Once Upon a Thriller by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: Aladdin

CHAPTER SEVEN

Close Call

THE CAR SWERVED TO THE left just as I jumped to the right, landing in a planter full of impatiens. The flowers managed to cushion most of my fall, though my right thigh was somewhat scraped and bruised from where it hit the edge of the planter.

Slowly I stood up, and as I brushed myself off, I saw that the black car had screeched to a stop and pulled over to the curb ahead. A man and a woman got out and approached me hurriedly. The woman was tiny and wore an oversize hat and sunglasses. The man, in a dark, ill-fitting suit, was extremely tall. Both were pale and looked completely shocked at having come so close to hitting me. The woman grabbed both of my hands and looked me straight in the eyes.

“Are you okay?” she asked a bit hysterically, her voice rising in pitch at the end of the question.

I nodded. I was a bit shaky, but I was otherwise fine. I hadn’t even torn or dirtied my shorts, despite the scrape on my thigh. Wait until Bess and George hear about my latest brush with death, I thought. They’ll never believe it happened in Avondale.

The woman turned to the man and poked him in the arm, hard.

“I told you to slow down, Rick,” she shrieked, almost in tears. “You almost ran this woman over. You could have killed her!”

“I know, I know,” he lamented, wringing his hands.

He turned to me. “Words cannot express how sorry I am, and how thankful I am that you’re okay,” he said genuinely.

“It’s all right,” I replied, giving them both what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “I’m fine, really. It was clearly an accident.”

“Do you need us to call an ambulance or the police?” he asked.

“No need for that,” a loud voice replied from behind me. “The police are already here.”

I turned to see Ian and Sheriff Garrison heading toward us.

Oh no, I thought. Not another encounter with the Avondale police! This was getting a bit absurd.

Sheriff Garrison interviewed the couple and me and took down a full report, while Ian tended to my leg using a first aid kit that looked like it was at least ten years old.

“Are you sure that adhesive is still sticky?” I joked as he placed some gauze over the scrape.

“Are you kidding?” he replied. “They don’t make this stuff like they used to. I’ll bet this will still be stuck to your leg a year from now.”

Once Ian was done patching me up and Sheriff Garrison had completed his report, I assured everyone for the tenth time that I was just fine. Then the woman reached into her purse with shaking hands and pulled out a small notebook. She wrote down a phone number and address, tore the sheet out, and handed it to me.

“We’re on our way to an appointment outside of town, but please call on us later today if you need anything at all,” the woman said.

I glanced at the slip of paper before putting it in my pocket.

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.