Page 17 of Death Row
Chapter 16
Before
During my drive home, I call Noel about twenty times. I have left five increasingly panicked voicemails about the gas leak. “Call the fire department,” I said in each message. “Don’t touch the stove!”
The only problem is that he might never check his phone.
I can’t believe I thought he would cheat on me. He has been nothing but faithful the whole time we’ve been together—nearly ten years now. Helovesme. And now there’s a chance he could be dead, and it would be entirely my fault.
No. I won’t let that happen. I’m going to get home in time and stop him from being harmed by my stupid, stupid mistake.
If he’s dead . . . or horribly burned . . .
I push my foot against the gas, going as fast as I dare. Getting pulled over by a police officer would slow me down, and I might not make it in time. I have to make it in time.
Except Lisbeth told me Noel had already left work, which means he must be home by now. Even if he took a five-minute shower, he would be done by now.
Please, Noel. Please don’t turn on the stove ...
When I am about five minutes away from the house, a fire truck swerves past me, its lights flashing. Wherever it’s going, it’s in a great hurry to get there. And it’s heading in the direction of my house.
I push my foot more firmly against the gas pedal.
Just as I feel like I’m about to lose my mind, a call pops up on the display on my dashboard. I can hardly believe it when I see Noel’s name. Is it really him calling me? Or did somebody just find his phone in the debris of the explosion? I press the green button to take the call.
“Talia?”
It’s Noel’s voice. I can’t stop myself from bursting into tears. They stream down my face, blurring my vision. “Noel!” I cry. “Are you okay? I was so worried!”
“I’m fine,” he says, sounding absolutely and completely fine. “I turned off my phone when I was at work, and I just got all your messages.”
“Don’t turn on the stove!”
“I won’t!” He laughs. “Actually, I stopped off to get fast food on the way back. I didn’t feel like spaghetti and meatballs, so there was no reason to turn on the stove. But I called the fire department, and they’re going to check things out.”
So that’s why the fire truck was headed to my house. ThankGod.
“Anyway,” Noel says, “enjoy your girls’ night out with Kinsey. I’m handling everything, okay?”
“Okay . . .”
“And when you get home,” he adds, “I’ve got something for you that I’ll give you as soon as we can get back into the house. I spent a little too much on a necklace for you, but Ineverbuy you jewelry, and I want to show you how much you mean to me. I hope you’re not mad that I spent so much.”
The necklace was for me. Of course it was.
I start to tell him that I am absolutely not mad, and that I can’t wait to see him, and also that I love him. And the first thing I’ll do when I get there is I’m going to wrap my arms around him and give him a kiss that I feel like I’ve been wanting to give him for so long now.
But my eyes are so blurry from crying that I don’t notice the stop sign partially concealed by an overgrown tree, and before I can get out the words to tell him I’ll be home soon, a Mack truck going much too fast slams into my car. For a split second, I hear crunching metal and shattering glass, and then everything goes black.
Chapter 17
Present Day
We’re doing the right thing,” a male voice is saying. “I know it’s hard, but like I’ve said, you have to know when to let go.”
The voice is coming from right above me. It sounds like Clarence Bowman, my lawyer, but that wouldn’t make sense. My eyes drifted shut after Albert injected the sedative, and when I now try to open them, they won’t open on my command. Is that because of the vecuronium bromide?
The beeping has also become much louder. It always sounded distant when I heard it in the past, but now it feels like the source is right in the room with me. Directly above my head.
