Chapter Twenty-Eight

Traffic Collision

Unexpected traffic had brought Carol's cruiser to a halt and she tapped her fingers against the steering wheel with impatience. Naomi sat in the passenger seat, looking out of the window, clearly deep in thought. Lucas and Lacey both sat in the back-seat behind the Plexiglass separator, trying their best not to feel uncomfortable in the seats usually reserved for criminals.

"So, I'm going to need to talk to a bit more at the station," Carol said to break the awkward silence within her cruiser.

"Why?" Lucas asked with a suspicious look at the police woman. "We've given our statements."

"It's not about Thatcher, I'm afraid. It's about your friend, Tanzi," Carol glanced into the rear-view mirror of her cruiser to watch the expressions of Lucas and Lacey; though both of them looked slightly confused at Carol's question. "Thatcher accused her of murdering Jay Scythe."

"She was trying to save him," Naomi suddenly said, looking away from the window. This seemed to take Carol by surprise and she nearly forgot to drive forward slowly as the cars in front of her moved forward. "Jay had trapped himself and she was trying to free him. Only it was too late. Tanzi was trying to save Jay, not kill him."

Carol thought carefully as she slowly drove down the main road. There was a truck hoisting scaffolding poles and materials one car ahead of them, caught along with them in the slow traffic. It seemed like a lorry far down the road was causing issues. Carol knew that Nathan would give her an earful if he knew she was talking to potential suspects but this seemed too golden a chance to ignore. Jay's body was still burned in her memory – the gruesome and bloody scene that had been left in his Volkswagen. Finally, Carol spoke, "Was Tanzi alone with Jay?"

Naomi turned in her seat and looked directly at Carol. "No. I was there as well," Naomi said firmly, though with just a touch of hesitation, just to make it seem more genuine for Carol's sake. Naomi knew that she couldn't out Ruby quite yet otherwise the police might try to get to her before she could get the answers they needed. Naomi also knew that if the police knew Tanzi was involved then they likely knew there was a second person there as well, hence volunteering herself in that position.

"Naomi," Lucas suddenly spoke out. "You don't need to—"

"It is fine, Lucas," Naomi said, pleased that he spoken. Lucas was intelligent enough to understand what Naomi was doing and those simple words would help cement her story in the police woman's mind. "This is just a conversation." Naomi looked back to Carol. "I do not want there to be any misconceptions. I do not want to hide anything from you. I think the evidence within Jay's vehicle will prove that Tanzi and I tried to save him."

The car in front of the cruiser turned off the road, allowing Carol to drive further inward behind the construction truck. "I appreciate what you are doing but perhaps it would be wiser to wait until we are back at the station? I don't want you guys to think I'm taking advantage of you."

"I am well aware of what I am saying and what the consequences could be," Naomi said. "Surely it was save much time if you asked your questions now rather than wait until we are back at the station. Who knows how long we will be at the hospital and who knows if I will change my mind about talking."

This had the desired effect and Carol watched the ugly black clouds high above. "In that case, why did you two leave without calling the police? The fact that the two of you left is what makes this case so suspicious."

That was the question Naomi had been expecting. She stayed silent a moment and looked back out the window. She was treading on thin ice and knew that she had to get this right in order to persuade Carol and potentially get the police on their side. "I…" Naomi spoke the single word and grew silent. She counted the seconds before Carol spoke again, her eyes on the road in front of her but her attention on Naomi.

"You don't have to say anything, Naomi, if you don't want to. If you require lawyers—"

"No," Naomi interrupted. "It is just that… I fear you may not believe why we did not call you." As Naomi expected, Carol stayed silent to let her continue. "You see…" Naomi let out a deep breath. "Tanzi has these Visions."

"Visions?" Carol echoed, obviously taken aback.

"I hardly believed it myself, truth be told. Tanzi claimed that a group of us belonged on a List. She claimed that Death would try to claim us one by one by causing accidents that would end our lives. Lacey and Lucas here are part of that List. I am part of that List. And Jay was part of that List. Tanzi's visions would direct us to who was next on the List. That is why we went after Jay… only… Death got to him before we could save him."

Carol's eyes never wavered from the road as she responded, "…That does not explain why you didn't call the police."

"Because we were on a time limit!" Naomi made sure to pretend to get exasperated. "Because you would no doubt question and then we would not have been able to go after the others. I mean, look, you do not believe me now, do you? Do you not see why we would not call you? I know, I know, it sounds unbelievable but it is the truth. It has happened a number of times now and had it not been for Tanzi's visions then Lacey and I would be dead already."

Lacey shivered at these words and Lucas gently held her arm and stroked her hair with his free hand.

"I knew it," Naomi shook her head. "I knew you would not believe me…"

"It's not that I don't believe you…"

"You clearly don't," Lucas responded dryly.

Carol shook her head. "I definitely think this requires in depth conversation at the station. This is not suitable for driving."

"We-We cannot waste time," Naomi pleaded, her act nearly convincing herself. She willed crocodile tears to come to the corners of her eyes. "Less than an hour before… before Ryan Thatcher arrived Tanzi had another vision and… and I-I am next…"

"Hey, now, come on…" Carol looked uncomfortable. "You don't need to—"

"I do not want to die," Naomi clutched her arms to her chest and shook. "But going by the way the day is going that it is inevitable. With Tanzi in the hospital… Two of the group have already died…"

"Two?" Carol seemed interested at this, much as Naomi had expected.

"Jay and… and a man named Daniel. She tried to save him as well but-but the man was broken and he refused our help… The ground broke underneath him and he fell to the tracks and now… now he is gone! I do not want to end up like that! I do not—" As Naomi put on her best act of panic, something she had not expected happened in front of the police cruiser.

One of the heavy cables holding down the scaffolding on the truck in front of them suddenly broke free of its bindings as Naomi stared out the window. The cable swung through the air and cracked hard against the windshield, directly in front of Carol. Carol let out a surprised gasp as a crack criss-crossed its way across the glass. She managed to keep control of her vehicle and blared her horn to alert the truck driver, though unbeknownst to her the truck driver was nodding his head to some music in his headphone.

The scaffolding rattled and Naomi drew back in her seat, the act suddenly turning into the real thing as fear struck her stomach. She was deathly aware of the fact that she inside a car and suddenly she could feel every part of it. The engine rumbling underneath her, the windscreen cracking, the tires rolling along underneath her. Then her legs started to throb, right in the middle of her prosthetic limbs.

Carol blared the horn again and cursed as one of the scaffold poles came loose. It teetered for a moment and then fell towards the cruiser like a deadly spear. Carol span the wheel and everybody in the cruiser lurched as she turned sharply, the pole clanging against the tarmac of the road and narrowly missing one of the cars behind the cruiser. "What the hell is that guy doing!?" Carol switching from blaring her horn to flipping a switch, letting the sirens burst out.

Another scaffold teetered and fell towards the cruiser but Carol expertly weaved to allow the pole to harmlessly bounce off the road. The cars behind them had switched lanes thankfully so Carol didn't' need to worry about casualties. She quickly glanced to the left to see Naomi pressed in the seat, her knuckles pure white as they clenched tightly. "It's going to be okay," Carol said firmly as she pulled out to the side of the truck and looked through the driver's window.

Not only was the man not paying any attention with his headphones in but he was constantly glancing at a mobile phone in his hand. The lights flashed blue and white across the drivers face and he suddenly realised what was happening. He looked down at the cruiser and his face turned frighteningly pale. Unfortunately he decided that the next best course of action was to speed up.

"Christ!" Carol had to hang back as the driver turned into a one-way road. "Hang on, guys!" Carol saw past the truck-bed and saw a car on the other end of the road, heading directly for the truck. Knowing what was about to happen, Carol slammed on the brakes and shouted back to her passengers. "Get down!"

The truck had the same idea and slammed on the breaks, the jolt of braking sending the poles tumbling out of the grip of the remaining cables. They slammed atop of the police cruiser; one shattered the sirens, two burst through the rear-view mirror, a fourth tore its way through the ceiling, a fifth narrowly missed the engine and the rest bounced and rattled off the roof.

It was all over as quick as it had started.

Carol coughed through the airbag and pushed the material away, quickly looking to the passenger seat to Naomi. Miraculously one of the scaffold pipes had managed to miss her neck while the other narrowly missed her hips. She was breathing sharply, back and forth. "Naomi…" Carol coughed. "Breath slowly, okay, slowly,"

A moan of pain caught her attention and Carol turned to see Lacey and Lucas in the back, both seemingly unharmed. However Lucas' face was twisted in pain and he was clutching what seemed to be his leg but Carol couldn't see what had happened. Lacey seemed to have whiplash as she painfully whimpered, clutching at her neck. Carol pulled the radio receiver that was thankfully unharmed and quickly called for an ambulance and backup before climbing out of the driver's seat.

She stepped gingerly over the fallen scaffolding and she touched her face, realising that she had a cut on her forehead. Wiping away the blood she moved over to Lucas' door and opened it wide, figuring he seemed to be the one in the worst shape. As soon as the door opened she saw what had happened. The scaffold that had missed Naomi's hip had gone directly through the back of her seat and impaled itself deep in Lucas' right leg. The scaffold that had missed Naomi's neck hadn't managed to pierce through the headrest thankfully, else Lucas would have ended up taking it to the chest judging by the angle.

Carol quickly looked over Lacey again but the scaffold that had pierced the ceiling had harmlessly gone between the two of them. She definitely had whiplash but that was the extent of her injures. Naomi was still in shock but Lucas was certainly the worst of them, yet she still had to check on the driver of the truck and the car in front. "Lucas, listen to me, put your hands against the wound and gently put pressure on it, okay? Don't move it whatever you do. An ambulance is on its way. I need to go check on the driver, okay? Answer me, Lucas."

"G-Got it…" Lucas said through gritted teeth. Blood had already soaked through his trouser leg and was pooling on the floor. "Lacey, are you—"

"…I'm okay…" Came the timid respond as Lacey grasped her neck. "I think I hurt my neck but n-nothing serious…"

"Naomi?" Lucas asked next. When she didn't respond Carol responded for her, "I believe she's in shock but she isn't physically harmed. Try and talk to her, Lucas, okay? I'll be back in a moment," with that Carol double checked to make sure that the scaffold that had pierced the engine wasn't in any danger and moved to the truck, unable to take her mind of what Naomi had said before the accident and the narrow miss that had just happened. Could it somehow be true that Naomi had been telling the truth?