Rose crossed the street and entered Washington Park, a mammoth place of greenery in the middle of the city. The park was closed at dusk each night because of the crime and cruising that went on there. Normally Rose would go around but that meant an extra six blocks out of her way and with the howling wind and bitter cold, the most direct route home was needed. In the five block walk from the supermarket to the edge of the park, Rose’s ears were beet red from the cold and her nose had already started to run. She couldn’t feel her toes and the pockets of her sweat jacket did nothing to protect her fingers. Deciding from the lack of prints in the snow and the sub-zero temperature that it was safe, Rose trudged along past the huge statue of Moses that marked the entrance and the snow covered sign that warned against being in the park at night. The fierce wind refused to let her keep her hood on and her shoulder length hair flapped loosely about her face. Her body shivered fiercely and all she could think of was getting home and sinking into a nice hot bath. She was halfway through the park and within sight of Madison Avenue when she heard them approaching, their quick footfalls crunching the snow under their feet. “Well well well, what do we have here?” She turned her head to see four men rapidly approaching her, now quite running but certainly walking very fast.
“Come on honey, we’ve got something for ya.”
“Yeah, why don’t you come party with us?”
The deep cold made her legs feel like lead but the idea of being caught out in the middle of the dark park by the four men put new life in her steps. She tried ignoring them and continuing on her way but men continued to follow her. “Come’on bitch, let Danny have some fun,” the closest one said, causing Rose’s heart to start pounding painfully in her chest. She had to get out of there and had to get out of there now. She began running, more like stumbling, through the snow and toward the bright lights of Madison Avenue.
Veronica breezed through the lights of the sleeping city, mindless of the way the Porsche slipped around in the snow. It wasn’t like anyone else was around at the late hour. She passed Lark Street without meaning to and cursed loudly. Now she’d have to go all the way past the park to catch the next cross street. Seeing no cars in front of her, she punched the pedal of her Porsche 911 and threw it into second gear. She was going far too fast for the snow covered street, especially since it didn’t look like the plows had been through any time recently, but she didn’t care. It wasn’t like she had to stop anytime soon and she was still under the posted limit, although definitely faster than the road conditions dictated. The next cross street was at least a half mile away. Suddenly a flash of blue and gold appeared in front of her, a figure darting out from between parked cars. Veronica jammed both feet on the brakes and jerked the steering wheel hard to the left but there was just no time. The snow gave her no traction and an eerie silence filled the air as she watched the low front of the Porsche strike the pedestrian and throw the helpless person up onto the windshield. The red sports car finally came to a halt several car lengths later and the broken body slumped off the hood onto the snow covered ground. For several seconds Veronica could do nothing but grip the steering wheel and stare at the spider web pattern that now made up her windshield while her heart pounded mercilessly. The reality of what had happened finally sunk in and with shaking hands she opened the door. She looked around quickly for any witnesses but at 12:30 on a Tuesday night everyone was in bed. She never saw the gang of thugs that had been chasing the victim turn around and slink back into the darkness of the park.
Blood was already beginning to pool on the ground beneath the body, although the extreme cold made the flow far less than it would normally have been. Veronica knelt down beside the crumpled form and with her gloved hand rolled the victim over. She gasped when she saw the battered face of a young woman. “Oh my god.” A flash of green just on the edge of her vision caused the raven haired woman to turn and look up. A traffic light. She glanced over at the cross street. New Scotland Avenue. She was only three blocks from the Medical Center. She quickly opened the passenger door and pulled the lever that reclined the seat. Veronica knew that the best thing was to try and immobilize the woman but there wasn’t any way she could do that at the moment and the puddle of blood was steadily growing. The hospital was too close to think about calling for an ambulance and wasting precious minutes. The decision made, Veronica slipped her arms under the unconscious woman’s shoulders and dragged her to the car. Less than a minute later they were speeding toward the Medical Center.
As she pulled into the drive marked “Emergency” a thought occurred to the corporate magnate. Not only had she been speeding and hit this woman but if a cop chose to do a breathalyzer there was no way that she would pass, not after all the wine she had consumed at Sam’s just a short while earlier. She jerked the car to the right at the last moment and pulled into the one of the surgeon’s parking slots. In the dark with only the back of the Porsche showing, no one would question it being parked there. She exited the car and walked toward the emergency entrance, trying desperately to think of what to do. The answer came to her when she spotted a gurney sitting just inside the glass doors. Veronica grabbed the stretcher and wheeled it out to her car. Hours spent in her private gym made it easy for her to lift the unconscious woman up onto the gurney. During the transfer, a small sports wallet fell out of the victim’s back pocket and landed on the snow covered ground. Veronica picked it up, tucked it inside her leather jacket, and ran as fast as she could while pushing the stretcher toward the emergency entrance.
“I need some help here! This woman’s been hit by a car!” she yelled as soon as the inner doors slid open. The charge nurse and the night intern raced over to begin triage. “We’ve got multiple injuries, check the board and see who’s on call for the OR.” the blond doctor said. A clerk immediately left to page the surgeon and to call for assistance while the nurse began taking the unconscious woman’s blood pressure. Standing back out of the way, Veronica watched on in horror as the doctor cut the young woman’s jacket and clothes off her body. Everything seemed to be covered with blood, especially the pants. An older doctor arrived on the scene, his hair mussed from sleep.
“What do we have?”
“Hit and run. Compound breaks of both tibias and fibulas, Doctor Maise,” the young doctor explained. “Probable internal injuries as well. Whoever hit her was going fast.”
“Have them prep OR 2. Type and cross match six units of blood and page Doctor’s Gannon and Marks to assist.” The rest of the conversation was lost on Veronica as she put her hands in her pockets and felt the cold wallet tucked inside. She opened the thin wallet, surprised at the lack of contents. There were no pictures, no credit cards, not even a driver’s license. A blue library card identified the victim as Rose Grayson and gave her address as Morris Street. A social security card and a Money Slasher check cashing card were the only other pieces of identification. She opened the Velcro compartment inside and found two bus tokens, one house key, and twelve cents. There was nothing else. Well, at least they’d have a name and address to go on, she thought as she walked over to the charge nurse’s desk. As she approached, she heard the two woman behind the desk talking.