She touched her wet forehead to the backs of her wet fists around the wheel.

“Heidi? What happened? What do you need?”

She racked her radio handset angrily. She used her phone instead to call back Denise.

“I still need all that stuff I asked for a minute ago. Plus a large animal vet with a euthanasia kit.”

She climbed from the Charger. The horse had torn loose. As the sheriff slid down the ditch, the animal struggled up and limped away on three legs, lathered and wheezing and rolling its eyes at her. His front left leg was broken under the knee.

“I’m sorry, boy. I’m so sorry.”

The buggy had landed upside down, one wheel still spinning.

She found no one inside it.

The frightened horse must have been pulling it empty, ghosting about this deserted region of the Bad Axe at least since dawn, because caught beneath the brake bar, where a driver would sit, was a boot.

A rubber boot—a Ranger—the left boot, cracked and split by age. The seat was smeared with what looked like dried blood. Her victim had been driving this buggy before he ended up in the ditch.

But that was all she had. She collapsed into the weeds. Her face had gone numb. Her heart fluttered and she shivered. Her thoughts became mired and sluggish. She heard a vehicle slow on the road above, but she could not convince herself to stand. Whoever it was would stop and help. She couldn’t stand and wave. She couldn’t move.

Yet the vehicle didn’t stop—and this rallied her. A sheriff’s cruiser, an upside-down Amish buggy in the ditch, a limping horse in the meadow… what kind of person doesn’t stop to offer help?

She crawled up the ditch bank. But her vision had blurred. The vehicle was too far gone. An old white truck, maybe?

She slid back down, collapsed beside the overturned buggy, and looked about helplessly. With the sun directly overhead, she had not one centimeter of shade to crawl under.

As she faded into shuddering blindness, a phrase from Fanta’s caller, FROM HELL HOLLOW, came back to her.

Noon is our new midnight…

Part 2: 101°–106°

Thurs, Aug 8, 12:39 PM

To: Dairy Queen ([email protected])

From: Oppo ([email protected])

Subject: Why Would You Not Accept (Free) Opposition Research?

Objective: Neutralize (minimum) or Destroy (optimal) opposition candidate

Theme: Kim Maybee (1989–2015), her alleged “suicide,” and her intimate relationship with Barry Rickreiner

Background (per Broadcaster, coroner’s report): Morning of April 3, 2015, Kimberly Karen Maybee, 26, found comatose in her rented home, Town of Leaning Rock. Transported by Farmstead EMS to La Crosse, poisoning suspected, extracorporeal hemodialysis and resin hemoperfusion performed unsuccessfully. Died of massive organ failure at 11:47 AM.