the victim and loaded him with oxygen. Monitored his vital signs. Listened for an approaching ambulance. Getting the man to the hospital before he went into full cardiac arrest was his only hope.
It would be a lot easier to hear the victim’s heartbeat through the stethoscope if the wife wasn’t sitting there crying. Blaming herself. And the kids... They looked like they were soon going to need medical attention themselves.
Scott laid his hand on the wife’s arm. “Trust me,” he said, “we’ll get your husband to the hospital and there’s a great cardiologist on staff there. They’ll take care of him.”
The woman nodded, eyes locked on Scott as if he could single-handedly determine the fate of her husband.
“I need you to do something for me,” he said. “Breathe slowly and deliberately, and get your husband to do the same thing. Count two seconds in, two seconds out. Do this together and it will help all of us.”
She nodded. Turned her attention to her husband and counted slowly, breathing in and out.
“Good job. You’re doing great,” Scott said. He turned to the kids. Wished he could think of something for them to do.
Where is that ambulance?
“What can I do?” Evie asked, leaning over him so that her long blond hair fell across his shoulder. She placed a hand there and he could feel her breath on his neck.
It was oddly reassuring to have her beside him.
“Radio Dispatch and get an ETA on the squad.”
He assumed she’d straightened and moved away because her touch, her hair, her warm breath, were all gone. He heard her talking with the dispatcher on the radio.
A police officer raced up and dropped down next to Scott. “I’m a first responder,” he said. “Trained in CPR.”
“Good. Stand by. But I hope I won’t need your help.”
The officer glanced at the access road leading to the ride. “Here’s the squad.”
Scott let out a breath, relief rushing through him. He had to get this victim to the hospital to improve his chances of recovery, to relieve his family of the agony they were suffering. And there was another reason. He took a quick look at Evie and didn’t like the expression on her face. Shock. Fear. Grief? He had no idea if she’d ever witnessed something as terrifying as this, but it was obvious she wasn’t taking it lightly.
She would need someone to talk to when this was over. At the fire station, the team did their own form of group therapy after calls that were ugly. A heart attack like this was, sadly, quite common. But they needed the camaraderie, the dark humor, the friendships born of hardship.
The squad pulled up and Scott’s shift partner jumped out and opened both back doors. He rolled a gurney over without asking. Together, Scott and his partner loaded the victim.
“Can we come along?” the man’s wife asked. “We’re not from around here. I have no idea where the hospital is.”
Evie stepped close. “I’ve arranged a ride for you and your kids.”
Scott hoped Evie was not driving. The vulnerable look he’d seen on her face a minute ago was now replaced with a professional expression, but he wondered about her. Worried about her.
“We have a company car waiting right outside the gate,” she continued.
When had she arranged that? Must have been when she was talking to the dispatcher. She thought ahead. He respected that.
Scott climbed into the back of the ambulance and signaled his partner to start driving. He hoped the precious minutes they’d wasted locating the man and getting an ambulance hadn’t jeopardized his chances for survival.
That was something he needed to discuss with the head of safety at Starlight Point.
* * *
THAT EVENING EVIE sat on a bench in front of the train station at Starlight Point. Guests breezed past her on their way to several more hours of fun before the park closed for the night. A few families lined up for the old-fashioned steam train that would take them on a circular tour of the peninsula and entertain them with a staged shoot-out along the tracks in the Wonderful West. Despite its sedate speed, the train had the highest passenger count of all the rides at Starlight Point, probably because of the large number of people it could accommodate at one time.
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