Three Alarm Response by Erin Dutton

Author:Erin Dutton [Dutton, Erin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781635555936
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2020-05-12T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Jared Ackerman, the man accused of intentionally driving his car into a crowd at the Bellbrook Jams music festival, appeared in court today.”

Nicole glanced up at the television hanging over the console table on the wall opposite her desk. The reporter cut to video from the courtroom, and Nicole couldn’t pull her eyes from the man in the center of the screen. His hands were cuffed in front of him and secured to a chain around his waist, but if not for that and the orange jumpsuit, Nicole might not have given him a second look. He was clean-shaven, and though he could use a trim, his hair had apparently once been cut neatly over his ears and off his neck. When the camera zoomed in on his face, she noticed some acne scarring on his cheeks and that his pale-blue eyes stayed downcast. In street clothes, he wouldn’t stand out in a crowd.

Between the reporter’s voice, too perky for the situation, and the crawl of text along the bottom of the screen, she gathered that this was a preliminary hearing, during which he was denied bond. He’d stay in jail until the criminal trial. The reporter speculated on his motive, throwing out all the usual reasons—mental illness, some type of protest, or extremist activity. But from what Nicole gathered, no reason had been confirmed from a reputable source, so everyone was just guessing right now.

She picked up the remote from the edge of her desk and muted the sound, but continued to stare at the picture. At last count, five people had been killed—three at the scene and two more who had died at the hospital days later—and twenty-four people were injured, ranging from serious and requiring hospitalization to those with minor injuries who weren’t transported from the scene. She hadn’t seen any solid stats on how many of those afflictions were a direct result of the car’s impact into the festival and how many people were hurt in the ensuing panic, but she’d seen a couple of people knocked down by the crowd.

As the five o’clock news drew to a close, Nicole saved her progress on the file she’d been working on and began to pack her bag. Instead of the check-in call Traci had promised, she’d sent a text asking Nicole to meet her for dinner Thursday night. They’d settled on a restaurant downtown, not far from her office.

She turned off the television on her way out the door, pleased to see other offices with the lights still on as she passed through the hall. She never thought she’d take satisfaction in not being the last person out of the office.

As she stepped outside, she considered walking to the restaurant, but something pushed her toward her car. Though Bellbrook was relatively safe, as a woman, she always tried to be more aware of her surroundings when she was alone downtown. Today, Jared Ackerman’s energy felt like a cloud over an otherwise sunny day. So she drove the five blocks, finding a parking spot on the street near the front of the restaurant.

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