“You don’t know with Dean. We never did get along. But I think if he’d seen Tim, he’d’ve said.”
Three actual linked sentences from Shane. “Let’s keep looking,” she said.
Back in the car, less than half a mile to the conglomeration of buildings that made up the resort and the point itself. A gravel road to the left featured a sign saying, PARKING. Hardtop to the right led down to the office. She pulled up into the lot, found a slot among the dozen cars. They got out, glanced around.
Shane said, “Timmy liked to go up there.” A path led to a ridge above the resort at the water’s edge. At its entry stood a small round of fir supporting a rusted commercial tomato can which held a yellow and white plastic cup. From the cup rose a small sign:
EXTREME FIRE HAZARD
PLEASE EXTINGUISH
YOUR BUTTS
Kyra followed Shane along a wooded path. After a minute it narrowed, then dwindled to nothing where the ridge fell off the cliff. Discovery Passage lay in front of her.
“Timmy’d come up here to stare at the water.” Shane glanced about. “Sure isn’t here now.”
Peaceful place for staring, Kyra thought. Across the water the sun hung low over Vancouver Island, hitting black clouds sideways and burning them orange. Below lay several buildings with rooflines that swept up just before their gutters, pagoda-like. The largest, set in the middle of a pond, featured bridges leading to platforms. Two guests sat on the near platform, drinking beer from bottles. She’d prefer vodka-tonic but even a beer would be good. Not for nine months. “Maybe Timmy’s down there.”
“Doubt it. He doesn’t like tourists.”
She could spend a few days in a place like this, chirping birds and lapping waves. “Okay. Let’s keep looking.” Along the trail to the car. “Where to now?”
“Maybe April Point Road toward the village. New territory.”
“Okay.” She looked at the sky. “Going to be dark soon.”
“We can get home easily from the village.”
They drove down from the parking lot and headed the way they’d come. “Wonder if your dad and Noel had any luck.”
“They’d have let us know.”
“Yeah. Still, I think I’ll give Linda a call.” She pulled her iPhone from her purse.
“Hey, you shouldn’t be using a phone while you’re driving.”
“You’re right. But there’s no one around and I’m going slowly.”
“Lots of curves, Kyra.” He glanced in the passenger side mirror.
She pressed three buttons—
“Anyway, there is someone on the road. A green van and he’s coming up fast.”
Kyra checked the rearview mirror. “Damn fool.” The van was barely fifty feet behind and catching up. She set the phone in her lap and slowed the Honda.
Shane had turned to see what the van was up to. “Damn! He’s going to pass us! He can’t see around—”
The front of the van was beside the driver’s side rear bumper, beside the rear door, it bashed against them. “What the hell—” They swerved toward the narrow shoulder. Kyra’s hands squeezed the wheel and pulled the car straight. But the van was there again, a harder push, they were driving one wheel on the shoulder, ahead a gully filled with peckerpoles. Now the van was parallel and Kyra turned to see what the crazy guy was doing and she saw his face, something wrong with it— He hit them again, they were off the road heading for the scraggly trees, Kyra yelling “Hang on—” as the Honda dropped into the gully, one braked but speeding wheel after another, half-dozen scraggly trees ahead, car cutting a path between them, bouncing off tree trunks, slowing. Stopped.
• • •
“Oh my god, thank you thank you. Yes, we’ll be right there.” Linda put down the phone.
“What?” asked Alana. “Tim?”
“Yes, oh thank god yes.”
“And he’s okay?”
“Well mostly. He’s banged up but they don’t think anything’s broken. Oh, but he’s okay, yes,” and suddenly she was hugging Alana. “Yes, he seems to be okay.”
Alana’s arms went around Linda. “That’s wonderful, that’s great!”
Linda pulled away. “I didn’t think I was that worried.”
“You sure didn’t show it.”
“Let’s get over there.”
“Where?”
“Medical clinic.” She grabbed the truck keys.
“Um, shouldn’t you let Noel and Kyra know?”
“Oh. Yes. Of course.” She found their cell phone numbers on a slip of paper. She dialed Kyra first. The staccato buzz of a busy signal. “That’s strange.”
“What?”
“Busy. Who’s Kyra talking to?”
“Noel maybe?”
“Yeah. But if it’s busy isn’t an answering system supposed to cut in?”
“All these phones are different.”
Linda pressed the off button and connected again. After one ring Noel picked up. Tim was okay. At the clinic but okay. She was on her way. She’d tried Kyra but the line was busy. They’d meet at the clinic. She cut the connection and tried Kyra’s number again. Still busy. Damn! Who was she talking to?
• • •
Shane opened one eye. Then the other. Where—? He felt a seat belt. The strap dug into his neck. In a car? Hurt. Right shoulder, shit—He closed his eyes. That van, it shoved them off the road! He tried to stretch out his left leg. It seemed blocked. His right— Aaarghgh!! Shit! Shit shit shit! Ogodhurting! Shitshitshit! He felt some kind of material along his arms, plasticky stuff. Yeah, a green van. Kyra. He spoke the name aloud: “Kyra?” No answer. He tried to turn his head, slowly. Yeah, there she was, slumped forward. Same plasticky stuff. He spoke louder: “Kyra!” Nothing. Well, he was alive. Was she? Breathing? He reached over to her slowly and touched her shoulder, shook it lightly. “Kyra?” Unconscious? And suddenly felt cold. Way too cold for a summer evening. Going into shock? Maybe already there. Got to get out. Got to do—something. Open the window, shout for help. He looked at the window. He nearly giggled—didn’t have to open, it wasn’t there. The windscreen—spiderwebbed. He turned to the window. “Help! Help!” He listened. A breath of wind. “Help! Somebody! Help!” Nobody out there. Shit. Double shit. What the hell was he going to do? He touched Kyra’s shoulder again, shook it a little. She groaned. Hey, she’s alive! “Kyra? Can you hear me? Can-you-hear-me?” Another groan. Her head sagged, chin against her chest, a deep breath. She raised her head. At least her neck wasn’t broken. “Kyra, you okay? Kyra?”
She opened her eyes. “Where’re we?”
“Middle of the woods.”
A look of horror on her face, eyes and mouth wide open. An intake of breath as she realized the awful thing she’d done. “Noel’s car!”
“I—I think it saved our lives.”
“What?”
“Air bags.”
“Air bags. Saved our lives.” She turned to look at him. “How are you?”
“Cold. Scared. I think my leg’s broken.”
“Oh god, Shane. We’ve got to get out of here.”
“Good idea. How?”
“We’ve got to get help. Call for help.”
“I tried that. We’re in the woods.”
“My phone, where—?”
“You were making a call when the van started pounding us.”
“My phone?” She looked about. The air bag material covered everything. She slowly released her seat belt and sat forward. “Oh. Ooohh. Damn.” She breathed out a sigh that came close to a sob. She took a deep breath in, and again out. “I hurt.”
“Where?”
“All over. Can you move?”
“Not a lot.”
“Got to find the phone. This air bag stuff— Somewhere.”
Shane reached over and pulled the material off his side. Kyra did the same. She leaned forward, stared at the floor of the car. Something there, between gas and brake pedal. She stretched her foot as far as it could go, couldn’t reach i
t. “I think the phone’s—there. Got to get out, grab it.” She reached for the door handle, noted the smashed window, pulled at the handle— No give. She shoved at the door. Blocked. “Damn it!”
Shane said, “Maybe—I can—” He glanced at the pedal area. “Really think it’s the phone?” He released his seat belt.
“Nothing else in the car I can think of.”
Shane looked at the windscreen. The rearview mirror had been knocked off. “Maybe I can—get down there.”
“You think—?”
“Let’s—see.” He bit his teeth together hard. It was going to hurt. He shifted his weight onto his left buttock. His right foot edged toward the door and he gave as much of a scream as could escape through his teeth. Another shift and his elbow was on Kyra’s lap. She flinched hard but beyond a small “Eeep!” said nothing. Had to get between her legs and the damn steering wheel. Now he grabbed her left jean leg below the knee and pulled himself further forward till his left ear rested on her lap, his right shoulder partially blocked by the steering wheel. He forced his shoulder by the wheel. Ooohh! New pain. He reached down, further, further— His right foot shot against the passenger door and he screamed. She held his right shoulder and he felt and appreciated the support. He reached, his finger on the brake pedal, he grasped it and pulled himself down, his head on her knees. His fingers felt the object, grabbed it. The goddamn mirror! Shit and double shit. He dropped it to the carpeting and it clanked. On carpet? Or the stem of the brake or gas pedal? He felt around with his fingers. The pain in his right leg had made his fingers sweaty. His face and whole body too. He reached out. Something else down there? Something— His index finger found the other object, no pedal stem, something loose. He brought his thumb further down. He grasped it. Felt like—felt— Maybe. Yes! “I think I’ve got—” He heard her breathe in and out sharply, as if she hadn’t breathed in a while. He lay there, the phone grasped in his palm.
“Can you pull yourself up? I can help, I think.”
Gravity had taken him down. Up was a different matter. But she gave him a hand for leverage, another to draw him up. His head reached the steering wheel. He breathed, yanked, but his head stayed stuck. She grabbed his head by chin and forehead. His hair scraped against the wheel but there was too much of his skull to go through the opening.
Kyra let him go. “Can you punch in 911?”
“From down here?”
“Yes.”
“I can try.” He tried to flip the phone open. But his fingers were too fat, too sweaty, too weak. His sense of feel was disappearing. He tried again, the phone slipped a little, he grabbed at it. It slid from his sweaty fingers, dropping to the floor. “Shit! Shit!”
“What?”
“Dropped it.” He felt close to weeping. He clenched his teeth again. “I’ll try—find it.” Again he lowered himself, groped about, his little finger touched it, knew it was the phone. He shifted his hand and held it again. “Got it! Got it.”
“Good. Great. Hold on.”
He didn’t move. He breathed deeply. The pain in his right leg was sickening and he felt his stomach turn over. He didn’t want to vomit, not right down here. He felt her pulling at him again. “I—I don’t think—”
She relaxed her grip on him and he slumped down again. They stayed unmoving.
What the hell were they going to do. If only— Maybe— “Shane. Hold on.”
He felt her reach down to the side of his head. He heard her grunt. Her seat slid back four inches. He heard her giggle. And he blurted out a laugh. He felt her hand on his shoulder again, grasping him by the armpit, pulling. It took minutes until he could hand the phone to her. He lay sideways, his head on her lap, he heard the numbers she punched, three of them.
Kyra said, “We’ve been in . . . a car accident . . . Where are we? Shane, where?”
• • •
Linda drove the truck quickly, Alana beside her. They sped down to the village square, parked in front of the clinic, rushed inside. No one in the waiting room or behind the reception desk, but they heard voices from the back. Down the short hall to an examination room, two women standing by and a man talking with Timmy who lay on the exam table. Linda rushed past the man. “Oh Timmy, you really are okay?”
“I’m fine, Mom.” Tim looked embarrassed. “Really.”
He didn’t look fine. Cuts on his hands and face. A nasty gash on the side of his neck, stitched up. The cuts had been cleaned. Why wasn’t the gash bandaged?
Introductions for Alana’s sake. The younger of the two women, Dr. Kellerhals, mid-thirties, trim, bright eyes, said, “Nothing’s broken, Linda. A few days and he’ll be healed up.”
The other woman, Janet Bragg, a nurse, said, “He’s been very brave.”
Sam Mervin, one of the island’s RCMP constables, smiled. “Good you got here so quickly, Linda.”
“Jaspon’s on his way. Can Timmy come home?”
“After I’ve talked with him some more. This was a strange accident.”
“What happened?”
Bragg turned to Tim. “You want to tell her? We might as well hear it again.”
Tim explained: He’d gone for a ride because he’d been upset about Derek—not mentioning in front of a policeman about Derek and drugs, just Derek having been beaten—and he’d ended up at Bristol Greens, and had talked for a while with Jim, and then he ridden back and suddenly this van was behind him and coming on fast, and at first Tim thought the guy didn’t see him so he stared hard at the windshield and could see the driver and it looked like he was a clown or something his face was full of colors and then Tim knew the guy could see him and before he could think anything else the van wiped him off the road and sent him flying into the ravine like the guy had done it on purpose and he bounced a couple of times and then lay there, air bashed out of him, scared, wondering if he’d broken anything. Wondering too if the guy was coming back to hurt him or if it really was an accident to try to find him to see if he was okay. But nobody came and after a few minutes when he was breathing more easily again he pushed himself up and then had to sit down afraid he’d fall. After a few minutes he started crawling back to the road and wondered if he could ride his bike. It seemed to take a long time, getting to the road, and when he got there he felt wiped. He looked around for his bike and saw it back down in the ravine really busted, the frame and one wheel bent. He heard a car or something coming and he stood up and balanced himself carefully and when the vehicle, it was a brown pickup, could see him he put both hands up and waved hard and it stopped. George Pete, Zeke’s son, and George called his dad at Cape Mudge Village and brought Tim down to the clinic really fast, Tim trying to explain what happened. “Zeke said he was going to come by here.” George left because he had to get the truck to his father.
Linda let out a breath of air. “That’s good.”
Mervin said, “You really think this van hit you on purpose?”
Tim nodded and immediately winced. The doctor said, “Head still, Tim.”
“Okay. Yes, on purpose.”
“Did you notice anything else about it?”
“Dark green, and it was flat in front, I remember that. It wasn’t new.”
“Did you recognize it?”
Alana thought, Recognize? So few vans on Quadra that Tim just might?
“No. It was coming too fast. I just wanted to get out of the way.”
They heard footsteps in the reception area, a voice, “In back,” and Jason came through the door, Noel behind him. Jason, instantly at Tim’s side, hugging him. Tim, wincing. Introductions for Noel’s sake.
Dr. Kellerhals’s phone rang. She picked it up, listened, said, “Okay. Yes, I’m already here. Good.” She closed the phone.
Jason said, “Tell me what happened, Timmy.”
Damn, why didn’t his father call him Tim in public. Another repetition of the story, Tim sounding braver this time. He alone knew this was for Alana’s hearing.
The doctor asked to be excused. First res
ponders were on their way, she and Janet had to prepare the two other exam rooms. An auto accident up by April Point, they’d be here shortly. “You might want to stick around for this, Sam,” she said to Mervin.
Noel had a sudden sense of unease. “What happened, doctor?”
“Car went off the road. Couple of people, man and a woman, banged up.”
Mervin asked, “Not taking them to the hospital in Campbell River?”
“Al, he’s the first responder on tonight, thinks maybe we can handle it here. Maybe some broken bones. I’ll know more when they get in.”
“Did they say what kind of car?”
Kellerhals looked surprised. “No, that wouldn’t concern me.”
Noel nodded.
Jason said, “Can we take Timmy home? Make room for the people coming in?”
“I’d like to keep him under observation for another hour anyway. And don’t worry, we’ve got room. But if this keeps up—” She sighed. “Usually it’s quiet here.”
Again sound from the reception area. Zeke Pete. “Timmy! You okay?”
“Okay,” said the doctor, “everybody out except Jason and Linda and Janet. You can stay for a minute, Zeke, then you’ll have to go.”
Jason called out, “Noel, you and Alana can take the truck back to the house if you want, or to the B&B.”
“Thanks.” Noel walked to the reception area, sat, took out his cell phone. Alana followed. He pressed the code for Kyra. It rang and rang. Where the hell was she? Again. Same result. Back to Tim’s examination room. “I’ll stick around for a while, Jase.”
Janet the nurse said, “Please wait outside.”
In the reception area he said to Alana, “I can drive you back if you want.”
She said, “I’ll wait with you.”
After a minute Linda joined them. “You don’t have to stay, you know.”
“I know,” said Noel, and Alana nodded in agreement. The three sat in silence. When Zeke came out, Linda got up and returned to Tim.
Never Hug a Mugger on Quadra Island Page 16
