When Esther arrived on the scene she was… let's say 'shocked' by the boy's injuries. If you want the truth, however, she was impressed. He had a pretty deep gash down most of his lower leg. He didn't look all that phased, either. Oh, he winced a little whenever he moved slightly but that was about it. She'd seen grown men bawl their eyes out over less.

"What got you?" she asked, with what she hoped was a comforting smile on her face.

The boy shrugged. "Long story."

"Aww, come on," she prodded him and he winced, "you're ruining the only perk of this job."

She leant in and examined his wound more closely, checking for any sort of debris left inside or any other details she should report to the hospital when they arrived. Satisfied it was clear, she took another look at the scene…

When she'd gotten there she'd bypassed her training, which called for her to check their surroundings for danger before offering aid, and run straight for the biggest injury. It turned out to be the only one, but that was beside the point. Now that she had assessed it, she could take a proper look at what she should have scanned carefully earlier.

They were on the side of the main road outside Jasper. There wasn't any debris around but there were what looked like burn marks on the road, and a whole heap of criss-crossed tire tracks.

"This wasn't a motorbike accident, was it?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

Thrill-seeker she may have been, but she couldn't stand people who acted like idiots on the road. She looked over his clothes. He had a bland, grey helmet on the ground next to him, but aside from that, he was just in everyday clothing. If he had come off the bike then she wasn't surprised that his injury was so severe.

Amateur, she muttered, mentally.

"You could say that…" the boy said suddenly, answering her earlier question.

"All right, then, but what would you say happened?"

Puzzles. Another thing she didn't like.

When he didn't answer, she shoved gauze into his wound hard. He winced again, but that was the extent of the reaction she got. Trying again, Esther kept packing the wound firmly with gauze until she got to the binding stage. She pulled hard on the bandages, wrapping them as tightly as she could and ensuring she was as forceful as possible.

"You do know what you're doing could be considered torture, right?" the boy asked.

"Not unless it's successful," she told him. "What's your name, anyway? You can at least tell me that, right?"

He sighed. "I might as well. My mom works for the hospital, after all."

"Oh?" Esther raised an eyebrow.

"I'm Jack," he said. "Jack Darby."

Esther laughed maniacally. "Oh, I know your mum. You're toast."

Finished with his wound, she stood up and offered him a hand.

"You shouldn't need carried around," she said. "It'll hurt, but you can walk with just a bit of help."

She scanned him up and down.

"I don't think you're going to lose the leg." She grinned. "But your mum is going to lose her shit."

He took her hand. "You really are a sadist, you know that?"

She just swung his arm over her shoulder and helped him limp to the ambulance.

"What do you want us to do about your bike?" she asked.

"Oh, that's fine!" Jack said hurriedly. "I'll just get my mom to come get it or something."

"Where's she going to put it?" she reminded him. "It's not like she's just going to walk out here and ride it home. She'll have to take her car. It's not going to fit."

Jack laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's nice you're being so concerned and all, but my bike will be fine. She can take care of herself."

Like his attitude wasn't weird enough already… There was either someone else involved here who stood to take responsibility for Jack's injuries if she was found out, or Jack had a magic motorcycle.

Esther really hoped he had a magic motorcycle.

Making a snap decision she pulled out her phone, took a few steps backwards, and photographed the scene – bike included. Then she quickly shoved her phone away in case Jack tried to grab it.

"Whuh… what was that for?" he asked.

"Gotta document the scene," she said cheerily. "Okay, boyo, let's get going."

She shut the doors to the back and headed around to the front. Normally she would have had a partner to drive while she sat in the back looking after the patient, but staff was short in a small town like Jasper and seeing as the guy had reported the accident himself and sounded fine, she figured it was safe enough to just take an ambulance and go. She'd still probably get in trouble later, but she could worry about that when it happened.

First stop, congratulations from June Darby.

Second stop, finding out what the hell her son was hiding.

As they drove towards the hospital Esther happened to glance at her wing mirror. She was sure she saw a black motorcycle for a second before it blipped out of view.

"Strange…" she muttered to herself.

"Everything okay up there?" Jack asked.

Esther ignored him, scanning back and forth between both of her mirrors now, hoping to catch another glimpse of the bike. Looking back at the road in front of her, she made only a flick back at her wing mirrors as she turned the corner towards the hospital. There. The bike was definitely behind them.

"Wow, Jack, I never even realised you'd called your mum already…" she said slowly.

"What?" the boy looked extremely panicked. "I didn't."

He cursed under his breath after that but she couldn't make out what he said.

"Jack, is there something I need to know about that crash? Something that might get someone into trouble?"

"No, no, everything's fine!" The frantic way in which he waved his hands was anything but reassuring.

In a snap decision she slammed on the brakes, dived into the back and wrestled Jack still. It's best not to ask why she had a rope handy.