Silent Fall

deputy added.
    â€œWho found me?” she asked.
    â€œA witness saw your car go over the side and called nine-one-one. Does any of this sound familiar?"
    The part about going off the side of the road sounded a lot like the dream she’d been having. “I’m not sure."
    â€œWere you alone in the car?"
    His question surprised her. “I think so.” She thought back to her dream. Had she been alone in the car? She didn’t remember anyone else. “If I wasn’t alone, wouldn’t that other person be here at the hospital?” she asked.
    â€œThe back door of your car was open. There was a child’s car seat strapped in the middle of the backseat, a bottle half-filled with milk, and this shoe.” Officer Manning held up a clear plastic bag through which she could see a shoe so small it would fit into the palm of her hand. Her heart began to race. She had the sudden urge to call for a time-out, to make him leave before he said something else, something terrifying, something to do with that shoe. “Oh, God. Stop. I can’t do this."
    â€œI’m sorry, but I need to know. Do you have a baby?” he asked. “Was your child with you in the car?"

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ALL SHE EVER WANTED

    Excerpt @ Barbara Freethy Copyright 2011
    All Rights Reserved

    Chapter One

    "Pick a card, any card."
    Natalie Bishop stared at the playing cards in the old man's hands. "Mr. Jensen, I really need to listen to your heart. You said you were having some chest pain earlier?"
    He ignored her question and tipped his head toward the cards. His fingers were long, his hands wrinkled and pale, weathered with age spots. His dark eyes pleaded with her to do as he asked. The emergency room of St. Timothy's Hospital in San Francisco was not the place for card tricks. But Natalie had learned in the past three years of her residency that healing wasn't always about medicine, and patient visits weren't always about being sick. Sometimes they were just about being old and lonely. So she did what he'd asked—she picked a card. It was the ace of spades. The death card. A chill ran through her.
    "Don't tell me what it is, Dr. Bishop. Just hold it in your hand." Mr. Jensen closed his eyes and began to mutter something under his breath.
    Natalie had a sudden urge to throw the card down on the bed, which was ridiculous. She wasn't superstitious. She didn't believe in card tricks, hocus pocus, or any other kind of magic. She didn't believe in anything that couldn't be scientifically proven. The ace of spades was just a card. If she were playing poker or blackjack, she'd be excited to have it.
    Mr. Jensen's eyes flew open and he stared at her as if he'd never seen her before. "The dark ace. Spades."
    She swallowed hard. "Good guess." Handing him back the card, she asked, "How did you know?"
    "I felt you shiver." He met her gaze with a seriousness that made her feel even more uneasy. "You're afraid."
    "No, I'm not." She didn't have time to be afraid. She was a medical resident working double shifts most days. She was overworked, overtired, and stressed to the max. She didn't have the energy to be scared. Except that she was scared. She was terrified that something would go wrong at this late date, that with only a month to go on her residency, after years of struggling against almost insurmountable odds to become a doctor, she would somehow fail. And failure wasn't an option. Her career was her life.
    "Something bad is coming," the old man continued. "I can feel it in my bones. And these old bones have never been wrong."
    "I don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you let me listen to your heart?" Natalie placed her stethoscope on his chest and listened to the steady beating of his heart. It sounded fine. Hers, on the other hand, was pounding against her rib cage. Too much caffeine, she told herself, nothing more than that.
    "Your heart sounds good," she said, focusing her mind on the present. "Are you having any pain?"
    "Not anymore."
    Natalie wasn't surprised. Mr. Jensen was a regular in the ER, and by now they both knew the drill. "What did you have for lunch?"
    "Pepperoni pizza."
    She had suspected as much. "I think we found our culprit. Was it a burning pain right about here?" she asked, putting her hand on his chest.
    He nodded. "Yes, that's it exactly."
    "Sounds like the same indigestion you had last week and the week before. It's time to stop eating pizza, Mr. Jensen." She pulled out