Once Gertie was properly dressed, we headed down the center of the midway, ignoring the calls of those running the games, and I tried to turn a deaf ear to the booths for candy apples, cotton candy, and a host of other sugary delights that were calling my name. Good Lord, I really had to work on my sugar addiction. But between Gertie and Ally, my kitchen was never without some home-baked dessert and it wasn’t as if I was going to turn down their offerings. I was gaining weight, not getting foolish. I’d just have to run a bit more. Heck, at the rate I was going, I was going to have to run a good four hours a day.
We’d almost made it to the upside-down flinging thing when I heard a scream—a scream that I recognized.
Celia.
We all turned in the direction of the noise and saw the funhouse.
“Celia went in the funhouse?” I asked. “Isn’t that like diametrically opposed to her personality?”
“Hence the screaming,” Ida Belle said. “She’s the only person I know who can make the funhouse a negative thing.”
More screaming ensued and I was about to suggest someone go in and shoot her to put the rest of us out of our misery when she appeared in a corridor, running as quickly as her legs would carry her. My first thought was, at least she was dressed. My second was that she really looked scared. My third was wondering if she realized she was running straight toward a solid glass panel.
A second later, the third question was answered when she slammed face-first into the glass. Her eyes widened as she crumpled onto the ground, and we hurried over to see if she’d finally killed herself with her antics. I arrived first and jumped onto the platform, running into the tunnel from the exit door. I leaned over and saw her chest moving.
“She’s alive,” I said. “But we need the paramedics. That was a pretty good hit to her head.”
“Her head is made of wood,” someone said.
“Maybe even stone,” another said.
I looked down at her. “Celia? Can you hear me?”
I shook her a little and she groaned. Then her eyes opened a little and she blinked, trying to focus. Suddenly, she popped into a sitting position and clutched my shoulders, her eyes wide and frantic.
“Dead!” she yelled and promptly passed out.
I frowned. I expected the House of Horrors to have dead people, but I wasn’t sure about a funhouse. Was that normal? And would they really have done such a great makeup job that Celia had panicked enough to knock herself out? She was dramatic but she was still a Southerner. They tended to be made from sterner stock. I looked up at Ida Belle, Gertie, and Walter, who were standing behind me, all frowning.
“Maybe we better take a look,” I said. “Walter, will you tell the guy running this to hold off letting more people in until I can check it out? And if anyone went in after Celia, see if he can head them off before they get very far.”
“And will someone call the paramedics?” Ida Belle yelled at the crowd.
Walter took off for the front of the attraction, and I started through a revolving tunnel into a maze with distortion mirrors, Ida Belle and Gertie right behind me. It was easy to traverse if you knew the trick, which was looking down instead of in front of you. That’s why, despite the dim light, I didn’t trip over the body when I rounded the corner.
A woman with long brown hair was collapsed facedown on the ground, and I could see blood seeping from an impact wound on the back of her head. A feeling of familiarity and dread passed through me as I dropped down and swept her hair back.
I sucked in a breath. “It’s Emmaline!”
I yanked out my cell phone and cursed.
“No signal!” I looked at Gertie. “Go outside and get the paramedics. Go get them if you have to.”
“Medical kit’s in my bag,” Gertie said as she pulled her phone out of her purse, then dropped the bag in front of me and set off running, banging mirrored walls as she went.
“They should already be on their way for Celia,” Ida Belle said as she stepped over Emmaline and dropped down on her knees across from me.
“As much as people like Celia, I’m afraid no one called,” I said as I checked for a pulse. “Her pulse is good.”
“But her breathing is shallow,” Ida Belle said.
I held my phone close to Emmaline and used the flashlight feature to illuminate the area of her head where the blood was coming from. I pushed the hair aside and Ida Belle leaned closer to take a look.
“Nothing embedded,” Ida Belle said. “Looks like she was hit from behind and landed face forward.”
I grabbed Gertie’s purse and took out three dynamite sticks, a sub sandwich, and an inflatable raft before locating the emergency medical kit. I pulled out gauze and handed it to Ida Belle, who pressed it against the wound and held it there, putting enough pressure to stop the bleeding. I checked her pulse again and it had slowed a bit.
“Getting weaker,” I said, my own blood pressure starting to shoot up. “Where are those paramedics?”
“She’s going to be fine,” Ida Belle said, but I could hear the worry in her voice.
Emmaline LeBlanc wasn’t just an incredible woman and all-around beloved resident of Sinful—she was Carter’s mother and Walter’s sister. I touched her cheek and repeated silently, Don’t you dare leave us.
“I’ve got to call Carter,” I said.
“Go,” Ida Belle said.
I ran to the exit and had signal again. I scanned the crowd but didn’t see Gertie. Hopefully she was on her way back with the paramedics. I dialed Carter’s number, prepared to make a call I’d hoped I’d never have to make. But Carter needed to be here.
“You need to get to the funhouse now,” I said when he answered. “Emmaline was attacked and she’s unconscious.”
I was going to tell him that the paramedics were en route, but the call dropped and I knew he was headed this way at a dead run. I ran back inside just as Ida Belle lowered herself to Emmaline’s chest. She looked back up at me, her worried look deepening.
“Getting shallower,” she said.
I nodded, trying to think of something we could do, but the reality was, there wasn’t anything. Both of us were trained for battlefield triage, but with bandages and ointment as our only medical supplies, we were limited. Unless she stopped breathing.
Please, God, don’t let that happen.
I heard footsteps and looked up into Walter’s horrified face. He dropped down beside Ida Belle.
“Emmaline?” he said, his voice almost a whisper. “Is she…she’s not…”
“She’s alive but her vitals are weak,” I said. “Gertie went to get the paramedics.”
Ida Belle reached over and took her husband’s hand in hers.
“She’s going to be fine,” Ida Belle said again, but we all knew she had no way of knowing that.
I heard noise at the exit and felt a trickle of relief course through me as the paramedics rushed around the corner. Ida Belle, Walter, and I jumped up to give them room and we moved away as they dropped down and went to work. As I took another step back to give Ida Belle and Walter more space, my foot connected with something. Figuring I’d hit a turn in the maze, I looked behind me and was surprised to see open space.
Then I looked down.