Death on a Deadline

safe in the hospital. “What about my car?” I loved that car.
    “Sorry, baby, it’s completely totaled. At least it’s insured.”
    I closed my eyes against the tears that threatened to overflow.
    “You can use my car until you get another one.” Mama murmured and her cool hand brushed across my head and a bandage I hadn’t realized was there. “Go on back to sleep. You’re going to be fine.”
    “I’m not sleepy. Just resting my eyes.” And thinking. I stared at her and noticed something else behind the worry. Strength. Mama could handle the truth. “When I left the health club last night, I was calling Carly when I got to the second curve, and headlights came up behind me, fast. Then I felt a hard hit on my back bumper. Before I could react, the car pulled up beside me and rammed me.”
    She put her hand over her mouth, but nodded. “That’s about what we figured after what you said to your daddy earlier. He’s gone to talk to John right now.”
    John? Great. Exactly what this day needed.
    “Jenna, did you see who it was?”
    “No, but there’s more.” I told her about the threatening letter.
    She sank to the chair, her face almost as white as the wall behind her. “Honey, what have you gotten yourself into?”
    “I’m doing it for Zac, Mama. And for Marge.”
    “Your dad and I would do anything to keep Zac from being arrested. But not risk your life. You’ve got to stop this snooping.”
    “I want to know.” I stared at her eyes, so much like mine. How could she not understand? “I need to know.”
    She gave a half laugh. “You always have needed to know. Needed to know what would happen if you mixed vinegar with baking soda, needed to know where that butterfly had gone or where the falling leaf would land. When you were little, you kept me busy, rescuing you from your need to know.” The smile faded. “But it’s time to outgrow that insatiable curiosity. It’s too dangerous.”
    Tears burned my eyelids. “I’m sorry, Mama.”
    She reached up and touched my cheek with her palm, tenderness evident in her eyes. “Promise me you’ll be more careful.”
    “I promise.” That was easy. I didn’t want to end up in the hospital again. . .or worse. Besides, I had a date tonight. I intended to live long enough to find out if Alex Campbell was as special as I remembered. Although we might have to rethink that long walk beside the river. “Now, how about some coffee?”
    “I don’t know about leaving you.”
    “No one is going to bother me in broad daylight with all these nurses and doctors running around.”
    She shoved the Call button at me. “You keep this close and push it if a stranger comes in.”
    “I will.” Anything to get my caffeine. No need to add that if the murderer was the one who ran me off the road, I seriously doubted that it would be a stranger.
    After she left, I closed my eyes again and thanked God for getting me out of last night alive. The door creaked open slowly. My heartbeat accelerated but I kept my eyes closed.
    “Jenna, Jenna, are you asleep?” Brendan Stiles’s quiet voice sounded close to my face. I resisted the urge to open my eyes and kept my finger resting lightly on the Call button. If I screamed and pushed it at the same time. . .
    Before the scream materialized, Brendan whispered, “I hope you can hear me. I need to tell you, you were right about Zac. He didn’t kill Hank. But I think I know who did.”
    With no direction from my brain, my eyes flew open. Just like in the hall at the newspaper office that night, I was staring straight into Brendan’s eyes. “Who?”
    “Well, well!” A woman’s voice echoed through the room. Brendan jerked upright, and I looked past him at Amelia, who had pulled her usual trick of entering a room with absolutely no noise. Wonder if she’d teach me how to do that. “I hope I’m not interrupting a tête-à-tête. I’d heard rumors that you two had a falling out. That should be a lesson to all of us not to listen to rumors.”
    I used the arrows to raise myself up to a semi-sitting position in the bed. “So Amelia, what are you doing here?” That didn’t sound right. Tact has never been my strong suit, but surely after the last twenty-four hours, I couldn’t be expected to say everything perfectly. “I mean, how did you know I was here?” Well, that may have actually been worse given the circumstances. . .and the suspicions racing through my mind as I stared at my two surprise visitors. How