Shadows on the Lane (2 page)

“No, Jess. I have to make sure the accident is written up correctly and that the best people are put on the case.”

Miss Tyler rose, smoothed her dress, and checked her hair. “I think I’ll drive to the hospital and see if I can help Lawrence and Bryce.” She gave Jessie a little hug. “Thank you for your kindness, Jessica.” She started toward the door.

“‘Bye, Miss Tyler. I’d be glad to go…” Jessie saw her father shake his head at her.

“Jess. Go home. You are not going to the hospital and you are not going with me.” His voice was rising with exasperation. He walked firmly out the museum door and onto the porch.

She ran after him. “Please,” she called as he descended the steps. “I should go with you because I saw the whole thing.”

Her dad stopped and turned slowly to face her. “In that case, you’d better come along.”

CHAPTER THREE

The car moved swiftly over the brick paving. Jessie stared out the window seeing over and over the image of the little girl falling onto the pavement.

“I didn’t realize you saw the car actually hit the girl, Jess.” Her dad steered with one hand and with the other adjusted the rear view mirror.

“Sunny,” Jessie said.

He looked at her. “Sunny?”

“Sunny is the girl’s name. She’s Bryce Peterson’s sister.” Jessie pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “I didn’t know he
had
a sister.”

Her father was quiet for a moment. “Well, they just moved here a few weeks ago.” He pulled into a parking space at the Courthouse Square. A glass globe over the door was painted with the word POLICE. He switched off the ignition and turned to Jessie. “The detectives will want to know every detail of what you saw. He put his hand under her chin. “Seeing what you did was a shock. Can you do this?”

Jessie nodded stiffly. She could feel the tears building. When her dad put his arm around her shoulders, she leaned against him and wept.

He pulled a tissue from a box on the dashboard and tucked it into her hand.

“Thanks.” She wiped her cheeks, blew her nose, and took a deep shuddering breath. She definitely felt better. Opening the car door, she said, “Let’s get it over with.”

At the main desk, a blue uniformed sergeant said, “Hi, Mr. Hanson, Jessie. I suppose you’re here about the hit-and-run.” He stood. “Lars Garner’s on the case. He said you’d be coming in. Follow me.”

The sergeant led them to a small room behind the desk. It contained a plain wooden table and four chairs. “Have a seat.” He brushed crumbs off the table with his hand. “Would you like something to drink? We have bad coffee or cold soda.”

“Nothing for me, Bob. Jessie?”

Jessie shook her head. She couldn’t drink anything now because she had to clinch her teeth to keep her lips from quivering. When she smoothed back her hair, her hand trembled.

Her father was watching her closely. He leaned toward her and said, “This might not be a good idea. Should we come back when you’re not so shaky?”

For a minute, she felt the tears well up again. “No. I can do it now.” She looked him in the eyes. “You always say the first few hours are the most important after a crime takes place.”

“Ah yes, my little detective. You listen too well sometimes.” He hugged her. “Okay, we’ll tough it out. But, remember, we don’t know yet if it’s a crime or an accident.”

An unsmiling man entered the room. He was shorter than her dad and slightly overweight. His navy blue jacket stretched tightly across his chest. His blond hair was cropped short and his eyes were blue. “This is bad, Carl,” Detective Garner said to her dad. “A hit-and-run in Fairfield and a kid to boot.” He looked at Jessie. “Are you here to help with the case?” Everyone in town knew about Jessie’s interest in police work.

“I’m here because I saw the whole thing,” Jessie said.

The detective slipped a pen and notebook from his jacket pocket, scooted his chair close to the table and asked, “How’d you happen to see it?”

“I was on a balcony at Mr. Johnson’s, I mean the Swedish Museum.” Jessie’s mouth was so dry she could barely speak. She cleared her throat.

Detective Garner stood, went to the door and called out to the sergeant to bring some water. In a moment, he returned with a tall green plastic glass and handed it to Jessie.

She took a long drink and said, “I was watching her toss a ball back and forth to a little boy.”

The officer wrote in his notebook. “Sunny Peterson?”

“Yes. I think I heard the car before I saw it. When I looked up the street, it was coming fast—for Willow Lane.”

He raised his eyes from his notes. “What color was the car?”

“Light blue.”

“Did you notice anything else about the car besides the color?”

“Let me think.” Jessie gazed at the ceiling. “It wasn’t new, and it had four doors and a license plate like ours. And there was only one person in the car.”

“Male or female?”

“I don’t know. It seems like the person had on a cap or hat. It had a bill like a baseball cap. I think it was brown.

“Any dents or damage?”

Jessie put her face in her hands. “Oh, I don’t know.”

“Take your time.”

She looked up suddenly. “There was one of those flowers or something on the antenna.”

“Oh, right. People put them on their cars so they can find them in crowded parking lots.” He made a note.

“Yeah!” she said. “I think it was red—a red flower.”

“What happened next?”

“When the ball rolled over the curb, Sunny ran after it and stepped into the street. But not very far.” She covered her eyes, as if to blot out the image. “I shouted something and she must have heard the car too, because she looked toward it.”

“And then?”

“That was the awful part,” said Jessie. “It seemed like the driver steered the car a little bit in her direction.”

Detective Garner stared at her. “You mean as if he were aiming for her?”

“Well, just a little bit. I know I thought that when I saw it.” She gripped the edge of the table. “Then the car kind of brushed her and she fell onto the pavement.”

“What happened next?” he asked. His face was red and he looked angry.

“The driver looked at her for a second and then the car raced off down Willow Lane. He saw her! He knew he hit her, but he didn’t stop!” Jessie felt the tears coming again but fought them back. “I ran into the tearoom and called for help.”

Detective Garner wrote in his notebook, and then looked up. “Anything else you can think of?”

Jessie squinted, thinking. “Only that I think Sunny knew the person who ran her down.”

“What?” The detective frowned and glanced at her father.

“But, Jessie,” said her dad. “Sunny probably doesn’t know many people here. She’s only been in Fairfield a few days.”

Detective Garner leaned toward her from across the table. “Why do you think this, Jessie?”

“Because just before the car hit her, Sunny smiled and waved at the driver.”

CHAPTER FOUR

By the time Jessie and her dad were back in the car, the sun had set and bands of pink and gold clouds drifted across the horizon. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She had never felt so tired.

“Can you last long enough for one more stop?” asked her dad.

“Oh, Daddy. I’m so tired. And I’m starving.” Jessie slumped farther into her seat. “Afternoon tea isn’t really a meal.”

He opened the glove compartment, pulled out two candy bars and handed one to Jessie. “It’ll only take a few minutes. I need to stop by the hospital and speak to Sunny’s father.”

Suddenly Jessie was wide awake. She straightened up, ripped open the candy wrapper and took a bite. “Oh, the hospital. Sure.” Bryce would be there.

At Fairfield Hospital’s reception desk, her father spoke quietly to the attendant and then steered Jessie to the elevators. On the fourth floor, she followed him to a small waiting room across from the nurses’ desk. Worn-out magazines and sections of newspapers were scattered on tables and chairs. In the far corner by a big window, Jessie spied Bryce, his dad and Miss Tyler.

Jessie and her dad pulled up chairs and sat down with the little group. Leaning forward, her father asked in a low voice, “How’s Sunny?”

Bryce’s dad cleared his throat. “She has a concussion and a broken leg. They’re setting the leg now. Dr. Adams says she’ll be all right.”

Jessie’s father straightened and smiled. “That’s great news!”

Dr. Peterson nodded and smiled at Jessie. “It’s a good thing you were on that balcony, Jessie. We owe you a big thanks.”

“Yes, Jessica,” said Miss Tyler. “And thank you for staying with me while I calmed down. You were a great comfort.”

Jessie felt her face get warm. “You’re welcome.” She sneaked a glance at Bryce.

He was watching her with a little smile. Jessie felt her knees go weak.
It’s
a good thing I’m sitting down. I’d sure hate to faint away in front of everyone.

When her father, Sunny’s dad and Miss Tyler began to talk about the legal details of the hit-and-run, Bryce came and sat beside Jessie. “You helped us today. Thank you.”

She nodded and said, “I didn’t even know you
had
a sister. Was she a secret?”

“No.” He shook his head and frowned. “It’s just that we were so busy trying to solve the baby-monitor mystery, we never got a chance to talk about anything else.”

“Sunny is so pretty, Bryce,” Jessie said. “I hope she’s okay.”

“Thanks. It looks like she’ll be…”

Dr. Adams appeared at the doorway with a big smile on his face. “We set her leg and put on a brace.” He pulled off his green hospital cap, releasing a mop of black curls. “She’ll have to be in a wheel chair or on crutches for about six weeks.”

“It could have been a lot worse!” Sunny’s father said.

“What about the concussion?” asked Jessie’s dad.

“She has a large bruise over her left ear. Sunny was unconscious for a couple of minutes after the accident. She may have some short-term amnesia. We’ll keep her overnight and watch her. You can see her now.”

Amnesia?
How can we find out who hit her if she
can’t remember anything?
Jessie stood up and started to follow Bryce and his father.

Jessie’s dad took her hand. “We’ll talk to you later, Lawrence. Come on, Jess. Now you can go home and eat.”

“But…” Jessie began to protest.

“Time to go, Jess,” said her dad. “Remember how tired you are?”

“Bye, everybody,” Jessie said. She followed her dad slowly to the elevator.

CHAPTER FIVE

The next morning, Jessie lay in bed and thought about the details of the accident.
What did I miss? If I use my detecting skills
,
can I figure out who was driving the hit-and-run car? I need to concentrate.

“Ha, ha, ha.” Phillip was peering at her through the metalwork scrolls at the foot of her brass bed.

“What’s so funny?” Jessie asked.

He ducked out of sight and reappeared. “Boo! Ha, ha. Scared you.”

Jessie threw back the covers and jumped out of bed. “No you didn’t. I can hear you coming a mile away.”

He winked, stuck out his tongue and ran from the room.

Two-year-olds. What a pain, thought Jessie.

“Jessie,” her mother called from downstairs. “Telephone.”

She went to the phone in her parents’ bedroom. “Hello?” A baby howled in the background.

“Boy, Jessie,” Tina said. “How is it you always end up in the middle of some police case?”

Jessie laughed. “Lucky, I guess. It even amazes me, being on that balcony at just the right time.”

Tina’s voice rose over the background crying. “Let’s go somewhere. The babies are crying nonstop.”

Phillip tore into the room and crawled into Jessie’s lap. She kissed his cheek and silently thanked him for being two years old instead of two months old like the twins. “What’s wrong with them?”

“Who knows? Mom and Dad are working on it. How’s the little girl?”

Jessie shifted Phillip in her lap. “Her name is Sunny and she’s Bryce Peterson’s sister.”

“You are kidding me! No wonder she’s so cute.”

“So true. Anyway she has a broken leg and a concussion. I heard your dad say she might have amnesia. Didn’t he tell you about it?”

“My dad and I haven’t had a conversation since the twins were born. Kind of a blessing, actually.”

“Remember that the next time you’re complaining about the babies.”

“Good point. So let’s do something. Anything to get out of here.” Tina sounded desperate.

“I have my first piano lesson today. I’ll check with mom and call you back.”

“Make it soon!” Tina said.

Jessie set Phillip on his feet and took his hand. Together they went down the wide staircase to the kitchen. Her mother scooped oatmeal into three blue bowls and placed them on yellow placemats at the round table. While her mom made a small stack of toast, Jessie took napkins from the holder and spoons from the drawer. She lifted Phillip into his booster seat and set the table.