Chapter 1
Chapter 1
August 2
3:45 P.M. Friday
The dark blue BMW whipped around Katharine Elgin like she was standing still instead of cruising at sixty miles an hour. She shrugged at the aggressive driver as she punched a button and flute music drifted from her CD player. As she drew closer to the Golden Gate Bridge, she could see the line of traffic forming and tapped her brakes. Hmm, Mr. Smarty Pants, you didn’t get very far, did you? The BMW, caught in snail-slow commuter traffic, had come to a crawl three cars ahead of her as they drove onto the bridge.
The sun burned hot in the cloudless sky. Horns blared impatiently and cars darted from lane to lane and slipped into the smallest open space, desperate to advance by one or two car lengths. A man in a new, jacked-up pick-up truck flipped off the driver of a black Lexus as he swerved around the slower vehicle. The relentless heat of the drought-ridden summer kept everyone’s temper at a slow boil.
Her cell phone beat out a happy tune, one her son had chosen for her. She tapped the Bluetooth ear piece. “Hello?”
“Hey, honey, I got a bit worried when I looked at the time. Is everything all right?”
“It’s been a rough day, Ma. First thing this morning an eleven-year-old boy on a bike caught a bullet in his chest during a drive-by shooting. Not fifteen minutes later, an argument between friends wound up with another, unrelated shooting victim arriving in the emergency room.” And so the day had gone from one emergency to another.
“Aw, I’m so sorry about that little boy, honey.” The gentleness in her mother’s voice brought quick tears to her eyes. “Will he be all right?”
“Yes, he will be.” Something in her voice alerted her mother. She could never hide her feelings from her mother.
“What else happened, Kathy?”
Only her mother called her Kathy. To everyone else, she remained Katharine, professional, calm under the most horrendous circumstances, quick thinking--the exact right kind of person for the busy emergency room of a big city hospital. “A little girl, Kenny’s age, arrived just before I clocked out. She was with her teenage babysitter and when the babysitter wasn’t looking, she darted out into traffic.” A lump formed in her throat. She swallowed several times before she could speak. “She...she didn’t make it, Ma.” Her heart ached for the young girl’s mother as she thought of her own son.
“Oh, honey, that’s terrible! How awful for that young girl and for the little girl’s momma.”
Katharine inhaled a shaky breath and tried to steady her voice. “It made me so thankful that you were willing to quit work to take care of Kenny.”
“Well,” pride leaked through her mother’s attempt at nonchalance. “It simply makes more sense for an active little guy like that to spend time on Grammy’s goat farm rather than stuck in some daycare full of whiny children and over-worked preschool teachers.”
“I want you to know I appreciate it, Ma.”
“You’re welcome, my dear. Besides, you’re the one who got the rough end of that deal. The good Lord and I both know that driving from Petaluma into San Francisco every day isn’t a picnic.” In a brisker voice, she asked, “Even with all that, how come you’re heading home so late?”
“Lorie didn’t show up for her shift. She called in sick, so I helped out until the relief nurse arrived.”
Her mother gave a ladylike harrumph. “I swear that girl’s only sickness is that she’s sick of working for a living like a normal person. I know she has been your best friend since grade school, but I swear.”
Some of the sadness lifted from her chest listening to her mother’s familiar rant about her BFF. “Well, she doesn’t have any children, Ma. A child changes a woman.” Then in an attempt to head off any further discussion about Lorie’s poor work habits, she asked, “Where’s my little man?”
“Asleep. Betty Swanson called and asked to visit. She wanted to socialize a pup she’s fostering from the shelter. She needed to get it used to children and wanted to use Kenny because even at five he’s so good with animals. He’s never rough and he never makes them afraid.”
Katharine smiled. Her mother’s best friend used the goat farm to help shelter dogs and pups become more adoptable. “I’ll bet Kenny was thrilled. What kind of puppy, this time, Ma?”
“Cutest little fur ball of a German Shepherd.” Her mother chuckled. “Kenny and that pup must’ve romped around this backyard for three solid hours before they both conked out on the living room floor. You want me to wake him to say hi to his momma?”
“No, let him sleep. I’ll wake him when I get home. God, I am really looking forward to having the weekend off, finally.”
“I’m looking forward to having you home and....” her mother began.
The thunderous roar of an explosion shattered the idle chugging of vehicle engines and the occasional horn blast.
“What the....” Katharine gasped, her eyes wide with shock. Several cars ahead of where she’d stalled out in the traffic jam, a section of the bridge shot up into the air like some prehistoric monster. Her gaze locked on the blue BMW that had passed her. It looked like a toy as it flipped, coin-like, through the air with a streamer of orange and blue flames.
“Honey, what’s happening? Are you all right?” her mother’s panicked voice filled her ears.
The Beemer nose-dived into the top of her Volvo. The vehicle exploded upon impact with Katharine’s. A brilliant yellow-orange-blue fireball engulfed the wreckage.
Katharine didn’t live long enough to see the other cars exploding or to hear the screams of the people trapped inside.
Below the bridge, a piece of steel girder crashed down on top of a yacht carrying a newlywed couple. The boat quickly sank as more debris tumbled from the disintegrating part of the bridge.
Five minutes later, sirens screamed as they wove through heavy commuter traffic toward the gaping hole in the Golden Gate Bridge. A news helicopter arrived on scene before the rescue squads. They hovered in the air, filming the tragedy.
