand through his unruly, nearly dry hair. "I was fishing this morning, just minding my own business, and she was out there in a riptide. I almost lost her, Maddie." He swallowed and replayed the whole scene for her.

"So she has no memory of who she is?"

"That's about the size of it. When you got her out of those wet clothes, did you find anything?"

Maddie smirked. "That dress fit pretty tight. There was no place for anything besides her body. No ID, nothing."

"Tattoos? Did she have any?"

Madelyn shook her head. "I didn't see any. If you don't count that red mark on her neck. Sam, she needs a doctor."

"I don't want to risk taking her to the hospital and having the wrong people ID her. We could wind up getting her killed!" He stopped and controlled the rising volume of his voice. "She's safer here. Between the two of us, we have enough medical knowledge to handle this. Other than an x-ray, or maybe an MRI, the hospital wouldn't do much. You know that."

"She's going to need hydration."

"I can take care of that." Sam picked up his phone and dialed. After a few rings, he spoke. "Hey Fi. I need a favor."