Chapter 5

”9-1-1. STATE THE NATURE of your emergency.”

“There’s a naked girl lying in the street unconscious,” Dennis said as he held Carol’s hand, feeling her weak pulse.

“Where are you?”

“425 Elm Street in Bartley.”

“Help has been dispatched. An ambulance is on the way. I have a nurse on the line to talk to you,” the operator said. There was a click and a new voice came over his phone.

“Who is this?” she asked.

“Dennis Enders. What should I do?”

“Dennis, is she unresponsive?”

“Yes. She has a weak pulse but her breathing seems almost non-existent.”

“From her position, can you tell if she is injured?”

“She’s pretty banged up. She got shoved out a car door a few minutes ago. I was almost two blocks away when I saw it.”

“Okay, the first thing we need to do is make sure her air passages are open and not being blocked. Can you roll her to her back?”

“Yes ma’am. But it’s freezing cold out here. If I leave her on the pavement, she’ll freeze.”

“First make sure she can breathe.”

“Yes, ma’am. She’s on her back.”

“Slide your hand carefully under her neck and lift until her head is tilted back slightly.”

“Okay.”

“Now open her mouth and check for any foreign objects that might obstruct her breathing.”

“It’s hard to see. There aren’t streetlights here and the porchlight is like thirty feet from here. I don’t think there’s anything here. How far away is the ambulance?”

“It’s coming from the County Seat. ETA is twelve to fifteen minutes.”

“That’s too long. I can’t leave her lying on the cold pavement. Her skin is already cold to the touch.”

“How old are you, Dennis?”

“Sixteen.”

“Are you strong enough to lift her?”

“I think so.”

“Is there a place to take her?”

“My house is right behind me. I’m sure I can carry her there.”

“Is your house 425 Elm?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You’ll need to keep her supported as you carry her. One arm under her shoulders so her head continues to tilt back. Cross her arms over her chest. Slide your other arm under her legs, just at her butt. Do you think you can lift her in this position?”

“I’ll do it. I’ve laid my phone on her stomach and you’re on speaker now. I have her up in my arms. Wow! She’s heavier than I thought. Almost there.”

“You’re doing well, Dennis. Can you open the door?”

“I’m...” He kicked at the door to make a noise. A car pulled into the drive and Natalie, Leanne, Roberta, and Daniella piled out and ran toward him. “Mom! I need help! Open the door!” He kicked again but Natalie was beside him and threw the doors open.

“What the fuck?” she exclaimed.

“Nat. Help me get her inside.” Natalie scooped her arms under Carol from the other side and walked with Dennis through the door.

“What is going on?” Dot said as she came in to the living room. “Who’s this?”

“Mom! We need blankets. Hurry.”

“Are you still there, Dennis?” came the voice from his phone.

“Yes. Daniella, grab my phone and talk to the nurse.”

“This is Daniella,” she said into Dennis’s phone. “Yes, she’s just being settled onto the sofa. Mrs. Enders is bringing blankets.”

There was a knock at the front door which was still standing open. Roberta stepped over and saw a State Trooper. Dot came into the room carrying blankets and handed them off to Natalie as she approached the policeman.

“Officer Moran. Please come in. You’ll need to talk to Dennis. I don’t know what’s happened yet.”

The trooper followed Dot’s gesture to the couch where the girl lay, now covered in blankets. Dennis had made sure her head was tilted back and checked again for obstructions. Moran quickly moved over to take over assessing the situation and spoke to the nurse.

Trooper Tom Moran was assigned the Bartley County ‘beat,’ so to speak. With the state filling the gap left by the arrested sheriff, he made regular passes down the main routes of the county several times a day. He’d been headed in toward Bartley when a car sped past him. He did a three-point turn in the middle of the road and turned on his lights and siren.

“This is 017. I’m 10-43, in pursuit of a speeder west of Bartley. Story County plate LMB 418 This guy had to be going eighty or more,” he said into his radio.

“Ten-ten, Trooper. Emergency aid required in Bartley. Possible 10-54. Unconscious woman in the street being tended by a young boy. 10-38.” Moran floored the accelerator and spun the car in the middle of the road to head back to Bartley.

“Ten-four. What’s the status of the ambulance?”

“Twelve to fifteen minutes out. GPS says you are much closer. Proceed to 425 Elm in Bartley. The youth is attempting to move the unconscious woman inside.”

Moran knew the address. He’d been there on two occasions and neither had been that pleasant. This family really attracted trouble. The door was standing open. He left his lights on so the ambulance would have an easy marker to guide it and leapt up the steps to pound on the door. He didn’t recognize the young woman who answered the door but just behind her, Mrs. Enders was carrying blankets. She handed them off.

“Officer Moran. Please come in. You’ll need to talk to Dennis. I don’t know what’s happened yet,” she said. He rushed to the couch and the boy quickly moved over for him while still supporting the girl’s head.

“Hold the phone for me,” he instructed Roberta. She moved it closer as he checked the pulse and breathing.

“Mabel, is that you on the line?”

“Yes.”

“It’s Tom. The victim is in upper teens, female. Pulse is slow and halting at forty and dropping. Airways are clear but breathing is shallow. Eyes are fully dilated. They’ve covered her with blankets, but body temperature has definitely dropped well below normal,” he said.

“Continue to monitor, Tom. The ambulance is still five miles out.”

“My lights are flashing to mark the location. There is room to park in the driveway. Shit, we’re losing her.” Her pulse had died and breathing stopped. “Dennis, continue to support her head. I need to move her to the floor. Does anyone know her name?”

“Carol Reston,” Dennis said. They lifted her down so she was on a hard surface instead of the soft couch.

“Carol, can you hear me? You need to wake up, Carol.” She was unresponsive to his light shaking. He linked his hands together, placed them in the center of her chest, and began compressions. “One, two, three, four...” When he reached thirty, he checked to see if she was breathing. Feeling no breath, he pinched her nose closed and placed his mouth over hers, blowing to fill her lungs. He waited until her lungs deflated and then blew again. Immediately, he started chest compressions again.

“She’s breathing,” Dennis said. Moran held a hand to her nose to confirm that she was breathing and continued to monitor.

“We have breath and heartbeat again,” he said into the phone Roberta continued to hold for him.

“Good job, Tom. Keep her comfortable as you can. The body temperature worries me.”

“The ambulance is here,” Daniella called from the door. A man and a woman came rushing into the room, saw where Carol lay, and moved to her immediately. Tom moved away quickly and pulled Dennis away with him.

“Give them room to work. You did a good job, Dennis. We may have saved her life,” he said. Roberta confirmed the ambulance had arrived and disconnected with the 9-1-1 operator. There was low chatter between the emergency crew and their base. Two firefighters stood in the doorway with a gurney between them. One of the techs looked up at them.

“Mark, we need thermal blankets.” One of the firefighters took off at a run and was back few seconds later with packages of thermal blankets. “Spread one on the gurney and then let’s get in position and lift her. I hope to hell there was no spinal injury with as many times as she’s been lifted.”

“I know it was risky,” Moran said, “but if she hadn’t been moved, she’d be dead. I have no doubt about that.”

Natalie and Leanne knelt on either side of Dennis and reached out to hug him. He was shivering.

“You got too cold, Den,” Natalie said. “We need to warm you up.”

“Here’s the blankets you had,” a tech said. He handed the blankets to Nat and she wrapped them around his shoulders. They watched the ambulance people and the firefighters lift the blanketed and still form of Carol Reston onto the gurney and rolled her out.

“At least they didn’t cover her face,” Leanne said. “She’s still alive.”

“Leanne? I didn’t see you before. It was all so crazy,” Dennis said.

“I ran home and got Mom and Dad. They’re in the kitchen with your mom and Peg. I figured they’d need some support.” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “And I was afraid you might need a lawyer. The trooper is still here.”

Dennis turned and saw Trooper Moran turning from the door and closing it. Daniella and Roberta were standing nearby. He came over to where Dennis was shivering between the girls.

“Dennis, now that the excitement has died down, I need to get a record of exactly what happened before I got here. Can we sit and talk?”