Page 8 of My One and Only (Blackhawk Security #10)

E arly the next morning, as Jo was having a bowl of yogurt, granola and fruit with her mother, her phone rang. Dropping her spoon in the bowl, she pulled it out, surprised to see Cam’s name on the screen.

“Cam?” she said after pushing the answer button.

“Yeah, it’s me. I was wondering if you’d like to take a look at your mom’s house this morning. I supervised the demolition of all the shoddy work and the installation of new studs, new plumbing and new electrical boxes. I have to go to Ogden later, to talk to the department of home inspections, but I thought you might want to look at your mom’s house with me first.”

Warmth swept over Jo as she realized how quickly he’d gotten her mom’s house fixed. “I’d love to meet you there,” she said. “What time works for you?”

“How about half an hour?” he suggested.

“That’s great. I’ll be there. See you then.”

Jo disconnected the call and set her phone on the table. Her mom watched with a sparkle in her eyes. “You and Cam have a date?” she asked.

Jo squelched the urge to crush her mom’s hopes once and for all. Instead, she said, “No, we’re going to take a look at your house. Cam said he’s made all the fixes that were needed, and he wants me to look at it with him.” She glanced at her phone. “I’m gonna have to get ready and leave pretty soon to get there in time.”

She gulped the last two bites of her breakfast, then carried her bowl to the sink, rinsed it and slid it into the dishwasher. “Sorry to abandon you before you’re finished eating, but Cam has a meeting after this, so I don’t want to be late.”

“You’re in a hurry to meet someone who you say is nothing more than a friend,” her mom said with a wide smile.

“That’s all he is,” Jo said. “But he’s running a business, and I don’t want to make him wait.”

She ran up the stairs without waiting for her mother to respond. After brushing her teeth and combing her hair, she ran downstairs, grabbed her coat and hat and purse, and stopped long enough to kiss her mom goodbye. “I’ll see you later, Mom.”

“Stay as long as you need to, Jo,” her mom called after her. “I’m having lunch with a few of my friends later.”

“Have fun, Mom,” Jo called, then hurried out the door.

It was still frigidly cold, but Jo pulled on her gloves, got into her car and started the engine, sitting until a weak blast of warm air came out of the vents. Then she typed her mom’s house’s address into her phone, plugged it into the accessory jack, and waited for the directions to pop up on the screen. Then she backed out of the driveway and headed for the new development.

She’d reached the intersection of her mom’s street and a bigger highway, and stopped for a light. When a big red truck slowed and stopped at the intersection as the light turned yellow, she recognized Cam behind the wheel. As soon as the light turned green, she swung onto the larger street and followed him.

They were almost at the new subdivision when they approached a stop sign. A newer model dark blue Ram pickup sat on her left, but it didn’t attempt to move forward. Cam’s truck stopped, then he moved into the intersection.

As soon as he did, the blue truck leapt forward. As it neared Cam’s truck, it accelerated. Cam must have noticed it, because his truck shot forward. Moments later, the blue truck hit Cam’s truck hard, then backed quickly and raced down the road in the direction she and Cam were heading. In the blink of an eye, the blue truck disappeared from sight.

Jo pulled up behind Cam and ran to the driver’s side of his truck. The back door was crushed, but fortunately the driver’s door was untouched.

“Cam,” she yelled as she leapt onto the running board. She tugged at the door, but it wouldn’t open. “Cam, are you okay?”

She cupped her hands around her eyes to see through the tinted glass, but Cam appeared motionless. Using both hands, she tugged at the door again. It flew open suddenly, and she almost fell off the running board.

Cam turned slowly to stare at her. “Jo? What are you doing here?”

“I was right behind you,” she said. “I saw the whole thing. Have you called the police?”

He shook his head slowly. “Not yet. Gonna do that right now.”

“I’ll do it,” Jo said. She pulled out her phone, dialed 911, and as soon as the operator answered, said, “There’s been a car accident. At the intersection of Breen and Main street. The other car took off. It was a dark blue pickup truck, a Ram four by four, license plate obscured. Looked like it was covered with mud. It appeared to be a deliberate targeting. It sat at the intersection until the truck ahead of me reached it. As soon as that truck moved forward, the blue Ram took off. Increased its speed until it hit the red truck. Driver didn’t slow down or stop. He or she accelerated away, going south on Main Street.”

“I’ve already sent a cruiser out. He’ll be there shortly. Is anyone injured?”

“Hard to tell. The driver whose truck was hit seems groggy.”

“I’ll send an ambulance, as well.”

“Thank you,” Jo said, ending the call and leaning in to look into Cam’s eyes.

“Cam. Are you hurt? Did you bang your head? Wrench your neck?”

He shook his head slowly. “My head bounced off the steering wheel, but that’s all. My head hurts, but I’m okay otherwise.”

His eyes were unfocused, and she wanted to pull him into her arms. Comfort him. But she knew better than to move an accident victim with a possible head wound.

“They’re sending an ambulance along with the police cruiser,” she said, scanning his face and studying his eyes. She didn’t see any signs of a concussion, but she’d let the experts make that call. “They’re gonna want to take you to the hospital. Check you out.”

Cam frowned. “I don’t have time for that,” he said. “I have a meeting scheduled in ten minutes, then I have to go to the Ogden Building Permit department and talk to my contact there.”

“Not this morning, you’re not,” Jo said. “You’re going to the hospital before you do anything else.”

“I don’t have time to go to the hospital,” Cam insisted.

Jo brushed her fingers over the side of his face. “Your meeting in ten minutes was with me,” she said quietly. “I won’t be there, either, so you don’t have to worry about that one. And if you like, I can call the Ogden Building Permits department and talk to your contact there. Tell him or her what happened and why you’ll have to reschedule.”

She heard the wail of sirens in the distance and touched his face again. “Don’t move. I’m gonna put my car on the side of the road so it’s not blocking traffic. I’ll be right back.”

She jumped off the running board and hurried to her car. They were stopped in front of a donut shop, so she parked in the orange and pink building’s lot, then hurried back to Cam’s truck. By the time she reached it, two squad cars had pulled up. An ambulance’s lights flashed a few blocks away, speeding in their direction.

One of the cops turned to look at her. “You in the truck with him?” the woman asked.

“No, right behind him. I saw the whole thing.”

The cop pulled out a notebook and a pen. “Want to describe it for me?”

Jo went through the whole incident, starting with pulling up behind Cam and finishing with the other truck turning south on Main and speeding away. “I’m sure it was deliberate,” Jo said. “The blue Ram -- pretty sure it was a 1500 because it only had only one door on the side -- was sitting at the stop sign for quite a while. As soon as it spotted the red truck, it entered the intersection. Instead of braking as it reached the red truck, it accelerated. After it hit the red truck, it backed up enough to turn around, then took off going south on Main Street.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed as she watched Jo. “You get a license plate number?”

Jo shook her head. “It was obscured by mud. A lot of mud, enough to hide all the letters and numbers on the plate. I noticed the front plate was also obscured.”

The cop stared at Jo for an uncomfortably long time. “You noticed a hell of a lot,” she finally said.

Why was this woman doubting her instead of taking care of Cam? Jo clenched her fists and shoved them into her pockets. “I’ve been trained to notice things like that.” Jo swallowed and pulled out her wallet. She handed the cop both her driver’s license and her employment card from Blackhawk Security.

The ambulance had arrived, and Jo saw the two EMTs standing on the running board, talking to Cam as they examined him.

The cop said, “You’re a bodyguard?”

“Yes. I am.”

“Are you guarding the man in the red truck?”

“No. I’m not here for a job. I’m visiting my mother, who lives in Ogden.”

“Mind giving me your phone number? I’m sure we’ll want to follow up with you.”

“Not at all.” Jo recited her phone number, then asked, “Anything else? I want to see how my friend is doing.”

The woman’s fingers tightened on her pen. “You know the victim?”

“Yes. He’s building a house for my mother, and we were on the way over there to take a look at it.”

“So you were following him?”

“Only for the last few blocks. I just happened to turn onto Main Street right behind him.”

“You see anything out of the ordinary before the blue truck hit your friend?”

“Nothing at all. But that truck was waiting at the stop sign when we were two or three blocks back. I could see it in the distance. And there wasn’t much traffic, so it wouldn’t have had to wait that long. He could have pulled into traffic almost as soon as he stopped at the stop sign. But he didn’t. He waited for the red truck, then rammed into it.”

“In your opinion,” the cop said.

“No. That’s what happened. There were too many opportunities for that truck to turn or go straight, whichever it needed to do. Instead, he waited until the red truck stopped at the stop sign and started through the intersection before it moved. It barreled right into the side of the red truck.” Jo swallowed. “It looked as if the driver of the red truck sped up just before impact. As if he saw the car barreling toward him and tried to avoid it.”

In front of her, one of the EMTs passed a backboard into the truck. She helped her partner arrange Cam on the board, then they carefully removed him from the cabin. They carried him to the ambulance and strapped him down, still on the backboard.

Jo stepped away from the cop. “I need to see how he is,” she said, rushing toward the ambulance. One of the EMTs began to close the door, and Jo grabbed the edge of it. “Is he okay?” she asked.

The EMT studied her for a moment. “You the one who hit him?”

“No,” Jo said, shaking her head vehemently. “I’m his friend. We were meeting at a house he’s building for my mother. I just happened to be behind him when I saw the other truck hit him.”

“He needs to be checked for a concussion, because his head hit the steering wheel.” She shook her head. “He’s damn lucky that truck didn’t hit his door directly. Could’ve been a lot worse.”

“Okay. What hospital are you going to?” Jo asked.

“Delnor. It’s the closest.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I’ll head to Delnor, then.”

The EMT nodded, then shut the door in Jo’s face. Moments later, with a wail of its siren, the ambulance took off.

The other cop hurried over to Jo. “Did Officer Barnes get all your contact information?” he asked.

“She has my phone number. I’m visiting my mom for another week, then I have to get back to my job in Montana. But I’ll do whatever I can to help you figure out who’s targeting Cam Pierce.”

The cop’s eyes narrowed. “You know the guy in the red truck?”

“Yes, I do. He’s building a house for my mother. But I knew him fifteen years ago. We went to high school together.”

The cop’s eyes sharpened. “And you just happened to be behind his truck this morning.”

Jo was getting tired of the cops’ insinuations. Drawing herself up straight, she said, “Yes. I was following him to the house his company is building for my mother. To check it out.” She stared at the older man. “I gave your partner the description of the truck that hit Cam’s truck. It was quite detailed. Do you have someone out looking for that truck?”

He stared at her for a long moment, then looked away. “I’m sure Cilla has called it in to dispatch,” he said gruffly. “We’ll find that truck. From the size of the dent in your friend’s truck, there’ll be damage to the front of the other truck. And you gave her a good description of it. Thank you,” he added after a long moment.

“You’re welcome,” Jo said, narrowing her eyes. “Now find that truck.”