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bundle of one hundred dollar bills slid out into his
hand. “This is addressed to a Jen Jennings. The jewelry you
wore when you arrived here has the initials 'JJ' on it.”
    “Oh,
so my name must be Jen and that must be my money?” she asked,
holding out her hand.
    Ignoring
her receptive grasp for the cash, he continued, “This envelope
is too large to hold just this. There was either a lot more money,
perhaps some instructions or maybe some other things.” He
continued to probe with more questions and innuendos, and when that
got him nowhere he left with a promise to return.
    A while
later another visitor arrived. It was a uniformed woman police
officer, tall and slender, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She
appeared to be around age fifty, and her steely-eyed glare made it
clear she was all business and a willful woman used to getting her
way.
    “I'm
Officer Knight with Metro PD and I'd like to ask you a few questions,
ma'am,” she said with a slight stutter.
    “I
just told the other officer all that I know.”
    “What
other officer might that be, Missy? I'm the only one assigned to this
case.”
    “He
said his name was Detective Bradley. He was most handsome. Maybe the
nurses that met him can tell you more. What's going on anyway? All I
know is that there was an explosion and that I was found unconscious
at the scene with a mysterious envelope.”
    Officer
Knight took down what few details she could get, picked up one of
Jen's empty soda cans, and then left without sharing any of her
limited information. As she moved from the bedside and toward the
door, her demeanor shifted from business to pleasure, and she
mischievously pinched the young orderly on his butt.
    “Did
you see that?!” exclaimed another woman as she entered the
room. “She must be one of those cougars that you hear about!”
    “Cougars?”
Jen asked.
    “Yeah,
one of those older women after younger guys.”
    “Who
are you?” asked the popular patient.
    “I'm
Miss Billings from the admin office. We need to get your insurance
information, Miss November.”
    “You
can call me Jennings now it seems, and I have no clue as to any
medical coverage.”
    “Well,
we'll need to figure it out soon or else we can't keep you here much
longer.”
    “Where
would I go? And what will I do for clothes?! You guys cut off all
that I had! I can't even walk yet due to my dizziness.”
    “I'll
have them bring you a cane, Miss Jennings, but that will have to be
paid for, too.”
    Jen pushed
the bedside button for more pain medication and the nurse promptly
joined them.
    “How's
your memory today, Miss Jennings?” Claudette asked.
    “It
sucks, and this woman is telling me you're going to be putting me out
on the street soon!”
    “Oh,
don't worry, sweetie. Everything will work out. Memory loss is
usually temporary and the two officers that were here today will
surely be investigating your identity,” Claudette said, trying
to reassure her patient, while giving Miss Billings a nasty leer.
    “What
if they find out I'm a wanted criminal?”
    “Then
we'll just bill the county jail,” Claudette said, injecting a
bit of her dry humor.
    “I
bet that's why she took my empty can of pop.”
    “Why's
that?”
    “She's
gonna pull my fingerprints off it to see if she needs to come back
and arrest me. Who was that first officer anyway?”
    “I
don't know,” Claudette said, as Miss Billings left the room.
“He was pretty hot though.”
    “Yeah,
I guess. I found him sort of intimidating,” Jen said.
    Another
chopper could be seen landing on the nearby heliport as the nurse
turned on the TV and tuned in a channel for Jen to watch. A news
update about the mysterious explosion came on.
    “Last
night's explosion at a remote, abandoned warehouse appears to be
connected to the recent kidnapping of TV celebrity Joanna Jennings'
eighteen-year-old daughter Jessica. A woman now identified through
fingerprints as Joanna's sister Jennifer was found unconscious on the
scene