Lemon Meringue Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen #4)(89)

"But there aren't any. Lonnie said they were all called out to that accident out on the highway."

"Right." Hannah shook her head to clear it. The sight of Freddy's still face and the awful wound on his head had rattled her. "Okay. I'll take him to the hospital myself. I hate to ask, but can you stay here with him while I get my truck?"

"I'll stay," Michelle said.

Her baby sister sounded calm and that reassured Hannah. "Okay, I'll be back just as fast as I can. Don't try to move

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him. If he starts to thrash around, talk to him and do your best to hold him still. We don't want that cut on his head to open up and start bleeding again."

Hannah raced for her truck and made short work of driving it down to the shoreline. She backed up as close as she could, opened the rear doors, and got out to find Michelle still sitting right where she'd left her, holding Freddy's hand. "Pulse?"

"It's still there." Michelle stood up and Hannah noticed that there were traces of tears on her cheeks. "How are we going to load him in?"

"Sideways. I'll take his head and shoulders and you take his legs. If he's too heavy for you, holler out and we'll put him back down."

"I can do it," Michelle said, and she knelt by Freddy's feet.

Hannah was about to lift Freddy's shoulders when she caught a whiff of a telltale odor. "Do you smell anything, Michelle?"

"Yes, booze. Do you think Freddy got drunk and hit his head when he passed out under our dock?"

"I don't know, but it's a possibility. I'm ready to lift if you are."

It wasn't easy, but between the two of them they managed to load Freddy into the back of Hannah's cookie truck. Hannah cushioned his head with the ratty old hooded sweatshirt her mother would have advised her to throw out, and shut the rear doors. "I'll drive him straight to the hospital. Call and tell them I'm coming. Say it's Freddy Sawyer and he's got a bad head wound. They should meet me at the emergency entrance with a stretcher."

"Okay, but don't you want me to ride along to help?"

"You don't have any medical training that I don't know about, do you?"

"No."

"Then you're better off here. Make that call to the hospital and then go and tell Andrea and Mother what happened. I want all of you to look for Jed Sawyer and tell him that I'm

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driving Freddy to the hospital. I'll call the cottage as soon as

I have any news on his condition."

"Got it," Michelle said. "Good luck, Hannah."

Hannah got in behind the wheel and lowered the window.

"You're really great in a crisis, Michelle."

"Thanks." Michelle gave a little smile. "I think I must

have inherited that from you."

By the time Hannah took the turnoff for the Lake Eden Memorial emergency entrance, her nerves were shot. She'd driven a distance of only ten miles, but it had been gruesome. Freddy had cried out and mumbled from the back of her truck and what she'd been able to understand had been heartbreaking. Freddy was upset because Jed was mad at him. Jed hated him and thought that Freddy was stupid. If Freddy could only get that present back for Jed, then Jed might forgive him and not go away. Then they could be friends again and everything would be all right.

Hannah had attempted to talk back to Freddy to reassure him, but she didn't think he'd heard her. He'd just gone back to the mumbling again about how he had to give Jed the present.

About five miles from the hospital, Freddy had stopped mumbling. He'd groaned once or twice, and then he'd been disturbingly quiet. While Hannah had been hoping that Freddy would calm down and stop mumbling, his total silence had been worse. Hannah had tromped on the accelerator and prayed that he'd only lost consciousness and not died.

By the time she pulled up at the doors of the emergency room, Hannah was shaking like a leaf. She flicked her lights and honked her horn to let the E.R. staff know that she'd arrived, and then she cut her engine and leaned back in her seat, watching as the emergency room crew loaded Freddy on a stretcher.

Hannah sat for a few minutes, just working to get her

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breathing back to normal. When her legs had stopped shaking and she felt able to walk, she got out of her truck and went inside to the nurses' desk. "I just brought in Freddy Sawyer," she told the stern-looking older nurse who was behind the desk. "Is he ... alive?"

"Yes. Doctor Knight's with him right now."

"Did he say anything about Freddy's condition?"

"It's borderline critical and they're working to stabilize the patient. Doctor said to tell you that you did your part and you should go home and get some rest."

"No way," Hannah said, shaking her head. "I got Freddy this far and I'm not leaving now."

The nurse smiled and she looked much less forbidding. "Doctor said you'd say that, and he'll come to talk to you as soon as he can. That might be a while. He's pretty backed up."

"From the accident out on the highway?"

"They called in everyone from the staff and reserve list. I'm retired, but I came in to handle the intake desk. The big waiting room's packed, but Doctor said you should use the small waiting room at the end of the hall. There's a wall of vending machines near the door if you want something to eat or drink."