Thin Luck

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

California - Section 23123

Distracted Driving

ABBY PRICE CHECKED her teeth in a little hand mirror. She took her finger and rubbed off the bits of lipstick. She did one last check of her hair. The sun was shining today, and she wanted to look her best on one of the few days she wasn't going to be holding an umbrella or standing outside with a raincoat over her head in front of the camera.

She stuffed the mirror back in her bag, placed the purse on the floor of the van. "Okay, Greg, let's go."

Greg lifted the camera to his face. She cleared her throat.

"Three... Two... I'm standing outside of the house of Nick Hughes, husband of the notorious Robyn Hughes otherwise known to the public as 'Bonnie.' Just a few days ago the nation was on high alert looking for Mrs. Hughes as she raced across the country stealing cars, wallets and shooting a man. A family in Texas claims she kidnapped their son.

"Yesterday, Mrs. Hughes was spotted as close as Sacramento, where she was reportedly involved in an armed bank robbery.

"This morning, at approximately 2:00 a.m. Mrs. Hughes broke into this house," Abby moved aside to allow Greg to pan across the yard. Crime scene tape was draped across two trees. A few cops stood at the portico holding a plastic evidence bag. Abby could not have done better with her timing, so only hoped that the echo of other investigative crime reporters off to her left could not be heard through her microphone.

She walked back to her mark and continued, "Police reported that shots were fired at approximately 2:00 a.m. The police say that Mr. Hughes claims that his wife broke into his home in Steward Park, but investigators here in San Francisco, lead by Detective Swan, and assisted by Detective Turner of the Connecticut State Police, say Mr. Hughes's statement and that of the police officer first on the scene do not add up. Investigators have collected evidence that leads them to believe that Mrs. Hughes was stabbed and left to bleed out on the floor at least thirty minutes before a shot was heard.

"Robyn Hughes was found on the floor of the house. She was taken to Mercy Hospital and is currently reported in critical condition. In what can only be said is a surprising twist in a case of many surprising twists in the manhunt for Robyn Hughes, her husband, Nick Hughes, was himself lead away in handcuffs just minutes ago. The charge, according to a source close to the investigation here in San Francisco, is murder. Fingerprint evidence, the source says, puts Nick Hughes at the scene of a murder of an English Professor, Brendan Behan, in Connecticut. DNA evidence is still being processed, the source has informed me."

Greg widened the camera angle at the proscribed moment.

"Live from Steward Park, this is Abby Price reporting."

Greg put the camera down.

"Do you want to try it at a different angle, Greg?" she asked. "Maybe over there?" But Abby stepped out in front of traffic a little too quickly. A car swerved to miss her, tires screeching. She jumped back onto the sidewalk with her heart pounding. She tripped on the camera's umbilical cord. Her head hit the pavement. She stared up at the puffy white clouds in the sky.

The man in the car that nearly hit her dialed 9-1-1, as his hand was already holding the cell phone. He was texting his wife that he passed by the crime scene.

Greg was paralyzed watching the blood ooze over the concrete.

***

"Live from Steward Park, this is Abby Price reporting." Detective Turner switched off the television in the hospital room. He bounced the toddler on his knee. The toddler squeaked with a sound one could only compare to tires peeling out on the asphalt. "That's a good boy."