Page 42 of Triggered By Love
“I’m hurt?” Now that she saw the blood, she could feel the stinging sensation at the roots of her hair and the dull pounding in her head.
He lifted strands of her hair to show her the ends darkened by road tar and dirt. “The tire went over your hair. I thought you were a goner.”
Avery pressed her palm on the side of her head against the oozing stickiness. The exploding sounds. The weight of Brando’s body over her, the panic, the screams, the nauseating odor of blood and guts. The hubbub and the sirens, and the barking of orders and the wailing of the injured.
“I think I’m going to be sick.” She shoved her bloody hand at the closest camera lens. And then she screamed, “Stop it. Just stop. Stop. Stop.”
* * *
By the timeJason returned to the vicinity of the coffee shop, emergency crews and squad cars were on the scene, along with a tow truck standing by. News vans were set up across the street, and the entire block felt like a cross between a movie set for zombie extras and a slasher street carnival.
Blade grabbed ahold of him when he approached the uniformed officers interviewing witnesses. “I take it you didn’t catch the perp?”
“No, a bus got in the way. Where are the people who got hurt?” He approached several ambulances.
“No one seriously,” Blade said. “Thank God. Cuts and scrapes from the broken glass. A woman went into labor from the shock. A gossip video crew was on hand and caught it all on video. Witnesses say it didn’t seem like an accident, that the car was crawling up the block when it hit the gas and jumped the curb.”
“I know. I was there. Where’s Avery Cockburn?” He elbowed his way between the clusters of witnesses and onlookers.
“Taken to the local hospital. She was banged up pretty good.” Blade lifted his eyebrows. “I saw some of the cell phone video. The bumper barely missed her, and some of her hair got caught under the tire.”
“It was that close?” Jason’s blood ran cold. “This was a deliberate attempt on her life.”
“Or they could have been targeting Matt Swanson,” Blade said, hooking his chin in the direction of a news crew. “He’s giving interviews.”
Alida spotted him and scrambled to his side. She grabbed his sleeve. “Come talk to the news. Did you get a description of the driver? Do you think it was an accident?”
Jason raised his elbows to protect his head and break Alida’s grip. “I’m going to the hospital to find Avery.”
“Not so fast.” Blade waved over a uniformed cop he recognized. “You have to give a statement. Besides, I doubt her brothers are going to let anyone see her. They arrived one after the other, threatening violence on the cab driver and swore they were taking her home to Mom and Dad.”
Alida hounded Blade. “Do you have information on the cab driver?”
The policemen shut their mouths, and Jason turned Alida around by the shoulders. “This is an ongoing investigation. Go back to your football player and see if he needs a wipe or to blow his nose.”
“You’re so droll.” She huffed and curled her lip. “If you were a better cop, you’d want to know, too.”
Jason ignored her and motioned to the officers to gather in a huddle. “We need to get control of the situation. Take names of everyone with a camera and ask them to turn in their videos. Now, where’s the cab driver? I want to speak to him.”
The uniforms brought Jason to the entrance of the garage where an ambulance was parked.
“Was he hurt?” Jason asked the officer in charge.
“Hit on the back of his head for the car keys.”
The driver was sitting on the curb. He was a Hispanic man in his forties with thick eyebrows and a thick mustache to match.
“I didn’t see him,” the driver said. He held an icepack to his head.
“Description? Anything you noticed or felt?” Jason squatted so he was eye level to the witness.
“White guy. He wore dark glasses.”
“What type of glasses?”
“Aviators, mirrored.”
“Clothes? How old do you peg him to be?”
