Chapter 6
“She is healed?”
“No.”
The word landed firmly.
“She may be able to walk with assistance. She may use a chair for most of her life. Tonight does not erase three years of injury. It tells us her body can do more than it trusted itself to do yesterday.”
Luca absorbed that.
Then looked at me again.
“How did she recognize you?”
I placed both hands on the table because one had begun shaking.
“Three years ago, I was driving home from a catering shift. It was January. Just after midnight. I took River Road because the expressway was closed.”
The rain against the office window became the river beneath the broken bridge.
“I heard metal before I saw anything. A long grinding sound. The center section of Ashwood Bridge dropped. Three vehicles went into the water.”
Luca’s face tightened.
His wife, Elena, had died three days after the collapse.
I knew that now.
At the time, I knew only that one car had gone through the barrier close enough for me to see its taillights disappear.
“I called 911. Then I went down the embankment.”
“You entered the river?” Vincent asked.
“Yes.”
“In January.”
“Yes.”
“That was either extraordinary courage or a serious failure of risk assessment.”
“Both.”
A small expression passed over his face.
Approval, perhaps.
“I grew up near Lake Superior,” I continued. “My father taught water rescue. I was halfway through emergency medical technician training before he became ill.”
Luca leaned forward.
“Tell me about the car.”
“It was on the driver’s side. The front was crushed. The woman in front was unconscious. I couldn’t reach her because the door had folded against the concrete.”
Elena.
May you like
The word went unspoken.
“I saw Sophia in the back. Her seat belt had jammed. I broke the side window with the emergency hammer from my car.”
