Zoe rearranged Abby’s folded jacket to keep her head from hitting the floor. A full minute passed. “It’s okay,” she said, keeping her voice soft and comforting. “I’m here. You’re going to be fine.” She hoped that last part was true.
The door flung open, and Kimberly scurried in, clutching Zoe’s jump kit. “Where do you want this?”
Zoe patted the floor next to her, and Kimberly set the bag down.
“What else can I do?”
Zoe imagined her mother as a first responder, eager to help.
As long as she never broke a nail.
“There’s nothing we can do right now. Just keep her from hurting herself until the seizure passes.” Zoe checked her watch again. “Which I hope will be soon.” She spotted Jade eyeing them from the dining room doorway. “There is one thing you can do,” Zoe told her mother. “Round up the cats and lock them in the bedroom. They’re not used to this house. If they slip out when the paramedics arrive, I’ll never find them again.”
Kimberly gave a quick nod and scooped up Jade, calling, “Here kitty, kitty,” to Merlin.
As the three-minute mark approached, the thrashing slowed. And stopped. “It’s okay,” Zoe again whispered. She reached across Abby and logrolled her onto her side. “You’re gonna be all right.”
A check of her pulse revealed it was still too fast. Her deathly pale skin remained clammy. And she remained unresponsive to Zoe’s words and touch.
By the time the ambulance arrived, Abby’s condition had deteriorated. While she hadn’t seized again, her heart rate soared, her respirations grew even more shallow, and her blood pressure was dropping.
The sight of Zoe’s former partner, Earl, and his new partner—her old crew chief, Tony—allowed her to breathe a little easier. Earl and Tony were the best paramedics she’d ever worked with. She stepped clear, allowing them to take over, armed with a heart monitor and medications to stabilize the patient.
Earl attached the tubing from a nonrebreather oxygen mask to the green portable tank. “Tell us what’s going on.”
Zoe reported Abby’s confusion, hunger, chills, and clammy skin prior to her collapse and seizure.
Tony opened Abby’s shirt and attached the heart monitor pads to her chest. Meeting Zoe’s gaze, he asked, “Is she diabetic?”
“I’ve been wondering the same thing. I don’t think so.”
“Could be the flu,” Earl offered doubtfully.
Zoe looked around for her mother. Kimberly had retreated to a corner of the kitchen after letting the ambulance crew in. She stood wide-eyed, her fingers pressed to her mouth. “Where’s my phone?”
Kimberly blinked. “I’ll get it.” She disappeared into the living room, returning a few moments later, and handed the device to Zoe.
“I’m calling Pete. He’ll know her medical history.”
“Good,” Earl said, positioning the oxygen mask over Abby’s mouth and nose.
The phone rang once, twice, three times. “Come on,” Zoe whispered. “Pick up.”
“Hey,” he answered. “What’s up?”
“Is Abby Baronick a diabetic?”
There was a pause. “What? No. Why?”
Zoe glanced at the heart monitor and the irregular rhythm blipping across the screen. “Because she collapsed on our kitchen floor. Meet us at Brunswick Hospital.”
“I’m on my way.”
“And Pete?”
“Yeah?”
“Call Wayne. And Seth.”
Pete charged into the ER, showing his badge to the security guard who waved him through. He was about to ask the receptionist to buzz him into the treatment area when he spotted Zoe and Baronick approaching from the waiting room. The whole situation felt surreal. Seeing Zoe out here rather than working on the patient didn’t help. Nor did the terror in the detective’s eyes. “What’s going on?”
“They’re working on her.” Zoe must have read his mind. “I’m not on the ambulance staff anymore, so they ran me out. I guess having the coroner hanging around makes them nervous.”
“What happened?” Pete asked. Zoe hadn’t elaborated on the phone. “You said Abby collapsed?”
Zoe gave a big helpless shrug and told him about the seizure and the irregular vitals. Pete glanced at Baronick and wondered if she knew more but didn’t want to divulge it in front of Abby’s brother.
The outside doors swished open. Pete turned to see Seth storm in. “Over here,” Pete called.
Seth headed their way, his eyes wide with concern. “I need to see her.”
“They’ll let us know when we can go back,” Zoe said.
Seth ignored her and looked at Pete. “I need to see her,” he repeated with more emphasis. “To talk to her.”
Baronick stepped in front of Seth. Pete wondered how much the detective knew about the soured relationship between the young couple. “I need to see her too,” Baronick said softly. “Come on. I’ll buy you a cup of vending machine coffee while we wait.”
Pete watched the pair walk away. Once they were out of earshot, he faced Zoe. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
“I already did.”
“What caused her to collapse?”
“I don’t know.”
He could tell from her expression that she was holding something back. “You asked whether she was a diabetic.”
Zoe’s gaze drifted to the closed doors leading to the exam rooms. “And you said she’s not. Wayne confirmed it. She might just have come down with the flu.”
Pete eyed her. “You don’t believe that.”
“I don’t know what I believe right now.”
She was definitely holding something back. “Tell me,” he said.
Zoe appeared to be willing those closed doors to open. She brought her gaze back to his. “The whole incident felt like déjà vu.”
“What do you mean?”
“Franklin.”
“Marshall?”
“Yeah. The morning he went into cardiac arrest in autopsy? His symptoms were very similar to Abby’s.”
“Except she didn’t go into arrest.”
“No, but her heart rate was way too high. And her EKG didn’t look good at all.”
“You mean…she could still…” He couldn’t say it.
“She’s young. Healthy. Strong. All things Franklin was not.” Zoe’s gaze went back to the doors. “I hate being out here instead of in there. I wish I knew what was going on.”
Pete slipped an arm around her shoulders. “You did everything you could. Abby’s just damned lucky you were there when she passed out.”
Zoe melted into him, and her next words were muffled against his chest. “I miss being a paramedic.”
Twenty-Six
Zoe’s own
