The Switch Read Free Page B

then two, as the guys at the station listened to updates coming through. They went on a couple of runs and returned. Danny didn’t start to worry until the television station reported that the bus had been carrying a group of women on a retreat to St. Louis.
    Remembering his conversation with Laura the previous week about her trip to the symphony, he snatched his phone from his front pocket and speed-dialed her number. Surely she was fine. Her phone rang several times and went to voice mail. He thought about calling her family to find out if they’d heard anything. She could be in a hospital being treated. But he thought better of it. If she was fine and her phone was lost or her batteries dead, he didn’t want to freak out her parents.
    Then again, he knew if it was her bus and she was all right she would’ve let him know somehow. She would’ve called him by now, aware he’d know about the accident.
    He tried calling again. And again. Then he finally left a message. “Laura, you better call me now. I need to know you’re all right. I don’t care how late it is.”
    He responded to an accident a few blocks away and took a patient to the hospital. A stroke victim. A possible drug overdose. The shift change came and the other guys went home, but Danny was on the schedule for the next twenty-four hours, so he inventoried all the supplies on the rig. They went on a call for a broken femur, and when they got back, he power-washed the outside of the rig and started detailing it. He should sleep while he had the chance, but he was too restless.
    As he vacuumed the carpet in the cab of the rig, he hit his head on the steering wheel and had to clench his jaw to keep from cursing. He needed to calm down and take it easy; letting himself get worked up wasn’t helping. But he couldn’t stop thinking about the bus accident. Why hadn’t Laura called him back? Dread tightened in his gut and he reminded himself it could just be the phone. She might be fine. Nothing could have happened to her.
    Part of his mind wouldn’t let go of the truth: every day he helped people who thought that their emergency would never happen, wasn’t possible. He knew better than to think anyone was exempt from trouble.
    Then his commander, Stu, approached him. “Danny, come on back to the office.”
    “What’s up?” Danny didn’t like the grim set of his boss’s jaw, or being pulled aside. Had he screwed up something in their run earlier? He was more than a little distracted. He couldn’t think of anything he’d done wrong, though.
    Stu didn’t answer, just ushered Danny into his office and shut the door behind them. He fidgeted with a pen from the desk for a moment, then looked Danny in the eyes. “I received a phone call a few minutes ago. You mentioned earlier that you’re worried about a friend of yours who might have been on the bus.”
    “Yes. Have you heard something?” Danny’s stomach clenched, his heart rate picked up and he tightened his hands into fists as he fought to control the wild possibilities that ran through his head. Stu looked too serious for the news to be good.
    “I just spoke with your parents. Laura’s injuries from the accident were extensive.” He paused for a few seconds and when he spoke again his voice was tight with emotion. “I’m sorry, she didn’t make it.” Tears swam in the man’s eyes. Laura had come by the station many times, joined them for meals, chatted and laughed and brought cookies to the guys.
    Danny gulped in air, feeling like he was drowning. His throat started closing up and he shook his head. “No. No, it isn’t true. She can’t . . . ” His stomach turned and tears filled his eyes, then overflowed. Surely not. It couldn’t. No, no, no. He shook as he tried to deny what he was hearing but he could no longer deny what he’d feared.
    All Danny could think was that others had been there when Laura died. They’d been on scene, and Danny hadn’t. He hadn’t been there for her