She glanced up at the EMT who had just finished checking his pulse. Even though she feared the answer, she had to ask the question burning in her thoughts. “Is he going to be all right?”
The EMT adjusted the oxygen cannula in her uncle’s nose and frowned. “It’s still too early to say, ma’am. The doctor can tell you more when we get both of you to the hospital. Even though you appear to be unhurt you need to be checked out, too. You can ride in the back with your uncle.”
Before they could load the gurney into the ambulance, her uncle stirred, and his eyelids fluttered open. She clutched his hand tighter and leaned closer. “Uncle Dan, it’s Callie. Can you hear me?”
“Callie.” The hoarse whisper seemed to exhaust him.
“Yes, I’m here. We were in a car wreck. We’re going to the hospital. Everything is going to be all right.”
He frowned and licked his lips. “Call Seth.”
Callie clutched her uncle’s hand tighter and shook her head. “Uncle Dan, don’t talk. Just lie still.”
His eyes grew wide, and he struggled to push up. “No!” he wheezed. “Need Seth. Something to tell him about the case.”
She glanced up at the EMT who placed his hands on her uncle’s shoulders and eased him back down to the gurney. “All right, Uncle Dan. I’ll call Seth.”
“Tell him it’s important,” he mumbled before he closed his eyes again.
New tears poured down Callie’s cheeks as she watched her uncle being loaded into the ambulance. One of the EMTs grasped her arm to help her up, but she paused when a car skidded to a stop next to the police car blocking the highway, and a man jumped from inside.
She wouldn’t have to call Seth after all—he was already here.
She braced herself for her first encounter with Seth Dawtry since the night when she’d turned down his marriage proposal. For years her uncle had said that she and the young policeman he’d mentored would make a perfect couple. He’d tried matchmaking every time she came back to Memphis to visit. It had almost worked two years ago.
Seth only hesitated a moment when he saw her standing at the back of the ambulance before he raced toward her.
“Is he alive?” His voice shook with each word.
She nodded. “Yes, but he’s seriously injured. How did you know he’d been hurt?”
“One of the first responders is a friend of mine. He called as soon as he saw who it was. I got here as fast as I could.” He glanced at the EMT inside the ambulance. “Is he conscious?”
The man shook his head. “He was for a moment but not now.”
She took a deep breath and turned toward Seth. “He asked me to call you. If he regains consciousness, I’ll tell him you arrived.”
Seth’s eyes narrowed, then his stare settled on her and turned cold. Even after two years she could see he still harbored anger toward her. He gave a curt nod. “Thanks.”
She tried to smile but her lips trembled. “We need to go.”
Seth backed away. “I’ll follow the ambulance to the hospital and see you there.”