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She beams at him and turns to me. “He wanted to take my last name. How could I say no?”
“I’m so happy for you!” I tell her, hugging her again before regarding Paul. “Congratulations. I’m thrilled for both of you.”
Paul thanks me, then drops a kiss on Tori’s head. “I’m going to go start a load of laundry. Do you want me to empty your suitcase?”
She shakes her head. “Nah, I’ll get it later.”
“Oh, you picked a winner,” I remark as he heads for their laundry room.
“Now,” Tori says, hopping up on the bar stool. “Tell me what happened with Oliver. Because from what I’m seeing online, he cut his ankle monitor and took off. Is that true?”
I take a seat at the counter across from her. “Yes and no. The judge revoked his bail, and he was going to be held until trial. That could take a year.”
“Did they find more evidence or something?”
“No, but they found him competent to stand trial. Lowell called and said he had four hours to turn himself in.”
“So he cut and ran? What the hell does he plan to do?”
“It’s a long story and I’m going to tell you everything, but Tori, something amazing happened. He showed up at my door Wednesday night. He’d spent the whole day going to places he thought might jog his memory and he wanted me to go to The Stop Along with him.”
“Oh wow.” She sips her wine. “Did you go?”
“Yeah, we caught them right when they were closing. We came close to getting arrested there, I think, because I sort of locked the clerk outside when he didn’t want to let us in, but Sawyer showed up and let us go.”
Tori gapes at me. “You did what?”
“It doesn’t matter. It worked. He had a breakdown and freaked out, but once it was over, he remembered! His memories came back.” I reach across the counter and grab her hand. “Tori, Alden didn’t die. They got mixed up. Oliver is the one who died. He remembered who he is. He’s not Oliver.”
Paul stops in his tracks nearby and hovers in the doorway to the laundry room, listening.
Tori stares at me like the words don’t make sense. Then she pours another glass of wine and takes a long drink. It’s impossible to tell what she’s thinking until she looks me in the eye and says, “Ella, tell me you don’t actually believe that.”
I’m not sure how I expected her to react. She was becoming suspicious that he might be guilty before. Maybe I thought that my elation and excitement about it would be enough for her to know that what Alden claims is true. That’s not reasonable. She needs to know how I know.
“Listen, I didn’t believe it right at first either.” The laugh that comes out of me sounds a little unhinged, and I try to tone it down. “I screamed at him, actually. Then questioned him about the night before I left for college. He couldn’t remember so I told him he was wrong. But he wasn’t wrong! He doesn’t remember everything, but memories are still coming back to him.”
Tori sighs, sips, and shakes her head.
“He knows things only Alden would know! He remembered the night his dad left, me chasing after him, the things we did afterward. He told me about what happened in The Stop Along. He saw Oliver get shot. He was calling for him when the paramedic asked him his name. That’s why the paramedic thought he was Oliver. It just got passed on from there and when he woke, he couldn’t tell us any different!” My voice is rising in my desperation to convince her. I need her to believe me.
Her gaze darts over to Paul, then back to me. “Ella, he’s lying. I’m sorry he’s doing this to you. I never would’ve thought he was capable of being so cruel, but—”
“He’s not lying!” I shout, hopping off the stool. I can’t bear to sit still. “How would he know those things?”
“He and Alden were close. You don’t know what he might’ve told him.”
“No, I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s him.”
The patience she’s trying to hold in her voice irritates me. Like she’s talking down to a toddler. “You think everyone is wrong? That the paramedics, the hospital, his therapists, the court, the lawyers, everyone got his identity wrong?”
“His identity was never under scrutiny. The doctor said it was Alden who died, and we had no reason to question it. But they were dressed identically. They had no identification on them, even their phones had been taken. They were mixed up from the very beginning and—”
“Stop!” She holds up her hand and takes a deep breath. “Ella, you started to doubt him. I saw it in your face when you told me about the money transfer and the phone records. If I saw it, he did too. Now that he’s been caught and the amnesia angle didn’t work, he wants to claim he’s Alden. It’s genius really. They can’t test his DNA, can they?”
Anger rushes through me. “What do you mean amnesiaangle?”
Tori stands up and throws her arms up. “My god, can’t you see what he’s doing? I know you’re hurt and traumatized but for fuck’s sake open your eyes! He’s found a way to get everything he wants. You, his freedom, everything. How do you know he ever lost his memory at all?”
