“Unlocking Secrets: What Lies Within Carrie Mac’s Mysterious Three Envelopes?”
He grips the steering wheel, both elbows shaking.
Just a moment later, I hear another siren. ALS, at last. Dale jerks us to a stop at the side of the road.
“I’m going to punch him in the face,” the firefighter says.
“At least he has a face,” I say.
And then we’re laughing. Dale looks back at us. He’s pale, eyes wide. He’s horrified, and I suppose most of the world would think we should be, too. But I’ve laughed at worse. Maybe Dale is one month into a job he should quit.
***
After ALS pronounces her dead, we take the woman to the morgue, but the secretary sends us to Emergency to try to get an identification first. I hand the triage nurse the three envelopes I collected from the floor of the ambulance, where the woman dropped them when her grip went slack. There is not a single drop of blood on any of them. She lines them up. They’re all for the same person, with an address near to where we picked her up.
