Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
His back ached, and his stomach grumbled, but Andy wasn’t moving from his spot by Narelle’s bed.
Her parents had come in just after Narelle had gone back to sleep.
He’d told them that she seemed more alert, and their relief had been palpable.
But the strain of being in the hospital the past day and half was showing on Narelle’s mother, and he’d told them that he would stay if they wanted to go home and rest.
They hadn’t wanted to, but in the end, fatigue had hit Julie hard and they’d given in to his suggestion, with promises from him that he would call if anything changed.
Andy was well aware of the trust Narelle’s parents were giving him, considering they’d known him for just over a day. It may have helped that he’d told them he’d promised Narelle he’d be there when she next woke up, and it was a promise he intended to keep.
He stood and stretched, his muscles popping at the movement. Did he have time to go out and nip down to the vending machine to grab a chocolate bar and a cup of coffee?
The thought of not being there when she woke up, and breaking his promise to her, kept him glued to the room.
Why did he feel this need to be close to her?
He didn’t understand it. Or maybe he didn’t want to examine it too closely. There was something about this woman that entranced him in a way he’d never experienced before. Kept her forefront in his mind when he should be focusing on other things—like his job.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out to see a text message from Wilt.
Call me ASAP.
His colleague knew where he was and what he was doing. Before he left the previous evening, Steve had told him to take all the time he needed. But if Wilt needed him urgently, then a job must have come up that required all hands-on deck.
Narelle looked like she was sleeping peacefully. They were giving her some heavy-duty pain meds to deal with her broken arm and leg, not to mention her body was still processing the anesthesia that had been pumped into her for her surgery.
He didn’t know if she could hear him or not, but he leaned down and spoke softly in her ear. “I have to go make a call. I don’t want to leave you, but it’s important.” He brushed his lips across her cheek, not wanting to leave her, but his duty to his job and friends pulled at him too.
“’S, kay.” Narelle mumbled, and he doubted she was fully awake but if she did wake while he was out of the room, he hoped she’d remember what he told her.
Andy made his way to an alcove not far from Narelle’s room and called Wilt. His friend answered immediately.
“Hey, what’s up? Am I needed back at the office?” That was the last thing he wanted, but he would do whatever was required.
“No, but I didn’t think what I found out could wait.”
Immediately, Andy straightened, his instincts screaming that what Wilt was about to say wasn’t great. “What is it?”
“You asked me to search Narelle’s accident site to see if there was any footage of it.”
“I did.”
“I don’t think it was an accident. I think Narelle was targeted.”
It took Andy a couple of seconds to fully comprehend what his friend was saying. “What do you mean targeted?”
“Exactly that. The truck that hit her was a fair distance behind her and sped up instead of slowing down as it approached Narelle. Whoever was driving, deliberately set out to harm her. As you know, they took off after hitting her. Because of the bulbar they had on the front of their vehicle, the hit didn’t affect them as much as it did Narelle. ”
Andy pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to put all the puzzle pieces together. “Are you sure about this? Why would anyone want to deliberately hurt her?”
He didn’t like questioning his colleague, but nothing made sense.
“I’m very sure. I replayed the footage quite a few times to make sure I wasn’t making a big assumption. I did some further investigation and was able to trace her journey from the accident to the train station she got off at. The car was behind her the whole way. The driver got off the train too.”
“Fuck! What the hell is going on?” Had Narelle known she was being followed? She might have seen the truck in her review mirror and not paid much attention to it.
“I knew you’d have some questions, so I looked into her a bit more. And before you say anything, I know I took liberties, but after seeing the accident and how calculated the move was, I couldn’t leave it alone.”
“It’s fine. I’m glad you did. Thank you. What did you find?”
Was there something in her past that had caused this person to go to such extreme lengths to get rid of her? Because Wilt had said the move was calculated, which could only mean that someone wanted her dead.
But who?
“She works as an HR manager for a recruitment agency. She’s got a mortgage she’s pays regularly. Has a reasonable amount in savings. There are no red flags. Nothing to explain what happened.”
Was it horrible of him that Andy wanted there to be something for them to latch onto? Perhaps, because if there was, it would make it a lot easier to ask her about it. Now he had nothing he could lead with.
“There must be something,” he muttered. “No one does what they did without a reason.”
“I know. I’ll keep looking. In the meantime, I think you need to be on alert for anything out of the ordinary.” Wilt cautioned.
“I will. Thanks again, man. Appreciate it.”
“Not a problem, and you know you have all of us watching your back, and now Narelle’s.”
“I do.” Andy disconnected the call. His mind swirling with all of Wilt’s information.
How did he approach this with Narelle?
She was recovering from a major accident. Him telling her that it wasn’t an accident and that someone could be after her wasn’t an easy subject to bring up.
He needed to see the footage before he went any further. Maybe he could see something that Wilt had missed, not that he expected their resident computer expert to miss anything. However, sometimes a set of fresh eyes and a different perspective could see things the other missed.
He fired off a quick text to Wilt, and a few seconds later, a link to the footage appeared.
Having seen the accident in real time, he didn’t want to relive it again, but if whatever he saw could help Narelle, then he’d watch it a hundred times.
Andy clicked the link and watched it all unfold again.
He saw the moment Wilt was talking about when the truck appeared to pick up speed.
There was no hitting of the brakes to slow them down until the last minute as they plowed into the back of Narelle’s car.
He winced at the violence of the moment and had to pause it to take a breath.
Was the timing of them hitting Narelle accidental or deliberate?
With everything he’d seen, he would almost say it was timed so that her car would’ve been pushed into the middle of the intersection, guaranteeing that another car would’ve hit her.
He was missing something. Nothing about this added up.
Would Narelle have the answers?