Read Freefall for Free Online Page B

medical help didn’t fit his experience.
    “It is also possible that some things may never return,” the doctor told her. “Directly before and after the accident, for instance.”
    They had guessed she’d fallen while hiking one of the trails, and that was possibly true. Other scenarios were possible too. Like a blow to the head. Her initial paranoia might suggest an attack, and explain her insistence on remaining anonymous if she knew the attacker. He didn’t want Nica caught between.
    “Rest is essential,” Dr. Yamaguchi said. “Let your body’s energies realign.”
    Jade thanked him, then turned with a vindicated visage. Cameron paid the bill. Outside, he let them into his truck with Nica in the middle like the soft tissue of an inflamed joint, between two bones juxtaposed and out of sync. Nica didn’t want Jade pushed further than she was ready to go, but it was his pushing that had gotten them this far. Besides, if Jade wanted to know who she was, why resist the step that could lead to answers? If she was in danger, that step was even more necessary.
    He started the truck. “Now that we can assume you’re not dying, we ought to work on figuring out who you are.”
    “The doctor said I’ll remember.”
    “If you went to the police, they could circulate your picture, even put it on the news. Someone would recognize you.”
    She turned and gaped.
    Still a hot button. He pushed it. “Doesn’t that make sense?”
    “I told you no.”
    Nica touched his arm, but her peacemaking was starting to grate. If he could give her a perfect world, he would. But that wasn’t reality. She might experience violence up close and personal if Jade was in real trouble.
    Driving the winding road from the hospital, he divided his attention between it and Jade’s face. Late twenties, he guessed, and more attractive in the whole than in her individual features. Except for her eyes. Memorable eyes, a vibrant shade between green and blue, and her hair; amber overlaid with gold. And her mouth—He shook himself. Get a grip . She enticingly filled out Nica’s dress but had an athletic definition to her limbs, a combination of soft and strong that would once have drawn a powerful response.
    The irritation of that thought made him caustic. “What are you trying to avoid?”
    She jutted her chin. “My picture plastered all over the news? Cameras flashing every time I show my face, people ramming mics, demanding answers?” Brow pinched, she pressed her fingers to her temple.
    Hard to imagine the sleepy Hanalei precinct managing anything of that scale. But her scenario sounded like experience, so he pressed harder. If she got mad enough, she might break through. “Sounds like gross exaggeration.”
    “You haven’t been there.”
    Bingo. “Have you?”
    She didn’t answer, just stared out the window as he pulled onto Highway 50, the two lanes that circled the developed part of the island and led back to Hanalei. He wanted to push again, but Nica was pale with distress. He’d have to wait, get Jade alone. Before his mind took that and ran, he reminded himself she was under investigation. His.
    Jade clenched her hands. Fear had made a burrow and hunkered down in the hollow of her stomach. Not fear for her physical condition anymore, but of what might lurk in her mind. Was the scene she’d imagined gross exaggeration? She’d felt the press of people, all of them wanting a piece of her. She’d felt judged and condemned. Wounded.
    Had she been accused of something, found guilty? She didn’t feel guilty. Just scared. And angry. Her anger wanted an object and, not recalling its source, settled on Cameron Pierce. What right did he have to force her into anything? She’d gotten answers, but was she any better off than before he’d started laying new fears on top of old?
    She stared out the window. Her anger might be misdirected, but it was potent. She wanted to strike out—strike back? The thought caught her short. At whom? Or