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Extract from Chapter One Whatever Happened to Genie Magee? • Sam Hawksmoor 3.11.25 ASIN ‏: B0DZTLNJHW ISBN-13: 978-1-7385181-1-1 USA Amazon link In a world where rich people want to live forever - a girl who never seems to age would be a tempting target. Her DNA would be very valuable indeed... Butch Leander slammed on his brakes and slewed to a stop just short of a smoking vehicle. The rain was falling so hard Butch could barely see anything.  He swore, amazed he’d hadn’t rear-ended the vehicle.  He was reluctant to get out of his warm truck. The EV had hit a fallen tree head on.  The driver probably didn’t even have a chance to brake, visibility was practically zero in the twilight. He jumped out of his truck and ran towards the vehicle to help. He found the driver impaled by a tree branch in his seat. Smoke poured out of the shattered windshield and a fire was just catching.  Butch knew once an EV starts burning no amount of rain was going to put it out. He was about to return to his truck when he glimpsed a young girl slumped in the back seat. Butch didn’t know if she was alive or dead as he got her out of there. He hoped the pummelling rain would revive her, but she remained limp in his arms as he carried her back to his truck and bundled her inside.  He felt her pulse, wasn’t even sure he felt anything. He looked back at the burning vehicle, his eyes smarting from the fumes. He climbed back into his truck and wiped the rain from his eyes. He glanced at the girl and saw blood on the side of her head.  She was going to have one hell of a headache. “Sis, I got a girl caught in a road accident. Vehicle was burning bad. She’s still alive, I think. Smoke must have got to her. I’m coming to you.” “Please tell me you didn’t cause the crash, Butch. You’re in enough shit with the law right now.” “Nothing to do with me. I saved a life sis. I’m doing good. She needs …” “Don’t tell me what she needs, Butch. If it’s smoke inhalation, I’m not equipped, ok?  I don’t run a hospital. Take her to Dr Brummel.” “He’s in Hawaii, I’m looking after his precious orchids, remember.  I’m bringing her to you. She’s just a kid. I’m about ten minutes away.  Be ready.” Butch killed the call. Needed to concentrate on the road. The rain was getting heavier if that was even possible. The girl twitched, then coughed. He took that as a good sign. She was definitely still alive. He turned to the girl. “I’m taking you to my sister Janine. She’s a nurse. She’ll take care of you… as long as you do what she says,” he added under his breath. The girl was as light as a feather. He carried her up the six steps to the porch. His sister was waiting, watching the rain.  She took a quick look, shone a torch into the girl’s eyes and said ‘hmmm.’ She signalled for him to take her into the treatment room. “She can’t be more than seventeen, someone will be missing her,” Butch said, as he laid her down on the day bed. His sister shrugged. “You’d better get home and get out of those wet clothes. How quickly were you on the scene after the crash?” “Can’t be sure. The EV was just starting to burn.  A lot of smoke. Couldn’t open the doors. Stupid design. Had to smash the window.  Driver was impaled in his seat by a tree branch.” Jan felt the girl’s pulse. “Where was she?” “Slumped in the back seat. She must have been thrown forward, hit her head hard. She was unconscious. No seatbelt. She’s probably inhaled the fumes.” ”That’s what worries me.” Jan was examining her patient’s head, noticing the white streak in her hair. “Swelling rising on the left side, there’s some bleeding. We have to hope there’s no internal damage.  Not much I can do for her if there is.  No ID on her?” Butch frowned remembering the thing around her neck. “There was a small purse – I think it’s still in the truck. Shit, I may have dropped it.” He stared at the girl he’d rescued, not sure what to do. Jan glanced at her brother and saw he was wet through. “Go home, Butch. Take a hot shower. I don’t want you involved. If anyone asks, I’ll just say someone dropped her off. Everyone knows I’m a nurse around here. Go. Bring the purse in tomorrow. She doesn’t need it right now.” Butch grabbed his keys and left. Jan felt the girl’s pulse again, didn’t like her colour. Too pale. She examined her hands. No bitten nails, something that looked like ink stains on her fingers.  She pulled off her wet clothes, they stank of smoke. She was about to go and find her something to wear when she looked again at the girl’s wrists. Burn marks, the kind you get from having your wrists tied with rope. Her skin was chafed on both lower arms. She had some broken nails. At some point she’d tried to get the binding off her.  Butch hadn’t mentioned this. Perhaps someone else had removed them, but who, why? Who the hell was this girl? Confused and a little worried she went to find her something warm to wear. Jan was puzzled. Why was she here in Silverton? Jan knew almost every kid in this town and this one was definitely not from the area, her clothes were too smart, the yellow Converse sneakers were brand new. Silverton didn’t get tourists, especially seventeen-year-old tourists. Jan checked the girl’s breathing when she returned. It seemed very shallow. She glanced at the clock. 7.05pm. Butch had called at 6.40 pm. Adding back the time to the accident the girl had been unconscious for over an hour at least.  Not good, but the skull was damn good at protecting a brain if it had to. She’d seen enough accidents in her ED training to know that. The state of her lungs was another matter. She placed the girl’s body on one side for a moment, then gently laid her flat again, placing a sick bowl close by in case.  She tried to recall if it was better to wake someone with a head injury or let them sleep. Concussion was tricky.  She’d had to deal with head trauma a few times in her training.  Some never woke up.  Others vomited and then recovered. Jan had trained with Dr Ives who’d specialized in mental health issues. Mental health therapy was huge now.  She’d never really been cut out for ED or ‘patch and dispatch’ as Dr Ives called it. She lit a match right under the girl’s nose to see if it would get a reaction. Seconds later the girl’s eyes opened wide, she sat up and vomited – twice.  No blood in the vomit which Jan was pleased to see. Her nose began to bleed.  Jan made her sit up straight and tilt her head forward, pinching the soft part of her nostrils for a few minutes and gave her tissues to hold. “You’re safe now,” Jan reassured her, but she didn’t think the girl heard her. Eventually she lay back against the high pillow and quickly fell asleep again.  Jan cleaned her up and pulled some PJ’s on her.  It was getting cold. She heard the wind batter rain against the windows. Everyone had been talking about drought two days before. It had rained for 48 hours solid ever since. Jan lowered the day bed to floor level and placed some blankets over the girl. Let her sleep. Her body knew what to do. Butch phoned in in the morning as he drove to work.  “You won’t believe this, but that EV is still burning. Cops can’t touch it until it cools, they’ve set up a diversion around it. How’s the girl?” “Still sleeping. I’ll try waking her in half an hour.  I’ve got a patient coming and I need the room.” “Hope she’s ok,” Butch added. “Butch, did you untie her wrists when you took her out of the vehicle last night?” “Untie her wrists?  She wasn’t tied up. Is she claiming she was?” “She’s still unconscious, but there are rope burns on her wrists. I’m thinking she wasn’t a willing passenger in that vehicle. Someone must have given her something to make her sleep.” “No shit. God, who the hell is she? A kidnap victim? Maybe there’s a reward?” “I’m not about to hand her over to anyone until I know who she is and what’s her story, Butch. You understand? Say nothing. We don’t want to be involved, ok?” The girl was stirring when she arrived with some hot tea.  She was struggling to sit up. Jan put on her bright smile. “Good morning.  How are you today?  My name is Janine Leander, I’m a mental health advisor and nurse.  If you’re wondering, someone dropped you off here last night after the car crash.  You remember any of that?” The girl stared at her with incomprehension. “Crash?” Jan sighed; ok this was how it was going to go.  She handed her the tea. “Be careful it’s hot. You were in a car crash last night. You don’t recall any of it?  My brother pulled you out of a burning vehicle. You should know you probably inhaled a lot of toxic fumes. Lucky for you the windshield was shattered so there was some ventilation.” The girl stared at Jan the look of confusion clear on her face. “Burned?” “You don’t recall anything, like where you were going?  You were a passenger in the back seat so I’m kinda assuming you were passing through. No one stops here unless they want gas or food.  What’s your name?” The girl was about to answer but then suddenly frowned.  She tried to speak but couldn’t find a name.  Couldn’t find anything there at all. © Sam Hawksmoor 2025 Whatever Happened to Genie Magee? available on kindle now and print March 11th. USA Amazon link The Repossession of Genie Magee available in print or ebook. No 1 in the series. Winner of The Wirral 'Paperback of the Year'. published in five countries.

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