The Memory Agent & Fool Me Once (5 page)

Gary speculates.
 
“It's
interesting he picked the very day Moose was killed in jail to hit the jewelry
store.”

Claire’s eyes flare. “That's no coincidence.”
 

“But why?
 
What's his
motivation?
 
Is he playing us?
 
Is he now enjoying the thrill of the
kill after having killed that one store owner?”
 
Gary asks.

“I don't care about his motivation, I'm going to nail him.”
Claire,
determined and consumed with her mission to get
Riker, storms out of the lab.

*****

Duke, comatose and handcuffed, lays motionless in bed.

Claire enters his room.
 
She
takes a seat by the bed.
 
She
removes a binder from a shoulder bag and opens
it,
it's a dossier on Duke Reeves.
 
She
flips through it, looking at various photos of Duke as a baby, kid, teen, young
adult.

She notices how cute Duke was as a kid, how innocent and hopeful he
looked.
 
She then looks at Duke in
bed.
 
He still has
an innocence
about him.
 
She quickly removes that thought from her mind.
 
She settles in to reading about Duke
and his life.
 
She stays by his
side, learning all about him, for quite some time.

As she's immersed in Duke's dossier he stirs.
 
Claire puts the materials down and watches as he opens his
eyes.
 
Duke's expression is one of
confusion tinged with fear and vulnerability, which catches Claire off guard.

“I can't see.”
 
Duke says
with fear in his voice.

“Maybe you just need a moment to adjust.”
 
Claire reassures him.

“No, it's all dark.”
 
He
reiterates with anxiety.

Claire stands up and moves closer to Duke.
 
Duke tries to sit up, feels that he's chained to the bed,
which distresses him.
 
“I can't see
and I'm chained to a bed.
 
What the
hell is going on?
 
Where am I?”

His distressed state threatens to loosen the medical equipment hooked up
to him.
 
Claire attempts to calm
him down.
 
“Take it easy.
 
You're in the hospital.
 
You've just had brain surgery.
 
The vision issue is probably a result
of the surgery.”

“Why am I chained to the bed?”

“You're handcuffed because you were part of a jewelry store robbery.”

“
What?!
 
I did what?”

“You don't remember?”

Duke looks as if he's processing information, but his mind is
blank.
 
He doesn't remember.
 
He shakes his head no.
 

“Do you remember your name?” Claire asks him.

Again he thinks and comes up empty. “I can't remember.
 
I can't remember anything.”

Now he's really distressed.
 
Claire gently places her hands on his shoulders.
 
She leans in close to him and guides
him back to lying down.
 
She
tenderly touches his face to calm him.
 
“Your name is Duke Reeves.”
 
She says quietly.

Claire's super close proximity and actions have an instant calming
effect on him.
 
He takes in her
scent.
 
“Jasmine.
 
I smell jasmine.
 
I remember jasmine.”
  
He relaxes, Claire's scent and
closeness inspiring serenity. “Thank you, nurse.”

Claire's eyes widen processing Duke's mistaken identity reference.

“Will they come back, my sight and memory?”
 
He asks.

“The doctor will know
,
I'll go get him.”

As she moves away from Duke he grabs her hand.
 
“Not yet.
 
I
don't want to be alone just yet.
 
Please don’t leave.”

“I'll stay with you.”
 
Claire reluctantly offers.

Duke settles down.
 
“Thank
you.”
 
He continues to hold onto
her hand.

Claire looks curiously at Duke, she certainly wasn't expecting him to be
so vulnerable, sensitive - and captivating.

Outside of Duke’s room a cop sits in a chair by the door guarding the
room.
 
Claire leaves the room,
closing the door behind her.
 
She
sees the doctor near the nurses’ station.
  
She approaches, joins the doctor, and interrupts his
conversation with one of the nurses.
 
“He's out of the coma.”

The doctor excuses himself from his conversation and turns his attention
to Claire.
 
“Sooner than I
anticipated.”

“He can't see, nor does he remember anything.”

“Not surprising.
 
Those are
usually temporary side effects from the type of surgery he had.”
 
The doctor informs Claire.

“When will he get his memory back?”

“Hard to tell.
 
Could be
hours, days, weeks.”

“Weeks
!?”
Claire does not want to hear that.

The doctor heads for Duke's room.
 
Claire doesn't follow him, she's lost in serious thought, processing the
information and contemplating how to proceed.
 
Her face lights up with an idea. “Doctor!”
 
She calls out.

The doctor stops and turns his attention back to Claire.
 
She joins him.
 
“Can memory be triggered back into
place by smells, tastes, sensory things?”

“Yes.
 
That can
happen.”
 
The doctor confirms.

“Duke Reeves thinks I'm a nurse.
 
I'd like him to keep thinking that.”

Judging by the look on his face the doctor isn’t sold on the idea.

“Please.
 
We need to catch a
killer and that man in there is our only link.”

The doctor relents with a sigh.
 
“Providing your actions in no way impede the hospital staff's
efforts.
 
And you limit your play
acting to night shifts.”

“Understood.”
 
Claire nods.

*****

Claire hurries into Whitmore’s office, again without knocking, joining
Whitmore by his desk.

“Duke Reeves is out of the coma.
 
He can't see, nor does he remember anything.
 
Most likely temporary side effects from
the surgery according to the doctor.
 
He thinks I'm a nurse and I told the doctor I want him to
continue to think I'm a nurse.”
 
Claire informs Whitmore.
 
“I'm requesting an undercover assignment.”

“How is this going to help the investigation?”
 
Whitmore wants to know.

“Duke did three years for his brother, most likely took that bullet for
his brother.
 
The guy is loyal as
Lassie, he's not going to turn on his brother.”

“And playing Florence Nightingale is going to capture Riker how?”

“It'll allow me complete access to
Duke
.
 
I'll work to trigger his memory while
befriending him.
 
I'll gain his
trust, get him to lead me to his brother.”

“I don't like it.
 
I guess
that doesn’t really matter does it.
 
Nor does my authorization.
 
I’m sure you’re planning on moving forward with your plan no matter.”

Claire softly implores Whitmore.
 
“Please, Whit.
 
Duke is our
only connection to Riker.
 
I need
to make this happen. I need to get Riker.”

“Fine.”
 
Whitmore concedes.

“Thank you.”
 
She smiles at
Whitmore before heading for the door.

“Do you want to get together tonight?”
 
He asks.

“Rain check.
 
I need to get
back to the hospital.”

Whitmore, stung by Claire's blow off, issues a warning.
 
“I'd warn you not to get too close to
your mark, but getting close has never been a problem for you.”

Claire, carrying shopping bags and her shoulder bag, enters her
condo.
 
She walks through the
living area, across the rug where she and Whitmore had been intimate.

She reaches her desk, a desk covered with FBI folders and files.
 
Next to the desk is a presentation
board covered with clippings and photos – all regarding Riker Reeves.

Claire takes down every single one of the photos and clippings about
Riker from her presentation board.
  
She places the photos and pages in a slender file box.

Claire then removes the dossier on Duke Reeves from her shoulder
bag.
 
She takes photos of Duke and
relevant pages from the binder and hangs them up on the presentation
board.
 
The board is now all about
Duke.
 
She studies the board,
focusing on one page in particular,
Duke’s
schedule
while on probation.

Probation Schedule: Mon-Fri, 9-5, mechanic at
Custom City Cycle Fridays, noontime meal at Florence Diner.
 
Same meal each Friday,
chili, French fries, chocolate milk shake
.

Claire removes nursing garments - scrubs and white sneakers - from the
shopping bags.
 
She takes off her
clothes, the same outfit she’s been wearing for at least the last
twenty four
hours, heads into the bathroom and hops in the
shower.

Once showered she throws on the nursing clothes, does up her hair and
examines the transformation in her mirror.
 
The final touch, Claire dabs Forbidden, the jasmine smelling
perfume, on her neck.
 

*****

Back in the hospital, Claire, holding a to-go bag, approaches the
nurses’ station.
 
Has dinner been
served to Duke Reeves yet? Claire inquires.

“Not yet,” a nurse responds, looking suspiciously at Claire.
 

“May I serve him chili, French fries and a chocolate milk shake?”

“Sure.” The nurse answers, still suspiciously.

“Where do I find a tray and utensils?”

The nurse points, “down the hall.”

Claire, carrying a dinner tray with the meal arranged on top of it,
enters Duke’s room.

Duke seems to be asleep, but as soon as Claire has entered the room, he
turns his head, takes a deep breath and then smiles.

“Jasmine.
 
You're back.”

Claire notices the smile.
 
The handsome, heartfelt smile.
 
“Hello, Duke.
 
How are you feeling?”

“Still can't see or remember.”

“I have dinner.”
 
Claire
places the tray on the bedside table and positions the moveable table in front
of Duke.

“I’ve put the tray on the table in front of you.” She tells him.

Duke struggles to sit up.
 
“Here, let me move the bed for you.”
 
Claire hits the button on the side of the bed moving Duke
and the bed into a more upright position.

“Thanks.” He smiles.

Claire moves the table closer to Duke.
 
He fumbles with his left hand, his
uncuffed
hand, in search of the tray. Claire guides his hand to the tray and food.
 
“We have French fries, chili and a
chocolate milk shake.”
 
She tells
him.

Duke finds a fry and eats it.
 
He then finds the milk shake and takes a sip.
 
Duke feels the bowl of chili and the spoon next to it.
 
He picks up the spoon and attempts to
scoop out a spoonful of chili and eat it but he ends up spilling it on his bare
chest.

“Any chance I can get this 'cuff off so I can eat?”
 
Duke politely asks.

“Sorry.
 
I don't have a
key.”
 
Claire wipes the chili off
of Duke's bare chest.
 
As she does
she catches a glimpse of a tattoo on Duke's shoulder.
 
She opens wider his hospital shirt to get a better
look.
 
“You have a tattoo on your
shoulder.”
 
She tells Duke.