Chapter 21
Brakes squealing, tires screaming, Nico jerked the steering wheel hard to the left. Julia flew to the right, saved from slamming into the door only by her seat belt. The car spun one-hundred-eighty degrees. As Nico struggled to control the spin, the front fender of a speeding car caught the back fender of her car, turning it into a carnival ride.
Her seat belt caught, and her head flew forward.
Nico’s knuckles whitened on the steering as he fought the rotation of the car. It bumped into the curb. Bounced off. Finally slowed and stopped.
They faced the wrong way on the street, and Nico switched on the caution blinkers.
The black car sped away down the cross street, disappearing from view within seconds.
As soon as the other car disappeared, Nico swiveled to face her. Reached out to touch her. “Are you hurt? Did you hit your head? Wrench your neck when he hit the car?”
His hands traveled over her face. Her head. Her neck. Pressed against her chest. “Tell me where you hurt.”
As he studied her, touched her gently, he pulled out his phone and hit 911.
“I’m fine, I think,” she said, her voice shaky. “What…”
“What is your emergency?” a woman’s voice said calmly from Nico’s phone.
“We were just hit in the intersection of Fourth and Thurman,” Nico answered. “Hit and run. Black car, heading east, ran a red light. Going way over the speed limit. Hit the right rear fender. I only caught a glimpse of the plate. First three letters were CRP.”
“Was anyone in the car injured?” the dispatcher asked.
“I don’t think so. Just shaken up,” Nico said.
“I’ve already sent a squad car to your location.”
“We’re in the street. I’m not going to move the car so you can do accident reconstruction. We’re in a blue Subaru Forester.”
“An officer should be there shortly. Please stay on the line until he or she arrives.”
“I’ll let you go so you can help someone else. Thank you,” Nico said, disconnecting before the dispatcher could object.
Nico unbuckled his seat belt and leaned over to Julia. “Can you look at me?” he asked.
She turned her head slowly in his direction. Her neck ached, and so did her shoulder, but otherwise she felt okay. Nico pulled out a tiny flashlight and shone it on first her right eye, then her left. He switched the flashlight off. “Your eyes look good. Pupils the same size and reactive.”
He slid one finger gently down her seatbelt. “You’re probably going to have a bruise across your chest,” he said. “You’ll be achy for a few days. But at least he only got the rear fender. A direct hit from that car? Being T-boned at that speed?” He studied her gravely. “You could have been seriously injured. Maybe killed.”
Julia wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold. “Thanks for sharing that cheery news.”
The distant wail of a police siren drew closer. “They’re almost here. Do you want me to have them call an ambulance? Take you to a hospital to get checked out?”
“He hit the car, but I wasn’t injured, except for being thrown against the seatbelt,” she said with a puzzled look. “Why would I go to the hospital?”
“To make sure you don’t have whiplash.”
“Even if I do, nothing can be done, right?”
Nico shrugged. “They don’t use collars anymore. They’d probably give you steroids and painkillers. Tell you to take it easy for a few days. But your trip to the hospital would be on the record if they catch the guy who almost hit us.”
Julia forced herself to focus. She saw the worry in Nico’s expression. The concern. And the fear. “You don’t think it’s some random guy, do you?”
He stared at her for a long moment, then shook his head. “No, I don’t. Too many things have happened to you in the last few weeks. A car speeding through a red light late at night, with no other traffic around? Could be a guy in a hurry to get home. But I don’t think it was random.”
She nodded at the police car that had just pulled up behind them, light bar flashing blue and red. “What are you going to tell them?”