Pretend You're Here: A Dystopian Crime Thriller Novella (A. R. Shaw's Novella Collection) by A. R. Shaw

Author:A. R. Shaw [Shaw, A. R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ARShawBooks.com
Published: 2021-09-05T05:00:00+00:00

11

A Citizen

I waited in a small locked room that resembled an interrogation room in a police station rather than a sterile hospital setting. The door was locked. I knew that because after I picked the lock of my handcuffs again, I tried the door. Of course, I could have picked the door lock, too, but I figured I needed to see what they had in store for me.

The handcuffs remained on the table; I didn’t try to hide the fact that I’d taken them off. I wanted them to know. As I paced back and forth the length of the six-by-nine room, I mulled over the facts that I knew. They were stopping me from leaving town, my hair was inches longer than it should have been, I wasn’t injured, and they were messing with my mind. Can this all be related to that man Gaber that we’re after? Could it all be some kind of elaborate ruse and kidnapping scheme? And then my mind flashed on the man in the surveillance photo of him from our file, and then again, I remembered the image of Dr. Stowe with the black hat and glasses. I trembled.

With one little window atop the door, I watched the opening for anyone passing by. Coben had put me inside the room more than an hour ago, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched and being given time to calm down. I knew the tactic well—that’s how I’d handled detainees in the past. It was a technique often used to calm down hostile witnesses. And I was feeling pretty hostile.

“Why are you holding me? Probation?” I asked out loud.

Finally, there was a tap at the door. “May I come in?” said the voice I recognized as Dr. Stowe.

“I don’t know. Can you?” I said sarcastically.

He opened the door, took off his hat, and stepped through, leaning against it as the lock snapped closed again.

“Steph, what are we going to do with you?”

I stopped. “How about give me an outside line so I can call my boss. You guys have me mixed up with someone else. He can explain what a big mistake you’re making.”

He used a soothing tone. “We’ve already been through this, Stephanie. Don’t you remember? It’s the amnesia. The last time you woke, we called everyone you said you knew, but the truth turned out that you live here. You work here in Coeur d’Alene.”

I leaned against the opposite wall.

Dr. Stowe spotted the handcuffs lying on the table, but he didn’t say anything about them. Instead, he pulled out one of the heavy metal chairs and sat down at the table.

“Come and sit.” He gestured to the opposite chair and placed his hat on the table beside us.

I stared at it. I contemplated my next move and decided to play along for the time being. As I sat down, I said, “Are you some kind of priest?”

He only smiled at me.

I tried something else. “You say I work here,

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