Did Pam hear him right? Did he say he couldn’t stand the woman?
Truths Unveiled
Truths Unveiled
Chapter Forty-Eight
Before Pam could replay the conversation in her mind, Tom continued, “A.J. was missing this afternoon. We were scared sick, thinking that he ran away. I was out looking for him when I got the call about Susan. At first, I thought the call was about him. She was looking for him, too. According to a witness, she darted across the street to her car without checking the traffic. By the time the truck driver saw her, it was too late to stop.”
“Where was A.J.?” Pam asked, immediately troubled.
Tom let out a short chuckle. “The little pooper was with his youth group leader. He needed to talk about Susan and me and wanted advice about how to stop us from fighting all the time. When I asked him why he didn’t call me or his mom, he said he thought we’d be mad. And he didn’t think he would be so late. But Pam, as he apologized, he was bawling his eyes out. He and Mark are so petrified of losing Susan.”
“Thank you, God, for keeping that boy safe,” Pam whispered. “And please continue to help his mother right now.”
“Pam?”
“Yes?” she squeezed her eyes shut again, waiting for him to drop the bomb.
“Uh, do you think you could give me another chance?”
When she didn’t immediately answer, Tom started talking very quickly. “I mean, I know I’m not perfect. And that I can be stubborn and just plain dumb sometimes, but I think I learned my lesson. I promise to work on dealing with Susan and keeping the boys in mind. And I won’t do anything involving her or them without talking with you first. I want to make sure that everything I decide is good for us, too. And I’ll pay attention to your advice. I promise. You can even make it part of our wedding vows. Just please, please stay with me. I can’t guarantee it will always be easy, but I will always try to do my best. I just know we can have a wonderful life together.”
Afraid to speak, Pam wondered again if she’d understood him correctly. There she was, ready to be totally dumped forever, and Tom was telling her he wanted her back? That he’d do his best to stop fighting with Susan?
“Pam?”
Brushing at the new tears flowing down her cheeks, she pulled the robe tighter around her body and opened the door just enough for him to see her face as she nodded yes.
****
The sudden ring of the phone startled Tom awake.
“Yeah?” He shook his head to clear the cobwebs.
“You owe me, Buddy.”
Tom looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand. The digital numbers glowed: 2:45 a.m. “Heck, Eddie. The cows aren’t even up yet. What’s your problem?”
“Where’s Pam?”
“Working. Why? What’s going on?”
“Meet me at the hospital.”
“Sure.”
“Now! You’ve both got to see something.”
Twenty minutes later, Tom recognized Eddie’s pickup truck parked in front of the medical center’s ED department. He pulled up next to it and lowered his window.
“Why the mystery?”
Eddie climbed into Tom’s passenger’s seat and handed him a large envelope. “You won’t believe what I’ve got. Take a look at these.”
Tom turned on the overhead light and opened the envelope. “Something’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure, but it certainly ain’t right.”
Curious, Tom removed an inch worth of eight-by-ten photographs. “What are these?” But after one glance, he shouted, “I knew it!” Adrenaline soared through his veins as he flipped through the pile.
“My sentiments exactly.”
“Where did you get them?” Tom demanded, still not quite believing what he held in his hands.
“In the fire department’s archives. Sorry it took so long. I just found them.”
Tom replaced the photos and turned off the truck engine. “Let’s go inside.”
Walking toward the emergency department entrance, Eddie filled him in. “Remember last week, when we were saying only three photos didn’t sound right for this type of case?”
“Of course.”
“Well, the other day, when you told me about Pam’s last hypnosis session, I got to thinking. There had to be more pictures. Number one, there were two deaths. That meant the coroner’s office had to come to the scene. Number two, the impact must have caused at least one of the vehicles to leak gas or oil.”
“And that means the fire department had to respond and do a hazardous material clean up,” Tom finished.
“Exactly. And we’re required to take photographs and document everything for the state transportation department and the environmental protection agencies. So tonight, after my shift, I started snooping around.”
Once inside, they slowed their pace. The ED was quiet. “Where’s Dr. Harrington?” Tom asked the nurse on duty.
“Check the third on-call room on the left. We just had a nasty couple of hours. She might be asleep.”
They found Pam wide awake, gluing latticework on a Victorian dollhouse. Seeing them in the doorway, her face turned beet red. “It’s kind of a community project. We all take turns working on it during our shifts. It helps us wind down.”
“So this is what you do when the rest of the world sleeps,” Eddie teased, surveying her work. “Not bad. Did you know about this, Thomas?”
Pam stood and met Tom’s kiss. “Hi. What are you doing here?”
Tom kept an arm around her shoulders. “Eddie found some more pictures.” He didn’t want to spring it on her like that, but he felt anxious and annoyed. Someone had deliberately removed these photos from the police department’s files. Why? He didn’t know. But he intended to find out.
“Last week, at your apartment, you said the photos I showed you meant nothing,” Tom continued.
Pale now, Pam sat down. She kept her back straight and nodded.
“Would you look at these with us?”
Her eyes widened, confirming what Tom believed. Though she felt better about her role in the accident, she still had questions. And so did Tom. The more he thought about it, the more he became convinced that the person who removed the photos from the file was in some way connected to the pranks pulled on Pam. In fact, he felt certain that the burglary in Pam’s Boston apartment was also related.
Someone didn’t want her returning to Middleton. Though the culprit had remained quiet this week, instinct told him he or she would strike again soon.
Tom pulled two chairs up to the table and reached for Pam’s hand. “After the first hypnosis session, you told me you recalled most of the accident but something was still missing.”
She nodded once.
“Then, after meeting Carl Tedford, you remembered more.”
Again, Pam nodded.
“But we’ve still got a ton of questions. Maybe some of the answers are right here in one of these photos.”
Pam’s eyes flickered from Tom to Eddie.
“I put the bad ones at the end,” Eddie said. “Promise.”
She released a deep breath. “Okay.”
“Good.” Tom found a small note pad near the telephone and removed a pen from his back pocket.
“Let’s start from the beginning,” He drew a diagram. “The reports say you drove your Ford Escort northbound on Spindle Hill Road at approximately midnight. The car contained two occupants. You and Megan. Weather conditions were dangerous and neither of you were wearing seatbelts. Am I right so far?”
“Uh-huh.”
Before continuing, Tom shot her a parental scowl.
“What?” Then, she rolled her eyes. “I wear my seatbelt now. All the time.”
Tom winked at her and continued. “Vehicle two, a station wagon, traveled southbound on Spindle Hill Road. It crossed over the center line on that narrow curve and hit you head on, causing your car to roll over and pushing you off the road and into a tree.” He left out the part about Pam being the
sole survivor.
“Got it?” he asked Eddie.
“Yup.”
Quiet now, Tom placed one photo at a time on the table.
“I can’t tell where one car starts and the other ends,” Pam told them.
Eddie frowned at the almost unrecognizable metal twisted into a tree. “It’s a miracle you survived. Look at the intrusion into the front seats.”
Tom selected a clearer shot. “Take a look at this. You can see the inside of the car.”
“Check out all the glass,” Eddie said.
Tom met his best friend’s eye. He thought back to other accident scenes he’d been to.
“What are you thinking?” Pam asked. “What does the glass have to do with it?”
“Maybe nothing,” Eddie answered.
“But…”
“In most cases,” Tom began, “if a vehicle is hit head on, all the objects inside, including the occupants and the rear window glass, fly forward.”
Pam looked back at the pictures. “I was hit head on. It’s in the report.”
“It is,” Eddie agreed. “And your car was a hatchback. It should be filled with glass.”
Quickly, his pulse racing, Tom shuffled through the remaining photos, then pointed to one in particular. “Take a look here. There’s glass all over the road.” Then he took it away. It showed Pam and Megan still inside the car. Hoping to distract her, he looked to Eddie and pointed to the envelope he held. “Is the paramedic’s report there? If not, I’ve got a copy at home.”
Eddie flipped through several sheets of paper. “Here it is. What do you want to know?”
“What led the officer to think it was a head-on crash?”
Eddie frowned. “Beats me.” He went back to the photographs. “Hey. Look at this.” He pointed to a photo showing a shiny object. It was stuck in the Escort’s mangled back bumper. “What is that?”
Tom looked closer and shook his head. “Don’t know. It’s odd that it’s stuck in the back. I would think it should be in the front.”
“Let’s get the picture blown up.”
“Hold on here,” Pam interrupted. “Are you saying I was rearended? How could that be?”
“Don’t know yet, Honey.”
“But you think it’s a possibility?”
Tom looked to Eddie, then back to Pam. “Think about it. These new pictures don’t add up to the written investigation reports. And they were missing. Next, Carl Tedford says Ryan Collins wasn’t drunk, though he may have been high on pot. Then you recall hearing two voices at the scene that we can’t identify. And one of them specifically blames you. Right?”
Pam and Eddie glanced at each other and nodded.
Tom nodded, too. “Add all of that to someone seeming awfully bothered about you moving back down here. What do you think?”
Pam looked from Tom to Eddie, then at the photographs. “Did someone tamper with the investigation?”
“It certainly looks that way,” Tom said.
Eddie nodded. “Yeah, it sure does.”
Truths Unveiled
Truths Unveiled
Chapter Forty-Nine
Pam set the vanilla cake, shaped like a large dog bone, in the middle of the table and lit the candles.
“Look at that!” A.J. marveled to Rusty. He patted the retriever’s head and allowed him to lick his face. “De-licious! Can you see it?”
Mark hugged Delilah. “Don’t worry, Dilly, Your birthday’s coming soon. And Rusty will share his cake.”
Pam caught Tom’s wink as he took another photograph. Yes, they were having a birthday party for the dog. And she loved every minute of it. Her three guys had missed more than enough celebrations together.
Thankfully, Susan had responded well to the surgery and spent five days in the hospital. The boys split their time between Tom and Pam, his parents, and Jennifer, Susan’s sister. Now that Susan was home, she had agreed to the boys spending more time with Tom and his family on a regular basis.
When Tom and Pam took Rusty and Delilah to the vet for checkups the previous day, Rusty’s birth date was mentioned. Knowing the boys were coming for their first full weekend, Pam seized the opportunity. Now they all sat around the dining room table, complete with Scooby Doo plates, cups and hats, to pay tribute to the eldest four-legged member of the family.
“Rusty is thirty-six years old in dog life,” Mark calculated.
“Great multiplication skills there, Block Head.”
“Zit Face,” Mark responded, elbowing his older brother.
Pam eyed Tom and bit back a smile, watching A.J. return an elbow shot. “You handle it,” her look told him.
The carefree jibes and physical blows continued for the remainder of the short party. Afterward, cleaning up, Tom’s radio went off. The emergency band scanner followed.
“Medic One on the air for the 911.”
“Dad’s got to go,” Mark announced, standing up.
“I do. But I’ll be back as soon as I can. Okay?”
Accepting it well, both boys nodded. “You two have fun with Pam. Don’t give her a hard time.” He kissed them on the head, then looked to Pam.
She caught the disappointment in his eyes. But she also found the sense of purpose there that made him the man she loved. She gave him an encouraging smile and held out his jacket and keys. “This is our life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” After a quick kiss, he left.
“Want to play Nintendo?”
“Sure do,” Pam replied, joining the kids in the living room.
“Can we listen to Dad on the scanner?”
Pam nodded. “Let’s turn it up.” They’d caught the fever. Just like their father. Just like her. If you weren’t on the rescue call itself, listening to it was the next best thing.
Turning up the volume, she pictured Tom en route to the scene. He mesmerized her. She’d felt that way since the first time she saw him, yelling plays at the high school football players. She hadn’t known him well then. She just knew she liked him.
That feeling persisted. Yes, after the accident, she suppressed it. Her mental well being made it a necessity. But the feelings came rushing back the instant she saw him at the factory explosion just a few weeks ago.
“Medic One is on,” Tom answered.
“That’s Dad!” A.J. cried out, grinning at her.
“You’re right.” She grinned back.
“Medic One, respond to Interstate 518 Northbound in the vicinity of Exit 54 for the motor vehicle accident. Several vehicles involved. Be advised, the fire department is also being dispatched to that location.”
“Roger, Dispatch. I’ll be en route.”
Pam loved hearing his voice. Then her thoughts switched to his touch. She felt the heat rise to her cheeks. Her stomach jumped. Stop that! she mentally scolded. There are children in the room.
“Medic One to dispatch.”
“Go ahead, Medic One.”
“I’m on the scene. I have multiple cars and two tractor trailers engulfed in flames. Get three helicopters to the scene and all available ambulances. I’ll be out of my vehicle on the portable.”
Pam and the boys listened to Dispatch dutifully reading back all of Tom’s instructions. They sat on the floor, eyeing the box, waiting for the next transmission.
It must have been this way before television was invented, she mused. The kids were engrossed. They sat at attention, determined to hear every word.
The scanner captured all channels: fire, ambulance and police. As an ED doctor, Pam got the full picture. The radio was alive with department jargon and units sending messages to their individual dispatchers. From what she could tell, the accident blocked the road for almost a quarter of a mile. Cars, trucks and tractor trailers all piled up on top of each other, some on fire, some containing possible fatalities. She looked to the boys. Should they be listening to this?
The doorbell rang. “Good,” Pam sighed. A diversion. It was Katie. Earlier in the day she’d called, asking to spend some time wit
h the boys. Pam offered to bring them over to her house, but she declined. “Let’s use your beautiful house,” she said. “It’s stood empty for much too long.”
Truths Unveiled Page 23
