Daddy's Little Girl, Too

Chapter 31: Broken Promise

A panic attack overcomes Harvey as the ambulance inches toward him. He tries to contain is nerves as the medical crew stops right next to his vehicle, blocking him in. The orange and red lights are strobing in a frantic pattern. They are surely going to spark the curiosity of a nearby resident.

He whispers under his breath, "Shit." He doesn't know whether to acknowledge them or pretend to be sleeping. He remains crouched below the windows.

The driver steps from the vehicle, followed by two more EMT's. One of them holds a scanning device. They approach the car, Knock-knock-knock. There's a hard rapping on the window.

Harvey knows he can't ignore them. He returns his seat to the upright position and lowers the window. He attempts to sound surprised. "Hey. Wh-What's going on?"

"Good evening sir, I'm Kurt Welby, with the county's fire and rescue crew."

Harvey recalls hearing that name recently. He uses the opportunity as a distraction. "Welby? Your name's familiar. Have we met?"

Kurt shakes his head. "No sir, I don't believe we have."

"You sure? I feel like I met someone with that name recently. I think it was at the hospital."

"That would explain it. My wife, Amanda, she's a nurse there."

"That's right... Amanda, I remember now."

Kurt quickly gets to the point of the matter. "Sir, we got a call from Med-Alert. One their devices has reported a fall detection."

Harvey is unprepared for the sudden change of subject. "Uh, I-I don't know..."

"Our scanner is showing the device is within this immediate vicinity."

Harvey suddenly remembers, he has the device in his pocket. "Oh crap... yeah, I uh... I forgot." He pulls the necklace out and quickly thinks up a story. "This is... it's my-my, my mothers. She dropped it. It went off. I-I'm sorry. I should have called to report the false alarm."

"Okay, no problem sir." The paramedic notices he is alone in the car. "Where's your mother now, sir?"

Harvey hoped he wouldn't ask. "She's in the house. She, uh, forgot her purse." He tries to maintain his poker face.

The medic has his suspicions. "Okay sir. You're sure everything is okay?"

"Everything is fine. Thank you for the quick response."

"No problem at all, just doing our job. You have a good night, sir."

Harvey rolls the window back up and lets out a deep sigh. The medical team turns to leave when they all hear a hysterical scream coming from a few houses away.

Nancy runs across the yard yelling for them. "Hey? Wait! Over here!"

The all hurry toward the distraught woman.

Harvey watches them closely as Nancy urgently tries to get them to follow her. She points in the direction of her neighbor's house and waves for them to hurry.

Kurt stops for a moment and glances back to Harvey. Disappointment sets in once he realizes he was lied to. He speaks into his radio, not once taking his eyes from Harvey. He shakes his head, and then looks away. The team of medics quickly follows Nancy back to Mrs. Pickett's house.

Harvey feels the urgent need to run, now, more than ever. He can't leave yet; not without the girls. Worry overcomes him as he wonders if the medic just reported him. Who did he call? Was it he police? What did he tell them?