HUES OF A MURDER

Chapter 22: Seeing Red!

Rose sat frozen for a second. Rowan had stopped the car and Scarlett and Rowan were pestering her by questions. She regained her composure in a second.

"Cyan... Cyan had an accident. Someone tried to kill him." Tears flowed from eyes. She wiped them with her shirt sleeves. Yet, they poured from her eyes more forcefully.

Scarlett was spellbound. She sat agape. Rowan snatched Rose's phone and dialled Cyan's number. The phone kept ringing.

"His brother's on the way from Blue Cove. Isn't he? Do you have his number?" he asked the girls.

They shook their head.

He took out his phone, "I will call the police and an ambulance. Keep your eyes open while we drive and see if we can find out his car, if he had an accident. Considering the time, he might be closer to the town. Scarlett, see if you can get Rusty or Skye. Or call your father."

He opened the door of his car and got out, calling someone and telling them about the accident. Scarlett tried Rusty. She cursed and called her dad. She told her father about Cyan's accident and how he left earlier because of the call from the hospital. She frowned as she listened to her father.

Rose felt that the car was becoming smaller as seconds passed by and that she would be trapped in it forever. She couldn't breathe. She heaved. She opened the car door and got out. She hoped against hope that Cyan was OK. It didn't fell right. She should have been with him. Then what? What if it wasn't an accident? Didn't he tell her that someone was trying to kill him? Why would someone do that?

She looked around her. It was already night. Apart from their car's light, there was no light. The moon was nothing more than a sliver. The trees felt like giants ready to attack her any time. Her heart was beating faster. It was cold yet she was sweating profusely. She felt that she would fall down any moment.

"Are you OK?" Rose turned to see Rowan looking at her with... sympathy? She nodded.

"He will be fine. I called Cyrus. He was at the station. He said that he would talk to the inspector. I also called the hospital. They will send an ambulance. Don't worry. We can also look for him while driving, OK? Get in the car."

He opened the car and gently pushed her inside. He got in the driver's seat and updated Scarlett.

"Um! I have something to tell you guys. Don't freak out, OK?" Scarlett looked at Rose with concern.

"What is it?" Rowan started the car.

"I talked to dad. He is at the fair with Rose's parents and my grandma. Um... Mrs. Gorman is also there," she swallowed.

"What? Didn't he get a call saying his grandma is in hospital?" Rowan's eyes were widened with fear.

Scarlett nodded. "Does this mean...?"

"Why would someone purposefully harm him?" Rose wailed.

"It means we are in the right track and so close to the truth. We need to reach Maplewood fast." Rowan pushed down the accelerator. He drove like a mad man. Scarlett grabbed the edges of her seat too scared to talk. Rose was in distress to notice anything.

After driving for around forty minutes, they saw it. The red lights of the ambulance and the strobe lights of police cars on the side of the road. Rose jumped out of the car just as he slowed down. "Rose" he panicked. She ran towards the ambulance. The police were looking down at the road with flashlights.

"Rose," the call stopped her. She turned to look at her parents, Uncle Rory and Jay talking to the inspector. She ran towards them.

Scarlett and Rowan were behind her. She wanted to ask them many things but couldn't. She burst out into sobs as her mom hugged her.