Chapter 12

Sid rammed his foot down on the pedal, as soon as the turn off sign to the airport appeared. He drove past the Jaguar and the hearse at top speed and only slowed down to take the turn off. He drove a mile up the road and stopped watching in his rear mirror for the hearse to appear. As soon as it did he put his car into reverse and thanking God, something he could never ever remember having done before that the road was straight, he put his foot on the gas.

His car shot back and with another prayer he gripped the steering wheel. He was shocked how quickly the hearse was upon him and gripping the steering wheel he braced for the impact!

Meanwhile, Maureen had safely negotiated her way past the carnage but had invoked blaring car horns and shaking fists from the car drivers as she drove the wrong way down the freeway along the shoulder. She had to drive further than she would have liked because there was a barrier stopping her from getting back over. Finally she saw an opening and made for it. Because of the accident there was no traffic and she joined an empty road. Unfortunately just as soon as she made the turn there was a police car coming towards her. Although he had no hope of following and catching up with her she knew he would be radioing ahead for assistance. Probably other drivers had already reported a crazy woman in a green Jeep driving the wrong way down the freeway. This police office had seen her turn off. There was nothing she could do but let itself play out. She had called all her contacts and told them of the attempted kidnapping and she hoped Sid had stopped the hearse. She tried calling him but there was no answer.

Sid was out cold. At the impact the air bags had exploded but that had not stopped the severe whiplash to his neck and his face plunging forward into the bag on the steering wheel.

The driver of the hearse saw the car in front of him. He thought at first the car had stopped and was starting to slow when in sudden panic he realized the car in fact was coming at great speed towards him. He tried to swerve but with all the weight in the vehicle and the car’s own size he couldn’t escape a collision.

Isaac in his Jaguar that was low on the ground had no idea what was about to happen until the impact. He drove straight into the back of the hearse, the rear door flying open at the impact and a coffin coming straight for him like a ball from a cannon. He managed to duck down as it flew through the windscreen of his car over his head ending up part of the way through the rear end. The coffin then stopped precariously balanced resting on the top of the rear seat backs. Isaac experienced searing pain in his legs and shoulder.

The driver of the hearse and the front passenger were knocked unconscious immediately whilst the others ended up on the road as the side doors flew open. The nurse was the only one who suffered minor injuries. She lay on the floor of the hearse with the oxygen cylinder beside her.

Her only thought was self preservation. She had to leave this scene as quickly as possible. And this is what she did. She ran into some bushes at the side of the road and hid.

The driver of the first car to arrive on the scene immediately called for help. Other cars arrived and people tried to assist and see if they could help. Isaac was the first to get assistance. Hands tried to help him get him out of his car, but his left leg was trapped. He was wondered if it was broken.

Then he thought of Grace. She needed oxygen.

“Grace!” he shouted at someone. “She’s in the coffin. She must have oxygen or she’ll die.”

“Bit late for that, mate, if she’s in a coffin,” someone said.

“She’s not dead. Hook her up to the oxygen. Or she will be.” Isaac argued.

“He’s hallucinating.” someone else said.

“Give her oxygen. There’s a cylinder. For God’s sake. There’s a cylinder in the hearse. Go and see. Please.” Isaac’s insistence made someone look into the back of the hearse.

“There is an oxygen cylinder,” the person shouted. “Give me a hand.”

Someone had opened the coffin lid and peered down at the motionless body of Grace.

“The person in the coffin is dead.”

“She’s not dead!” screamed Isaac. “She’s been drugged to make it appear she’s dead,”

Two men brought the cylinder over and when someone else found the connecting tubes they began to believe Isaac. They connected Grace up to it even though there was no sign she was alive and breathing in the air.

Very soon ambulances, fire engines and police cars arrived. The ambulance crew were very pessimistic about Grace being alive as they could not feel a pulse or a heart beat.

Their immediate attention was to the live passengers but they did not disconnect the oxygen cylinder.

Things changed however, when Tabitha arrived on the scene. She showed her credentials telling the police she was the woman in the coffin’s personal physician and that she had good reason to believe her patient was being kidnapped. She had been drugged and put into a coffin.

She identified the person as Grace Darling the artist. When she rubbed off some of the facial make up that had been applied to Grace’s face, pulled open the shroud and exposed the difference in the skin colorings, the whole scene took a different turn. Detectives were soon called. Then Grace’s sons arrived and identified their mother.