Page 10 of Cross & Crown

best. Useless. “They been cal ing you John Doe?”

9

“Yeah, it’s . . . it’s a name, I guess.”

“Yeah, I can see that getting old fast. Listen, all the John

Does I ever knew were already dead, so how about I call you

JD? That work for you?”

He nodded and gave Nick a tired smile. “Yeah. Yeah, that

works.”

Nick was silent for a moment, studying the man. He

looked even more worn than he had at the crime scene

yesterday. Under that, Nick could see the fear. “Has anyone

offered you coffee? Something to eat?”

“I had a bagel. Don’t have much appetite.”

“Okay.” Nick put both elbows on the table. “You

remember anything new? Anything at al ?”

“No, Detective, I’m sorry. The doctors said I have

amnesia caused by the trauma. Physical or mental, they

couldn’t say. They also couldn’t say when or if my memory

would return. They said amnesia was a very case-by-case

type of thing, so . . . it might all come rushing back, or it

might come back in pieces. Or it might not at all. Ever.”

“Wow. That’s rough.”

JD laughed bitterly. He twisted his fingers and nodded.

Nick was having a hard time reading him, something

he was usually pretty good at. JD’s exhaustion was masking

everything else. Nick gave it a minute or so of silence, waiting to see if the man would begin to fidget or talk. But JD merely

sat there, watching his hands, occasionally glancing up to

meet Nick’s eyes.

Nick finally gave up on that tactic. He tapped the file in

front of him. “Even though you don’t remember anything,