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“The password.”
“What password?”
“Robin Hood.”
I cringe because even I knew it was a strange choice. It just popped into my head one day, with no meaning behind it, and it definitely had the potential to be forgotten. “Sorry.” I step back, out of her hold. “There’s no exciting story behind it. I have no idea where it came from.” Sara bounces up and down like she’s bursting to speak, but lets me finish up before she does. “Anyway, I’ll change it soon. I promise.”
“I know where it came from,” she blurts the second I’m done.
“What?” I chuckle. This should be good. “Don’t tell me there’s a Robin Hood poster somewhere or a new movie coming out and I subconsciously saw the trailer.”
“Nope.” She shakes her head comically.
“Okay, fill me in.”
“You remembered.” Her eyes bore into mine as the smallest smile plays on her lips.
“I, what?”
“You remembered it. Your parents asked me for your password to try and track your phone. When I gave it to them, Jesse was there, and he kind of freaked out before saying ‘I’ve got to go’ and running off.”
Jesus.
“I didn’t think much of it at the time,” she continues. “I was too wrapped up in finding you. But I should have put it together when you told me the story. I’m sorry.”
I’m still a little confused about what she’s trying to say, and she must notice something in my expression, because she steps forward and grabs my arms again, looking me in the eye.
“You said that he knew where to find you. And that he admitted he was there that day. Well, he ran to look for you the second I mentioned the password. What if you remembered Robin Hood? What if that’s significant?”
“Why would that be significant? Because it took place in a forest?”
“No.” She laughs. “Maybe you spoke about the movie. You love talking movies.”
Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Robin Hood.I repeat the name over and over in my head, hoping it will trigger something more, but it doesn’t. All I get are images of the actors that played the character over the years… Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe, Cary Elwes…
“I did loveMen in Tights,” I say with a smile. “But if I was with Jesse long enough to have a discussion about movies, wouldn’t I remember that?”
“Didn’t you say the entire event was missing from your memory?”
“Yes, but I just assumed it was all traumatic.” I shrug.
Sara’s face drops as I speak about it so easily, like it’s nothing. But it’s hard to have feelings toward something when I don’t know what that something is. Ask me about my time in the hospital—about waking up with a tube wedged down my throat, about staring at my parents as they explained what they knew, and me having no recollection of any of it. Ask me about losing my best friend. Ask me about the pain I felt when I learned I’d never see Jade again.Thatis agony for me.Thathurts. But ask me about what happened on that mountain and I’m numb.
Which is almost harder to take.
“I hate all of this,” Sara says, her voice barely above a whisper, making me want to comfort her.
“Me too.”
“Can I help?” she asks, a hint of hope back in her tone.
“Help?”
“Yes. I’d like to help you search for answers.”
My bottom lip quivers as I try to smile through my emotions. “Other than the archives, I’ve got nothing. But help would be great.”
Sara pats my back before reaching for my tablet. “I love watchingCold Case, and this feels like that. The answers are out there. We just have to find them.” Her response makes me chuckle, and the smallest weight lifts until she adds, “What about the other guy?”
