“No,” Kate said, “I’m sure it doesn’t. Although the driver also has to deal with the fact that he killed somebody—and a child at that.”
“Yes,” the woman agreed. “If that were me, I would be terrified of ever getting back in a vehicle again.”
At that, Kate sat back and wondered. She spoke to the older woman a little bit longer, and, when she hung up, she sat here, staring at the monitor, wondering.
Again Rodney looked over at her. “And?”
“Her daughter received some head injuries, some of which have caused her to slowly go blind over the last year. She’s not only lost her daughter but also her sight, and now it looks like her marriage is about to collapse.”
“Ouch, that’s a tough one.”
She nodded. “It is, indeed. The driver was charged and was remorseful. He needed new glasses, made a poor judgment as to distance and timing. He may have done jail time because her mother said he was out now. I’ll have to confirm that. He was charged, and he pleaded guilty, and, apparently a year later, he’s free and clear.”
“But, if it wasn’t due to negligence, then it was little more than a really crappy accident,” Rodney replied.
“I know,” she murmured. “When does one feel like justice has been served?”
“In this case, probably never because they’ve lost a daughter and a granddaughter.”
“Right. And the marriage is not likely to survive much longer either.” She got up and grabbed her jacket, then looked at him. “I’m going to run across and grab a pretzel.”
“No breakfast, huh?”
She shook her head. “No, I went for a run this morning. I didn’t have a great night and went for a run, then I just grabbed some coffee.”
“Get food,” he warned. “All that caffeine will turn your stomach into acidic mush.”
She smiled. “Not likely but I’m starving. I’ll be back in few minutes.”
And, with that, she walked out the front door of the station and down the steps. As she crossed the street to the pretzel vendor, her phone rang. She looked down to see it was Simon. Rather than answering the call, she picked up the pretzel and stepped into the park slightly and called him back. “You called?”
“Yeah, where are you?” he said.
“I just picked up a pretzel outside. Why?”
“Because I’m hearing from her again. It’s just really bad today.”
“I may be a part of that,” she said quietly.
There was a moment of silence. “What?”
“I think she’s the victim of one of these accidents from a year ago. She worked as a TA at the university, while working on her master’s. They only had one vehicle, so she would ride her bike into school every day, her daughter strapped into a carrier on the back. She went to the day care center on campus.”
“Oh no,” he said.
“Yeah,” she murmured. “The driver was in need of better glasses and apparently didn’t see her coming. The woman and child were on a bike and had the right-of-way, but he was taking a right-hand turn onto the boulevard and hit her. The two-year-old daughter was killed. But this next part is why it’s really interesting. The mother received a head injury and over this last year has gradually lost her sight.”
He gasped into the phone.
“So I’m thinking that just might be your victim.”
“Wow, so she’s going blind.”
“Going blind, lost her daughter, and her marriage is failing fast. Divorce is imminent, according to the woman’s mother, and, on top of all of that, the driver is already free and clear.”
“Which, if it were truly an accident—”
“Exactly. Just because there’s a bicycle accident doesn’t mean that it’s murder and doesn’t mean that somebody set out to kill them.”