Critical Impact. Linda Hall

      He bent toward her. “When you’re up to it, we’d like to ask you a few questions.”

      She nodded. That’s the reason he was here. He was a police officer with questions. He had picked her up, held her closely and talked kindly to her on the way to the hospital simply because it was his job. It made her feel let down in a way she couldn’t define.

      “Okay.” Her voice broke. “But can you first tell me what happened?”

      His face darkened. “A bomb.” He said it simply.

      A bomb! Her eyes went wide. “Why? What…?”

      The woman named Liz came and stood beside Deputy McCabe and said, “We don’t know. We’re still trying to piece things together.”

      “What time is it?” Anna suddenly asked. When had this all occurred? She looked helplessly at her right hand where she normally wore a silver watch.

      “Around 9:00 p.m.,” Deputy McCabe said.

      “Wow,” she said, opening her eyes wide. “I’ve been here the whole time?”

      “They just brought you to your room. You were in surgery for quite a while. Your family is in the hall. Your mother is here.”

      “My mother’s here?” Anna was finding it difficult to tear her eyes away from this man.

      “We met your mother, Catherine, and your aunt, Lois.”

      “Good. Um…” She was desperate for facts. “So it was a bomb? Did it have something to do with the mock disaster?” Her voice echoed in her own head as she spoke, but at least her hearing was getting better. “Did it go off accidentally?”

      “No,” Deputy McCabe said. “It didn’t. It wasn’t supposed to be a real bomb. Just smoke bombs.”

      “Pretty coincidental timing, though,” Liz said.

      “Was it…terrorists?” She shifted slightly in her bed, but quickly came to the conclusion that any movement, no matter how slight, caused pain.

      “Again, we don’t know,” he said.

      Liz added, “At this point we’re looking at every possibility.”

      “What about the others?” she asked. “Two of my students went in ahead of me.” Her head was spinning. Hilary had been inside City Hall and Claire, too. Plus, the mayor.

      Deputy McCabe paused, took a breath. “Hilary Jonas and Claire Sweeney have been positively identified. They died this morning in the blast. I’m so very sorry, Anna.”

      Anna swallowed several times. Tears welled up in her eyes. How could they be dead? She had been with those girls just yesterday. “What about Mayor Seeley? He also went into the building just ahead of me.”

      “They rushed him by air ambulance to Portland. We haven’t heard anything yet.”

      She tried to lift her left hand to wipe her eyes, but it was tethered to the IV pole. She felt helpless. Deputy McCabe took a tissue from the box beside her and gently wiped her eyes. The gentle act made her tear up even more. She fought to regain her composure.

      “Who would do this?” she gasped.

      “That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Liz said. “That’s why we’d like to ask you some questions before your family comes back in.”

      “Okay,” she said. “I don’t know how I can be of help, but okay.”

      Deputy McCabe began asking questions. As best she could, Anna told them everything she saw, or didn’t see just before entering the building. They asked the same questions in many different ways, and she answered until her voice was hoarse and she couldn’t think. She hadn’t paid too much attention to what had been going on around her. Her mind had been on her lesson plan. There was still so much she had needed to get done before the mock disaster. She told them this, too.

      When Deputy Corcoran asked her if she had received any threats lately, Anna paused. Deputy McCabe seemed to notice this pause and looked at her expectantly. Did Peter count? Should she tell them about Peter? But Peter was her own business.

      She’d never said goodbye to Peter. Was that it? Some weird and awful act of revenge? Peter had lied to her. He’d told her he was a Christian. He’d told her she was special to him. All lies. And on that last date, when he slammed her up against the brick fireplace of his mansion. She thought he intended to rape her. But even if he wasn’t going to rape her, she knew she had to leave. That’s all he wanted from her. That’s why he lied. He didn’t want her for herself. She knew she had to get away from him. She had hit him hard in the chest and loudly said, “No!” until he lost his grip on her shoulders and she shoved him away, then ran.

      The following day she left California.

      She had been back in Maine a month when she received his e-mail.

      The next time we meet, you’ll regret it. I will be back.

      Did that constitute a threat?

      She took a deep breath and told them about Peter. If he had done this, he deserved to get caught. She gave them Peter’s contact information.

      Deputy McCabe wrote it all down.

      She heard voices in the hall.

      “Anna! Oh, Anna!” She turned toward the door. Her mother, Catherine, was there, along with her mother’s sister, Lois. “Can we see her now?” her mother asked.

      “Yes,” Deputy McCabe said. “Come in.”

      Anna gave them a weak, “Hi!”

      Her mother rushed toward her. “You gave us quite a scare. You were in surgery so long.”

      “No one would tell us a thing,” her aunt, Lois, added.

      Anna didn’t see the two officers leave, but the next time she looked up, they were gone.

      Her mother kissed her cheek and whispered, “I’m so glad you’re okay. We’ve all been praying so hard. I put you on the prayer line at our church, and Lois had you on the prayer line at her church.”

      “Thank you.” But here is where Anna had her first inkling of a serious question. Two young women had died. Was she alive because she had more people praying for her? And did they die because no one prayed for them? Why had God protected her, but left Hilary and Claire to die?

      “We were so worried about you,” Aunt Lois added. “It’s been all over the news. Everywhere!”

      Anna nodded.

      “Are you in pain, dear?” her mother asked. “Should I call the nurse? The doctor’s on her way. I know she wants to talk to you.”

      “That’s good.” Anna tried not to wince.

      Lois said, “We’ll get the nurse. I can tell by your face that you need something for the pain.”

      Anna’s head felt muzzy. All she wanted to do was sleep.

      “We won’t stay long,” her mother said, smoothing her bangs away from her face. “We’ll be back in the morning. I’ll bring you your Bible and some magazines and books. Is there anything else you’d like?”

      “Can you bring me my glasses?” she asked. “They’re in my top dresser drawer in the cottage I’m renting. I lost my contact lenses somewhere.”

      “Certainly, dear,” her mother said, writing all this down on a piece of paper.

      “I’m in the cottage closest to the water.”

      “I know, dear.”

      “You can get the key from Bette. I don’t know where my purse is.”

      “Bette has already phoned us,” Lois said. “She sends you a hug.”

      When