Part I, Chapter 4

Previously in "2nd Time Around":

In 1996, Sarah Griffin walked in on her neighbor, who had murdered his family. in 1998, she was convicted and sentenced to death for these killings.


2014:

"... Alarm report at Box 15," the dispatcher announced over the loudspeakers in fire stations across Baltimore as the alarm shrieked. "Please respond ... Engine 6, Truck 29, Medic 10. Accident at the intersection of Northern Parkway and Reistertown Road. Please respond ... Engine 6, Truck 29, Medic 10."

* * *

"Great," Lewis muttered as he switched off the television in the station's dayroom. He'd managed to catch End of Days and was about ten minutes into the film when the alarm rang. These emergencies just had no consideration.

* * *

Engine 6 pulled in behind Truck 29 as both made their way along Reistertown Road. The companies reached the intersection to find a sedan had t-boned a van with the words "SunnyDale Living" on its side. A woman ran over as the firefighters climbed out of the rigs. She appeared agitated but seemed otherwise unharmed as she began pleading.

"You've gotta help them!" she cried.

"Who?" Lieutenant Barnett asked. "Ma'am, is there someone in those vehicles?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Crane. The ramp's broken. I can't get them out."

A police officer came over.

"A couple in the back," he explained. "Wife uses a scooter and seems to have problems speaking. Husband uses a walker. We haven't been able to assess their condition yet.

He pointed at the woman, who was wearing blue pants, a black winter coat, and an orange polo with a logo which bore the letters "SDL".

"This is Lisa White," he explained. "She says she works at the retirement home where the couple lives."

"They were visiting their daughter and her family in Hunt Valley," Lisa White added. "I picked them up and was driving them back when that other car hit us."

"The second driver ran a red light. He's nowhere to be seen, but there are several open beer cans and the car smells like a brewery. He can't have gone far. I've got guys out looking for him."

"Okay," Lieutenant Barnett said. "You said you couldn't get the Cranes out?"

"The car smashed into the rear sliding door," the police officer explained. "We can't have them climbing out through the windows."

Lisa White could only nod in agreement.

"We'll take it from here," Lieutenant Barnett said, turning to his company. "I'll tell the guys on the engine to worry about the cars. Check on the occupants."

The firefighters grabbed some tools and hurried to the van. The driver's door was open. Lewis climbed inside and through to the back. An elderly woman was sitting in a scooter which was strapped to the floor. Next to her, an elderly man sat in a seat. Lewis saw he was clutching his chest with his right hand and groaning.

"Sir?" he asked. "Are you all right?"

"My chest," the man wheezed. "It ... hurts."

"His heart," the woman said in a weak, slurred voice. "It's ... his ... heart."

"Don't worry," Lewis said, noticing Mr. Crane was sweating. "We'll have you both out of here soon. Everything's going to be fine."

He saw Kevin climbing in and waved him back.

"Get Suzanne in here," he said, trying to stay as calm as he could for the elderly couple's benefit.

While they all had plenty of first aid training, Suzanne was the company's only dually-certified EMT. Lewis wanted her here now.

Suzanne didn't need to be briefed on the situation. She too recognized the signs of Mr. Crane's possible heart attack.

"Kevin," she instructed, "pass me the first aid kit and get the defibrillator."

Leaving the first aid kit on the driver's seat for Lewis to reach, Kevin hurried back to the truck. As he was returning, he stopped and looked at the van. Seeing the growing puddle under it, he cursed under his breath.

"It's dumping gas!" he called.

Some of the crew from Engine 6 hurried over to contain the spill. Kevin gave Lewis the defibrillator and went to help them. Sheldon and Frank began working out how they'd extract the couple.

"How much you wanna bet those seats in the van are removable in some way," Frank asked.

Sheldon nodded. As Kevin and the crew of Engine 6 worked to contain the leaking gasoline with sand, he and Frank opened the van's rear doors and began pulling out the supplies kept back there.

Ignoring the defibrillator on the front seat for the moment, Suzanne dug a bottle out of the first aid kit while having Lewis search for the man's wallet. He found it in his pants pocket and withdrew an in Case of Emergency card. Seven years ago, the Baltimore City Department of Health made them available for all senior citizens. First responders were trained to look for these ICE cards, which listed a person's name, medications they were taking, allergies, and emergency contact information. Lewis needed to complete a ten-hour course on these cards during his time in the fire academy. He knew what to watch out for as he studied this one, emblazoned with the familiar bold letters across the top.

"Doesn't look like there's anything we need to worry about," he reported.

Suzanne nodded, opening the bottle and shaking out a pill.

"Mr. Crane," she said, "this is an aspirin. I need you to chew and swallow it. Please open your mouth."

The old man did as instructed and she plopped the pill in.

"Chew and swallow it," she instructed. "It'll help."

Neither she nor Lewis had the qualifications necessary to more thoroughly address the situation and they didn't carry more specific medications, like nitroglycerin, in the kit. but it was well-established that having the victim of a heart attack take an aspirin as soon as possible was potentially life-saving. Thus, their training called for this action.

Suzanne turned back to Lewis.

"Where's the ambulance?" she asked.

"I think they're stuck in traffic," Sheldon reported from the back of the van. "Probably tried to take the parkway. ETA's two minutes."

"Anyone call for a second bus?"

"The lieutenant did a little while ago. Not sure where they're coming from though."

"What's the latest on the gas spill?" Lewis asked.â??

"They've got it stopped and contained. It's just a couple of gallons."

"Excuse me, folks," Frank said. "Gotta get in here."

Since he was taller and had a larger frame than Lewis or Suzanne, climbing across the driver's seat and into the back was a little more difficult. But he managed.

"Gotta squeeze around you, Ma'am," he said to Mrs. Crane. "There are some hooks I gotta undo to get this seat out."

He made his way past the scooter and crouched down in front of the van's rear bench. As everyone heard the first of the two ambulances arrive, he undid all three hooks. With Sheldon and Kevin lifting from the other side, he moved the seat back and out of the van, where it was set aside on the sidewalk with the supplies they'd unloaded earlier.

"All right Ma'am," Frank said, turning to Mrs. Crane. "Let's get you out of here."

"My ... husband ..." Mrs. Crane protested. "My ... husband ..."

"Don't you worry. He's in good hands and he'll be right behind you."

With help from the crew of Engine6, Kevin managed to remove the wheelchair ramp from its mechanism beneath the van's undercarriage. He and Sheldon set it down against the van's rear bumper, four of them holding it in place.

"Mind if I take the wheel for a moment?" Frank asked. "The terrain's a bit tricky."

Mrs. Crane didn't say anything and he used the scooter's joystick to move it backwards out of the van. She moaned as she rolled backwards down the ramp.

"Don't you worry," Frank assured her as the second ambulance arrived. "We've got you."

He helped the paramedics lift her out of the scooter and onto the stretcher.

"All right," Suzanne said. "Your turn, Mr. Crane."

She unbuckled his seatbelt and draped one of his arms around her shoulders. Lewis did the same and they helped him towards the back of the van. The ramp had been taken away and Sheldon and two more paramedics helped him out and onto the stretcher. Suzanne reported giving him the aspirin while Lewis handed over his ICE card.

"He's conscious and talking," one of the paramedics said, fitting an oxygen mask on the man's face. "That's a good sign."

He and his partner wheeled the stretcher to the nearby ambulance. Meanwhile, a sedan with the same SunnyDale Living logo had arrived and a man was speaking with Lisa White.

"He came out of nowhere," she was saying. "I never saw him."

Lieutenant Barnette approached the pair and the man whirled around to face him.

"How are they?" the man asked.

"Mr. Crane seems to have suffered a minor cardiac episode," Lieutenant Barnette explained. "The paramedics are confident about his chances. They're taking Mrs. Crane out of an abundance of caution."

The man sighed.

"We're supposed to keep our residents safe," he muttered.

"This couldn't have been predicted," Lieutenant Barnette assured him. "Your driver got herself out of the wreck and informed us of the situation. The Cranes are lucky to have had her there."

A police officer beckoned him over and the lieutenant excused himself. As he stepped away, he noticed two firefighters from Engine 6 sweeping up the sand which they'd used to absorb the spilled gasoline, depositing it all in a plastic bin. It really was an easy matter to deal with, provided no one started smoking in the immediate area of the spill.

"We found the other driver," the officer reported, getting the lieutenant's attention again. "He was stumbling down the sidewalk about half a block away. Guy smells worse than his car. He's been read his rights and they're driving him to the hospital ... 'abundance of caution'."

Lieutenant Barnette nodded, withholding a laugh.

"Guess everyone was lucky here," the officer remarked. "Heck, we've all seen a lot worse."

Lieutenant Barnette nodded again, noticing two tow trucks arriving.

"Guys!" he called. "Get all that stuff back in the van! Make sure it doesn't rattle!"

"The cleanup," Frank muttered. "Always the hassle of the job."

"Too bad we can't pawn it all off on our new guy," Kevin said.

"That bench is too heavy for one person to lift," Sheldon pointed out. "We could get sued. You can help him with that."

He added a slight smirk as Kevin groaned.

"Make sure it's hooked in again!" Frank called after him.

Kevin acknowledged this with a wave of his hand. He and Lewis lifted the bench off the sidewalk. Suzanne was kind enough to stand in the van and direct them as they worked.

"Little to the left ..." she said, "a little more ... little more ... too far. Back to the right ... little more ... wait. That's good."

"So," Kevin asked as they secured the hooks of the bench, "how's the first day going?"

"It's good," Lewis said. "Got a few calls under my belt already and you guys haven't hazed me too badly yet."

"We'll have to work on that," Kevin remarked as they climbed out to retrieve the rest of the van's contents.