The blow to her back, when it came, did two things. It knocked the wind out of her, and it forced her down into the window well, twisting her ankle. Pain shot up her leg, and she tried to cry out, but without air in her lungs, no sound came out.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she struggled to breathe and, at the same time, move her body to relieve the pressure on her ankle. In her shock and pain, she couldn't hear anything but her own wheezing attempts to make her diaphragm work again.
She'd just managed a partial breath and was struggling to lift herself out of her cement prison when a heavy weight hit her from above and crushed her back into the window well. She sucked in a ragged breath, thankful she was finally able to breathe again.
Something large had been thrown into the window well on top of her, and the space wasn't big enough for both. She wriggled around until she could get her arms in front of her and her knees under her, then she pushed with all her strength. She managed to heave whatever had been thrown on top of her off to the side and squeeze past it and out of the confined space.
A sharp pain shot across her low back where she'd been hit the first time. It was dark behind the shrubs, but she could see well enough to determine the “something” that had been shoved on top of her was most probably a person.
A wave of nausea hit as she tried to stand and put weight on her ankle. She immediately crouched down, taking the weight off her damaged leg. Whoever was lying in a heap at her feet was dressed in dark clothes. It was a man.
She carefully scooted around the body then reached into her sweatshirt pocket and, miraculously, found her cell phone still there. She pulled it out and pressed the wake-up button, which lit up the screen, illuminating the immediate area. She held the phone next to the man's face to see if she could detect signs of breathing and almost dropped it. She'd been assuming it was Joseph, but it wasn't-it was Rodney Miller. And he
Harriet staggered to her feet and, with great effort, turned Rodney onto his back. She knelt beside him, carefully positioning her damaged ankle, then tilted his head back and began chest compressions, but nothing happened. His skin felt cool to her touch; eventually, that fact seeped into her brain, and she realized he probably hadn't been breathing for a while.
She pulled her cell phone from her pocket one more time and dialed 911.
'Police,” she said into the phone in response to the operator's question. “There's a man here, and he's not breathing…Harriet. Harriet Truman…It doesn't matter where I live. I'm at Joseph Marston's house with a dead man,” she screamed.
Shortly thereafter, she heard the sound of sirens, distant at first but drawing closer. She reached out toward Rodney then snatched her hand back before taking a deep breath and making herself reach out again.
'What secrets have you been keeping, Rodney?” she asked his supine form as she patted the outside pockets of his leather jacket, but all she found was a half-empty pack of sugar-free gum.
'I want you to know, I'm really sorry someone did this to you, and I'll do my best to figure out who did it and bring them to justice.” She continued talking, more to calm herself than anything else. “Help me out here. You must have something that can help me.'
She pulled the right sleeve of her sweatshirt over her hand and carefully opened the front of Rodney's jacket. She tugged the left side up, revealing the inside breast pocket. She tried to reach into it with her fingers covered by the sweatshirt, but it became clear the shirt and her fingers weren't both going to fit. The sound of sirens was so loud the trucks had to be on Joseph's street already. She gave up and used her bare fingertips to extract a small black notebook and stuffed it into the pocket of her sweatshirt, zipping the pocket shut.
The fire engine and its companion paramedic truck were the first to arrive. Harriet forced herself to her feet and pushed through the rhododendron branches, waving to the First Responders. The chubby blond paramedic who had come to Aiden's when they'd found Neelie came straight to her and began assessing her injuries. An older man went through the branches and knelt next to Rodney. Harriet could see his feet below the leaf line as he rose a moment later and came through the bushes again, shaking his head as he came toward her and her attendant.
'Can you tell me what happened?” her paramedic asked her.
She described the hit to her back and the resulting fall into the window well.
'Let's have a look at your back,” he said, pulling a pair of bandage scissors from the leg pocket of his navy blue cargo pants. He slipped a penlight from his shirt pocket, turned it on and held it in his teeth.
'Whoa, there,” Harriet said and blocked his hand. “I can take my shirt off-you don't need to cut it.'
'Actually, I do,” the blond guy said. “I don't want you moving around that much until we see what we're dealing with.'
'I don't have that many clothes,” she protested. It was a weak argument, and it was her own fault that she hadn't attended to her fall clothes shopping yet.
'How about we slip off the hoodie, and I can cut your shirt close to the seam so you can sew it back up if you want to.'
Harriet agreed with a sigh and shrugged to help him slide her hoodie off. True to his word, he cut her shirt along the seam line from waist to armpit and then along the sleeve seam.
The paramedic gently probed her lower back where she'd taken the blow. She winced and reflexively pulled away from the pain of his touch.
'I think the doctors are going to want to get an ultrasound and probably an MRI of your kidney area,” he said. “Let me get your blood pressure.” He took her blood pressure, listened to her heart and lungs and probed her back, more gently this time. He called to the other paramedic, “We're going to need the gurney here,” he said. He turned back to Harriet. “Let's have a look at that ankle,'
He unlaced her shoe and carefully peeled it off her foot. He pulled his scissors out again and cut her sock off. Harriet's foot hurt so much she didn't protest.
'Looks like a nasty sprain,” the blond said, shining his penlight on her ankle.
She looked down, but he had already flicked the light off.
'I don't think it's broken,” he offered. “I saw you stepping on it when you came through the bushes when we first arrived. I don't think you could have done that if it was broken, but I'm sure the docs will want an x-ray to make sure.'
'Can I make a phone call?'
'Sure. Let's get you on the gurney first.'
Harriet wasn't sure which call she dreaded the most-Aunt Beth or Aiden. Both were going to involve long lectures.
'What happened to Rodney?” she asked, finally thinking beyond her own immediately pain.
'It that the man we found on the ground?'
'Yes,” she said impatiently. “He's dead, right? What happened to him?'
'He is dead, but that's all I know.'
Of course he didn't know, she realized, he'd been with her since arriving.
'Can you find out?'
'Not really,” he said. “Once we determine a person has died of unknown causes, our job is to preserve the evidence. We can't go near the body until after the police are through. And by the way, when you make your calls, have your people meet you at the emergency room. The police aren't going to want anyone else contaminating the scene.'
The other paramedic had wheeled the gurney next to where Harriet sat on the ground. He came around to her side opposite the blond.
'Be careful,” the blond told him, “she's got a big bruise on her back. She might have internal injuries.'
The second paramedic rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed at the suggestion he would be less than careful with any patient. Harriet got the sense this was an ongoing conflict.
She struggled upright and was attempting to balance on her good foot when the two men in blue broke their staring contest and remembered there was a third person present.
'Here, let us help you,” the blond said.
Both paramedics put an arm under hers and supported her weight, grasped her under her thighs and lifted her onto the gurney when they had her positioned close to its padded surface. The blond then released the brake and
