Free Mama Does Time: A Mace Bauer Mystery by Deborah Sharp Page B

struggling to fire all the fog out of my brain. Where am I, Donnie? I finally asked.
     
Donnie Bailey, from the jail, stood in water to his waist. He was tapping his flashlight loud against the hood of my Jeep. Cracks branched out across the windshields glass like the bare limbs of a dead pine tree.
     
Youre sitting in a ditch up to your wheel wells off Highway 98. Are you hurt?
     
I moved my left arm and then my right; lifted and lowered each foot. I was surprised to hear them splash into the water that swirled around the floorboards. When I put my palm to my forehead, I felt something else wet. I dropped my hand and stared at my own blood.
     
Donnie spoke calmly: Thats a head wound, Mace. You might have banged it on the steering wheel, or caught some of that barbed wire through your open window. He blinded me, shining his flashlight into my face. Thatll bleed, but it doesnt look too deep. Do you think you can undo your seat belt and help me get you out of that Jeep?
     
Barbed wire fencing was draped like Christmas garland across the Jeeps front half. Donnie used the long handle on the butt-end of his flashlight to move the wire away. Pulling open my door, he leaned awkwardly into the drivers seat.
     
Put your arm around my neck, Mace. Im gonna slip my hands under your legs and lift. Careful. Youre gonna be shaky.
     
He swung me clear of the door. Very good, he said. Now, Im going to carry you over and set you down on the hood of my squad car where I can get a look at you. Is that okay? He was using that slow, deliberate, ABC-teaching tone.
     
I understand you perfectly, Donnie. Im not going into shock on you. Did I hit the concrete culvert?
     
I could smell the muddy sediment and the grassy scent of water spinach stirring as we moved. I hoped that was all that was stirring in that dark water. Donnie slipped a little climbing up the steep bank. Im heavier than I look.
     
You missed hitting it head-on. Grazed it. He stopped at the top to catch his breath. Theres a big scratch along the culvert. Then it looks like you flew over that grassy berm, and right into the water.
     
We waited on the bank, as Donnie gathered strength. Mosquitoes hummed in the still air.
     
You can put me down. Im fine. I felt embarrassed that someone whose diapers Id changed was carrying me like a baby.
     
Youre not walking until I know what youve hurt. He was still panting a little.
     
We made it the twenty feet or so to his car. He sat me down on the hood and grabbed a blanket from the trunk to wrap around me. Now, he was checking me overnoting whether my skin was clammy or warm; feeling my pulse. Id done the same thing myself to injured visitors at Himmarshee Park. After toting me through the water and up a small hill, Donnies heart rate was probably worse off than mine.
     
Can you feel that? Does that hurt? he asked, pressing first on my midsection and then down my legs. How bout that? he said, moving on to the rest of my body.

 
My head felt as big as a balloon in the Macys parade, and my right knee ached like somebody smashed it with a mallet. Im fine, Donnie, I lied. Just shaken up.
     
Youre lucky you didnt wind up top side down in the water, he said, moving aside my new hairdo to see if there were any more cuts. Id never have seen you if not for your headlights shining out over the canal. Its a good thing weve had some dry days, or that water would have been higher.
     
He backed up a couple of steps, the better to view all of me at once.
     
Looks like youll live. He bent down to pick a long stem of hydrilla out of his shoe. I could hear the water dripping as he held up one foot.
     
Thanks for coming to my rescue, Donnie. I might have stumbled out of the Jeep, fallen underwater, and never come to. I owe you.
     
You should still have them look you over at the hospital, though. Ive already radioed in about your accident.
     
Donnie using that word triggered my recall of the frightening moments before the crash. It wasnt an