Dead in the Water by Lesley A. Diehl

injuries’? I was almost killed.”
    â€œ Not really. Those airbags saved your life.”
    â€œ Not the accident. The guy held a knife to my throat.”
    Frida turned her attention on me. Finally. “Did he? What did he look like?”
    â€œ How could I tell? I was enveloped like a mummy in plastic wrap. You said so yourself.”
    â€œ What do you mean? Did he try something funny with you?” A look of anger crossed her face. “Attempted murder and sexual assault? I’ll have his butt.”
    â€œ No, I meant I was shrouded in airbag plastic. I couldn’t see a thing.”
    â€œ Right.” She patted my hand and directed her attention back to Sammy.
    â€œ Not just hit and run, but attempted murder. I’ve got to get this guy. And Eve said he asked about the money. This has to be related to her uncle’s murder. Can’t you be more specific about the truck?”
    I grabbed the bedpan sitting on the counter next to the table and banged it against the wall.
    â€œ I’ll find a nurse.” Sammy left the examining room.
    I took a deep breath and tried for a reasonable tone of voice. “What I’ve been trying to say for the past five minutes is that the front end of that truck now has blue Mustang paint all over it. And despite its size, it has to have sustained some damage.”
    â€œ You’re right. I guess we didn’t think of that, but we were just so worried about you.”
    I arched my eyebrow in a look of skepticism.
    â€œ The doctor gave you a solid going over. I apologize for not seeming more sympathetic, but I can do the best for you and your uncle if I find out who killed him and then tried to kill you. I want to get this guy.” Her tone was both defensive and determined, a friend and a cop.
    â€œ Yeah, well, what I don’t get is why Sammy was there. When I left him some minutes before, he was furious with me. Then he says he came to my rescue. He did call the ambulance, but why was he following me?” Correction. He called the ambulance after telling Alex to get off the phone. I wondered what Alex was thinking right now. On cue, my cell warbled.
    â€œ Can you find my purse? I hear my cell.”
    Frida rummaged around the cubicle, poking her head into the cupboards above the counter, then left, returning with my bag. “It was on the bed next door. Check to make sure nothing’s been taken.”
    I held up one finger to signal her I’d do that after I answered.
    It was Alex, and this time he was hotter than a bed of ancho chilies.
    â€œ Don’t hang up on me, or let that guy hang up on me. I need some answers, and I need them now, Eve.”
    I mouthed, “It’s Alex,” to Frida.
    She grabbed the phone out of my hand. “She was rear-ended, a guy tried to kill her, and an Indian came to her rescue.”
    Alex said something else, to which Frida replied that I was fine.
    I lunged for the cell. “I am not all right. They put this ugly thing around my neck and said I have to wear it for a week. And my car is ruined. And my uncle is dead.”
    â€œ You’re not making any sense. I’m calling Grandy. She’ll take care of this.”
    â€œ Don’t, please. She doesn’t know about Uncle Winston’s murder yet.”
    â€œ He was murdered?”
    I could almost feel him shaking his head. “I’m so sorry about your uncle, Eve, but not again . Not again with a murder.”
    â€œ Again? It’s not like my relatives get killed every day.”
    â€œ No, but it seems like people who associate with you do.”
    â€œ One person. Last year. I hardly knew her, so how can that count?”
    There was silence for a moment.
    â€œ Put Frida back on,” he said.
    I knew when I was beat. With Frida, Alex, and probably Madeleine savvy to what I had done to find the killer and correct in thinking I’d do more, there was no way I’d be able to find out who