Terry Mortenson sat in a coffee shop two blocks from the police station and listened to silence on his cell phone. The silence went on long enough that Terry wasn’t sure the call was still connected.

“Aaron?”

“Yeah, yeah, give me a minute,” Aaron said. “They were just eating lunch?”

“Peanut butter sandwiches.”

“Who the hell is this guy?”

“Maybe it really is his grandfather.”

“But I don’t have a grandfather. This doesn’t make sense.”

“Make sense? Dozens of people lose all trace of their past except their own memories. Maybe hundreds of people, for all we know. Why on earth would you expect this to make sense?”

A pause on the line. “There are patterns, Terry.”

“So this is a new one, a pattern we haven’t seen before.”

Silence on the phone.

After a moment, Aaron spoke. “Did your officer friend say anything else?”

“They were acting just as nervous as before. She tried to go in to look around, but they wouldn’t let her in. They said they’d come to the station at four o’clock.”

“Shit.”

“What do you want me to do now?”

“Can you be there at four?”

“I don’t think so, Aaron. I wasn’t even supposed to be in the squad car. If I push this, Patty will get suspicious.”

“I think we need to make contact.”

“Okay. What do you want me to do”

“Dammit, we should have done this sooner. Terry, get over to that house. Tell Jeremy that his big brother Aaron wants to see him.”

“Will do.”

“Just Jeremy,” Aaron said. “Alone. No Foley.”

“But what if–”

“Do not let Foley come with him. Do whatever you have to do.”