Page 101 of Cold, Cold Bones
I rolled to my bum. Sat up and wiped icy gravel from my cheek. My fingers were numb.
A cruiser sat behind my car, engine running, doors wide, bubble lights flashing. Two cops hovered over me, dark profiles in the pulsing blue. One tall, one short. Tall/deep held a flashlight, mercifully now pointed away from my face.
My clothes and hair were wet, but no rain was falling. It was dark. The air was frigid and leaden with moisture.
What had happened?
Then it all came hurtling back. The racing car. The double beams. The terrified figure.
Boom. Thud.
“I saw a hit-and-run! Over there!” Words tumbling, arm jerking toward the far end of the lot. “It was intentional. A girl. I think a girl. Maybe a woman. She’s hurt. Maybe dead.”
Above me, the cops exchanged glances.
“What are you doing out here, ma’am?” Short/soft asked.
“What?”
“Why are you at this plant in the middle of the night?”
“I got a call. I thought it was my daughter.”
“Why would your daughter be out here?”
“I don’t know. I thought she needed me.”
“Uh huh.” Tall/deep. “Do you have ID?”
“In my purse. On the front seat of my car.”
Short/soft moved off.
“How did you end up on the ground?” Tall/deep asked. “Did you fall?”
“My car died. I got out, then—”
I hadn’t a clue what happened “then.”
Short/soft returned and whispered something to Tall/deep. He responded with what sounded like, “No shit.”
“Dr. Brennan?” Short/soft asked.
I nodded.
“Temperance Brennan?”
“What is this? Twenty Questions?”
“Do you need medical attention?”
“What Ineedis for you to call an ambulance for the girl who was run down!”
“There’s no one else here,” Short/soft said.
“What?!” Incredulous. “I saw the car hit her. I saw her body go airborne.”
“Before circling back to check your vehicle and spotting you on the ground, my partner and I checked the whole lot.”
