“Massachusetts.”
“I’ll get the ball rolling. The report will come into the Sovereign’s office. Do you mind if Glen sees it? I might not be there whenever…”
“No. I don’t mind. The course is locked in. Really has been since I made the decision to tell the story to someone. To Sol,” she added.
“Is there something else?” Storm’s question was prompted by instinct. He couldn’t have explained it, just the feeling that something had been bothering her since Sol’s death. Something beyond mourning.
She blinked like she was surprised and looked around like she was afraid someone had heard her thoughts. She looked at Storm and swallowed.
“Whatever it is, you can tell me. You know I’ll never break your confidence.”
She stared at Storm for a minute and then smiled. “A confessional.”
“You need to confess something?”
“You’ll hate me after you hear it.”
“I seriously doubt that.”
The expression on her face changed from uncertain to determined. And hardened.
“I killed him.”
Of all the things she might have said Storm wouldn’t have guessed that in a thousand years. His jaw dropped and he gaped openly while his brain tried to piece together how she might have come to such a conclusion.
“Were you driving?”
“No.”
“Then what makes…?”
“I heard the paramedics who put him in the ambulance that took him away. They said that if I had done a tourniquet, that it wouldn’t have saved his leg, but it would have saved his life.”
Storm’s face transformed into an expression of the most abject sympathy. He couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been for her to believe that she’d not only lost the love of her life, but that she was also responsible for his death.
“Susan. Have you ever been instructed on how to apply a tourniquet field dressing?”
Her brow furrowed and she searched his eyes. “No?”
“It was a thoughtless thing for those idiot medics to say and an easy thing for them to say. Tourniquets are second nature to them. They know how to do it. They know it so well they don’t remember when they didn’t know how to do it. Plus, they weren’t in shock. You almost certainly were. Weren’t you thrown from the vehicle when it turned over?”
She looked down at the floor. “Yes.”
“Did you lose consciousness?”
“I think so. I don’t know for how long.”
Storm cursed under his breath. “Please excuse me. I’ve got to go get some morons fired and the Cape May Emergency Services Department is going to give you an apology or there’ll be the devil to pay.” Realizing what he’d just said, he hoped she didn’t know about his mixed heritage.
“No, Storm, I don’t want this made public.”
“What they said…it’s not right. Passing judgment like that, on an injured, traumatized person?” Storm’s gaze jerked up to hers. “Did they send just one ambulance?”
“Yes.”
“Where did they have you ride on the way to the hospital?”
“They didn’t.”