“The scum who was driving the damn car,” Mr Carr finished off for her. “What about him?”
Katy sighed. “His eight-year-old son is missing.”
Mr Carr sat back and dragged his gnarled hands through his greying hair. “My God, don’t tell me that. Could this day get any worse?”
“I’m sorry to break the news, but as you can imagine, the family are at their wits’ end and are desperate to get their son back home safely. That’s why I need your help in trying to locate Megan. Can you think of anywhere she might go? Do you have a second home? A holiday home perhaps?”
“No, we’re okay financially, but this house is all we have, anywhere else would need to be specially adapted for Daniel.”
“Is there anywhere she liked to go as a child, maybe? Please, it’s imperative we find her before she does something she might regret to the boy. He’s an innocent party in all of this. If we can find her, it’s possible we might stop her from making another huge mistake.”
Mrs Carr wiped her nose on a tissue. “I understand. I swear, we would tell you if we could think of any likely places. We want Megan found as much as you do. You have to believe us, this has come out of the blue. We had no idea that she had such destructive thoughts running through her mind.”
“Never in a million years would I have classed her as a killer,” Mr Carr added. The colour had drained from his once ruddy complexion.
“Love, are you all right? You look a bit peaky.”
He let out a shuddering breath and clutched his chest. “I don’t know.” With that he slumped in his chair.
“Shit! Charlie, ring for an ambulance.” Katy loosened his tie and felt his neck for a pulse. She glanced up at Mrs Carr. “He’s still with us. Does he have heart problems?”
“Not to my knowledge. Please, help him, he’s always been a healthy man. Oh God, if I lose him, how will I ever cope? You have to do something.” She frantically tugged on her husband’s arm.
Katy unlatched her hand. “Mrs Carr, that’s not going to help. You need to remain calm. Maybe you should go and check on Daniel, see if he’s okay.”
“Yes, yes, I’ll do that. Take care of him.”
“Of course.”
Charlie finished her call. “They’ll be five to ten minutes. Is there anything we can do to help him?”
“No, I’ll keep monitoring his pulse, that’s all we can do for now. Can you go wait by the front door for the paramedics, Charlie?”
“I’m on it. Jesus, what a day this is turning out to be.”
A scream from the other room made Katy leap to her feet and tear after Charlie who had disappeared into the room.
“What’s wrong?” Katy screeched.
Mrs Carr was leaning over Daniel and shaking his shoulders, tears streaming down her flushed face. “It’s Daniel, he’s unresponsive. I knew we shouldn’t have left him alone. He needs an ambulance as well. Please, help us!”
“Charlie, wait by the door and make another call. Tell them to get their skates on for goodness’ sake.”
Her partner flew out of the room. Katy could hear a distant wailing of sirens a few streets away. Now they had a dilemma on their hands, who did the paramedics attend to first?
That’ll be their decision when they get here, not mine, thank goodness. What are the odds on both men needing medical help at the same time? She rubbed her forehead.
Megan, you have a lot to answer for, not only because of the crimes you have committed, but also because of what you’re now putting your family members through. Would you come out of hiding if you knew?
The question sparked an idea to run through her head. What if she held a press conference? Pleaded with Megan to come forward. Would she think Katy was trying to pull a fast one? Or would she take the plea seriously enough to give herself up? How much did her family really mean to her? Did she truly care about Daniel?
Katy observed the fear in Mrs Carr’s eyes as she stroked Daniel’s face. Katy tried to find a pulse in his neck, and she managed to find a slight one.
A paramedic burst into the room, carrying his bag. “Okay, step back, ladies. Can you tell me what happened?”
Mrs Carr filled him in. Katy left the room. In the distance, the sirens could be heard. It won’t be long now. They’re almost with us. Hang in there, Mr Carr!
The same paramedic who had dealt with Daniel came into the room and checked Mr Carr’s vital signs. “He’s faring better than the young man in there. We’ll need to get them both on a stretcher and to the hospital immediately.” He glanced up as Charlie joined them. “You ladies did well calling us immediately. Most people would have panicked.”
“There was a certain amount of panic thrown into the mix, I assure you,” Charlie replied. “What are their chances?”
“It’s too hard to say. I’ve not dealt with many disabled people, they often have ongoing health issues which are hard to fathom unless you’re a specialist. We’ll take good care of them.”
He went to find a colleague and they could hear them making arrangements with the other team of paramedics in the hallway. It wasn’t long before a stretcher was being wheeled into the house and Mr Carr was placed on it. The other paramedics wheeled Daniel into the ambulance, still sitting in his wheelchair.
“I need to go with them. What I also need is for Megan to be by my side. Please, do your best to find her. She’ll be devastated to hear what has happened to her uncle and her brother.”
“Don’t worry. I’m going to put out an appeal on the news, hopefully she’ll see it and get in touch with us soon. I’ll send a couple of officers to the hospital to be with you, just in case she shows
