Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 9

off so he and Gabe wouldn't be forced to leave the bedroom.
    With a smile on his face, he walked down the sidewalk. He took the corner at Fifth and Vine. Just one more block to go until he reached his man. God, he loved saying that.
    The wind picked up and out of the corner of his eye he saw something fly past. Not paying any attention, he kept walking. The sound of a young girl screaming spun him around. A girl, maybe twelve, stood in the middle of the street; an SUV was coming toward her.
    Without thinking, he ran in her direction. The driver never slowed. It happened so fast. He pushed the little girl, sending her to the side, out of harm's way. For a brief moment, he was relieved—that was until everything went dark.
    ****
    "How's everything going with Lucas?" Eric asked.
    Gabe finishing typing up his report, then looked to his friend. "Great." He couldn't hold back his smile.
    "I'm happy for you, I really am. You're like a whole different person since you met Lucas." Eric came around his desk and patted him on the shoulder. "You deserve to be happy."
    "Thanks, man."
    "Edgerton, Shaw," the captain called to them. "Can I get the two of you to go down and question some witnesses in a car accident? Took place a block north of here. It appears a SUV ran down a pedestrian while texting and driving. The guy claims he never saw the victim standing in the road." He shook his head. "People and those damn cell phones."
    "We're on it boss." Eric saluted the captain. Who in return flipped him the finger.
    Gabe started to laugh. "That's what you get for being a smart ass."
    They walked the short distance to the scene. An ambulance took off down the road as they neared the corner. A crowd of people still lingered where the accident had occurred.
    Gabe would never understand the human mind. Why people wanted to see these terrible things was beyond him.
    Two patrol men were escorting the driver of the black SUV to the station for questioning. The guy looked a mess, babbling how he never saw the man standing in the road.
    "Can you believe that guy?" Harrison one of the cops on the scene came up to them. "Of course he never saw anything—the dumb bastard was playing on his fucking phone."
    "Hey, Harrison, give us a rundown of events here," he said as he looked around.
    "That little girl over there—" He pointed across the street to a young girl sitting on a bench crying. "—she'd just gotten off the bus and one of her school papers went flying in the breeze. She took off after it and it landed in the middle of the road. From what her friends said, she bent down to get it and never heard or saw the car coming. They yelled for her to get out of the way, but she froze. Scared the life out of the poor kid."
    "So who's our victim?" Eric asked as he looked from the girl to the blood splattering the road.
    "A bystander heard the screaming and ran to the girl. He pushed her out of the way, saving her life, but it might cost him his. When the SUV struck him, it tossed the man ten feet in the air. He landed in the middle of the street. He didn't look good. If the driver had been going any faster, we would've been calling the morgue, not an ambulance."
    "We get the picture," Gabe said as he looked at the debris littering the road.
    "You got a name on the vic?" Eric took out his pad and pen to take notes.
    "Nah, he didn't have a wallet on him." He looked up the street. "It might have fallen off him when the car hit him."
    "Eric, why don't you go question the girl and I'll go check the street for any info on the guy." Gabe started off up the street.
    He walked slowly, looking for any clues. If the guy didn't make it, he wanted to at least be able to notify the family as soon as possible. Taking a step, he kicked something with his shoe. Bending down, he picked up a square piece of plastic. It looked like a name badge. He flipped it over; an ice cold terror gripped his heart. He tried to scream for Eric, but he couldn't swallow around the lump in his throat.
    Turning around, he ran toward Harrison. "What did he look like?" he was able to grit out.
    "Who?" Harrison's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.
    "The victim. What did he look like?" Gabe shouted at the top of his lungs.
    Eric rushed over to his side. "What's going on?"
    "He appeared to be about five foot ten, Caucasian, his hair looked to be blond, but there was so much blood it looked red to me."
    Gabe started to sway on his feet. "Oh my God."
    "Gabe, you're freaking me out. What's