Caleb had been knocked out and then regained consciousness for only a few seconds before his eyes drifted closed again. His lifeless body was spread out on the floor like a rag doll.
With her heart in her throat and her body trembling from what she just witnessed, Katie reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. Cellular service was always spotty in this part of town. She dialed the number for the local police as quickly as her trembling hands could manage and then put the phone to her ear waiting for someone to connect. Harper Madison answered on the fifth ring.
“Dispatch. What is your emergency?” Harper asked in her professional voice.
“Oh, thank God you answered! Caleb is down. Caleb is hurt.”
She gulped back a sob as she spoke and gingerly made her way over to where Caleb was laying on the ground. Every so often, Katie lifted her eyes to the gaping hole in the ceiling to make sure nothing else would fall down on them.
“Ma’am, you need to calm down. Where are you located?” Harper asked.
“Harper, it’s me. Katie Dobbs. Caleb and I are at the old chapel out on Lookout Ridge. The roof just caved in on top of Caleb. He’s unconscious!”
“Caleb’s hurt? How bad?” Harper asked, staying professional but now with worry since she had clear understanding of whom Katie was talking about.
“I don’t know,” Katie said with a sob that made its way up her chest and lodged in her throat. She forced a big gulp of air into her lungs and continued, “One of the beams from the cathedral ceiling fell on him. He has blood on his head.” She examined what she could see without moving Caleb in any way. She pushed the snow away from his face and back. “Yes, his head is bleeding and it looks like there’s blood on his shoulder.”
“Don’t move him, Katie,” Harper said.
She touched her fingers to the wet spot that was growing underneath his hat. She lifted the knitted fabric just a little, saw the gash in the back of his head, and wanted to cry. But that would do no good for Caleb. He needed her now.
“He has a gash on his head. He’s unconscious. You have to hurry. Please hurry.”
Katie heard Harper say a few codes that sounded like they were coming from the distance. Most likely she was calling for help through another channel.
“Harper? He needs an ambulance. Please call for an ambulance.”
“I’ve made that call, Katie. Can you tell me if he’s breathing?”
She felt cold right down to her bones as blood drained from her body. My God, what would she do if he weren’t breathing? She didn’t know CPR. She could make things worse!
“Lean over his body and just check to see if he’s breathing,” Harper said evenly. “If you can stick a finger against his neck, you should be able to feel for a pulse.”
Katie pulled of her gloves and tossed them aside. Leaning forward in the snow, she lowered her head so she could look directly at Caleb’s face. His skin was ashen and his lips were a light tinge of blue. That handsome face that had been so friendly to her, especially now, looked lifeless. “Hang on, Caleb,” she whispered as she touched his cheek.
“Is he breathing, Katie?” Harper asked with more force and urgency.
“Yes.” Katie put her fingers in front of Caleb’s mouth and felt just a little warm air escape his lips. Then she placed her index and middle finger against his neck and held her breath until she felt his pulse jump beneath her fingers.
“He has a pulse,” Katie said as relief bubbled up her throat and made her want to weep.
There was snow everywhere. Caleb was buried in it. The beam lay across his back so she tucked her cell phone in her shirt pocket and got to her feet. And lifted the beam off his body carefully and then slowly pushed it aside. Her worry over the beautiful floorboards being destroyed was gone. She didn’t care. Floors could be mended or replaced. But Caleb…
“Katie, are you still there?” Harper asked firmly, but from a distance that sounded muffled.
Had Harper been talking to her? Katie didn’t know. She was so busy trying to free all the snow and debris from Caleb so that he could breathe that she had forgotten she’d tucked it in the front pocket of her shirt.
She grabbed the phone and placed it to her ear. “I’m here.”
With her other hand, she brushed more snow way from Caleb and checked the back of his sweatshirt for tears in case a piece of wood had broken off and somehow stabbed him.
“The ambulance is on its way. Are you in danger?”
“What?”
“You said the roof collapsed. Are you standing in a place that is dangerous? Can you tell me if the roof will collapse more?”
Katie looked up and saw blue sky that seemed so surreal in the face of what was happening.
“I…think it’s safe enough. A beam had come undone from the rafters from all that heavy snow from the weekend’s storm. Everything else looks okay but I can’t be sure.”
Harper was talking to someone and it sounded in a distance as if she was muffling the phone. When she came back on the line, she said, “I want you to get out of the chapel, Katie. Wait for the ambulance outside.”
Katie shook her head. “I can’t leave Caleb. I won’t.”
“Listen to me. That whole ceiling may come down on you. You have no idea how much damage there is.”
“I’m not leaving Caleb in here alone! What if he wakes up before someone arrives and he needs me? What if he stops breathing?”
“Katie—”
“I’m not leaving, Harper.”
The noise of a sigh coming through the phone sounded distorted to Katie’s ear.
“They’re on their way. Be on the lookout for them when
