by Jane Hinchey
“What’s so urgent that you needed to call her this many times?” Officer Collier asked, suspicion dripping from his voice. My mouth dropped open. Was this an inside job? Had Jacob been working with the robbers? But that didn’t make sense. He’d tripped the alarm. And he truly looked awful, pale skin and clammy hands. But maybe that wasn’t from shock? Maybe it was fear, fear he was about to get caught for doing something very, very, bad. There had been a fourth person involved in the holdup. The getaway driver. And it could easily have been a woman, I hadn’t gotten a look at them at all. Maybe Jacob was in on the whole thing and his wife too.
“Did she know about today’s cash delivery?” I asked, interrupting Officer Collier, who gave me an annoyed glance.
Jacob bristled. “She did not. We’re separated. I haven’t talked to her in over a month.”
“Not for lack of trying.” Officer Collier replied drolly, signing off on Jacob’s phone and moving on to the next person, apparently satisfied with Jacob’s answer.
4
“I can’t believe you just did that!” Over the ringing in my ears, I could hear Ben’s high-pitched screeching.
“Calm down. It’ll buff out.” I assured him.
“Buff out? Buff out!” His screech kicked up a couple more octaves. “Audrey, you totaled my car. In case you didn’t notice, it’s on its roof and you’re dangling upside down.”
“You know, now that you mention it,” I grumbled, pushing my hair out of my face, “I did notice that myself. But thanks for pointing it out.”
I watched as Ben paced back and forth in front of me. Okay for him, he was incorporeal. A ghost. When the car had flipped rather spectacularly and skidded along the road in a shower of sparks and cuss words, he’d been fine. He was already dead, he couldn’t die again. I, on the other hand, could. I assessed my current situation. I wasn’t hurt—much. Couple of bruises, tops. But I was stuck, upside down, pinned in the driver’s seat by the seat belt.
I tugged at it again and pressed the release catch. Nothing. The radio cut in and out, a combination of some talk back show and static. The bent metal of the car body creaked and groaned as it settled into its new shape. The soft tinkle as another tiny piece of shattered glass fell to the road. Later I knew I’d mourn the loss of my beautiful Nissan Rogue. Okay, Ben’s Nissan Rogue, but since his untimely death and my subsequent inheritance, the car was now mine. And I’d just totaled it. But that wasn’t the worst of my problems.
“Are they coming?” I asked, tugging at the belt feverishly and twisting to try to get a glimpse of the road behind us.
Ben stopped pacing and temporarily disappeared from view, before reappearing in front of me, making me squeak in surprise. “Geez. A little warning.” We were mostly adjusted to our new normal. Ben as a ghost and all the quirks that came with it, but he still surprised me with his sudden appearances.
“Yes.” He said. He was crouched in front of me, eyes running over me, lingering on the stuck catch of the seat belt. While his incorporeal status came in handy from time to time, now was not one of those occasions. He couldn’t help me. Not physically.
My ears picked up the sound of an approaching vehicle, and a shiver ran up my spine. With my heartbeat thundering in my ears I continued to tug at the belt, then tried wriggling out of it, but the blood was rushing to my head and the belt would not let me go that easily. “Can you see my phone anywhere?” I asked. Ben began searching, moving in and out of the car’s body, which should have been horrifying but I was too worried about getting my ass out of here before the bad guys arrived to worry about Ben and his ghostly apparition status.
Too late. The vehicle I’d heard approaching had arrived. Headlights swept around the bend, the engine settling into a gentle rumble as it rolled to a halt. The beams of light cut through the night air, blinding me. Raising an arm, I shielded my face while my free hand frantically pressed the seatbelt catch like I was sending out a Morse code message. Car doors slammed and multiple footsteps approached. This was it. I was doomed. I braced myself, waiting for the hail of bullets.
When none were forthcoming, I paused in my frantic button pressing efforts and peeked out from behind my arm. All I could see were legs. Two sets, dressed in dark pants and boots.
One of the legs crouched and shone a flashlight directly in my face. “You okay in there?” The voice sounded suspiciously like Firefly Bays one and only Officer Ian Mills. Of all the damn luck.
“All good thanks.” I flashed my teeth in a grimace smile combo. “Could you not point that in my face? Please.” For once Mills did as requested and moved the beam of light out of my retinas, instead flashing it around the interior of my mangled car. “Single vehicle roll-over.” He said to the companion over his shoulder.
“I’ll call it in.” I peered beyond Mills, surprised to see Officer Sarah Jacobs. Mills usually partnered with Sergeant Dwight Clements—both of them incompetent buffoons, so color me surprised to see Officer Jacobs in attendance. I listened as she spoke into the mic attached to her shoulder. “Single vehicle roll-over. Female driver requiring extraction. Request fire and ambulance.”
“You drunk?” Mills had finished his rudimentary exam of my car and shone his flashlight directly in my eyes again. Blinded, I reared back, raising my hands to cover my eyes. “Jesus Christ!” I cursed, “Quit with the light would you. I might need my eyeballs, you know, for seeing and useful things like that.”
“Officer Mills, may I?” Jacobs said.
“I’ve got this.” He snapped.
I couldn’t see him, given the fried state of my vision, but I heard the defensiveness in his voice. He wasn’t happy. Wasn’t happy with being partnered with Jacobs? Because she was a woman? Or because she was a couple of decades younger than him and more than likely better than him at his job. Pft, who was I kidding. A sponge would make a better police officer than Mills.
“I’m trained in First Aid.” She replied, dulcet tones calm, “I need to assess the patient.”
He didn’t reply, but I heard a shuffling of feet and the movement of air near my face.
“Hi, Audrey, Officer Jacobs here. Are you hurt? Do you have any pain?”
I risked squinting open one eye, then after assessing it was safe for me to do so, the other one. “Nope. Just stuck. The seat belt is jammed.” She crawled part way through the driver’s side window, pushing the deflated airbag out of the way, and leaned around me to have a go at releasing the catch herself. “Stuck tight.” She agreed, wriggling back out.
“You could just cut it loose.” I suggested.
“Sorry, can’t do that. You might have spinal injuries. I’m afraid you will have to stay where you are until the paramedics get here. Can you tell me what happened?”
The lie rolled right off my tongue. “I just took the corner too fast. I’m still getting used to driving this,” I indicated the wreckage I was sitting in. “I guess with the higher center of gravity and all... I just tipped over.”
One brow shot up, then lowered in a frown. “Excessive speed. You’re going to get a ticket.”
“That’s the least of my problems.” I said under my breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.” I glanced around, wondering where Ben had gone. He could have told me it was the cops approaching and not the bad guys. Maybe it was payback for what I’d done to his car, but heck, it wasn’t on purpose. My lie wasn’t exactly a lie, excessive speed was most certainly a factor, I’d skidded around that corner on two wheels, hardly surprising the Nissan had rolled. But the reason I was speeding was not something I wanted to share with her.
The truth of it was I’d been surveilling a supposedly abandoned warehouse down by the docks when I’d been spotted. And the three guys who’d spotted me sported guns. I know this because they shot at me. And Ben had been yelling at me, telling me they had guns and to get out of there.
While I dangled upside down in my wrecked car waiting for the cavalry, Mills insisted on a sobriety test, w
hich, shock upon shock, came up clean. Although Lord only knows I could use a drink now. The flash of blue and red lights had joined the headlights to light up the night sky, the police vehicle soon joined by an ambulance and then a fire truck.
“Audrey Fitzgerald, got yourself into another situation eh?” A head appeared at my window.
“Oh hi, Jace.” I greeted the paramedic. “How you doing?”
“Yeah, I’m good. More importantly, how are you? Got any pain?” He pressed a gloved hand against my neck, checking my pulse. I shook my head, waited patiently while he shone yet another light in my eyes and did a quick but thorough inspection of my body. “Ned with you?” I asked conversationally. Jason grinned. “Sure is. Ned!” He called over his shoulder. “Collar.” He held out his hand, and within seconds Ned had placed a cervical collar in his palm.
I groaned. “Do I really need that?”
“Just a precaution.” He assured me, and really, I couldn’t argue, not being stuck upside down like I was. After securing the collar around my neck, he told me, “I’m going to wriggle back out of this window and climb in the back seat so I’ll be directly behind you. The rescue guys will pop the driver’s side door off and release that seat belt and we’re going to lower you, slowly, onto a spinal board and then slide you out of the car, okay?”
“Sure.” There was a lot of activity, a lot of shouting and asking for equipment. The passenger door was wrenched open, as was the rear door. I could hear Jason climbing in, felt the vehicle rock with all the movement. My hand shot out to grab hold of something, anything, the sudden image of the car sliding down the hill on its roof popping into my head.
“Easy.” Jason grabbed my flailing hand and gave it a squeeze. “You’re okay.”
I tried to nod, but with the collar wrapped around my neck, movement was difficult. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“When you guys arrived, were there any other vehicles around? Like maybe stopped further down the road? Did you pass anyone?” I asked.
“Not that I recall. Why?” He paused and I could practically hear the cogs turning in his head. “Was someone chasing you, Audrey? Is that why you had the accident?”
“Shh.” I hissed. “I’m still in training and if I mess this up, if the FBPD get wind that I crashed because I was being pursued then Galloway may nix this whole PI thing and I’ll be screwed.” After all, Galloway had expressly asked me not to investigate the bank robbery. Only I’d ignored his request. He would not be pleased if he found out what had really happened.
“You’d rather they think you managed this on your own?” Jason’s voice held just that right note of incredulity that told me he thought I was nuts.
“For now. After all, if you didn’t see any other cars around, were they really chasing me?”
“What made you think they were?”
Gun fire. But I couldn’t say that out loud, and to be honest I hadn’t been concentrating on my rear-view mirror, just on getting my butt out of the docklands. Maybe they hadn’t followed. And maybe finding myself parked on my roof was one hundred percent my fault. Although this would have to be at the very extreme scale of my clumsiness.
I didn’t get a chance to answer though because suddenly it was a hive of activity. A firefighter had crawled into the passenger seat, a spinal board had been maneuvered into position, and then the seatbelt was cut. The sudden release of pressure was startling even though I knew it was coming I couldn’t contain my gasp. “Easy.” Jason murmured next to my ear as strong hands eased me down and then out the window.
I was sitting in the back of the ambulance when Galloway arrived, making a beeline straight for me.
“Audrey.” He nodded in greeting and I couldn’t tell if he was annoyed, relieved, concerned, or angry. Maybe all the above. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. Just a few scrapes and bruises.” I assured him. “Jase. Tell him.”
Jase winked at me before turning his attention to Galloway, “She’s not lying.” He confirmed. “Minor abrasions, some bruising from the seat belt.”
“See?” I smiled. “I don’t even need to go to hospital.”
“You’re going to hospital.” Galloway and Jase said simultaneously.
“Hey!” I protested. “Quit ganging up on me.”
“Audrey,” Jase said with exaggerated patience. “We’ve talked about this. You could have internal injuries we’re not aware of. I know I’m a pretty awesome paramedic, but even I don’t have x-ray vision. And you, my girl, need x-rays and scans. At the very minimum.”
“You’re going to hospital.” Galloway crossed his arms and planted his feet. I recognized the stance. It was something Ben used to do. What is it with alpha men always wanting to boss you around?
“Awww, isn’t that sweet?” Ben cooed, appearing by Galloway’s side. He’d made himself scarce throughout my rescue, but I figured he’d just been observing from the outside. Why sit in a mangled vehicle if you didn’t have to? Ignoring Ben, I focused on Galloway. “As much as I enjoy having my frequent flyer card punched by the ER, because you know, after ten visits you get a free colonoscopy, I don’t think it’s fair to tie up vital resources unnecessarily.”
“I thought you said it was a trip to Bermuda and steak knives?” Galloway’s joke caught me by surprise.
“That too.” I nodded. “But seriously, these guys have checked me out and I’ve dodged a bullet, no ER today.” I cringed at my turn of phrase.
“Nice try,” Jase said, “but you’re going. But I will compromise. You can come in the ambulance or make your own way there. And by that I mean someone else can drive you.”
“Someone else?” I glanced toward Galloway. I still couldn’t read his expression. He had a very good poker face.
“I’ll take her.” Galloway offered. Jase had known he would, for he had the nerve to fist bump him in front of me.
“It’s not fair.” I grumbled, but no one paid me any attention. Instead, I was bundled into Galloway’s car, my protests ignored. Ben hitched a ride with us but remained mercifully silent the entire journey. I figured he was still miffed that I’d totaled his car. I wasn’t thrilled with the situation myself, obviously.
To be fair, the trip to emergency went relatively smoothly. I had my frequent flyer card punched in the way of raised eyebrows and “you back again, Audrey?” type comments. I was poked, prodded, they drew blood to check I wasn’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol, then I was sent off for scans and x-rays. Ben hung around the nurses’ station, keeping one eye on me, the other on a brunette nurse.
I was lying on the gurney, pondering on how much to tell Galloway about the evening’s events, when the doctor returned.
“How is she?” Galloway asked before I could get a word in.
“She will be fine. I’ve given her a thorough examination, her vitals are stable, she’s not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, she has some soft tissue damage, some grazes that don’t require sutures. No concussion. All in all she came out of this pretty lightly.” The doctor then turned to me. “I suggest you take it easy for a few days. You will be sore, but nothing's broken and no internal bleeding.”
I beamed while Galloway studied him intently for a moment before inclining his head ever so slightly. “So she’s free to go?”
“Just need one signature on the release form and she’s all yours.” The doctor handed me a clipboard and pointed to the bottom where I dutifully signed.
Sliding down from the gurney, I gave the doctor and nurses a wave. “Thanks guys, no offense but I hope I don’t see you soon!”
5
The car ride home was frosty. Ben made himself comfortable in the back seat. Now that he knew I was okay, he launched into berating me over what had happened to his car before eventually running out of steam and lapsing into merciful silence. Galloway hadn’t said a word, though by the way his fingers clenched the steering wheel I suspected he had a lot of words he wanted to say. I was grateful he was keep
ing them to himself. It had been one hell of a day, and exhaustion was licking at my heels.
Pulling up out the front of Ben’s house, Galloway killed the engine, rested one arm on the steering wheel and turned to face me.
“Care to tell me what really happened?”
“Okay, look, I know I was going too fast. It was stupid and reckless of me, I totally own that and I’m sorry.”
“Oh, I know you were speeding, Audrey. I want to know why you were speeding.”
I turned my attention to the windscreen, staring at the dark street. I guess I should have told him I hadn’t moved into Ben’s house yet, that I’d chickened out and was still in my apartment, but for some reason I’d kept my mouth shut. Maybe it was because of the waves of anger I could feel emanating from him? Maybe it was my own sense of self-preservation kicking in. Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to spend the night at Ben’s. Having Thor curl into my side to keep me company sounded strangely comforting.
“Audrey.” Galloway growled, “I’m this close to losing my cool with you.” I snuck a glance and saw him hold up his finger and thumb, demonstrating how close he was to losing his patience. I bit my lip. I didn’t like him being angry with me and I knew if I told him the truth he’d be furious. But the truth was, I’d found the warehouse the bank robbers were using. Well, Ben and I had. Because I’d had the brilliant idea of heading to the wharf and warehouse district and sending Ben on a reconnaissance mission. He hadn’t found the white van, but he had found discarded clown masks in an old warehouse.
I’d settled in to wait for them to return, my first ever stakeout. As exciting as it was, it was also terrifying when I’d slipped on gravel when trying to peek through a side window. Of course they’d heard me. Of course they’d busted out their guns and come after me. Of course I totally panicked and lost control of my vehicle.
“Just tell him, Fitz.” Ben sighed from the backseat.
