Free THE BRIDGE by Carol Ericson Page A

clapped loudly and whistled as the winner of the boat race passed by displaying his victorious boat. The kids in front of her covered their ears. She got the attention of her kindergartners by whistling—worked every time.
    With each passing parade participant, the people behind her pressed in closer and closer. She leaned back, not wanting to push the children into the street. By now she could barely move, barely turn her head.
    The dragon float made its appearance, its head shaggy with crepe paper tilting back and forth to the delight of the crowd, which surged forward. Elise hooked her arms around the kids’ shoulders to protect them.
    The dragon undulated forward, its body twisting this way and that way. Another round of firecrackers exploded so close Elise could smell the acrid gunpowder.
    A sharp pain stabbed her thigh and she lurched forward, knocking the kids off the curb.
    “I’m so sorry.”
    They giggled as she tried to pull them back onto the sidewalk. Elise couldn’t even drop her arms to her sides to feel her leg. Someone must’ve had something sharp in a purse or pocket, or maybe a little kid had jabbed her with some trinket from the knickknack shops that lined the streets.
    The last flick of the dragon’s tail signaled the end of the parade, and people began to shuffle away, giving everyone a little more breathing room.
    “Are you guys okay?” Elise finally had room to bend forward and check on the kids.
    They nodded and scampered away.
    Elise trailed her hand down the back of her thigh toward the sore spot. The material of her jeans gaped open, and she drew her brows over her nose.
    What the heck had gouged her?
    Her fingers probed the ripped denim and her skin beneath, and she gasped as they met moisture. She snatched her hand away and brought it in front of her face.
    Her stomach lurched and a scream ripped from her throat. The people milling around her backed away, creating a ring of space around her.
    She dragged her gaze away from her hand and tried to focus on the faces swimming before her. Only one face stood out—Auntie Lu’s as she hovered in the doorway of her restaurant, her dark eyes sharp amid the lines of age.
    Elise swallowed and gasped to no one and everyone. “I’ve been stabbed.”

Chapter Seven
    The woman had been stabbed, her throat slit.
    Sean massaged his temples. So much blood. Had that been the fate this maniac had intended for Elise?
    He pounded his fist on his desk, and the pencils in the holder jumped and rattled. He slid one between his fingers and rat-tatted it on the blotter.
    Elise hadn’t called him yet with her phone number. He checked his watch. She and her friend had a lot to talk about over lunch, and the Dragon Boat Parade was probably still going on.
    He ran his finger over the receiver of his desk phone. He could call Central Station to see if her car was still parked in the lot.
    As if by magic, the phone rang beneath his hand, and he wrapped his fingers around the receiver. “Brody, homicide.”
    “Detective Brody, this is Officer Yin with Central. We have a situation here with one of your witnesses, Elise Duran. She requested that we call you.”
    “A situation?” Sean’s pulse picked up speed.
    “Someone stabbed her on the parade route.”
    The pencil in Sean’s other hand snapped. “Is she all right?”
    She had to be. She’d asked for him.
    “The wound just broke the skin. She’s okay, but understandably upset. We’ve got an ambulance on the scene, but she doesn’t want to go the hospital and insisted we call you first.”
    “Does she need to go the hospital?” Sean had already grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair and swept his keys into his pocket.
    Elise needed him.
    “My guess is she’s going to need stitches.”
    “Get her in that ambulance and tell her I’ll meet her at the hospital. And I’m gonna want your report.”
    “You got it.”
    For the second time in as many days, Sean raced to the hospital to see