Mountains of Dawn

"The first time, I noticed a car too close to my bumper…"

"Where? What road?" Warner asked.

"Highway 18a," Tanya replied, looking perplexed. "I gave all of that information to the officer in charge when I came in." She glanced at Halliday. "You were there, too, I believe."

"Continue, please, Tanya," Warner said.

"The car just appeared, right on my bumper. I hadn't seen it before. I felt a push from behind, a tap, then another. Stronger." Tanya paused, took a deep breath.

"Did you lose control?" Warner asked.

"Yes. I ended up in the opposite lane, heading into oncoming traffic. I heard a siren. When I looked up, an ambulance was coming right at me, head-on." Again, she paused and looked back into the terror of the moment. "I slammed on the brakes and my car went into a spin on the wet road. I ended up behind the ambulance, and going in the right direction. Thank God." She stopped speaking and ran her hand over her face, then took another deep breath. She shuddered. "I still don't know how I avoided a head-on collision with that ambulance. My little car and I would never have survived it."

"What happened to the car that bumped you?"

"No idea. It was gone, disappeared." Tanya rested her head on her hand, her eyes closed. The stress of the past few weeks rolled over her again, cold memories to chill her. "I didn't believe it was intentional, then. I thought it might have been some kids, messing around, thinking they were funny. I couldn't imagine anyone would want to hurt me. Not until the explosion."

"Coffee, Tanya?" Warner asked, still taking notes.

"No, thank you. A glass of water or a cola would be great, though."

Halliday left and returned with a cold can of cola. Tanya took it with a smile and rubbed the cold can across her forehead.

"Do you feel up to telling us about accident number two now?" Warner asked.

Tanya nodded. She sipped at her cola, then shifted forward in her chair, alert and intent on her story.

"I was returning from Roger Falls. There's a short cut I like to take-it winds through the woods. Pretty. It's narrow and winds left and right, so I try to stay in the middle, if I can." She sat back into the chair and lowered her head. "I don't remember where the other car came from. I never saw it until it smashed into the rear of my car." Her breath came faster, as if she were running. "The left side of the road is steep and rocky. I saw a narrow gap between the mountain side and a boulder. My car just squeezed through it, but only just. The other car passed me and disappeared around a turn." She took a deep drink of cola.