Two patrol vehicles have pulled up, but I keep my focus here, knowing Theo will handle it. I quietly step to the side of Harrison, peering into the car. Her airbag deployed on impact, which explains the blood and stunned expression
“I d-don’t know what happened,” the woman mutters, her voice almost inaudible. Metal groans as the car shifts, seeming to settle further into the ditch. The woman winces, eyes flaring with panic, her head turning forward, and giving me a glimpse of dark discoloration around her neck.
“Stay calm for me, okay?” Harrison says, voice unwavering. “We need to assess your injuries, and then we can get you out of here.” He looks up at me, and I nod, letting him know I see it too.
Marco calls my name over the hood of the car. I glance at him before checking back with Harrison. “You good here?”
He nods, never taking his eyes off the driver, and I hoof it over to where Marco is peering intently into the backseat. I catch a glimpse of an infant seat and the small baby strapped inside. “Shit.”
Going off the pink woolen hat and flowery blanket, the baby is a girl. From out here, it looks like she’s sleeping peacefully, but there’s no way to tell for sure until we get a closer look—something I know all too well.
“We can’t assess her in the car,” Marco says quietly. “Not with the?—”
“Smoke. Right.” I look over the vehicle just in time to catch Harrison’s eyes, and he leans down into the window.
“Ma’am, you’ve got a baby, huh? What’s her name?”
There’s a pause, and then the woman lets out a sharp cry. “Oh, God…oh,God…” She’s twisting wildly, fighting against the belt still strapping her in. “Is she okay? Is my baby okay? She’s not crying! Oh my god.Hannah!” A choked sob escapes her.
Harrison leans in the window. “Hannah,” he says reassuringly. “That’s a pretty name. Now, my friends over there are just going to take Hannah out of the car and give her a check-over, okay? But I need you to stay still while that happens.”
The woman doesn’t seem to register his words, still trying to reach her baby, her cries getting louder and more shrill. Marco opens the door just as the baby’s eyes flutter open. Hannah’s pink lips are trembling as her dark eyes fill with tears.
“Ma’am, you need to stay still,” Harrison says, voice gentle but firm. “I’m going to reach in and put my hand on your sternum, okay?” Without waiting for more than a nod, he moves, hand steady, anchoring her against the seat without pressure. “I can see you’re having a little trouble catching your breath. Let’s slow it down together. Big breath in. That’s it. Count of four, and then hold it.Good.Two, three…four. Okay, now blow it out.”
Marco has the car seat unbuckled, and I step back, giving him room to pull it from the vehicle just as Harrison tells her, “Perfect. Let’s do it again, okay?”
The baby—Hannah—gives up her fight, a loud wail escaping from her little mouth, eyes wide and wet as she looks around, searching for her mama. A band around my ribs loosens fractionally, the fear that the baby might not be okay finally dissipating enough to let me breathe.
Marco softly coos to her before looking at me. “I’ll take her to the back of the rig and check her over there, but going off that noise, I think we’re okay.”
“You hear that?” Harrison is saying. “Your girl has some lungs on her.”
A watery chuckle escapes the woman, but it’s still breathless and edged with panic. “C-can I see her? I needto…I have to see, to touch her. I need to make sure she’s okay.”
“I understand, but we need to check Hannah over first, and we need to get you assessed as well.”
“B-but?—”
“You know, I’ve got a boy of my own. Nothing like having a kid to teach you fear, right?” Harrison says conversationally, but I can see that he’s still got one hand on her sternum and the other on her wrist. “I promise that as soon as the paramedics arrive, we’ll get you reunited with your Hannah.”
It’s another fifteen minutes before the paramedics arrive, but both mother and baby are responsive, alert, and showing no obvious signs of major injuries. I approach Harrison just as he’s giving the handoff to one of the paramedics. “…collar just in case. She’s alert and denying she’s in pain, but she winces when she turns her head. Possible whiplash, maybe a mild concussion from the impact and airbags.” He pauses, eyes shifting to me and then back to the paramedic. Then he lowers his voice, “There’s a bruise on her throat. Distinct. Shaped like fingers.”
The paramedic’s eyes flare before they harden. “It was there when you arrived?” Harrison nods. “But no one else was with her?”
“No, she was alone.”
“Sterling Creek is small. You don’t recognize her or the car?”
Both Harrison and I shake our heads. I add, “No one on our crew knows her.”
“We’ll have to take the two of them to Ashland General,” the paramedic determines, looking at his partner over his shoulder. “Sterling Creek’s emergency clinic won’t have what they need for an infant.”
Neither of us disagree, knowing it’s the right call,especially if there’s more going on here than a car crash. I turn back to look at the crumpled vehicle.
“They’re lucky,” I say grimly. “It could’ve been a lot worse.”
The chair squeaksunder the chief as he resettles his weight, shrewd gray eyes pinned on me from across his desk, seeing far more than I want him to as I finish debriefing him on what happened this morning.
