Lost Identity by Leona Karr

remember. “Wait, I’ll go with you.”
    The library looked more like an office than a place to curl up with a good book. Filing cabinets were lined up against a panelled wall, a large desk held all the components of a computer, and several small stands held copiers, a fax machine and other office equipment. One leather couch and two matching chairs were equipped with study lights as if they were used for nighttime work. Windows looking out on the world were bare except for venetian blinds. Apparently the recent decorator, Eloise, had been forbidden to touch this room.
    “Patricia Radcliffe is a workaholic,” Trish said as if talking about a third person.
    Janelle nodded as she stooped down and opened some lower cupboards. “Even with a partner likePerry assuming half of the obligations, running a company like Atlantis is a demanding job. It’s too bad you were an only child. A couple of brothers or sisters would have lightened the responsibility.”
    “Did you know my mother?”
    “No, she died when you were a baby. It was just you and your father. Ah, here we are.” She drew out several albums and some packets of photos that had never been mounted. Glancing at the dates on the outside of the packets, she said, “It’s more likely you’d find one of Perry in these rather than in the albums. I don’t think any of the albums are very recent.”
    As they sat down on the sofa together, Janelle asked, “Do you want me to sort through these envelopes and find a photo of Perry, or do you want to look at all of the pictures?”
    “Just find one of Perry,” Trish answered quickly. She wasn’t ready to look at the faces of dozens of people she didn’t know. She leaned back on the sofa and closed her eyes as Janelle sorted through the photographs.
    “Ah, here’s a good one.”
    Instead of being eager to look at it, Trish found herself hesitating. What if the fleeting image had nothing to do with the name Perry Reynolds? Janelle put the small photo in her hand, and for a moment Trish didn’t look at it. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the instant flash she’d had of the good-looking, gray-haired man remained. Very slowly she opened her eyes and looked at the picture.
    Her breath caught. Her heartbeat thumped loudly in her own ears.
    They were the same. Her instant joy was followed by the stab of a searing question. Why had she remembered him?

Chapter Seven
    Trish stared at the picture so long that Janelle must have thought she didn’t recognize Perry because she shoved another photo in front of her. “Maybe you remember this one? That’s you and Curtis and Perry on his boat. I took the picture when we cruised down to the Florida Keys last fall.”
    Trish tried to reconcile herself with the happy smiling woman who had her arms linked with the two men’s. An air of sexy confidence in her smile was startling. She looked so poised. So sure of herself. Almost daring. Her dark hair was shorter and her face glowed from the touch of the bright sun upon it.
    “That’s me,” she said thoughtfully.
    “Of course it’s you,” Janelle answered in a firm tone as if surprised that Trish might even question it. “And that’s Perry and Curtis.”
    Curtis looked different from the man she’d met earlier. Younger. More athletic. Dressed in white shorts and a yachting shirt. He wasn’t looking at the camera but at Trish. Her business partner, Perry, was grinning at the camera and giving a saucy salute with his free hand. A typical vacationing photo, thought Trish. And none of them seemed familiar, not even herself.

    “You don’t remember the boat or anything about that trip?” Janelle asked, watching Trish’s frowning face.
    “No. What about Perry’s wife? Didn’t Darlene go with us?”
    “She hates sailing. Gets seasick just looking at the ocean. It’s too bad because Perry loves being on the water more than anything.”
    Trish moistened her dry lips. “It’s not true what Darlene was insinuating about