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I pulledon dry clothes and shoes and was out the door and in my Jaguar in record time. The cat’s engine growled as I sped down the street and almost didn’t make the turn at the end. I chastised myself out loud in the empty car.
“Slow the fuck down. One accident tonight is more than enough.”
Serena had called, and all I could understand between her sobs was that Josh had gotten into an accident and had been taken to UCLA Medical Center.
The decision to tell Jennifer to stay had been an easy one. After Melissa’s meltdown, I wasn’t taking any chances. Jennifer would stay under my protection until I understood why my ex had become so unhinged and literally dangerous. It also could have been an act, a small part in some elaborate play of hers that was beyond me to understand. With Melissa, there was no telling. Logic was not her strong suit.
I slowed for the red light, and gunned the car through the intersection when I didn’t see any cross traffic. In daytime traffic, it would have taken at least a half hour, but this time of night it would be quicker. The next red light was not so forgiving, with steady traffic from the right.
Following the signs to the hospital’s emergency entrance, I parked, grabbed my phone, and ran for the door.
“Where are you?” I asked when my sister picked up.
“Fourth floor ICU, four-four-three-one.”
“I’ll be up in a sec.”
At the elevator bank, it took forever for a car to arrive. But it did, and the door finally opened on the fourth floor. I only got held up at the nurses’ station for a minute, pulling my license out of my soaked wallet.
When I found the room, I stopped.
“What happened?” I asked as I entered.
Josh was in the bed with a bandage on his head, attached to IVs and wires galore.
Serena and a nurse were on one side, with Dad and Bill Covington closest to me on the other.
My father urged me into the hallway and away from the door before speaking. “He got pretty banged up in the roll-over. The doctors are reviewing the MRI now and deciding if he’ll need surgery.”
The wordsurgerywhen we were talking about a head wound was alarming. “What happened? I told him he shouldn’t be driving that pickup of his.”
Pickups, especially raised 4X4s like his, were notoriously easy to roll.
Dad shook his head. “He was driving the Jaguar.”
“The Jag? That doesn’t make sense.” Josh’s Jaguar was an F-type, same as mine, even the same year. The car had a seriously low center of gravity and was nearly impossible to roll.
“Nevertheless, that’s the information we have now. I called young William in to get a little leverage with the hospital.”
With three buildings on campus named after Bill’s grandfather, the Covingtons had more pull here than the governor.
“He has their neurosurgeon on the way in now, just in case,” my father added.
“When can we talk to him?”
“That’s for the doctors to decide. He’s sedated right now.”
I still wanted something to do. “So what’s the plan?”
“Nothing much for us to do but wait.”
Dad went back into the room, and Serena came out, with a question on her lips.
“That was quite the spectacle Melissa put on.”
“No shit. I don’t know what got into her.”
“Of course you do.”
