Ghostwalker 07 - Murder Game

you hear me? No." He denied her a second time, his white teeth snapping together in finality as he applied more pressure to the pumping wound in her leg.

    She closed her eyes, tired, and turned her face away from him as if she had no fight left in her. The ambulance was there, paramedics pushing him aside to work on her. A short distance away, firefighters draped a blanket over Shaina's friend. This was one accident Shaina's father could not make go away with his money.

    More paramedics were working desperately at Shaina's side. It took him a minute to realize they were taking the baby—his son. His heart in his throat, he waited until he heard the triumphant cheers. The child was alive, more than they could say for the mother. He waited to feel emotion, any emotion, at Shaina's death or his son's birth. He felt nothing at all, only a sense of contempt for the way Shaina had lived and died.
    Silently cursing his own cold nature, he looked down at the woman lying so still, her dark eyes staring past the paramedic to the burned car. He shifted slightly while they worked on her, to block her view.

    Jake followed the ambulances carrying his son and the woman to a small hospital.
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    Although the place seemed a little primitive by Jake's standards, the overworked staff seemed to know their jobs.

    "I'm Officer Nate Peterson." A young highway patrolman thrust a cup of coffee into his bloody hands.

    Her blood. It was all over him. Jake's shoulders sagged and all at once he was immensely tired, but he needed to find out if she was still alive.

    "Can you tell me what happened, sir?" the officer asked. The young patrolman was shaking so badly he could hardly hold his pen. "Andy and I were good friends," the man admitted, choking back emotion.

    "Tell me about him," Jake asked, curious about the man who inspired such loyalty that a woman would run through fire to save him, even with her own terrible injuries. A man who could make a patrolman shake and hold back real tears. Jake could feel the genuine emotion pouring off the other man. He looked around the hospital and found others looking just as distressed.

    "His name was Andrew Reynolds and he was twenty-five, best mechanic in town. He could fix anything with an engine. I was best man at his wedding only five months ago.
    He was so happy that she married him. They were so happy."

    Emma . That was her name. "Is she still alive?" He held his breath.

    The patrolman nodded. "As far as I know. She's in surgery. Did you see the accident?"

    Jake crumbled up the paper coffee cup and threw it in the trash can. "They were drunk. I followed them from Senator Hindman's party. Shaina Trent, the woman, was carrying my child. She didn't want him and had signed him over to me, but it didn't stop her from drinking and partying with her friends. I was worried because both of them appeared to be drunk. I'm sorry, I don't know the man."

    Jake gave the rest of his statement as clearly as possible, knowing the skidmarks would bear him out.

    Jake overheard a young nurse crying in the hall and he walked over to her on the pretext of comforting her. "Are you all right?"

    She sniffed several times, her eyes bright and a little interested when she saw him. Jake stuck out his hand and patted her shoulder. "I'm Jake Bannaconni." He knew the name would be recognizable and when her eyes widened satisfaction settled in his belly. "Can you tell me about the woman? Is she alive?" He looked at the nurse's name tag. Chelsey Harden.

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    how this could happen. She called me earlier today and said she took a pregnancy test and she was so happy. She was telling Andy tonight at dinner. I bet he didn't even have a chance to know." She covered her face for a moment and broke into sobs.

    Jake patted her shoulder again. "I take it you two are friends."

    Chelsey hiccupped and blew her nose. "Very good friends. I went to school with Andrew and he introduced us. Now she has no one. Andrew's parents died last year in a car crash and Emma's died when she was a teen. They only had each other. It seems like some kind of curse or something, all these car wrecks." Her face