She rose, stepped to Ryan, hugged him quickly. “I’m sorry for all of this.”
“Thanks.” He pulled back. “I’m sorry about Steve too. I…I should have called you.”
“It’s okay. I understand. These things are hard. They bring up emotions we don’t always want to deal with.”
He nodded. Her gaze cut to Mitch. He’d gotten a haircut and shaved off the goatee. He looked good, but she missed the wispy curls near his collar.
Dragging her gaze away from him, she rubbed her hands together. “Okay.” She moved back behind her desk, switching to lawyer mode. “Have a seat, and we’ll get started.”
“She’s not coming?” Mitch asked.
“No. I’ve already spoken with Kate. We felt it best to do this separately. She wanted time to absorb the results before she spoke with either of you.”
Mitch and Ryan exchanged glances. She noticed their apprehension and took out the test results. No sense prolonging their misery. She handed a copy to each of them. “These are the preliminary DNA reports. It’s not entirely conclusive, but I think you’ll see it’s close enough. We’ll need to get samples from your parents, Mitch, but I think we can say with ninety-eight percent accuracy, Kate Alexander is Annie Harrison.”
Ryan leaned back and closed his eyes. Heartache raced along his features, but she could tell from his quiet reaction he’d already expected this news. As Kate had said, however, knowing didn’t make any of this easier.
Mitch took his time studying the report. When he glanced up, Simone saw the pain in his eyes, too. This was hard on both of them.
She rose and moved around the desk, leaning back against the mahogany surface where she picked up another folder and handed papers to each of them. “Here are copies of her medical records. She wanted you to see them. The accident she was in damaged her face. She went through several reconstructive surgeries to both her nose and cheek areas, which is why she doesn’t look exactly like she did before.”
She waited while they each flipped through the files. “I know it’s one thing for her to say she can’t remember anything. It’s another for you to see it in black and white. She was being treated by a neurosurgeon in Houston. I’ve tried to track him down but am running into a wall. It seems like each of our leads are ending that way.”
Dismissing the thought, she added, “As far as her brain trauma, her records indicate there was some sort of damage to the lateral cortex of her anterior temporal lobe, the part of the brain that deals with long-term memory, specifically that area which focuses on personal memories. So things she learned say, in school, haven’t been affected because they’re stored in a separate part of the brain—or so the theory goes. Where she learned those facts, though, is a different story because that would be a personal memory, like where she went to college. It explains why she does so well in her current field, remembering technical information about seismology and geology, even though she doesn’t know what sort of degree she holds. As I’ve learned through research on this case, most of what the medical community knows about the brain is pretty inconclusive, especially those parts of the brain that deal with memory.”
“So she really doesn’t remember anything?” Ryan asked in a weak voice.
“No,” Simone answered. “And there’s one other major thing you should be aware of.” When they both looked up, she said, “That portion of the brain is also responsible for personality.” She wanted to make this part perfectly clear so they both understood. “She’s not the same person she used to be. If you spend time with her, like I have, you’ll notice similarities—gestures, looks, that sort of thing. But there are some very glaring differences as well that you need to be prepared for. Kate’s personality now was developed after the accident. She reacts differently to situations. Whereas Annie was emotional and quick to respond, Kate is more reserved. She thinks things through before jumping to conclusions or voicing observations. That’s a minor point, but it becomes important when you get to know her. I don’t want either of you thinking you can just pick up where you left off five years ago and everything will fall in line.”
“Is she ever going to get her memory back?” Ryan asked.
“From my discussion with Dr. Allan, a local neurosurgeon who’s looked at her charts, it’s not likely. Most amnesiacs remember something, anything, especially from their childhood, but Kate’s case is very unique. She hasn’t remembered a single thing. She’d hoped being in San Francisco would trigger her memory, but so far, nothing.”
She softened her tone. “I’m sorry, Ryan. I know that’s not the answer you were hoping for.”
He nodded, stared down at the report. Several seconds of silence passed before he said, “Who would do this to her? Who would do this to us?”
His head snapped up, but instead of pain, this time Simone saw anger. A hell of a lot of anger Ryan had every right to be feeling. He pushed out of his chair. “Who the hell was that sonofabitch who took her away from us?”
“His name was Jacob Alexander,” Simone answered. “He was a doctor in the Houston area. He was also a passenger aboard the plane that crashed here recently, which is how Kate came to find me and then you. Apparently he was here in San Francisco for a medical conference, though Kate doesn’t know the name of it. I don’t have a lot of information on Alexander yet, but Kate’s asked me to do some digging.”
“What kind of digging?” Mitch asked.
Simone looked his way and saw the anger in his eyes as well. They’d all lost so much time. Time they couldn’t possibly get back. But hopefully knowing the why would help alleviate some of that hurt. “Kate needs to know what happened to her. She’s as confused by all this as you both are, except in her case, she’s trying to figure out which parts of her life are lies and which parts are truth. We’re starting with the nursing home where she was in that coma, although we’re running into obstacles. Ryan, you identified her belongings after the crash, correct?”
“Yeah.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “There wasn’t much there, just her purse and charred laptop.”
“Do you still have them?”
“I might, somewhere. I boxed up a lot of her stuff right after that. What the hell will that tell you?”
“Probably nothing, but she’d like to see them just the same. Mitch, can you get a hold of the university and find out what projects she was working on before her disappearance?”
“You think all this might be related to her work?” Mitch asked.
“I don’t know. What we do know is that Ryan left her at the airport, and she woke up from a coma almost three years later. If this had been a random act of violence, a kidnapping, something like that, she’d be dead now. Someone took the time to make it look like she was on that flight, then to take care of her after God only knows what kind of accident. It could very well have been related to a project she was working on.”
“And if it wasn’t?” Ryan asked.
“If it wasn’t, we’ll cross that off our list and move on to the next possibility. In the meantime, I’m going to keep hounding that doctor in Houston who’s listed on Kate’s medical records and try to find some answers there. Kate also mentioned her father in law—Walter Alexander—who seems to have disappeared just after his son died. I want to track him down as well.”
Simone caught the fire in Ryan’s eyes. Fire that said it was a good thing Jacob Alexander was already dead. Simone understood his rage and frustration, but of more importance to her was Kate, and making sure Kate had what she needed to get through the next few days in one piece.
“So what now?” Ryan asked.