Flash of Fire by Donna Ball

Author:Donna Ball
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Donna Ball
Published: 2023-12-08T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Grady had an early call, so Aggie made oatmeal and bananas for breakfast. That was not Flash’s favorite, but he didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so he ate most of it along with a few bites of kibble to keep him going until lunch. They had a busy morning, and he was anxious to get going.

The air smelled like salt, and a warm wind slicked back his fur as Flash stepped outside. The incoming tide thundered against the shore two blocks away. Aggie combed her hair away from her face and looked up at the sky, eyes narrowed. “Maybe I should have turned on The Weather Channel,” she said, opening the car door for Flash. “We might get some rain today.”

But even though the sun was barely bright enough to show the color of the sky, Flash could have told her there was no rain in the forecast. Rain was one of those things he could smell. He used to wonder why Aggie couldn’t smell it too, but then he realized she didn’t have to. She had him.

The trip across the bridge to the hospital took eighteen minutes, and the buffeting of the wind as they crossed the water made Aggie’s knuckles go white on the steering wheel. After all this time, she still wasn’t comfortable crossing the bridge, and she didn’t think she ever would be. She was glad she had stuffed her pockets with Mo’s ginger candies, and she popped one in her mouth as soon as she parked in front of the hospital, taking a moment to settle her stomach and finger-comb her hair before getting out of the car.

She left the air-conditioning running for Flash and told him, “This shouldn’t take long.” In fact, Aggie wasn’t even sure she would be able to get in to see Grace Henderson this early in the day, or if she was capable of having visitors at all. But with any luck at all, Aggie would at least be able to talk to the woman’s daughter.

The hospital corridor was early-morning quiet as Aggie made her way to room 236. She knocked lightly on the door before pushing it open, and was gratified to see Grace Henderson propped up in her hospital bed in a semi-sitting position with a breakfast tray before her. She was deathly pale, with IVs in both arms and an oxygen cannula in her nose, but she was awake. A younger woman sat on the bed next to her, holding a cup with a straw to Grace’s lips. “Come on, Mama,” she was saying when Aggie entered. “Just a little more juice.”

Grace turned her head away weakly, and Aggie said, “Excuse me. I’m Aggie Malone, Chief of Police on Dogleg Island. Are you Mrs. Henderson’s daughter?”

The woman put the glass down and turned, looking surprised. “Oh, Chief. Yes. I’m Ellie Whitmire. Did we speak on the phone? I’m sorry. It’s been a long night.”

Ellie Whitmire was in her forties, although a sleepless night spent driving down from Ohio had etched lines into her face that made her look older.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.