Page 52 of Just Curious

Jackson called 911 again. This time he knew exactly where Willa was. He could barely force the words out.

Miles tried to drive faster without causing his own wreck, but he was completely at a loss as to what to say to Jackson.

Casey called Phillipe and asked him to please get over to the gliderport immediately and see if he could find out anything. Since Phillipe was the closest, it made sense.

Phillipe was already running for his van before Casey was even done telling him what was going on. “I’m on my way, Mr. Melrose. I’ll let you know the instant I know anything. You can count on me.”

Phillipe drove like a bat out of hell getting over to the coast. His insides were churning. Casey had sounded terrified.Hewas terrified for all of them too. He’d been around the three of them enough to know how strong their commitment and love were. It wasn’t an average relationship, by any means, but it worked for them. Phillipe had a genuine fondness for his employers and couldn’t fathom what would happen if Willa had gotten hurt… or worse. He stepped on the gas a little more and looked in his rearview mirror for police. The trouble was, the sun was starting to set, and visibility was becoming worse. Also, he noticed a lot of debris—sticks, leaves, and the occasional piece of trash blowing around in the fierce wind.

As he drew closer to his destination, he began to hear sirens and hoped they weren’t coming from behind him to give him a speeding ticket. He slowed down as he saw flashing lights bearing down on him, and he pulled to the side, swearing colorfully at his bad luck. Much to his relief, however, he watched several vehicles fly by him at top speed. Feeling as if his heart were about to explode, it was beating so hard, he called Casey back and reported, “The authorities just zoomed by me, I assume to get to the site. There was an ambulance, a fire truck, and some cops. I’m right behind them.”

Phillipe pulled into the area behind the emergency vehicles and tried to assess the situation without getting in the way. All he could see was that the fire truck was pouring water over the cliff, and there was a lot of smoke billowing everywhere. He politely approached one of the police officers who stood looking over the edge and asked, “Do you know what happened to the driver? She’s one of my employers—a friend.”

“Sorry, sir. From the looks of things, no one could have survived that crash. It’s hard to see, but the car is in pieces, and the lithium batteries in it are about to start a brush fire if they don’t get it out right away.”

Phillipe’s heart dropped, and he began babbling, “But her boyfriend was on the phone with her, and he told me she was trying to jump out through the window. He’s on his way home right now from LA. Please, you need to look for her! She could still be alive somewhere down there!”

The officer gave him a sad look, but went to speak to her partner. Within seconds, they had a high beam light scanning the area near the crashed car.

Phillipe was shaking like a leaf but felt compelled to climb down the cliffside to look for her himself. He asked the officer, “Isn’t there a path around here that leads down to the beach?”

“It’s a little south of here,” she answered, “but don’t get any ideas. That fire is no joke. Those lithium batteries are tough to extinguish, and they’ve been known to reignite and even explode once the fire is out.”

Phillipe wasn’t listening. He was jogging south to look for the trail. He knew he had to do something. Poor Willa! The sun hadn’t completely set yet, but with the smoke and the fading light, it was very difficult to see, and it was getting worse by the minute. All he had was a key fob light, but he figured he’d wait until he really needed that. And there it was—the head of the trail!

Ever so carefully Phillipe made his way down the rocky path, thinking to himself,Those crazy sunbathers sure work hard to get to their nude beach. At least the path seemed to be traversing back toward where the car went over the rim, so he thought if he were really, really lucky…

“Hey! Over here! I see her! HELP!” Phillipe shined his tiny light ahead of him as he scrambled off the path and back up the cliff. He gave up when he realized he needed both hands to keep from plunging to his death. “Help, she’s over here!” His foot lost traction then, and he skidded backward, scraping his knee.

Finally, someone heard him over the noise of the firetruck and trained the high-powered light in his direction—andrightinto his eyes, blinding him. He gestured wildly to get them to scan the area ahead of him instead, yelling, “Over there!” Whoever had the light got the picture and started to pan the area much closer to the top of the cliff this time.

And there she was! Not moving, Phillipe noticed. Hanging limply over a rock outcropping in an awkward position with her face covered in blood. Her foot seemed to be stuck between a couple of smaller boulders above her.Maybe that’s what kept her from falling further?He couldn’t see a lot of her body from his angle. He also realized how difficult it would have been to see her from the top of the cliff, considering the shape of the hillside and the random clusters of brush.

Phillipe doubled his efforts to climb up to where Willa lay. Hot tears streaked down his face when he thought about how sweet and happy she’d been just a few hours ago while they discussed his good news.

Oh, God. I can’t bear the idea that Casey and Jackson might lose her. It will kill them! It’ll kill me, and I’m not even in love with her. Ouch!Climbing in this terrain was ill-advised and treacherous.

Finally, Phillipe was forced to admit to himself that he couldn’t get to Willa from where he was. His heart sank. But just then a fireman yelled, “Get back to the path carefully. We’re sending down climbers and a stretcher. Please stay out of their way, sir. We’ll take it from here.”

Relieved to hear that, Phillipe retraced his steps and slid on his butt a bit until he reached better footing on the path. His hands were scratched, and his knee was bloody where his jeans were torn, but he barely noticed. Once it was safe enough, he ran back up to where the firemen were deploying rescuers.

When the men reached Willa, he hollered to them, “Is she alive?”Please, God. Please, God, let her be alive. She didn’t look alive to me, and there was all that blood. Oh, God.Phillipe made the sign of the cross.

“We have a pulse. It's weak, but it’s there,” one of the men shouted back to him.

“Oh,Dieu merci.” He immediately phoned Casey.

“What’s happening, Philippe?”

“She’s alive! She got out of the car, but she still fell quite a long way and hit some rocks. The rescue guys are bringing her up now.”

“How did she get out? Did she say what happened?”

“Uh, no. She’s kind of… um… “

“What, Phillipe? Are you crying? What’s wrong with her. Tell me!”

“She’s unconscious actually. And, Mr. Melrose, if I’m really honest, she doesn’t look so good. There’s a lot of blood.”

---