Page 24 of My One and Only

“Hard to tell. The driver whose truck was hit seems groggy.”

“I’ll send an ambulance, as well.”

“Thank you,” Jo said, ending the call and leaning in to look into Cam’s eyes.

“Cam. Are you hurt? Did you bang your head? Wrench your neck?”

He shook his head slowly. “My head bounced off the steering wheel, but that’s all. My head hurts, but I’m okay otherwise.”

His eyes were unfocused, and she wanted to pull him into her arms. Comfort him. But she knew better than to move an accident victim with a possible head wound.

“They’re sending an ambulance along with the police cruiser,” she said, scanning his face and studying his eyes. She didn’t see any signs of a concussion, but she’d let the experts make that call. “They’re gonna want to take you to the hospital. Check you out.”

Cam frowned. “I don’t have time for that,” he said. “I have a meeting scheduled in ten minutes, then I have to go to the Ogden Building Permit department and talk to my contact there.”

“Not this morning, you’re not,” Jo said. “You’re going to the hospital before you do anything else.”

“I don’t have time to go to the hospital,” Cam insisted.

Jo brushed her fingers over the side of his face. “Your meeting in ten minutes was with me,” she said quietly. “I won’t be there, either, so you don’t have to worry about that one. And if you like, I can call the Ogden Building Permits department and talk to your contact there. Tell him or her what happened and why you’ll have to reschedule.”

She heard the wail of sirens in the distance and touched his face again. “Don’t move. I’m gonna put my car on the side of the road so it’s not blocking traffic. I’ll be right back.”

She jumped off the running board and hurried to her car. They were stopped in front of a donut shop, so she parked in the orange and pink building’s lot, then hurried back to Cam’s truck. By the time she reached it, two squad cars had pulled up. An ambulance’s lights flashed a few blocks away, speeding in their direction.

One of the cops turned to look at her. “You in the truck with him?”the woman asked.

“No, right behind him. I saw the whole thing.”

The cop pulled out a notebook and a pen. “Want to describe it for me?”

Jo went through the whole incident, starting with pulling up behind Cam and finishing with the other truck turning south on Main and speeding away. “I’m sure it was deliberate,” Jo said. “The blue Ram -- pretty sure it was a 1500 because it only had only one door on the side -- was sitting at the stop sign for quite a while. As soon as it spotted the red truck, it entered the intersection. Instead of braking as it reached the red truck, it accelerated. After it hit the red truck, it backed up enough to turn around, then took off going south on Main Street.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed as she watched Jo. “You get a license plate number?”

Jo shook her head. “It was obscured by mud. A lot of mud, enough to hide all the letters and numbers on the plate. I noticed the front plate was also obscured.”

The cop stared at Jo for an uncomfortably long time. “You noticed a hell of a lot,” she finally said.

Why was this woman doubting her instead of taking care of Cam? Jo clenched her fists and shoved them into her pockets. “I’ve been trained to notice things like that.” Jo swallowed and pulled out her wallet. She handed the cop both her driver’s license and her employment card from Blackhawk Security.

The ambulance had arrived, and Jo saw the two EMTs standing on the running board, talking to Cam as they examined him.

The cop said, “You’re a bodyguard?”

“Yes. I am.”

“Are you guarding the man in the red truck?”

“No. I’m not here for a job. I’m visiting my mother, who lives in Ogden.”

“Mind giving me your phone number? I’m sure we’ll want to follow up with you.”

“Not at all.” Jo recited her phone number, then asked, “Anything else? I want to see how my friend is doing.”

The woman’s fingers tightened on her pen. “You know the victim?”

“Yes. He’s building a house for my mother, and we were on the way over there to take a look at it.”

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