The Accident

The phone rang sometime in the afternoon while Logan was still trying to stay asleep. Grumbling and rolling over, Logan grabbed the receiver and placed it upside down to his ear, "Hello...? Hel--...." Glancing at what he held to make sure he had the phone, he realized that he spoke into the wrong end and quickly turned it around. "Who's this?"

The voice on the other end was that of a young man in his late-teens. He stood in a pay phone, across town, and seemed unsure of what he was doing. "Uh,... dad?" Corey was the son of a former flame that Logan never married but stuck around to help raise and care for the child. From day one, it was evident that Logan was not the father but that hadn't stopped him from loving Corey and his mother. Both he and his mother had light blond hair with hazel eyes yet Corey never questioned his difference to Logan.

"Corey," Logan yelped and sat straight up in bed and blinked in disbelief. "Are you alright?"

Corey looked around himself and met eyes with the officer who stood behind him, waiting. "Yeah, I'm okay. Um, there was an accident, though. The officers want you to come down here and make sure I didn't steal mom's car."

Logan looked at the clock and took a deep breath. "Where are you?"

"Twenty-fourth and Vinton." Corey paused before adding, "hurry, I'm not crazy about the crossbar hotel thing, ya know?"

A million thoughts raced through Logan's mind. Hanging up and racing to get dressed, another call rang through the quiet bedroom. Struggling to get his pants on, Logan sat down on the side of the bed and answered the phone, "hello?" Holding the phone between his shoulder and his ear, Logan reached down to put on clean socks while he listened to the other party.

Cora-Lynn Whittier, Logan's supervisor, sat at her desk and stared at Logan's time sheet. "Logan, I'm glad I caught you. I was wondering if you're free to come in. We are getting pretty busy from the holiday weekend and four of our drivers are out sick." Since Logan was one of her top EMTs, she waited to call him as a last resort. Cora-Lynn knew Logan enjoyed what little time off he took and dreaded calling him in for a double shift.

"I have to meet my son across town about an accident. It's what-- 3:30 now,.... I could be there by 5. Can you hold off for a bit?" Logan closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose to ease the ache of a pending headache. It was going to be a long and thoroughly frustrating night.

Mrs. Whittier thought for a moment and glanced at the clock on the wall. "Alright, you have until 5. That's the best I can give you. I'm sorry Logan but, we need the bodies right now." She cut the call short as two other lines rang on her multi-lined phone.

Logan waited a minute after hanging up, and took a deep breath.

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The 16 year old was in handcuffs by the time that Logan arrived on the scene. He sat in the back of a police cruiser and stared anxiously out the window for Logan. He called out to Logan as the man got out of his car and approached the officer by the wreck. "Dad!" Leaning his head out of the partially down window, he yelled again only to have Logan's hand wave at him to acknowledge him.

Logan didn't look at Corey but watched him from the corner of his eye. He spoke to the officer whose car his son was in and learned more than what was said on the phone. "Is the other driver hurt?"

"Not serious, but we are having both parties checked out. Have you called your wife about the car?" A taller man with a bushy brown mustache and greying brown hair went over his notes in the small pad he held in his hands. He seemed tired from the already long day yet he handled the event as if he had just started.

Logan shook his head slightly, "we're not married." Letting his eyes look over the damage to the car, he guessed that it was minor but totaled and that since it was a brand new car, Corey's mother would be able to trade it in for a better one. "His mother is on her way from work. Are you arresting him?" As Logan looked back at the boy in the car, his eyes caught someone leaning against a building, just past the cruiser. No surprise played on his face yet curiosity sparked in his mind.

"Not for the accident, just for the vehicle not being registered to him. Standard procedure. If his mother willingly let him take the car, we will release him into her custody but, we will have to book him for failure to present driver's lisence." The officer flipped through Corey's statements and shrugged.

Remy stood there, quietly observing the scene, and only caught Logan's eye at the last minute. He gave a smile and vanished as another person captured Logan's attention.

Corey's mother pulled up in her friend's car and hurried over to talk to her son.

Logan spotted Corey's mom and started towards her, forgetting all about Remy. "Sharon!" Logan held up a hand and called to Corey's mother.

Sharon Abbott was a tall woman but not so tall as to tower over Logan. When she saw him, she reached out for him and took two steps forward. "Logan, where is he? Is he okay? How bad is it?" The worry in her expression and voice drowned out all possible words that Logan and the officer had said. Her longish brown hair had moved limply against her back. "I want to see my son, where is he?" Holding her thin-rimmed glasses up to her eyes, she scanned the crowd for Corey.

Logan grabbed her arms and shook gently her to calm down and hush. "Sharon, he's fine. Just a few scrapes and bruises. They have him handcuffed in the back of the patrol car, over there," Logan said calmly, pointing to the car behind him. "He called me to identify who he was and make sure he was okay."

"Are they taking him to jail? Why is he in the back?" Her voice had become a little more worried than calm though she wasn't trying to get free of Logan's grasp.

Sighing and nodding, Logan said as calmly as he could, "yes, they are booking him but only on the reason that he didn't have his liscence. Can you take over from here, or do you want me to go with him?"

Sharon nodded and hugged him, shaking slightly. "Yes, I can manage. Thank you, Logan. Are you going to work?"

Logan nodded as they separated. "Yea, they're getting low on people and need me tonight. You have my number in case you need me, right?"

"Yes. Thank you, again, Logan." Sharon hurried over to where Corey sat and began to look him over and talk to him, her peach dress and jacket blowing slightly in the breeze.

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As Logan's long day came to an end, he was surprised that he hadn't seen the young man. There had been so many accidents and paperwork for him sort through that he had lost track of the people around him. Logan hated working holidays that revolved around pointless celebrations and overindulgance of drinking.

His last call for the day was the call that made him aware of the missing young man that had been at most of his scenes. Logan had recognized the hill and the road and ben that brought he and Remy together but it was the accident that set them apart. He sighed as he stepped out of the van and shut the door to rush up to where a little girl's body lay crushed under the front left tire of a brand new white SUV.

The family that had run over the child sat off to the side and described to the officers what happened. The father had been driving and talking on the cell phone that he and his wife had passed back and forth as it had been a distant relative on the other end. The two sleepy children in back, a twelve year old girl holding her sixteen month old baby brother, stood behind them and stared at Logan as he crawled on his hands and knees around the front end of the vehicle. It hadn't helped anyone that the sky had opened up enough for rain. The late dinner hour had made it hard for the men to work but the darkening rain clouds overhead made it unbearable.

A tow truck had been backed up to lift the front end up off of the girl with its hook and chain so that Logan and Cam could slide the girl out from under it. The vehicle lifted slowly and Logan held his breath as he had gotten a better look at the child. They tossed ideas back and forth about how old she must have been, and as they removed her cracked helmet the details of the nameplate inside made for a sickening evening.

"Kimmie Parks, 9 years old." Logan swallowed hard and looked to the bottom of the hill. "Says she lives just down the way. What was she doin' up here after dinnertime?"

Cam found himself holding back the bile in his throat as he stared at the helmet and then back down to the girl on the board. "Such a cute little kid. I'd be going crazy if this was my kid out after dark." He knelt down to get a better look at the girl's injuries while letting Logan hand the helmet over to the officer and explain about the parents. "Think she suffered long?" The tire tread that had gone across the front of her yellow sweater and the blood that soaked her boot-cut blue jeans with diamond studs at the cuffs made the scene go from similation to real in an instant.

"Nope. Perhaps a moment or so but, I think she was gone before she knew what was on top of her. She must have been goin home, on the bike," Logan pointed to the bent pink Princess bike with tassles that lay a few feet away, resting against the bottom of the mountain, "and the SUV came around the mountain and didn't see her in the headlights that should have been on more than just the runner lights. People and their damn cell phones." Bending down to help lift the board, Logan took a look at the girl and wondered inadvertantly about Remy and his accident that had been at the exact same spot. "Let's get her to the hospital."

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Zipping up his coat and stuffing his hands into his pockets, Logan walked out of the station and headed for his late model, blue pick up truck. As he took the keys out of the left pocket and flipped through the several keys he had to find the right key, Logan felt the presence of someone behind him. He stopped and turned around to see a familiar face.

"Forty-nine Ford, right?"

Logan nodded. "I had a revelation about you tonight."

"Oh?" Remy stepped closer.

"Yea, you're bad luck." Logan gripped the keys tighter in his hand.

Remy stepped closer but stopped a few feet away from the other man. "But, I haven't seen you today, or yesterday, or all week. Have I?" Slipping his hands calmly into the pants pockets of his black suit and smiling, Remy was in awe of the other man in wet attire. Though it was still raining and Logan was getting more and more wet, Remy had looked like he stood under an umbrella but carried none.

Logan took a step closer to him and blinked as a drop of rain hit his eyelashes. "I was brought back to a familiar place tonight. Same place I met you. A little girl died at that same spot. So, it's come full circle. Is this some sick joke you play?"

A shake of the young man's head as Remy sighed. "Like I said, Logan, you aren't ready for my explanation of what I do. My job is too important for me to just spill it to everyone who can see me." At that moment, he stopped talking and backed up a step. He had been so excited to have someone else, who was alive, to converse with that he had almost spilled himself.

"Uh uh, I'm not believing it. Get in." Logan turned and unlocked his door before climbing in and reaching over to unlock the passengar side door. Once Remy was inside the truck, he started the engine and headed back to his apartment. "I'm tired of this pussy-footin' around shit. I don't care if it takes 'til the crack of dawn two days from now, but we're gonna get to the bottom of 'Remy LeBeau'. Yer like a Waldo that pops up when I ain't lookin for ya."

Remy sat silently in the passengar seat and listened to everything around him. He breathed hushedly as Logan huffed at the assumed capture of the elusive Cajun. Was he doing the right thing, or would this be the end of his job if Logan demanded the truth out of him? He could feel the turn of events falling out of his control. Closing his eyes and resting his head back, Remy was at a loss of how the explanation should go.

TBC.