Chapter 27
First Responder
(Frank Grimes)
The night had been an amazing success. Frank had heard and experienced several things. The most important thing was that his car, and livelihood for the foreseeable future was fixed. Of course, Frank knew that he would have to check this out personally, as this was rather quick for a high school and grandfather with arthritis to have fixed in a week, let alone the day and a half or so that had allegedly happened.
Honestly, Frank would have thought the whole thing to be a scam, had he not seen the crack in the head gasket himself. While he was not the most technically proficient officer, he like the others on staff had a mild fascination with mechanics. Over time Frank had learned to do all the basics, but changing out a head gasket, that was clearly beyond him.
“So your daughter, Misha, fixed it?” Frank asked, phishing for the second major clue he had been looking for.
“Yes, Misha can fix anything. That girl is a certified genius.” Andrea said, more than a little excited about her daughter. While having pride in one’s child was not unexpected, it was clear that Andrea was positively beaming while talking about her daughter.
“You are clearly proud of her, as you have a certain glow while talking about her.” Frank said.
With that Andrea just smiled, as she thought about what to say in response. There was a brief awkward moment that filled the car as Andrea sorted out her thoughts, then finally she spoke.
“For the longest time I messed up. My dad didn’t approve of anything I did. He hated my choices of study, he hated the guys I dated,” a slight pause before she continued. “He absolutely loathed David. Saying that David was the worst decision I would ever make.”
Silence.
“For a time, I thought he was right. He left me while I was pregnant with Misha, just went out and never came back. Those first few years were the toughest. There I was trying to make it as a single mother with no support. Oh, I could talk to mom, but dad had all but cut me out of his life. Until he finally met her. The moment he locked gazes with her, it was as if he knew she was seeing right into his soul, and you could see the moment he fell in love with her right there. As if that was the daughter he had always wanted.”
Pause.
At this Andrea began to drive a little slower down the back roads, as a tear formed in her eye causing her to wipe the offending drop away.
Chuckle.
Then just as she was wiping away the tear, she laughed as a funny thought came to mind.
“After that, dad only made one reference to my bad choices, calling out David in particular.” At this, the smile on Andrea’s face grew wide as she clearly recalled the memory in detail. “That’s when I pointed out that Misha wouldn’t be here now without him.”
Silence.
“What happened then?” Frank found himself asking.
“Oh, he dropped the subject and never brought up David again. While he still didn’t like the jerk, it was clear that he was okay with having his Misha. Which meant we could heal as a family.”
Frank let those thoughts compile in his mind. Then he remembered his long-standing unsolved case, the one that brought him here. While he found an interesting correlation and felt that this was almost destiny that brought him here, particularly with how much he enjoyed spending time with the quirky Andrea. Yes, she was a bit neurotic as one would expect from her being a single mother for so long, she didn’t seem to have the excess baggage that one might expect from such a person, at least not that he could see currently. Still, he felt the idea of a cold case potentially involving aliens to be a bad topic, especially as there clearly were no aliens involved up to this point.
Chuckle.
Frank laughed with her, and despite how it might seem it wasn’t forced. Rather, it was the comfortable laugh one would have when laughing at the bad joke a friend would make. He looked at her, and while she was constantly looking forward, Frank couldn’t help but see the way she would constantly peek out of the side of her eyes to see him as they spoke.
“What are…” was as far as Frank got, before the sound of a roaring engine cut through their conversation.
Vroom!
High beams blared right into the eyes of Andrea and Frank. On reflex Andrea swerved right, running just off the road, while slamming on her brakes in an effort to avoid a collision. Fortunately, this was one of the few almost even patches of backroads that had a relatively level shoulder to grind to a sudden halt.
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Rumble-vrrt.
The car ground to a complete halt on the side.
Panting.
Crink.
Andrea already being at a complete stop, took a moment to place the car in park, apply her hand brake, and even had the wherewithal to put on her emergency blinkers.
Then with that moment of insight down, she collapsed into her seat.
“I am sorry, I just need a minute after that.” Andrea said, holding her hand over her heart.
“No, I completely understand.” Frank replied, feeling that he too needed to take a deep calming breath after that.
Finally, after a few deep breaths, Frank asked the obvious question, “are you okay?”
“Yeah, not the scariest thing I’ve ever had to witness, but one of the few that I knew took years off of my life.” Andrea admitted.
Seeing her lighthearted response, Frank felt this was good as it was clear that she would be able to recover from this relatively easily.
“Oh, and what was a scarier event?” Frank asked.
“Probably the time Misha got electrocuted while at therapy.” Andrea said after only a second of hesitation.
“She got shocked at therapy; you mean electroshock therapy?” Frank questioned.
“No, that was the odd part. We were just in Dr. Grier’s office and suddenly a jolt of electricity came from the wall socket and zapped my Misha, when she took off her helmet.” Andrea said, as a haunted look came to her face.
Frank, hearing the name Dr. Grier did ring a few bells, though he couldn’t quite place where he heard the name before, nor why the name sounded so familiar.
“She wore a helmet?” Frank asked, grabbing onto the part that really stuck out to him.
“Yeah, it was a big thing. At the time I thought it was the biggest thing, which was why we were there at therapy. Looking back, I realize that it was just my own fears and prejudices that wanted her to change.” Andrea said.
“Well what happened?”
“She recovered, and oddly enough never wore the helmet again.” Andrea stated with a faint hint of sadness to her words.
Frank was about to ask more, when Andrea let out a breath, then shifted back into drive and slowly worked her way back on the road.
“Thank you for that.” Andrea said, as she had clearly relaxed from almost being run off the road.
“Not a problem. If I had been in my cop car I would have chased down that vehicle as they were clearly speeding.” Frank admitted, finally recalling a few odd details about the vehicle, namely the fact that there was a long scratch line down the side of the van, as if they had run into a tree branch or something. Though it was odd that the markings were on the driver’s side door.
Now that Frank had time to recall the details, Frank realized why his mind picked up on the details.
“Yeah, they were clearly dangerous, as they nearly ran me off the road.”
Stationary lights.
Up ahead there were what was clearly the lights of a vehicle that was just sitting still. Having seen the lights, Andrea slowed down around the turn, only to see a vehicle that looked like they too had run off the road. All except there were a few odd marks. First, the front right side of the vehicle had been crumpled in on itself. Second, there was the fact that the vehicle was more than halfway off the road, while this wasn’t the worst thing, there was the fact that they were almost definitely resting against the trees that were right off the end of the road.
Complete stop.
Then as he looked on, Frank could see why Andrea had come to a complete stop, as the woman that was driving was passed out on the steering wheel.
Before Frank even knew what was happening, his instincts kicked in. Within a second he had his seatbelt off and was out the door, quickly going over to the vehicle, to see if he could render first aid to the victim.
Seeing the old woman that despite being covered in blood looked oddly familiar, Frank turned to see that Andrea had just shut down. This happens sometimes, in such cases. The sight of blood is debilitating for most, realizing that she needed something to do, he began taking control of the scene.
“Call 911.” Frank ordered, while his voice wasn’t yelling, his words were stated with enough conviction to awaken Andrea from the fog that had covered her.
Lurch.
“Gah!” Andrea shouted, as her car lurched forward before Andrea slammed on the brakes and put the vehicle in park. Then began pulling out her phone and began to make emergency calls.
“911, what is your emergency?”
“Yes, my name is Andrea Tulley, I was driving home, when I found my mother…” At that, Andrea lost all composure.
Hearing her break down into uncontrollable sobs.
With that, Frank suddenly understood why this woman looked so familiar, as it was clearly Andrea’s mother. Thinking back, he did remember meeting her, if only in passing the other night.
Realizing that time was of the essence particularly with how much blood was there, Frank decided to take over. Running back, he grabbed the phone and placed it on the roof of the mother’s vehicle, as he began working and talking at the same time.
“Hello this is Franklin Grimes, I am here on the scene too. We have what appears to be an elderly female who was the victim of a car crash. Her vehicle is currently impaled onto a tree, and she is bleeding profusely from her head and neck.” Frank began rolling out details as he took off his shirt, and used it as a temporary bandage, while he waited for emergency responders to come.
***
(Phil Tulley)
Phil was beginning to get more than a little antsy. While his wife was a full-grown woman and capable of being out late, there were a few things that Julie Tulley never did, she never drove in the dark, at least not if she could help it, and second she never stayed up past ten PM. Tonight she had done both, also there was an unmistakable feeling of dread that he now felt coiling up within him.
Yet, he didn’t want to seem like one of those old coots who couldn’t last a day without his loving wife. He could, sometimes he even dreamed about such a life of freedom, but ultimately those were just fantasies, as he knew his heart truly belonged to Julie and couldn’t imagine a life without her. Even when she was out late and neglected to call and tell her husband.
Honestly, Phil was mad, though he knew that anger that was rising in him would be over and done with once he saw his wife and knew that she was happy. While he would never say it, at least not to her face, he would know that his life would be absolutely miserable without her. Though again his life would be more miserable if she was aware of that fact, which was why he opted never to tell her such, lest she walk all over him.
“Phil.” The word like a shot in the dark, the tone so serious, so ominous that Phil couldn’t help but look at Misha, the source of the word.
Before Phil could say a word about her calling him Phil, she continued. “We need to go, Nana is in trouble.”
“She gets called Nana, but I am just Phil?” Phil quipped, though he was already moving, his body somehow having expected such a response. Then a question came to him, “wait how do you know?”
“I keep track on mom’s phone.” Misha replied.
Phil, following Misha out, went to drive the Mustang GT, but Misha shut him down. “You are going to need to be a passenger for this. Also, have you taken your heart medication?”
“You can’t scare me with your driving.” Phil stated, and meant it too. Honestly, Misha drove like a racecar professional, all her movements were clean and crisp, never showing any signs of hesitation or jerkiness. Had it not been a blow to his pride, he might even admit that Misha might be the better driver of the two, only because Phil was now getting older, and his reflexes weren’t what they used to be.
“No, it is what you will see.” Misha said, as she began getting the car moving along the long gravel road out.
“Wait, if you are tracking your mother’s phone how do you know about grandma?” Phil asked.
“They found her.” Misha stated.
“Found?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then as they began gliding through the backroads, Phil found himself asking the next most important question.
“Why are you tracking your mother’s phone?”
“You said to do so, while she was out with this guy from out of town.” Misha noted, her tone resolute.
At that Frank tried to think of whether he had in fact given such a command, but could not for the life of him remember doing something like this, though it was something he would ask her to if he thought about it.
“Did I?” Phil asked.
“Not really, but it was an implied task.” Misha quipped.
“Huh,” was all Phil managed in response as his mind began plaguing him with ideas of what he would find. Unfortunately, nothing could prepare him for what actually awaited him.