Free DIAGNOSIS: ATTRACTION by REBECCA YORK Page B

too, in case he’s dumb enough to go home.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “I’ll check his credit-card records and his background. Where was he before he was in Baltimore? We may get a lead on where he’s gone.”
    Gary left the room, feeling like he’d made a lucky escape. Other men who had worked for Derek Lang had disappeared. They might have moved on to other jobs, but Gary didn’t think so.
    * * *
    M ATT KEPT HIS ARM around Elizabeth. At the same time, he sent her soothing thoughts. It was a strange way to communicate, but he knew it was working as he felt her shivering subside.
    “Let’s think this through. Make some plans.”
    She caught a thought sliding through his head. “And you want to have a hamburger while we’re doing it.”
    He laughed. “I can’t help it. I haven’t had much to eat today, and I think we both need to keep our strength up.
    “Okay.”
    Her agreement came with what she was really thinking—that after seeing the news report, she wasn’t sure she could eat.
    “Inconvenient to be getting so many of your stray thoughts,” he murmured.
    “Yes.”
    “There are a ton of fast-food restaurants around here. I can go out and bring the burgers back.”
    “Okay,” she answered, and again he picked up more than she was saying. She didn’t love the idea of being left alone, but under the circumstances, it was safer. “I know,” she murmured aloud.
    He nodded and got dressed. “Back in a flash.”
    When he stopped short, she gave him a questioning look, then said, “You’re worried that the cops could be looking for your car.”
    “Yeah.”
    “What are you going to do about it?”
    He knew she was following all the options running through his head. He couldn’t just go rent a car because he’d have to use his credit card. And stealing a car wasn’t in his skill set—or his ethics set, either.
    He finally said, “I read a spy novel where the hero changed a letter on his license plate with electrical tape. I’ll see if I can pick some up.”
    When she nodded, he said, “Will you be okay?”
    “Yes.”
    Wishing her answer were closer to the truth, he stepped outside and looked around to make sure nobody was paying him any particular attention, then drove at a moderate pace to one of the fast-food chains that were clustered in the same area as the motel complex. He bought double burgers, fries and milk shakes, because he figured both of them could use the calories.
    When he returned to the room twenty minutes later, Elizabeth had dressed and had made the bed. She was watching the news again.
    “Anything new?”
    “No. I guess that’s good.”
    “Yeah. Let’s turn it off.”
    After setting the food on the table, he clicked the TV off with the remote and sat down. She took the seat opposite.
    When he’d taken a few bites of his burger, he said, “I was thinking about why we’re the way we are.”
    “So was I.”
    “I wonder if there’s something in our backgrounds that’s similar.”
    She laughed. “That would be easier if I knew my background.”
    “Yeah. About all we can tell is that we both felt cut off from other people.” He chewed and swallowed. “Well, I’m from New Orleans. And you said you remember being there.”
    She nodded. “That’s not much to go on. But I was thinking, the reason could be genetic. Or we could both have been exposed to some chemical—or radiation.”
    “Before or after we were born?”
    “Did you have any major illnesses?” she asked.
    “Nothing special. Only the usual.”
    She looked at him. “You said your mom went to a lot of trouble getting pregnant and that she went to a fertility clinic. Do you know where it was?”
    “Houma, Louisiana, I think.”
    “That wasn’t so common thirty years ago. I wonder if her going to the clinic had something to do with it. Which leads to the question, what about me?”
    “I don’t know. But I can do some research in the medical databases.”
    “Looking for what? I don’t think you’re