The Mystery at Sag Bridge

Prologue: Summer 2005

Prologue: Summer 2005

Whenever Cora Tozzi drove through these woods, as she did daily, she wondered what was behind the trees she saw from the road. The woods had invited her exploration for years.

Today she would find out. She never expected the parking lot to be empty, though.

She wasn't about to allow the absence of people to scare her off. She closed the car door carefully in reverence of the silence, but the metallic click was as jarring as if she'd slammed it. She glanced nervously around the desolate lot and picnic area to the edges of the forest. The place both fascinated and frightened her. Nothing appeared alarming, but...maybe it wasn't safe for a woman to be here alone.

Well, I wanted to come here...here I am. Unpaid bills, food shopping, a hundred other tasks...can wait. I will walk in my forest...don't waste this perfect day! But...it's not what I expected....

Foolish or not, she had decided to come alone, to experience the woods at her own pace, free to savor thoughts, impressions, and observations. Another presence, even Cisco's, would interfere.

But was this a good idea? Was it safe? A small woman, not young, nor as fit as she'd like, she was pretty vulnerable. Maybe she should think about it again...no, surely nothing would happen to her. Good fortune had followed her all her life, as if an unseen presence guarded her, and she had come to count on that. She would be vigilant, though, and she was prepared: she carried a trekking pole with a sharp carbide tip.

Could I actually use it, if I needed to?

A faint trail led into the trees from the picnic area. She tossed off apprehensions and, heeding her dermatologist's warning to take precautions against more skin cancers, she tugged a floppy hat out of a pocket, pulled it over her graying hair, and stepped onto the path, carefully listening for unusual sounds.

But every sound was unfamiliar, so what would seem unusual? Unseen, a small creature rustled across the forest floor, and she jumped, and then laughed at herself. Silly old woman. She heard a car pass on the road nearby, reassuring. She trudged deeper into the trees, and road noise faded.

She mulled over her fears: what was threatening in the woods? As the road noise had just reminded her, she was near civilization, just follow the noise and she wouldn't be lost. But people had been lost, in these very woods or other woods nearby, sometimes their bodies not found until years later, likely due to the density of the underbrush, and the infrequency with which anyone ventured off a path. In fact, she read in the paper just last week about a man who was last seen walking into woods a mile from here two weeks ago, and he had not yet been found.

Foreboding of evil might occur to a woman alone out here. Perhaps some sadistic man lurked in the underbrush, planning to have his way with her, to leave her battered or worse. Women are warned to fear men in lonely places. Maybe some unknown creature lay in wait, like in the movies. The forest primeval-or just evil? Cora didn't believe in alien or supernatural beings...but in the woods alone, anything seemed possible.

She shook it off, laughed again. She'd walked for ten minutes, and nothing she saw, heard, or sensed was ominous. Her confidence returned as the woods deepened, and she became captivated by their beauty.

---

Every day on her way to and from her job, Cora passed through these woods. Her commute, and her days, were long, beginning at daybreak, or earlier, and ending in twilight, or later. Her daily trip turned out to be a respite of quiet thought in her hectic world. She cherished the drive, especially through the peaceful forest, and the opportunity to reflect on beauty around her she otherwise took no time to see.