fire. The woman was too close to the wreck, and I started thinking about, uh, maybe it would explode, you know? Eric didn’t want to move her, but I knew we had to.”
Tommy raised stricken eyes to look at Officer Mann. “We had to move her—she would have died in the explosions if we hadn’t—but what if we hurt her more?”
“Tom, you did the right thing,” Mann said. “She’s alive and she wouldn’t be if you’d left her where she was. Okay, I have a few questions. Did she come to at all and say anything?”
“No.”
“Did you happen to notice the license plate on the van?”
Tommy frowned. “I don’t remember one.”
“Then again, you might have been too occupied with other things to notice.”
“That’s true. It’s just that the van’s back end was toward us, but I can’t remember a plate.”
“It might have been thrown off during the tumble.”
Tommy nodded. “That’s possible, I guess.”
“Where is this leading?” Clint asked.
“Have you seen the wreckage?” Officer Mann inquired.
“No.”
“Well, there isn’t any, other than a widespread ground cover of tiny pieces of fabric and metal and other unidentifiable debris.” Mann sat back in his chair. “We don’t know who she is. If Tommy had seen a license plate, we’d at least know in which state she lives.”
“Lots of stuff fell in the river,” Tommy said.
“Yes, but the river’s running high and wild in that canyon from spring runoff. Everything’s probably miles downstream by now.”
“You’re concerned about her identity,” Clint said. “Won’t that question be cleared up when she comes to?”
Officer Mann put away his notebook and pen. “I’m sure it will.” He got to his feet and looked at Tommy. “That should do it for now. If any other questions come up that I think you might be able to answer, I’ll contact you.”
Tommy nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Clint sensed Tommy’s relief after the officer had gone. Neither Clint nor his son had ever been involved in anything that required police intervention, and Clint knew his son well enough to also know that that aspect of the accident made him nervous.
He put his hand on Tommy’s shoulder. “Relax, son, Officer Mann is merely doing his job.”
Tommy didn’t answer, just kept staring across the room as though his father hadn’t said a word.
Clint drew his hand back. He loved his son more than life itself, and felt his misery in his own soul. Tommy had never given him one moment of justified concern. Yes, Clint had worried some when Tommy began driving those mountain roads, but throughout the boy’s life, Clint had been concerned for his safety, not because he had been misbehaving.
Clint changed the subject, simply to get Tommy thinking about something else. “When I called the principal and explained the situation, he said you could make up the tests you missed today.” He paused, then added, “Guess I already told you that.”
“That’s okay, Dad.”
“At least Eric didn’t miss a full day.” Clint frowned slightly. “How’d he get from the accident site to school?”
“When he called the sheriff, he also called his dad. Mr. Schulze picked him up.” Tommy suddenly leaned forward and put his hands over his eyes. His voice broke. “It was awful, Dad. I’ll never forget it.”
Clint rubbed his son’s back. “Of course you won’t forget it. But you did everything you could to save that woman’s life. I’m very proud of you, son. I hope you know that.” He felt Tommy’s shoulders heave with a sob, and he continued rubbing his back, doing what he could to comfort his boy.
There was no question of leaving the hospital and going home. Whatever they were finally told about the woman’s condition, both he and Tommy had to hear it, firsthand and from a doctor. They had already occupied this little waiting room for five hours; they would remain right here for what was left of the day, and all night, if necessary.
At eight o’clock that evening nurse Nancy Cummings summoned Dr. Melvin Pierce to room 217. “She’s showing signs of consciousness, Doctor.”
Dr. Pierce glanced at the monitor screen that displayed the patient’s heart rate and blood pressure. “Appears so,” he murmured, and turned his attention to the woman in the bed. There were abrasions, cuts and scrapes on her face and hands. The gash on her right temple had required stitches, but X rays and other tests had revealed no broken bones, and even her concussion was not severe. In his opinion, she was extremely fortunate to have survived such a fierce accident with so little bodily damage.
He laid his hand on her upper arm and shook it slightly. “Miss? Miss, can you hear me? Open your eyes. You’re in a hospital and I’m Dr. Pierce. Try to open your eyes.”
As though from a very great distance, Sierra heard a man’s voice. Open your eyes. Try to open your eyes.
Her eyelids felt weighted down by something heavy. Her entire body ached, especially her head. The palms of her hands burned as though on fire, her knees as well. She tried to think and couldn’t.
But she heard the voice, and it seemed to be getting closer. She struggled to obey it, and finally her lids fluttered open. She saw a blurred face, and heard, “Miss, can you speak? Say something. Tell us your name.”
Her brain felt stuffed with cotton. Her eyes closed, and she heard the voice again. “Try to stay awake, miss. Try to speak. What is your name?”
“Sierra,” she mumbled thickly, and fell back into that dark place where her body didn’t hurt and voices could not be heard.
Dr. Pierce straightened up and moved to the foot of the bed for her chart, on which he wrote the time and what had just occurred.
“Watch her closely,” he said to the nurse as he wrote. “I’ll be leaving the hospital in about thirty minutes. Dr. North will be on duty. Call him if she awakens again.”
He swung out of the room and strode directly to the ICU waiting room. Clint Barrow and his son stood up with expectant expressions.
“Go ahead and sit down again,” the doctor said. He sat as well. He looked tired and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Okay, here’s what we know with some degree of certainty. She has a mild concussion and numerous abrasions. There are no broken bones, nor any detectable internal injuries. We do not count her as completely out of danger, but the outlook is favorable. She came to a few minutes ago for about ten seconds, and the fact that she understood what I was saying to her is an excellent sign. I asked her name and she said Sierra.”
Clint and Tommy looked at each other. “Sierra? That was all she said?”
