AL

Tell us about that.

LANEY

Well, it’s really called a dissociative fugue. What happens is that in a traumatic situation, sometimes your mind loses track of itself. The doctors think it’s a way of coping, a last-ditch effort the mind can make to protect itself. But it’s so rare they don’t know much about it.

MEREDITH

And in your case, it was triggered when your car went over the cliff.

LANEY

We think so.

Video feed from a news chopper is cut in, showing a powder-blue Volkswagen Beetle upside down in the ocean, the car crumpled and torn. LANEY (V.O.)

All I remember is waking up in the ocean. I was cold, and everything hurt, and at first I was just trying to get to shore. But when I did, I realized that I couldn’t remember how I had ended up in the ocean in the first place. Or anything else.

The camera cuts back to the desk.

AL

That must have been terrifying.

LANEY

It was. I was so confused. I could remember how to walk, and drive, and count, but I couldn’t remember who I was.

MEREDITH

What did you do?

LANEY

Well, this might sound strange, but the doctors say it’s normal. I bluffed. (she laughs)

I was sure that my memories would come back to me, so in the meantime, I just sort of became this other person.

AL

A natural thing for an actress to do. LANEY

I think that was part of it. I’m used to pretending to be other people.

MEREDITH

Why didn’t you go to the police, or the hospital?

LANEY

I was scared. Everything seems menacing if you can’t remember who you are. MEREDITH

And of course, Daniel, you didn’t know she was alive.

DANIEL

I did, though. I just knew it. Part of it was that the police hadn’t found her body. But it was more than that. Somehow I knew she was alive, and that she needed my help.

MEREDITH

But the police were questioning your involvement.

DANIEL

I don’t blame them. They were just doing their job. But all I cared about was finding Laney. So I went looking for her.

MEREDITH

And we’ve all heard about what happened then. Your drive across the country to the beach where you’d gotten married; coming back to Los Angeles; even running from the police.

DANIEL

I know that my behavior might seem wrong to some people. But to me, it was simple. The woman I loved was in trouble, and nothing else mattered.

AL

That sounds like something out of a mystery novel.

DANIEL

It kind of was.

MEREDITH

It’s incredible, the way the two of you were looking for each other, that you were connected even in these impossible situations. What did you learn from all of this?

Daniel and Laney look at each other. LANEY

That life is a raindrop.

Daniel smiles at her, takes her hand. MEREDITH

Life is a raindrop?

DANIEL

Someone I loved once told me that. Basically, I guess it means that everything you think you are is exactly as real as you choose for it to be. But that no matter what you choose, your life can change in a moment.

LANEY

So choose carefully.

DANIEL

(squeezing her hand)

And never let go.

Laney smiles, then leans over and kisses him. MEREDITH

“Never let go.” What an amazing story—and a wonderful couple.

(she turns to the camera)

And speaking of wonderful, after the break Jamie Oliver will share his secret for making a perfect roast chicken dinner for your family. Stick with us!

5

Out the windows, Los Angeles, bleary and smudged.

So tired. Sleep hadn’t gotten any easier. Some of it was the things they’d been dealing with—the lawyers, the media, their appearance on TV, flying to New York. Doctors and tests. The cold fact that no one could tell him exactly when—or if—his past would return to him.

But mostly, it was the memory of a concrete canyon. The horror of that moment hadn’t lessened. Every time he closed his eyes, he found himself back. Every time, he woke in sweat and panic. The dream wouldn’t go away.

It never will. Until you pay for it.

Laney was driving again. Probably best given his nerves. Out the windows, Los Angeles, sun-drenched and blurry-bright. Taquerias and Thai joints, day spas and massage parlors, holistic healing centers and high-end boutiques and a thousand places to get a cup of coffee. Cars and cracked sidewalks, billboards and boulevards.

“I still don’t like this,” Laney said, again. “It could be a trick.”

“Maybe.” His voice raspy. “But he said he had something to tell me, that it was important. We can’t hide behind our lawyers forever.”

“What if he arrests you?”

“Then call Jen Forbus and tell her to go to work.” The criminal lawyer had been dying to strike first, to file suits against the LASD and the media for their portrayal of Daniel as a murderer. We won’t win, she’d said, but we can make damn sure it will cost them way more than they’re willing to pay.

“That will only work if he’s arresting you for running from him,” Laney said. Dappled shadows fell through trees as they wound uphill. “What if he knows about Bennett?”

“Then we’ll deal with it.” He leaned back against the passenger seat, closed his eyes. “I have to face this. It’s something I need to do.”

“I just don’t want to lose you again.”

“Hey.” He straightened, turned. “You will never lose me again.”

Laney smiled at him. She’d dyed her hair back to its proper shade, and her eyes burned bright as the California sky. “What if I start to smell?”

He returned the grin. “I’ll buy nose plugs.”

Five minutes more and they’d reached the top of Mount Hollywood. By evening the parking lot would be jammed with tourists watching the sunset, but at this hour, she found a parking place easily enough. “At least let me come with you.”

“No. He said he wanted to talk to me alone. Besides. Someone has to be able to call our lawyer.” And more important, you might try to stop me. Might even sacrifice yourself. I won’t let you do that. He reached for the door handle.

“Daniel.” She leaned over. “Be careful, okay?”

“I will. I love you.” He stepped out of the BMW. Ahead of him, the Griffith Park Observatory loomed. A building from an earlier age, it looked like a sultan’s palace, white and massive and capped by gray domes. Children scampered back and forth on the lawn while their parents posed for photographs. Daniel followed the path around the side. A stone rail rose to waist height. Beyond it the mountain fell away, yielding a breathtaking view of the city shimmering with heat and smog.