California Schemin' - Kate George [21]
“Beau’s been hurt. He’s in the hospital in California.”
Meg sat down in a kitchen chair as Tom headed for the phone. He punched the speaker button, dialed the barracks and had the dispatcher find out which hospital Beau was in. It only took a couple of minutes before Tom was connected to the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital. The nurse was relaxed and friendly on the phone, and the mood in the kitchen lightened considerably. She transferred us to Beau’s room.
“Yo, Bro. You’re on the speaker phone with Meg and Bree, so keep it clean.” Tom used his standard speaker phone warning. “I hear you’ve banged yourself up some. What happened?”
“That damned Fogel. I told him I didn’t want my family worrying about me. I’m fine. I had an equipment failure is all. The staging collapsed.”
“Your staging?” I tried to modulate my voice so I didn’t let on that bells were going off in my head. Beau was compulsive about safety checking his equipment.
“Bree, don’t make more of this than it is. Even I make mistakes once in a while.”
“So what’s the damage?” Tom asked.
“Broken leg, knock on the head. I’m not sure why they're keeping me so long. Something about making sure my head’s okay. I’m fine, but they tell me I’m still too wonky to go home.”
“Meg or I will come out and get you,” Tom said. “No point in hanging around out there while you can’t work.”
A pang of guilt stung me. I hadn’t told Tom or Meg that Beau was planning to stay in California. I had divided loyalties, and it stunk.
“I suppose so,” Beau sounded reluctant.
“But I don’t want Bree out here. It’s not safe for her.”
Tom rang off the phone and turned to me.
“I’m going,” he said, “and don’t fight me on this, Bree. You heard Beau, it’s not safe for you out there.”
“Tom?” Meg sounded unsure. “If you take time from work, we won’t be able to take that trip we planned. I can go.”
“What about the paper?” Tom looked perplexed. “You’re only two days from your deadline.”
“Bree can finish the paper.” She didn’t look happy.
“Stop it, you two. I’ll go get Beau. For heaven’s sake! What do you think is going to happen between the hospital and the airport? By the time anyone realizes I’m in town, we’ll be back here.”
“I don’t like it.” Tom looked at me and shook his head.
“Me either.” Meg narrowed her eyes at me.
“Listen. It’s not rational for either of you to leave now. I can write on the plane, in the hospital, wherever. I’ll be in California, what, twenty-four hours at most? What could happen? Realistically, if anyone out there is looking for me, which I doubt, they aren’t going to even know I’ve come and gone again.”
“I hope you’re right, Bree, or Beau is going to kill me,” Tom said.
I hope so, too.
I glanced down the road as I pulled out of the rental lot at the Sacramento Airport. A black Ford pickup was just pulling away from the curb, but he motioned me to go ahead, so I pulled out in front of him and headed south down I-5, then east on I-80. The California sun was baking me, so I blasted the AC. The little Toyota I’d rented handled nicely, and I negotiated the traffic with surprising ease for a Vermonter. I hit the scan button looking for some traveling music. I wanted something upbeat to keep me awake and kill the boredom on the two-hour drive up the mountain.
The car was mounting the first of the foothills east of Rocklin when I glanced in the rear view and did a double take. I could swear the same black Ford that let me in back at the airport was two cars back. Don’t be stupid, I told myself. There’s got to be a million black Fords in this city. But the back of my neck started to crawl. I pulled into the slow lane and glanced back. Shit. The truck had changed lanes with me.
I pulled my cell phone out of my bag. Hell, I didn’t know if using the phone was legal when you were driving in California. I shrugged. At least if I got pulled over I’d be safe from the truck behind me. With half an eye on the road, I searched back through my call history and found