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The entire parade area had been cleared out. Probably by the police.
Exhausted, she stripped off her bloody gloves and tossed them into the garbage. She estimated that they’d gone through an entire box during the past two hours.
“Elly?” She turned to see Joe crossing toward her. “I’ve gotten permission to take you to the police station.”
“I, uh, can’t do that.” She glanced over to where Derek stood near their rig. “I’m still on duty. We need to drive the ambulance back to the station.”
“I’ll take it back,” Derek said. Despite his having three years of experience as an EMT, he looked a bit shell-shocked too.
She wanted to insist she was okay, but she wasn’t. Images of the various injuries flashed in her mind. Memories that would haunt her for days to come.
“Please, Elly.” Joe took her hand in his. “You agreed to work with the sketch artist, remember?”
“Yes. Of course.” She hadn’t remembered until he’d mentioned it. She looked down at her uniform, shivering at the blood stains. “I need to change first. I have clothes back at the station.”
“That’s fine.” Joe didn’t argue, which surprised her. “We’ll follow your rig.”
There was no reason she couldn’t ride with Derek, but she didn’t say anything as Joe tugged her toward a police cruiser. He opened the door for her. She slid inside, buckled her seat belt, then closed her eyes and rested her head back.
Like clips from a movie, the images flashed through her mind. The sound of gunfire, the ice skaters going down, people screaming, more gunfire, the little boy she’d carried to the rig...
The shooter lifting his gun to aim at Joe.
No!She opened her eyes and reached over to touch Joe’s arm. “He was going to shoot you.”
“I know.” Joe’s smile was crooked. “You saved my life, Elly.”
The statement hit hard. She’d never saved anyone’s life. Certainly not during her EMT transfers from nursing homes to hospitals and back again.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Joe said when she didn’t respond.
“It’s worse for those who lost loved ones.” She thought about the young man cradling his wife close. The dead female ice skater and her male partner who may or may not survive. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I know.” Joe turned his hand palm upward. She took his hand and watched as his fingers curled around hers. “It was horrible.”
“I’m glad you were there with me.” She turned to look at him. He was following Derek back to the station. The ambulance company she and Derek worked for was small compared to some of the others. There were only three rigs, and the area inside the building wasn’t much larger. They did respond to other calls, too, but that was mostly on night shifts and weekends when they took turns with other ambulance companies.
Elly had only been on a handful of other calls, facing each one with deep trepidation. In hindsight, she’d been foolish to be so worried. Those calls had been nothing compared to what she’d experienced today.
Nothing.
“I spoke to Rhy.” Joe’s deep voice interrupted her thoughts. “He’s worried about you.”
“I’m fine.” It was a lie, but she figured Joe knew that. “He should be focused on his new family.”
“You’re a part of his family,” Joe said.
“I know.” She sighed and turned to stare through the windshield. As the youngest of the nine Finnegan siblings, teasingly referred to as the oops baby, she’d stayed at the homestead far longer than she should have. If she’d have moved out sooner, then maybe Rhy wouldn’t still see her as the fourteen-year-old who’d lost her parents. Her plan had been to search for an apartment after the holidays. In the meantime, it hadn’t been a hardship to help Devon with baby Colleen.
Now she couldn’t help wondering what her future held. She told herself the random shooting event wasn’t likely to happen again in her lifetime but found it difficult to shake off the cloak of depression surrounding her.
She straightened when Joe followed the ambulance rig into the small parking lot of their building. Suddenly she couldn’t wait to get out of her bloodstained uniform.
The minute Joe stopped the squad, she jumped out.
“Wait for me.”
She ignored him, heading straight for the doorway. On off shifts and weekends, like today, there was a code to get inside. Without waiting for Joe or Derek, she entered the building and headed straight to her locker. She pulled out her jeans and green cable-knit sweater, then ducked into the bathroom to change.
