back to his own clinic here. Then he operated; Dr. Carl Wagram, who learned his neuro-surgery in war-torn Munich. He put the plates into my skull and my head healed and he grafted the skin and hair grew and there was even a touch of cosmetological miracle involved. By the time my casts were off, my physical recovery was assured.
This left me with but one problem.
Amnesia.
Complete and total amnesia.
Oh, I could comprehend consciousness, and I could even speak after a fashion. But I was unable to remember a single solitary moment of my life before that crash. Existence, for me, began with a scream of pain out there on the desert.
My name?
Stephen Edmundson, according to the driver's license and the registration of the crumpled car.
My address?
A motel, just south of Venice, in the Santa Monica area, which I'd occupied for just three weeks. And it was during those three weeks that I'd obtained both my license and the automobile. I'd paid cash for the latter, and the dealer at the used car lot had a sketchy record and a vague recollection of my coming in and making the transaction. But that was all.
The motel proprietor knew nothing about me except that I'd showed up one afternoon, wearing a nondescript outfit and carrying a single piece of luggage. I had paid him in cash, too, and we had no further dealings except for my weekly settlement of the rent. Apparently I'd gone out, applied for a driver's license, took my tests—that was on record, too—and bought the second-hand convertible. In the meanwhile I'd lived quietly, unobtrusively, made no contacts and no friends.
Dr. Wagram investigated, of course, and so did the police. They didn't have much to go on. When I drove out of the motel I'd acquired new luggage and a complete new wardrobe, down to socks and handkerchiefs and underwear. They were able to find out where I'd bought some of it, but never learned what happened to my old clothing. Obviously, I'd discarded the lot.
So they checked the military authorities, but there was no record of any Stephen Edmundson in Service.
And they checked with the
