Chapter 62

The chauffeur was nowhere to be seen, but maybe, like Novotny, he’d already been transported to the hospital.

An ambulance was parked a few yards away from the vehicle, and two men worked on the female victim, who was screaming nonstop and trying to clutch at her face.

“Ma’am, please. Ma’am, you can’t…Dave?”

“Ma’am, if you keep trying to touch your face, we’ll have to restrain your hands. You have to stop…. Goddammit! Bob, hold her hands. I’m gonna get—” He went into the ambulance.

I couldn’t tell how badly the woman on the stretcher had been injured, although I could see that one eye appeared to be sunken in her skull, as if the bones around it had been shattered. Her face was covered in blood.

The paramedic returned with straps and fastened her wrists to the sides of the stretcher. Her screams finally stopped, but I didn’t think she was smart enough to realize that screaming wouldn’t make the pain go away; she was probably on the verge of passing out.