understood. After all, no one could understand what she was going through.
“Hey Cameron. This is our friend Rita,” Mitchell said when they walked in. “Rita, this is my friend, Officer Cameron. He’s been looking into your mom’s case,” he said. Rita gave him a smile and then whispered, “Pleasure to meet you.”
“ Okay, guys. A woman was brought in by a couple from Seattle. One of them is the woman who recognized Lydia from the photos in the posters,” Cameron said. Rita nodded.
“ Where is she? Where is my mother?” Rita asked. Cameron looked at Mitchell and then at Rita. “What?” Rita asked when she noticed the look. Cameron was just about to answer when Dave came running in.
“ I was hoping I would find you here,” he said, panting.
“ Dave, hi!” Natasha said, surprised. “I didn’t expect to see you here,” she said, making it almost too obvious that she was fishing for information.
“ Yeah, I thought I had an emergency ACL but it turns out that the patient won’t be coming in until six in the evening,” he said. Natasha frowned. She had no idea what he was talking about and this was neither the place nor the time to get him talking. Dave looked at Rita and then slipped an arm around her waist. “You okay?” he asked, looking at her. Rita nodded. “Have you seen her?” he asked. Rita shook her head.
“ Actually, Officer Cameron was just about to tell us about Lydia right about the time you walked in,” Natasha said as she gave Mitchell a nudge in the ribs. Mitchell gave her the “grow up” look before he turned his attention to Cameron.
“ Yes, I was saying that the woman who was brought in is a bit off,” he said. Rita shook her head.
“ What do you mean, ‘off?’” she asked.
“ Well, she did not have any ID on her so we are guessing her wallet must have been stolen because we had tracked one of her credit cards to a motel but it was not Lydia. The woman who was brought in does not know her name or how she got to Seattle,” Cameron said.
“ What? Then how do you know that it’s her?” Rita asked.
“ Well, the lady who brought her in says she kept on calling her Rita. It is a long shot but....” Rita put her hand up.
“ I want to see her,” she said with finality. “I want to see her right now,” she said again. Cameron nodded.
“ Our medics are checking her out. She will be here in a minute,” he said as two people, a Caucasian man and an African American woman walked towards them. “Perfect timing, guys. This is the woman who brought Lydia in. She’s Desiree Young and this is her boyfriend, Taylor Ericson,” he said.
“ Nice to meet you. I hope she didn’t stress you out,” Rita said. Desiree shook her head.
“ She was cool. We wanted to send her here on a bus but she wouldn’t hear of it. So we just drove down here,” she said.
“ Well, thank you,” Rita said before giving Desiree a hug. “This is my boyfriend Dave, my best friend Natasha and her husband Mitchell,” she said when she pulled away. Mitchell and Natasha smiled at each other when she introduced Dave as her boyfriend.
“ Nice to meet you,” Natasha said with a smile.
“ Yes, we could never thank you enough,” Mitchell said warmly.
“ So, do you mind if I ask, how exactly was she acting?” Dave asked.
“ Apart from the obvious memory loss, there were also some times when she had difficulty in communication and her judgment was also a bit off sometimes,” Desiree said.
“ Yeah, she also had a hard time focusing and paying attention to the most minor details,” Taylor said. Rita shook her head.
“ I’m sorry. I don’t understand,” she said. “What do you mean she could not pay attention to detail?” she asked.
“ We stayed with her for four days and she almost burned the house down three times when making us dinner. She would just get started and then forget that she was cooking,” Taylor explained. Dave rubbed Rita’s back.
“ Babe, they just