your eye and on your cheek. It’s better to be safe than sorry. We want to make sure you don’t have a concussion. My name is Officer Sands. Can you tell me what happened?”
She glanced over at Davis, who was talking with another officer; his face was red to the point of purple. “He grabbed my arm and spun me. I lost my balance and fell on my face.” She hissed when a stream of blood fell from her hand onto her slacks.
“Here.” The woman she remembered in Davis’ outer office handed her a wad of tissue.
The pieces of white fluff soaked up the pool of blood in her palm. More appeared as she mopped up. Her “thank you” came out as “Ank oo.”
“Are there any witnesses to what happened?” Officer Sands asked her after she pushed a wad of tissue against her lip.
“I’ve got it all, sir,” Stu spoke for her. She nodded, and after checking on her again, the officer moved over to the camera and watched the digital playback. She heard a commotion and tried to look to her left, but a sharp lance of pain stopped that idea in its tracks. Another pair of blue slacks appeared in front of her. A woman leaned down. “Ma’am, my name is Shania, I’m a paramedic. What’s your name, hun?”
“Bekki King.”
“All right, Ms. King, how old are you?”
Wow, the woman understood her gibberish, impressive. “Thirty.”
“Good, can you tell me what happened?”
Bekki mumbled through the explanation again. Her head hurt and her neck ached. Different parts of her face screamed for attention, not just her lip. “All right. Here, why don’t you give me that mess and let me take a look at what we’ve got going on under here.” The woman held out her gloved hand. She deposited the stained tissue in the paramedic’s hand and let the woman examine her lip, shine a light in her eyes, and prod her cheek while she mumbled answers to the woman’s constant questions. “Well, you earned a ride to the hospital with that whap to the face. That lip needs attention and I’m concerned about your stiff neck and headache.” The woman looked over Bekki’s shoulder. “Let’s get a neck brace on, we have a blow to the head.” She rattled off Bekki’s blood pressure and added, “Her eyes are responsive but unequal.”
Another pair of boots and blue slacks preceded, “Damn it, Bekki, who did you piss off this time?”
Ah, man… no, just no. She opened one eye and glared at Rory McBride. Instead of answering, she flipped him off. Shania laughed and elbowed Rory. “I like her, and she must know you pretty damn well.”
“Yeah, I grew up next door to her. She’s Blay’s sister.” They talked while they clipped the neck brace into position.
“Oh, yeah?” Shania asked. “So, you had the pleasure of knowing this guy when he was a kid, huh?”
There was so much she wanted to say, but the pain in her head and the swelling of her lip kept her quiet.
Yes, she knew Rory, and why did he have to respond to this call? Of all the ambulances in Hope City, what were the odds?
Why was there a troll inside her head beating the hell out of her brains?
If she cried now would Rory tell her mom?
Yes, yes, he would.
Fine, host your pity party later, Bekki.
Rory answered for her as they helped her to the gurney. “We’ve known each other since this one came home from the hospital.” He and Shania secured her and placed their equipment on the gurney with her.
Stuart leaned over her. “I’ll take the taped interview back to Landon and Officer Sands said to tell you he’d catch up with you at the hospital.” Another man in the same uniform Rory was wearing joined them, and then she was being pushed outside. Rory shaded her eyes from the sun and leaned over. “I’ll call Blay on the way to the hospital, he’ll let the family know.”
Bekki groaned. Great. Just Great. Hover Mother, activate.
Chapter 7
“Is that a television?” Garret pointed to the small thirteen-inch television Killian had brought into the trailer. He had the thing on and switched to Channel Two News.
Killian lifted an eyebrow “Are you having problems recognizing objects? Do you need an optometrist appointment?”
“Ha, funny. Seriously, why the TV?” Garret poured himself a cup of coffee from the forty-cup cauldron Killian kept filled for his crew.
“A news story I want to watch.” He glanced at the clock. “Should be anytime