The Way Life Should Be by Diana Tremain Braund

Author:Diana Tremain Braund [Braund, Diana Tremain]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: ! Yes
ISBN: 9781931513661
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2004-03-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Kristan sat next to Tina in the car and put her arm around her shoulders. Tina wiped the blood on her hands off on her jeans, and Kristan struggled for the right words to say but realized there were none.

Tina grabbed at the door handle before the car stopped outside the emergency entrance. Kristan held onto her shoulder and tried to stop her. "Tina," she murmured.

Tommy looked over. "Tina, they might not let you see Ashley right away."

Tina climbed over Kristan and half ran, half stumbled to the door. "I have to see him."

Sandra McKinney was standing at the nurses' station and when she saw the commotion, she used her substantial body to block the entrance to the treatment cubicles. "Tina, the doctor is with him right now," she said gently. "You need to sit down," she said when

she saw Tina's bloody palms. "Come in here." She nodded to a small room with a curtain pulled around it. "We've got to clean those hands. Why don't you two wait out here and I'll take care of her," Sandra said to Tommy and Kristan.

"Will you take me to him?" Tina asked as she followed Sandra like an obedient puppy.

"Tell me." Tommy's fingers curled roughly around Kristan's arm.

"Dusty and Kelsey are dead. So is Billy," Kristan said.

Tommy clenched his jaws. "How?"

"I don't know yet, but it looks as though Davey Robinson was somehow involved. Whoever was with him is also dead."

"And Ashley?"

"I—" Kristan was interrupted by unseen voices. She saw Tina's parents as they ran into the emergency room. There were a number of people running or walking fast into the entryway. Kristan was unsure how many there were although she did recognize Tina's other sister, Carrie, who nodded to Kristan.

"Where's Tina? Where are my grandchildren?" Mary Stickney asked.

As Tommy talked quietly with his mother and father, Kristan stepped outside to the pay telephone. She heard Mary Stickney's gasp as Tommy told her about the children's deaths. Kristan called the Bangor office and asked for her assignment editor. She was relieved when she learned that he had left for the evening.

"Who's night editor?"

"Robin Millerton."

"Tell her I need to talk with her."

"She's on another line," the unseen clerk answered.

"Tell her it's Kristan Cassidy and tell her it's important." Kristan heard the click as she was put on hold.

"Kristan?" Robin's soft voice said. "What's up? You don't usually interrupt me unless it's important."

"Got a bad accident down here, at least four dead. I don't have time to go to my office so I thought I'd dictate what I have." Kristan reached in her back pocket for her reporter's notebook.

"Go," Robin said.

Kristan related the details and the two rewrote the lead several times. "Robin, just say that Ashley is listed in critical condition. I don't know his condition right now, but—" Kristan breathed into the telephone. She could hear Robin's rhythmic tapping on the key¬board.

"Are you all right?" the concerned editor asked.

"I can't answer that," Kristan said, steeling herself. "I know this family. Let's just stick with details.

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