Dread filled him. The woman’s reaction didn’t bode well for what he would find. But whatever he saw, he would help the occupant and hope for the best.
“Are you okay?” He asked the woman.
“Yes. I’m just—it all happened so fast.”
“I know. Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. I was walking along the path when the car came skidding up. I called for help straightaway.”
“Right, I’m going to…” He canted his head toward the mangled wreck. He didn’t want to waste time talking to the woman, but he also didn’t want to ignore her since she was clearly in shock about what happened.
“Okay, I’ll wait here.” She took a few steps back and then turned to face the intersection.
Andy made his way to the car and the driver’s side, wincing when he saw the damage. The airbags had deployed, so he hoped that had helped the driver. Part of the car window had shattered, and he took his jacket off and pushed the rest of the glass out so that he could get closer to the victim,their long hair, matted with blood, covered their face.
He reached and pressed fingers against their neck, the flesh warm, and he caught the faint trace of a pulse. He breathed out in relief, but a pulse didn’t mean the person still wasn’t suffering life altering injuries.
The faint scream of a siren sounded, and he relaxed a fraction, because help was on the way. “Hang on, the paramedics will be here in flash,” he murmured, not sure if they could hear him or not.
A moan sounded, and another wave of relief swept through him. “Don’t move,” he cautioned when their shoulders rolled. “It’s better if you don’t.”
He brushed the hair covering their face away, and gasped. Her features were imprinted on his mind. Even though blood trailed down her cheek, she was still recognizable to him. “Narelle!” he whispered, needing the paramedics to arrive right now.
How was it possible that she was here?
Did she live in Perth?
Or was she visiting?
Andy pushed the questions away. Right at this second, they were irrelevant. All that mattered wasgetting her the help she needed so that she would be alright.
The sirens were loud now, and he glanced over his shoulder to see an ambulance pulling up beside them. His hand was still on Narelle’s neck, needing the reassurance of feeling her pulse, paranoid that if he let go, she would slip away, and now that Narelle was right in front of him, he didn’t want that to happen.
Andy paced the waiting room. The chances of him getting information about Narelle were slim. Hell, he didn’t even know her last name. The paramedics thought he was a concerned citizen, as he hovered nearby while they extracted her from the car. The fact she was still breathing after seeing the damage to her car was amazing.
He’d followed the ambulance to the hospital, not being able to leave her alone.
Did she have any family?
Any next of kin?
The thoughts swirled, and he sat down, taking a deep breath. He also couldn’t shake the feeling thatit was more than just an accident. He’d already asked Wilt to check to see if there were any cameras near the intersection that would’ve recorded the incident.
“Andy? Are you okay?”
He looked up and saw Tabby and Steve rushing toward him. He was immediately engulfed in a hug from his boss’s wife. He took the comfort she gave him, aware of Steve standing next to her, no doubt supporting her lower back with his hand.
“I’m fine.”
She pulled away and stared at him critically, as if trying to determine if he was lying or telling the truth. “Then why did you say there’d been an accident and you were in the hospital?”
There was no heat in her voice only curiosity, which he didn’t blame her for. He gave them both a quick rundown of what happened. Explaining how he knew Narelle proved to be a bit trickier, but he didn’t care that he was sharing his sexual habits with his boss and his wife. All that concerned him was the woman somewhere in the hospital, alone and hurting, and possibly…
He cut off his thoughts. He wasn’t going to think of anything bad happening to Narelle, he had to believe she was okay.
Was it coincidence that he happened to be at the same intersection as she was at the time she had an accident? Was fate playing with them like fate had played with three of his other colleagues when they’d met their significant others?
Steve had driven past Tabby’s café and found her bleeding on the ground. Chris, their American associate, had seen his wife Lindy get her bag snatched, after a chance meeting in a bar. And Reed had been with Lauren, when her ex had turned up at Tabby’s new café, threatening her.
