Free The Possum Hollow Hullabaloo (The Penelope Pembroke Cozy Mystery Series) by Judy Nickles Page B

Scrambling to her feet, she ran to where he lay. “The police and an ambulance are on the way, George. Hang on.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
     
    Trying to stanch the blood bubbling from George Harris’s lower chest, Penelope wasn’t aware of anyone else around until a shadow blocked her light. “Move,” she ordered in her ER voice. “I can’t see what I’m doing.”
    “Get away from him!”
    Penelope’s fingers kept working, though the fear coursing through the rest of her body froze her in place.
    “I said get away!” Thick beefy fingers dug into her shoulder and pulled her away. She smelled stale perspiration and something she else couldn’t identify.
    “I don’t mind killin’ you, too.”
    “Then do it.” The words reminded Penelope of the night in the Little Rock ER when she thought the bearded, knife-wielding man who forced his way into the treatment room where she was working on the girlfriend he’d nearly beaten to death, was going to try to dispatch her, too. She’d refused to give ground, and an intern and another nurse finally tackled him and took the knife.
    “I want those kids,” the man snarled close to her ear.
    “Good luck.” Penelope scrambled back checked the pulse in George’s neck and felt it grow stronger. The warmth of his body cavity, where she plunged her hand as a dam against the flow of blood, brought back other nights in the ER. Where are the paramedics? Will this maniac shoot them, too, before they even get in here? Dear God, it’s so quiet. Please don’t let him go down the hall to the classrooms.
    “Ellie and Evie are gone,” she said through clenched teeth. “Gone where you’ll never get them, and the police are on the way. If this man dies, I’ll help send you to death row!”
    He yanked her head back by the hair. “Shut up!”
    The pain made her eyes water. “Who are you anyway? You better get out of here while you can.”
    At the sound of sirens, growing louder every second, the man released her. She fought back nausea and tried to concentrate on what she was trying to do. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the assailant retreat toward the shattered front door. Then, somewhere, another door opened, and Penelope watched in horror as Miss Maude Pendleton emerged from the kindergarten room and marched toward the grisly scene. “No, Miss Maude, go back!””
    The man whirled around, dived past Penelope, and grabbed Miss Maude around the neck, almost taking her down.
    “Let her go! Please, just let her go. She’s…”
    He half-dragged the older woman back to the door as the ambulance gave its last whoop, and the tires of several vehicles squealed behind it. Penelope watched the woman’s feet scramble to stay on the floor.
    “We’re going out, old woman,” the man said. “If they shoot me, they’ll have to shoot through you.” He shoved Miss Maude ahead of him.
    Penelope heard the shattered glass crunch beneath their feet. She felt George’s pulse again. Oh, God, get somebody in here fast. He’s bleeding out. I need help.
    She was aware of loud voices in the parking lot and braced herself for the sound of guns firing, but none did. A door slammed—a pickup truck, she thought—and she heard gravel flying.
    More footsteps over glass and then a voice in her ear. “What?”
    “Shotgun right lower quadrant, pulse thready.” She sat back on her heels, allowing the paramedics to take over, and pressed her bloody hands against her legs to stop their sudden tremor.
    “Mother…”
    “I’m all right, Bradley. The children are still in their classrooms, but he took Miss Maude.”
    “The state police are setting up roadblocks. Parnell, you and Rosabel go check all the classrooms, and get Carol Harris down here.”
    The hall came alive with uniformed troopers. Penelope tried to concentrate on what the paramedics were saying. When she saw Carol Harris coming on the run, she staggered to her feet. “Carol, let them work.”
    Carol’s eyes, too black in her