August Unknown Read Free Page A

She might even have died since
they left the hospital last night. Dr. Carlson hadn’t yet established how
serious her head injury was.
    A dramatic sigh emanated from the back seat of his father’s
SUV. “Why do I hafta ride back here?” Jocelyn demanded.
    “I told you,” Geoffrey answered without taking his eyes from
the road. “It isn’t safe for you to ride in the front seat if there’s a
passenger-side airbag.”
    She’d been dressed and watching cartoons in the living room
when he’d tried to sneak past at eight. There had been no escaping her then,
and Geoffrey never could say no to Jocelyn.
    “I hope she’ll let me sign her cast.”
    More reminders of the damage he’d done. Jocelyn had no idea
the emotional turmoil he was going through.
    “You can ask once, but don’t pester. Okay?”
    “I don’t pester!”
    “That’s right, what was I thinking?” he teased. The effort
took everything out of him, and sounded phony.
    “Uncle G!” Jocelyn’s giggle fluttered from the back seat like
flower petals on the wind. God bless that little angel.
    Though occasionally a fluffy white cloud with a dark center
passed in front of the rising sun, the bright morning held little evidence of
the viciousness that had passed through last night. Broken tree limbs lay in
the rain-soaked streets, but otherwise, Newport had fared well.
    He parked the car in the hospital’s main lot and took
Jocelyn’s hand. He slowed his pace to match hers as she stared morbidly at the
double glass doors of the main entrance.
    “I hate hospitals,” Jocelyn said softly. She had been
unusually quiet all morning. Maybe she was more upset about the accident than
he’d realized.
    “Well, you were in them a lot when you were a baby.”
    “They stink.”
    Thankfully the attending nurse was not the same woman who last
night had looked at him like he was the worst adult in history to let a child
sit in the front seat of a car with airbags.
    “We’re here to see the young woman brought in last night.” He
swallowed past a sore lump of guilt. “The car accident victim.”
    “I’m sorry, visiting hours are ten until seven. Are you a
family member?”
    Dr. Carlson emerged from the office area. His face was etched
with fatigue. “It’s all right, Helen. I’ll take them in.”
    Geoffrey picked up Jocelyn and followed him down the hall.
“Tough night?”
    “There were four separate car accidents and Roberta Norton
slipped on her front stoop and shattered her elbow. Two broken arms in one
night. I thought I moved to a small town to avoid all this.”
    “The first storm of winter always sends people slipping and
sliding all over the place.” As soon as he’d said it, Geoffrey’s chest
tightened. Christina’s accident had happened just as the first rain of the
season sprinkled over Newport in early October of last year.
    Dr. Carlson hoisted Jocelyn onto his hip. “Hiya, Pumpkin.
How’s that nose?”
    “Fat,” she said with a frown. “I look ugly.”
    “The swelling will go away soon.” He chuckled. “And you could
never look ugly.” He stopped at the elevator banks and hit the call button. “We
moved your Jane Doe upstairs last night.”
    “How is she?” Geoffrey asked, even though he was almost afraid
to hear the answer.
    “We set the arm and stitched up her head. She came to for a
while, but she’s confused.”
    “So she’s not in a coma,” Geoffrey said over a sigh of relief.
    “No, nothing quite so serious. There was nothing in the CT to
cause concern.”
    Dr. Carlson set Jocelyn down. They stepped out of the elevator
and he gestured to the first room with his clipboard. “She’s right in there,
first bed.” He set off in the other direction. “Come and see me before you
leave so I can take a closer look at that pretty little nose.”
    Nervous tension coiled in his belly as Geoffrey looked at the
open doorway. If they’d let her sleep, she couldn’t be hurt too badly, could
she? He didn’t think people were