“Do you think you'll ever move back?” her mother asked, trying to sound casual, and Annie smiled. Annie knew it pained her to have even one daughter far away.
“Eventually, but not yet,” Annie said honestly. “I love what I'm learning there, and it's a good life. It's a wonderful place for an artist.”
“So is New York,” her mother said, trying not to be pushy about it. “I just hope you don't stay there forever. I hate having you so far away.”
“It's not that far, Mom. I can fly home within a day, if you ever need me.”
“It's not that. Your father and I are fine. It's just that I enjoy seeing more of you than just three times a year when you come home for holidays. That never seems like enough. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, and I'm glad you come home. I just wish you were around the corner, or in the city like Sabrina.”
“I know, Mom. You and Dad should come to see me. Florence is such a beautiful city. It will be hard to leave when I finally decide to.” She didn't tell her that Charlie was planning to leave, and she was thinking about it. She didn't want to give the relationship that much importance, particularly in her mother's eyes, who was ever hopeful that Annie would come home. And she didn't want to give her mother false hope.
They found a parking space at the supermarket easily, and went inside together. They put the few items they wanted in a cart, and qualified for the express lane. They were back in the parking lot in less than five minutes. The weather was extremely hot, and they were both anxious to get home and jump in the pool. It was hours before the guests would come. Jane was looking forward to spending the day with them, mostly in and around the pool. The temperature was supposed to go over a hundred that afternoon. She just hoped it would cool off a little by that night. If not, the guests were going to be sweltering outside at seven o'clock, and it would still be sunny and bright. It wouldn't get dark till after eight o'clock.
“This is even hotter than Florence,” Annie commented as they got back in the air-conditioned car. She was grateful for the blast of cool air on her face when her mother turned on the ignition.
They had to cross the highway to get back to the house, and Annie was talking about Charlie as they got behind a truck that was carrying a load of steel pipes on a flatbed behind it. Jane was listening to her intently, and as Annie talked, they both heard a loud snap, and saw the steel pipes begin to fall off the truck. Some rolled off to the sides, causing cars on the other side of the road to swerve to avoid them, and the rest of the pipes shot backward off the truck toward Jane's Mercedes. She was trying to slow down as Annie gasped and saw three of the pipes shoot off the truck straight at them. Instinctively, she reached out toward her mother and shouted “Mom!” But it was already too late. Like a scene in a movie she couldn't stop, Annie saw the pipes come straight through the windshield into the car, as Jane lost control of the wheel, and the car plunged into the oncoming lane. Annie heard herself screaming and tried to grab the steering wheel, and as she did there was a sound of metal being crushed, breaking glass, and brakes screaming all around them. She looked toward her mother and couldn't see her anywhere. The door on the driver's side was open, the car was moving at full speed, and Annie saw the driver of the car they hit just as everything went black around her and she lost consciousness.
Two of the steel pipes had gone straight through their car, as it careened wildly and finally stopped after it had hit two oncoming cars. Cars behind them and ahead of them came to a screeching stop, and traffic backed up instantly, as someone called the police.
There was no sign of movement in any of the cars that had been hit, and the driver of the truck stood by the side of the road crying, as he looked at the scene of carnage his truck had caused. By the time the police came, he was in shock and unable to speak. Fire trucks came, ambulances, highway patrol, local police. The drivers of all three vehicles had been killed, along with a total of five passengers. There was only one survivor, the firemen were able to ascertain, and it took half an hour to get her out of the car. She had been pinned under the steel pipes, and she was unconscious as the ambulance drove her away. The rest of the victims were taken out of the cars, laid down on the highway, and covered with tarps, as they waited for more ambulances to arrive. The police on the scene looked solemn as the traffic backed up for miles. It was what always happened on the Fourth of July. People got in car accidents, tragedies happened, people died and became statistics. Jane had flown out of the car when the pipes hit them, and died instantly. And as they drove Annie to the trauma unit at Bridgeport Hospital, she was barely alive, clinging to life by a thread.
At the house, her sisters chatted with their father, innocently enjoying a hot sunny summer day. They were expecting their mother and sister back at any moment, and had no inkling that they would never see their mother again, and that their sister was fighting for her life.
Chapter 6
The two patrolmen ringing the bell looked acutely uncomfortable. One was a rookie and had never done anything like it before. The senior officer with him was his partner and had promised to do the talking when someone answered.
It took a few minutes for someone to come to the door, since they couldn't hear the doorbell clearly from the pool. Sabrina had just said she wondered where their mom and Annie were. They had been gone for nearly an hour, a lot longer than it took to get to the store they had in mind. Maybe the store was closed and they had had to go somewhere else for the pickles and mayonnaise. Tammy went to answer the door when they heard it; she was going to the kitchen to get something to drink anyway. She pulled open the front door and saw them through the screen door, and as soon as she did she could feel her heart pound, and forced herself to believe that this couldn't be as ominous as it appeared. They were probably there about some minor infraction, like the sprinkler leaving spots on the neighbor's window, or the dogs making too much noise. That had to be it. The young officer was smiling nervously at her, and the older officer looked at her with a somber frown.
“Can I help you, officer?” Tammy asked, looking him directly in the eye, reassuring herself silently again.
“Is there a Mr. James Adams here?” He was listed with the DMV as Jane's next of kin. His young partner had gotten it off the computer for him on the drive over.
“Of course,” Tammy said respectfully, and stepped aside so they could come in out of the heat. The house was cool to the point of being chilly. Their mother liked to run the air conditioning full blast. “I'll get him for you. May I say what this is about?” She wanted to know herself, more than for her dad. But suddenly her father was right behind her, as though he had sensed that the doorbell signaled something important. He looked puzzled when he saw the two officers in highway patrol uniforms.
“Mr. Adams?”
“Yes. Is something wrong?” Tammy saw her father's face go pale, just as Sabrina and Candy walked in.
“May I speak to you alone, sir?” the senior officer asked, having taken his hat off in the house. Tammy noticed that although he was bald, he was a nice-looking man about her father's age. The officer with him looked about fourteen years old.
Without saying a word, their father led them into the library he and their mother used as a den in the winter. It was a pretty wood-paneled room with a fireplace, lined with antique books they had collected for years. There were two comfortable couches, and several large leather chairs. Jim sat down in one of them, and waved them both to the couch. He had no idea whatsoever why they were there. He had the insane idea suddenly that one of them was about to be arrested, and he couldn't imagine why. He hoped that one of the girls hadn't done something stupid. Candy was still young and was the only one he could think of who might. Maybe she had smuggled some drugs through customs when she came from Paris, or Annie in the spirit of her artistic life. He hoped not, but it was the
