Black Cat and the Accidental Angel (Black Cat Mysteries Book 3) (2 page)

“Okay! Okay! I get it. I’m outnumbered,” Brett mumbled. “I’m looking for a place to turn around. It’s too narrow here.” He slowed the SUV.

Another pick-up truck zoomed past. Thumper’s carrier swayed.

“Up there,” Kimberlee said. “Turn around there.”

“That looks good.” The brakes squeaked as Brett slowed the vehicle. “I think there’s room to…” He glanced into the rear view mirror. “Watch it!”

The screech of crunching metal filled the car as the truck behind struck their rear bumper, flinging the back passenger door open. The SUV lurched sideways and swayed.

Thumper pitched forward. He collided against Noe-Noe as the carrier toppled from the car, crashed onto the asphalt and then tumbled down the twenty-foot embankment on the side of the road. Metal grated against metal, drowning out Noe-Noe’s shrieks.
Brett! Kimberlee! Amanda!

The world tipped upside down, then right side up. Thumper’s head reeled as the carrier plummeted down, end over end, striking against the wall of rocks.
Wham!
His head whacked against the hard interior wall.

The carrier rocked to the side and then lurched to a stop. The scent of rotten apples made his stomach turn. A fine mist of dust rose up and drifted in through the wire. He moaned and tried to lift his head.
Noe-Noe?

Then, everything went black.

Chapter Two

B
rett checked the huge clock on the stark white wall for the sixth time in five minutes—one and a half minutes since the last time he’d looked. He fidgeted in the chair, his stomach churning, fingering the bandage on his hand. The pain in his wrist had eased somewhat, thanks to the pain pill they’d given him for ribcage bruises and a sprained wrist. Had it been over an hour since he and little Amanda entered the waiting room, waiting for word about Kimberlee’s test results? What would her x-ray show? Brain damage? Blindness? Remember the movie,
Magnificent Obsession
? The bump on Jane Wyman’s head caused her to go blind.
Calm down, Brett. That was just a movie, not real life
.
Please, Lord, let her be alright
.

And what about Dorian? Off to the orthopedic procedure room to check her shoulder injury.

The smell of antiseptic in the emergency room at St. Joseph’s Hospital reminded him of his grandmother’s bathroom. Stressed parents walked the aisles, futilely trying to console wailing babies. Other children, likely siblings of the sick and injured, chased each other around the play yard outside, in contrast to other patients inside, some holding their heads in their hands.

Head injury! It sounded so ominous. They took Kimberlee to Radiology first thing, thanks to the diagnosis of head injury reported by the ambulance technicians.
Lord, don’t let her die
. Prickles of sweat dampened his forehead. If anything should happen to her… What would he do without her? Because he had Amanda with him, he couldn’t go to the x-ray department with Kimberlee.

He shuddered, as the sound of the crash rang through his mind. They’d been on a levee road one minute and the next, a rusty flatbed truck turned his world upside down.

Amanda squirmed in the hard plastic chair next to him, the third seat they’d moved to over the past hour, driven from one place to another to avoid a vomiting baby on his left and an old man coughing into a bloody handkerchief on his right.

“Why don’t you run out there and play with those little girls?” Brett gestured toward the riding toys just beyond the emergency room glass wall. She’d be safer outside in the sunshine, than she was sitting here in the waiting room with who-knows-what germs swirling overhead.
And let me worry about Kimberlee, alone.

Amanda peered through the window where two little girls peddled plastic cars around the fenced enclosure. “
Nuh-uh
. I want to wait for Mommy.” She swung her legs over the edge of her chair. “Will Mommy be alright?”

“The doctor is doing her best to take care of her.”

It’s my fault.
His stomach lurched. The taste of bile soured in the back of his throat. Had his tiredness and frustration contributed to the accident? With nerves frayed from an all-day flight, he must not have paid enough attention to his driving. Getting lost on a levee road with his three favorite women, two cats and a dog wasn’t exactly the best way to end their vacation. Maybe he hadn’t checked the rear view mirror before he slowed to make the turn. He’d been so annoyed by Kimberlee’s gentle nagging and Noe-Noe’s caterwauling. The flatbed truck must have come up from behind—

Brett glanced up as a woman in pink scrubs approached. Could it be the doctor? She looked more like a high school kid, but her name badge read
Doctor
and the silver stethoscope around her neck gleamed like a badge of honor, signifying the completion of eight years of medical school. She hardly appeared old enough to hold Kimberlee’s life in her chubby hands.

“Mr. Clarke?” She shoved her glasses over the curls on top of her head and extended her hand. “Dr. Smythe.”

He stood. “My wife. Is she going to be okay?”

“Your wife is back from Radiology.” She flipped the pages on her clipboard. “Good news. No broken bones, but she has a pretty nasty lump on her head. I’d like to do an MRI and admit her for observation. If the results look good, we’ll release her in the morning. You and your daughter can go up to the second floor and see her. She’s in room 212. Check with the floor nurse.” She closed the clipboard file and smiled.

Thank God. She’s going to be alright.
“That’s good news. How’s her cousin, Dorian Dilman? She came in the ambulance with us.”

Dr. Smythe shook her head. “I’m not her attending, but I know she’s in the Orthopedics wing. They should be about done by now. The receptionist can arrange for her doctor to speak with you.”

“Do you know where they took our car? I’ll need to pick up our luggage and make…whatever arrangements.”

The doctor checked her clipboard again. “There’s a note here that says the Redi-Care Ambulance brought you in and your car was taken to…O’Reilly Towing Company.”

Brett pulled a notebook and a pen from his pocket. “O’Reilly Towing. Thank you. How about the SPCA? Our pets were in the car with us. They said the SPCA would take the animals.”

The doctor pointed north. “You’ll find the SPCA three blocks north, on Old Redwood Highway.”

“Thanks.” He turned to Amanda, “Come on honey, let’s go see Mommy.”

The elevator doors opened on the second floor. Brett checked left and right. “Two-ten, two-eleven…here it is. Two-twelve.” He tiptoed into the room, his finger to his lips. “
Shh.
Mommy’s sleeping.”

Amanda stopped halfway across the room and put her hands over her eyes. No wonder the kid was scared. He’d gulped down the same panic when he first stepped through the door. A large bandage swathed Kimberlee’s head. Black circles under both eyes made her pale face resemble a marshmallow with two raisins for eyes.

Brett leaned over and kissed her forehead.

Kimberlee opened her eyes and reached toward Amanda. “Come here, sweetheart. Don’t be afraid.”

Amanda shook her head and backed away.

“It’s okay, honey.” Brett reached out his hand. “Mama bumped her head. See? She has a big bandage on her head. Come and give her a kiss.”

Amanda crept to the bed and gave her mother a hesitant kiss.

Brett brought Kimberlee’s fingers to his lips.

She touched the bandage on his hand. Her eyebrows rose. “And you?” Her voice was just a whisper. She cleared her throat. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine. Just a scratch. Amanda passed her exam with flying colors.”

“Oh, Brett.” She blinked back tears. “How is Dorian? Is she okay?”

“Now, take it easy. She’s nearby. I spoke to her doctor. They’re treating her for a shoulder injury. They want to keep her overnight, too. I’ll see about getting both of you out of here in the morning, just as soon as they say you can leave.”

“The car. How will we get home? What about Sam and the cats?”

Brett laughed.
She’s going to be fine.
“Listen to you. You’re worrying about everybody but yourself. Your job is to get better. Let me worry about the car and the animals. The local animal control took them. I’ll pick them up in the morning before I come back for you and Dorian. Now, get some rest. Amanda and I will get a motel tonight. Everything’s going to be fine.”

Kimberlee gripped his hand and smiled.

“I’ll check on Dorian before we go.” He kissed her cheek and took Amanda’s hand. “Give Mama a kiss. We’ll see her in the morning.”

Brett lifted Amanda up for another quick kiss. “Bye, Mama. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye-bye.” Kimberlee waved.

Brett located Dorian’s room. He reassured her that Sam and the cats were at the animal shelter. “Kimberlee’s in Room 212 if you want to call and coordinate your release time in the morning. She can call my cell and let me know when to pick you up. I need to find a motel and get this little girl to bed.”

Within an hour, he had arranged for a rental car and booked a room at Howard Johnson’s. He put Amanda into bed and pulled the covers up to her neck. “Nighty-night, sweetheart.”

“Daddy Brett? Won’t Thumper be scared with all the other cats and dogs?”

“They’ll be okay. The people at the SPCA are there to take care of the animals.”

“Can’t we call and tell Thumper we’ll come in the morning and get him?”

“That’s a good idea, sweetheart.” He kissed her cheek. “I wish we could.”

Chapter Three

S
OMEWHERE BELOW THE LEVEE ROAD—

He opened his eyes and blinked.
Where am I?
He lay sprawled in the doorway of the cat carrier, leaned against an apple tree, the door hanging at an odd angle. Beyond the tree, a steep embankment, barely visible in the darkness, rose up to God knew where. Maybe a road, if the occasional roar of cars approaching and then receding were a clue.

Overhead, a million stars surrounded a bright quarter moon.
What is this place?
He shivered in the cool night air. Pain shot through the back of his head.
What happened?
He tried to move. His head whirled into a sense of falling, tumbling end over end. He leaned back against the hard carrier door. Something soft pressed against his lower body.

Maybe it’s all a bad dream
. Surely, he was in his own bed. He could almost imagine the smell of fried chicken. He lifted his head, opened his eyes and sniffed. No. It wasn’t fried chicken. It was rotten apples and cow manure. Instead of his favorite fuzzy blanket and his soft donut bed, he laid half in and half out of his carrier among a stand of weeds.

Flexing his legs, he tried to stand.
Everything seems to work.
Then he saw
her
curled against his side. Her creamy gold-colored body gleamed in the moonlight. A gentle breeze ruffled a tuft of hair on the back of her head.
Who?
Another wave of pain shot through his head. His eyes refused to stay open, and he fell back against the body of his companion, lying motionless inside the carrier.

Sometime later, he woke again, roused by something rough, wet and sticky stroking the side of his face. He blinked into the early morning light. A sliver of a moon hung low in the sky.

“Oh, wake up.
Slurp.
Please wake up.
Lick, lick
. Oh, please, don’t be dead… I hate blood, oh…oh…
Slurp
. I can’t be a bride one week and a widow the next… You can’t be dead…”
Lick, lick, lick!

A wet tongue slathered the fur between his ears, each lick sending tiny electric shocks through his skull. He opened one eye a slit and looked into the most beautiful pair of golden orbs. A furry amber goddess.

“Oh. Oh. You’re alive. Thank goodness…”
Slurp
. A strand of black fur hung from her mouth from where she’d licked it off his shoulder.

Alive? I think so.
He tried to lift his head.
Bride? What does she mean
…
bride? Is this a dream?
He reached out a big white paw and touched the side of her cheek. Yep, real.

“Are you okay? You have a big lump on the top of your head. I did the best I could to clean off the blood.” She blinked.

Whoa!
What a babe. His heart skipped a beat. He took a breath and pulled his whiskers back. “Thank you for helping me, but…
um
…I’m not sure… Who are you? I can’t seem to recall…” He tried to bring the quivering outline of her delicate face into one firm image, but her features slid from side to side. He shook his head to clear his vision. “
Ouch
…oh…I shouldn’t have done that.” He dropped his head and counted to six. The pain receded and her face shifted together into one image. “Oh…oh…that’s better.”