The President's Daughter - Mariah Stewart [69]
“Dispatcher said you had a car accident, Dina?” Tom asked quietly.
“No, not an accident. Someone tried to run me down.”
“Tried to run you down?” The officer frowned.
“A van—a minivan—came out of nowhere and tried to run me over when I was out walking Waylon.”
“When you say ‘came out of nowhere’ ”—he removed his hat and ran his hand through graying hair— “what exactly do you mean?”
“I mean that I never saw it until it was almost on top of me. It came down the street with its lights off and waited until I got midway across, then accelerated, and tried to hit me.”
“Maybe the driver was distracted and he didn’t see you.” Tom was still frowning.
“It chased me up onto the damned sidewalk. It was not a matter of driver error. That van followed me, then came back around, not once but twice. It was like a shark circling the block.”
“Maybe the driver wanted to see if he’d hit you. Maybe he was coming back to see if you needed help.”
“He was coming back to see if he could finish me off.” Dina’s patience was nearing exhaustion.
“Tom?” Jude called from the doorway.
“You see this, Jude?” Tom asked.
“No. I was in the house. But if Dina said the van deliberately tried to hit her, you can believe that it did.”
“Dina, why would anyone want to hurt you? You haven’t an enemy in this world.”
“Apparently I’ve got at least one.”
The words chilled Jude to her soul, even as Dina spoke them aloud.
“Look, I’ll make a report, and I’ll talk to the other guys on duty tonight to see if anyone saw a . . . you didn’t happen to notice the color, did you? Or the make?”
“No, it was too dark. The only streetlight is around the corner by Peterson’s. The middle of the block isn’t well lit. It happened so quickly, and I’m afraid I was daydreaming and not paying attention. I didn’t notice the van until the last minute. But hell”—Dina stood with her hands on her hips—“there’s never any traffic out here after nine or nine-thirty at night.”
“Get a look at the driver?”
She shook her head. “Only to see that he or she was wearing a hat, like a rain hat with a brim. That’s all I could see.”
“Not much to go on.” He finished making his notes, then stuck his pen back into his notebook. “Doesn’t make much sense—”
“That van jumped the curb right there in front of the Turners’ house.” Dina was starting to lose her temper. “Come on. I’ll show you.”
Dina led the police officer, her mother, and the dog down the street.
“There. Look right there.” Dina pointed to the ground. “You can see the tire marks right there on the sidewalk.”
“Hmmmph.” Tom dropped down onto one knee and with his flashlight followed the dark tracks. “Looks like it came right on up here, then backed up off the curb.”
“That’s what I’ve been telling you. Someone tried to run me over.”
“And no thoughts on who? Or why?”
“No.”
Jude shivered as the night breeze picked up, heralding a storm.
“I’ll stop back in the morning and take some pictures of the tracks, just for the record.” Tom straightened up. “And like I said, I’ll ask around and see if anyone saw an unfamiliar van around town tonight. But you know how it is with those minivans: half the young families in Henderson have ’em. Hell, my son just bought one for his wife to drive the kids around in . . .” Tom said as the small group started back toward Jude’s house.
He paused at the foot of Jude’s walk, then asked, “How ’bout if I check out the backyard before I leave? Just to make sure . . .”
“I’d appreciate that, Tom.” Jude nodded and stood in the halo of the porch light until he came back around.
“No sign of anything, but I’ll be by on and off for the rest of the night to keep an eye on things for you so that you can sleep in peace.” He tucked his flashlight under his arm. “And I’ll let the next shift know to do the same. Dina, I’ll have someone out by your place for the rest of the night.”
“We appreciate that. Thank you.”
“If you think of anything—anyone with any