Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (13 page)

“Somebody has
to hold down the fort on weekends and it’s my turn,” he replied, “besides, I
had a lot of paperwork to catch up on.
 
I thought you might like to know what’s happened with Kovich since we searched
his home and studio.”

 
“Was that productive?”
 
Lin asked.

“It was sort of
a mixed bag,” Dave Winkler responded.
 
“We found a small arsenal of weapons, including more than one shotgun. We’re
not sure how he obtained all these weapons, but we’re investigating that.
 
If they’re illegal, that will add to his
charges.”

“ Could you
determine if they had been used?”

“ Not directly,
but all of his guns had recently been cleaned—clean as a whistle.
 
That doesn’t help us prove anything, but
it could mean they were cleaned because they’d been recently used.
 
We did find something
else—apparently our Mr. Kovich likes to write threatening messages.
 
We found several drafts he’d been
working on in his trash.
 
It seems,
he wrote and re-wrote to get the wording he wanted.
 
Most were directed toward Ellie and Pete
but apparently they were never delivered.
 
He was intensely jealous about their friendship.
 
We also found a journal that chronicles
much of his relationship with Ellie and his anger when she tried to break it
off.
 
Unfortunately, we found
nothing that would link him to the message you ladies received.
 
In fact, what we found would indicate
that message was much too crude to be his work.”

Lin was
disappointed.
 
Apparently nothing
seemed to indicate that Kovich was their visitor but the evidence did seem to
point to his anger toward Pete and Ellie. “Sounds like you might be able to
build a case against him where Pete and Ellie are concerned,” Lin remarked.

“Maybe,”
Winkler responded. “Right now, it’s mostly circumstantial.
 
We have no direct evidence that he
actually shot the two of them, but he definitely had a lot of anger.
 
We’re considering him a “person of
interest” in the case. As a foreign national he’s considered a flight risk, but
I think we’d need more evidence than we currently have to get his bail revoked.
We’re going to keep looking, reexamine the scene out on the Parkway, maybe try
to find folks he might’ve talked to.

“Well, thanks
for letting us know, although we’d feel better if he wasn’t still on the
loose,” Lin responded.

“I’ll keep you
informed, and thanks for your cooperation thus far,” Winkler ended the call.

Lin ventured
downstairs to share the mixed news about the search of Kovich’s apartment.
Then, leaving her friend to her own work, she settled down once more to read
while keeping a close watch on the clock.
 
As soon as it reached eleven she picked up her phone to call Neal.
 
Too bad, if he wanted to sleep past
eight, she was more than ready to hear his voice.

He did sound a
bit sleepy when she reached him, but he insisted he was already up.
 
“It’s been busy since I returned from
Tucson.
 
I’ve had workmen here
almost everyday doing minor repairs, major cleaning, and such stuff.
 
Only a couple more jobs to see finished
though.
 
I think I might be able to
travel earlier than I’d originally thought, maybe by next weekend.”

That news
delighted Lin as she was eager to see him.
 
Now, she launched into a full account of their experiences during the
week just past.
 
She knew that Neal
would be disturbed by the threat they’d received, especially since it couldn’t
be linked to Stefan Kovich and the identity of their visitor remained unknown.

 
“I’m sorry you and Sue have had such a
rough start to your volunteer summer.
 
Hopefully, things will be calmer now,” Neal sounded really concerned. He
didn’t add that Lin certainly seemed somewhat prone to run into such situations,
but she felt sure he had such thoughts.

“Actually,
we’ve both had a wonderful week work-wise,” she responded in a positive light.
“ Ellie is back in Charlotte with her parents, the local authorities are
continuing to investigate her shooting case, and they are, of course, still
looking into the identity of our intruder.
 
Hopefully, they will find out more soon. I feel sure the rest of our
time here will go smoothly.”
 
She
made certain she told Neal how much she was enjoying her work at Linn Cove.

“I certainly
hope so,” Neal responded, “I do worry about you and Sue also, of course.
 
I’ll be happier when I can get back there
to be with you for awhile.”

“When you come,
I’m going to take some time off, shorten my schedule so we can enjoy the beauty
of this place together,” Lin was happy to shift the subject to a happier theme.
“Meanwhile, I’ll probably work some extra hours to make up for some of that
plus some of the time I’ve already had to take off.
 
Rachel’s been great; however, it really
hasn’t been a problem.”

“Well, if I’m
lucky, all the work on the house will be done by the end of this week.
 
I may even be able to fly out over the
weekend.
 
Work on the dig in Tucson
won’t get started before mid-August at the earliest, so I should be able to
stay back east for a while.
 
Of
course, should my house sell, I might have to come back to close the deal, but
that would be a welcomed trip.”

The remainder
of their rather lengthy chat focused on sharing ideas regarding wedding
plans.
 
They agreed on a late
September date without settling on a particular day until they’d checked on
places, catering, and the like.
 
Neal felt that, even though his work would’ve started, he would have no
trouble taking time off to get married.
 
“Chris is fully onboard with that,” he said. “Even told me to make sure
I took enough time for a honeymoon as well.”

“Where do you
want to go?” Lin asked eagerly.

“Not sure, yet,”
Neal was coy in responding, “I might play the traditional groom’s role and make
it a surprise.”

“Not unless
you’re sure it’s somewhere I’ll absolutely love,” Lin teased.

“Well, I’d
assume you’d love anyplace—as long as I’m with you,” Neal tried
unsuccessfully to fake a hurtful tone.
 
Finally, he broke out laughing.
 
“I have done some investigating, but we’ll talk more about this before I
make any plans, don’t worry; however, I may have a surprise regarding where we
might spend a couple of nights after I arrive in the mountains.
 
Don’t ask me questions about that just
yet.”

Lin agreed; they
finished their conversation sharing private thoughts about their upcoming
reunion.

By the time Lin
had finished talking to Neal she was feeling much better.
 
She still had concerns about the identity
of their intruder, but the authorities would, hopefully, be able to wrap that
up soon.
 
Meanwhile, she decided to
focus on getting things back to a normal routine.
 
Neal should be here soon and that would
definitely be a plus.

About that time
Sue emerged from her morning in the basement.
 
“It seems to have stopped raining,” she
remarked.
 
“In fact, the clouds are
breaking up and the sun is trying to come out.
 
I’ve already folded the laundry and I
think, by the time we could grab some lunch somewhere, we might have a nice
afternoon to explore on the Parkway.”

“Do you have
something specific in mind?” Lin asked.

“As a matter of
fact I do,” Sue responded,” I’ve been reading more about all those cases I told
you about and I’d like to take sort of a crime scene tour, if that’s ok with
you.
 
Maybe take some photos.
 
I need to have some idea of where these
events occurred—or, at least, where the bodies were found.”

Lin agreed that
was a reasonable excuse for taking a ride so she went upstairs to put away her
clean clothes and grab a light jacket, just in case.

***

“I’ll drive,”
Sue insisted heading for the shiny silver Four Runner, her “new to her” car.
 
She tossed a parkway map to Lin as they
buckled in. “I’ve marked all the locations where bodies have been found in
recent years.
 
Look where they are.”

Lin perused the
map as they headed out the driveway.
 
Sue had carefully marked the locations, including the spot where they’d
found Ellie a few weeks ago. The series of red X’s formed a cluster ranging
from the Deep Gap area to just north of the Northwest Trading
Post—roughly a 25-mile stretch.

“That’s
interesting,” Lin remarked. “they seem to be located in or just north or south
of Jeffress Park where we picnicked the other day.”

“Right,” Sue
agreed. “On a road this long you’d think unsolved murders might be more widely
scattered.
 
After all, the Parkway
meanders 469 miles, but this particular stretch is where five murder victim’s
bodies have been found.
 
Only one of
these crimes has been definitely solved, although authorities seem to think
Sandy Hill’s death was at the hands of the killer who stole his next victim’s
car and fled. That killer met his end in a Florida shoot-out; he was never
questioned about Hill’s death.
 
Even
if he did kill Hill, and I have some questions about that, it still leaves
three victims all in that same general area.
 
What are the odds of that?
 
I’d like to know.”

Lin could feel
Sue’s intensity as she talked about these killings. “Well, I’d suggest another
picnic, but it’s still pretty damp out there.
 
Nevertheless, I’m starving so we’d
better get some lunch before we head out on our mission.”

They headed
into town and decided on the Come Back Shack, a local fast food place, where
they feasted on juicy burgers and well-seasoned fries.
 
“Yum,” Lin said as she bit into her high-stacked
sandwich. “This may not be the healthiest of lunches but it sure is delicious.”

“We can eat healthy
tonight,” Sue excused their indulgence. “I’ll make a big bowl of salad.”

After lunch,
they drove out Hwy. 421 to Deep Gap where they entered the Parkway.
 
They elected not to revisit the spot
where they’d found Ellie.
 
Lin had
taken some photos there earlier, and they realized that the place might be
taped off once again since the case had been reopened for further
investigation.
 
Instead they drove
north, stopping first at Jeffress Park.

“This is where
that young park ranger was shot in 2010,” Sue explained.
 
“From my research, I’ve learned that a
man dressed in overalls, jacket, and a broad-brimmed hat was spotted seated at
a picnic table near the south end of the parking lot.
 
He had some sort of long gun and it made
the visitors nervous.
 
They managed
to get enough cell signal to call authorities, and then they went on a walk
down to the Cascades, that waterfall we skipped the other day. When they
returned about forty-five minutes later the man was gone, and they found the
ranger’s dead body in the parking lot near the table where they’d seen the man
sitting.”

“And no one has
ever found any trace of the shooter?” Lin shook her head. “I guess the visitors
didn’t really have a good description.”

“Not really,”
Sue replied, “they only saw him from a distance and he didn’t threaten them so
they left him alone—figured he was just resting there, but they did call
in the report because they thought someone should check it out.”

“… and
presumably the ranger who got killed was doing just that.” Lin filled in.
 
“Did they hear anything?”

“They reported hearing
what they thought might be a shot as they were returning from the falls, but
the man was nowhere to be seen when they got back.”

“Let’s go see
those falls,” Lin said. “I was too tired the last time we were here but I feel
great today.
 
It’s still early, we
have time for a walk.”

The trail
meandered peacefully through the woods by a creek but grew steeper as they
began to hear the sound of rushing water through the trees.
 
A series of fairly steep steps led down
to views of the Cascades from two points, one near the top of the falls and the
other below.
 
Of course, what goes
down comes back up so the climb back to the main trail left them both a little
out of breath.
 
In addition, the
area was quite muddy as a result of the rain that morning.
 
Both women realized that their walking
shoes would need a thorough washing once they got home.

“Let’s not get
your clean car dirty,” Lin suggested as they returned to the parking lot.
 
She rummaged around in the back and located
a plastic bag.
 
They deposited their
dirty sneakers in that, leaving only their socks on.

“Put the bag on
the floor next to the rear seats,” Sue said.
 
“We’ll need to put shoes back on at the
other spots if we plan to walk.”

They left Jeffress
Park and headed north to visit the other sites.
 
At each place, they took pictures of the
surrounding area.