Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (15 page)

Lin found
Rachel in the office perusing the calendar. “I was just coming in to check that
myself,” Lin remarked.
 
“I wanted to
know when I was scheduled to work, I’m hoping my fiancé will be able to come
sometime this weekend and…”

Rachel
interrupted with a grin, “you’d like to have some time off when he does.”

Lin felt
herself blushing at Rachel’s knowing look. “That’s right,” she responded.

“Well, I have
you down to work tomorrow and Saturday, then three days off Sunday, Monday, and
Tuesday—wouldn’t you like to have the whole week?”

“Let’s just leave
things as they are for now,” Lin responded. “I’m hoping to hear from Neal
tonight, and I should know more then.
 
“Tomorrow, we can discuss the schedule.”

“That’s fine,”
Rachel responded. “Just remember, you’re a volunteer and you’ve worked long
hours all week.”

“That,
hopefully, compensated a bit for those times I was out helping Ellie Clark and
taking care of other matters.
 
I
enjoy being here, and I know you need help,” Lin smiled. “I don’t want to leave
you hanging.”

“You’re not,”
Rachel said. “You’ve been a great help, and Ellie did so much of the back file
sorting that my load is much lighter.
 
You just find out when your fella’s coming and then we’ll set a schedule
accordingly.”

Lin thanked her
co-worker and then gathered her things to leave.
 
She was already feeling a deep longing
inside, when she considered how much she’d been missing Neal.
 
If he doesn’t call tonight, I’m calling
him, she thought.

***

As if her
thoughts were shaping reality, Lin’s cell phone rang just as she entered the
house and tossed her belongs on a chair in the front hall.
 
She smiled at the familiar ID as she
answered, “I knew it had to be you,” she told Neal. “I’ve been thinking about
you so much all day; I feel sure you got the message.”

“And just what
message is that,” he teased, “do tell me more.”

“If you don’t
know, then my explaining further won’t help,” she made a quick comeback.
 
How was it that she always felt like a
teenager or college student when she thought about him.
 
After all, she was a grandmother, facing
her sixtieth birthday next year.
 
Still,
thinking about his tall, lean body, his handsome face and sparkling blue eyes
beneath his salt and pepper hair pretty much turned her insides upside down.

“I guess you’ll
just have to deliver your message in person,” Neal continued. “I’m booked on a
flight into Charlotte at five pm Sunday afternoon.”

Lin squealed
with delight, “That’s perfect.
 
I’m
off Sunday—Monday and Tuesday too—Rachel says I can take the entire
week if I’d like.”

“You’d like,”
Neal responded. “ I’ve booked us two nights, Monday and Tuesday at the Chetola
Resort in Blowing Rock, that’s my treat, but you need to find us a place to
stay on Sunday.
 
I think I’ll be too
tired of traveling to drive all the way to the mountains.”
 
He sounded as if he were faking
tiredness at that moment. “I wanted us to have a chance for a more private
reunion before I move in on you and Sue,” Neal explained. “Do you know a good
place for Sunday—not just an airport motel.”

“I know the
perfect spot, and it’s only about forty-five minutes from the
airport—probably less on a Sunday evening.
 
I’ll take care of everything; this will
be my surprise.”
 
Lin added.
 
“Now, tell me, how are things going out
there with the house and all.
 
How
long can you stay here?”

“I’ve got all
the needed work done on the house.
 
It looks the best it has in years, and it’s attracting some interest,
which is a good thing.
 
My work in
Tucson begins in August, but the exact date is uncertain.
 
Chris and I have discussed things and
I’ll be off in September for our wedding; there’s no problem with that.”

“And I haven’t
planned to work here past the first of September, at the latest,” Lin
responded. “Maybe, we can take some time on Monday to check out some wedding
venues before we come back up here.”

“As long as
we’re back at the resort by evening,” Neal explained, “I’ve made some,
er—special plans for dinner, not to mention afterward.”

“Don’t forget
Sunday night comes first,” Lin teased, “I might have some special plans of my
own.”

They wound up
the conversation and Lin hurried into the kitchen to tell Sue about Neal’s
plans.
 
She found her seated at the
table sipping a glass of wine and working on some of her writing notes.

“Neal’s arriving
Sunday night.
 
I’m going to meet him
in Charlotte, but we won’t be coming back up to the mountains until Monday
evening—he’s booked us into Chetola for two nights before he joins us
here,” Lin saw Sue’s eyebrow lift knowingly, “ I expected he’d want to get you
alone in a hotel for a couple of nights but Chetola?
 
That’s really special—that’ll set
him back a buck or two,” she teased.

Lin shook her
head as if to admonish Sue, but she couldn’t stop herself from laughing at the
images Sue’s teasing raised. “You’re too much, Sue Gray.
 
As if I’m not worth it—only the
best will do.”

“And where are
you going to whisk your lover boy away to on Sunday night—what’s your
surprise?”

“One that is a
very thrifty choice,” Lin replied, “I’m taking him home.
 
In fact, I plan to drive down earlier on
Sunday and spruce the place up a bit.
 
I’m not sure you and I left it in the best of shape.”

“Certainly, not
equal to a posh resort,” Sue smiled.

“But home is
where the heart is,” Lin responded, “and my place will be our place soon.”
 
She filled Sue in on the dates of Neal’s
work and the tentative scheduling of a late September wedding.

Now that Lin
knew Neal’s plans, she felt excited as she anticipated his arrival.
 
“Let’s go out to eat,” she suggested to
Sue. “I know my turn to cook is long overdue but I’m completely out of
ideas.
 
How about Chinese?”

“You’re on,”
Sue replied, sipping the last of her wine, “and you’re driving.”

They decided on
the Hunan restaurant.
 
Rachel had
recommended their family style Chinese dinner, but they had yet to try it.
 
Soon they were both chowing down on Kung
Pao Beef and Sweet and Sour Shrimp as they talked further about having Neal
join them.

“I know I’ve
been teasing you,” Sue acknowledged, “but I hope you realize that I’m perfectly
comfortable having Neal with us at the house.
 
I want him to feel at home for as long
as he’s able to stay.
 
He doesn’t
need to feel embarrassed at all about your relationship.
 
After all, I’ve had my own share of
relationships over the years.
 
I was
married once you know.”

Lin realized
that she didn’t know much about her friend’s past.
 
She just knew that they’d hit it off
from the first time they’d met, and it seemed as if they’d been friends
forever.
 
Now she pressed Sue for
more information, “I didn’t know that.
 
You’ve never mentioned being married, or having other relationships
either for that matter.
 
Tell me
more.”

“I married my
high school sweetheart right after graduation,” Sue confessed. “We were both
certainly too young, but that didn’t stop us.
 
We went to college together and we both
graduated with honors, but the marriage didn’t survive our growing up.
 
Actually, we’re still friends.
 
Eric married again later, and had a
family and I went to grad school and found my true calling in journalism.
 
We still keep up with each other.”

Lin grinned at
her housemate, “That doesn’t cover the ‘other relationships’ you
mentioned.
 
That sounds
glamorous—handsome, sexy lovers from exotic places swept off their feet
by your many charms?”

“I’m not
telling everything,” Sue grinned with a sparkle in her eye, “let’s just say I
understand your attraction to your handsome professor, and I’m quite
comfortable sharing a house with the two of you.
 
Who knows, I may have some surprises up
my sleeve in the future as well.”

“Now you do
have to tell me more,” Lin insisted, “Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’ve
been referring to Dr. Leonard as Frank recently whenever you speak of him.”

Now it was
Sue’s turn to blush. “Frank it is, but we’ve never even been on a date, as you
well know.
 
That said, we were in
communication some before I came here, when I was hunting us a place to stay,
and he and I have been chatting via Skype since he got to Italy—a couple
of times.
 
He’s invited me to come
over for a visit when my volunteer stint is over.
 
I’m thinking I just might go.”
 
Sue seemed happy at the prospect. “Who
knows what will come of it, but we do have a lot of interests in common, and
he’s not bad looking either.”
 
Lin
had to agree.
 
Frank Leonard
couldn’t hold a candle to Neal when it came to sex appeal, at least not in her
book, but he was a nice looking guy, and he was an interesting person.
 
She remembered that Ellie said he was a
fabulous teacher.

“I definitely
think you should go.
 
A trip to
Italy with a congenial professor of art history—that’s too good to pass
up.”

They finished
up their meal chatting about possible things the three of them might want to do
together while Neal was there.
 
Finally, Lin broached a subject she’d been dreading to bring up.

“Stefan Kovich
is probably going to face further charges but only for harassing Ellie and
Pete.
 
They haven’t got enough
evidence to charge him in the shootings and no evidence that he was our
intruder, although I can’t think of whom else it could be myself.
 
I’m worried, especially with your being
alone in the house for a few nights.
 
I think Neal and I should postpone our
Chetola plans, at least for now.”

“Not on your
life,” Sue retorted. “I’m not afraid of him or anyone else for that matter, and
I can certainly take care of myself. I’m a western girl—grew up in
Wyoming, lived most of my life in Colorado.
 
You may not know this about me, but I’m
a pretty fair shot, and I’m sure you’ve seen the hunting guns Frank has in that
case beside the fireplace.
 
He gave
me the key; he said just in case we needed it.
 
I know how to use those guns, and I’m
not afraid to do so if I need to.
 
If someone wants to start threatening us again, I won’t be
intimidated.
 
Don’t worry about me.”

Lin swallowed
hard.
 
She’d learned a lot about her
friend that night, and she felt confident Sue could handle whatever came her
way.
 
Nevertheless, she made Sue
promise that she would call the sheriff immediately should Kovich or anyone
else come calling—gun or no gun.

By the next
morning, the fickle mountain weather had done its thing and mist and fog were
everywhere.
 
The forecast called for
rain showers throughout the day.
 
Fog and mist would lift somewhat during mid-day hours but Ray’s Weather,
the local online service, promised their return come evening.
 
It took Lin twice as long as usual to
reach Linn Cove.
 
She really didn’t
like the fog, it distorted things so much—trees seemed to loom out from the
side of the road—approaching cars looked like apparitions as their fog
lights came into view.
 
It was
almost impossible to read parkway signs until one was right on top of
them.
 
It was so thick around Linn
Cove that Lin missed the driveway entrance at first and had to turn around at
the next parking area.
 
Given these
conditions, she was amazed that she arrived for work less than ten minutes
late.

“Don’t worry,”
Rachel said, when she apologized, “it’s bad all over today, and, if Ray can be
believed, tomorrow won’t be much better—should improve by the first of
the week, hopefully.”
 
Apparently, everyone
consulted Ray’s Weather just as Sally Mackey, the manager at the lodge they’d
stayed in when they first arrived, had told them.
 
The local weather site was the work of a
professor of meteorology at the university.
 
His forecasts were more specific to the
mountain area and took into account local nuances that could make a huge
difference in the weather experienced in different spots.

“How about your
fiancé?” Rachel asked. “Did he call yet?”

“Indeed, he
did. He arrives in Charlotte Sunday night.
 
We’re going to try to make some wedding plans there on Monday before
driving back up here.
 
I would like
to take the rest of the weekdays off, if you’re sure that’s ok.
 
Then I can show Neal around the
area.
 
I thought I’d plan to work
full days next weekend though, you always have more visitors then.”

“That would be
perfect,” Rachel grinned. “Actually, I try to schedule folks for at least one
weekend day off, but it really does help to have the extra hands here during
those busiest days.
 
I’ll change the
schedule right now.”

The bell at the
door rang, indicating that some brave souls had ventured out on this foggy
morning, so Lin hurried to the front area to greet them.
 
Actually, they had more visitors that
entire morning than they’d expected. “I guess folks had their vacation plans
set so they came anyway, despite the weather,” Lin remarked when she and Rachel
finally got a break about lunchtime.

“I’ve noticed
that pattern, especially as the season moves forward,” Rachel added. “Actually,
I kind of like the fog.
 
It adds a
magical touch to the area—sort of like a fairyland.”

“A rather eerie
fairyland, in my book.”
 
Lin was not
convinced that the fog was magic at all.

As the
afternoon wore on, Lin couldn’t help thinking about their situation and the
continuing investigation into the shooting.
 
She still worried about the fact that
she and Sue had been threatened and there seemed to be no clues as to who had
come to their house and left that message.
 
  
She’d hoped Mark Scott
might stop by or, at least, call but no such luck. She really wanted to talk to
someone about her lingering concerns, and she felt he would understand. As the
working day drew to a close, she tried to call Mark herself, but his phone went
straight to voice mail, and she had to leave a message.
 
Guess he’s had a busy day of it with
this weather and all, she thought.
 
Maybe he’ll call tonight.
 
She hoped he might know about the status of the ongoing investigation.

The ride home
was no better than it had been going in to work that morning, if anything the
fog seemed thicker, especially around the house.
 
Lin could barely discern the driveway
when she arrived and the garage door loomed large more quickly than
expected.
 
She thought for a moment
and knew why.
 
There were no lights
on.
 
Evidently Sue wasn’t at
home.
 
Lin thought she was supposed
to get off earlier—maybe she’d been delayed or maybe she’d stopped at the
Wellness Center to exercise.
 
Lin
had thought about doing that herself but was discouraged by the weather.
 
She just wanted to get inside and out of
this mess.
 
Promising herself to do
some yoga, she went into the house and headed for her upstairs bedroom,
flicking on lights everywhere she went.
 
Her cell phone rang just as she sat down to take off her shoes.
 
It was Sue.

“Sorry, I
didn’t call you earlier but we had an entire busload of tourists arrive at the
craft house about thirty minutes before closing.
 
Needless to say we were really late
getting them through.
 
Today was a
little lighter than the usual Friday, but I guess tour buses stay on schedule
no matter what.
 
Now I’m heading to
Harris Teeter.
 
How ‘bout a pizza
for dinner? I’m too tired to cook and you probably are too.”

“Sounds
great.
 
Get extra mushrooms and
onions.
 
I thought maybe you were
going to exercise.”

“I should, you
should too for that matter,” Sue replied with a laugh.

“I’m getting
ready to do some yoga right now,” Lin asserted. “You can join me when you
arrive.
 
It’s too nasty to go out
again.”

“Agreed, I
can’t wait to get home.
 
See you
shortly.”
 
Sue ended the call.

Lin changed
into some soft loose clothing and headed back to the living room.
 
She moved the coffee table and one chair
aside so she could use the area rug as a mat and settled in to a basic yoga
routine.
 
Almost immediately she
began to feel the stresses and tensions of the day slip away.
 
I’ll follow this up with a hot shower
and that will be just perfect, she thought.

She continued
with the exercises for several more minutes, sliding into a personal nirvana
where her only thoughts were about how relaxed and calm she felt.
 
Suddenly she was jerked back to reality
by a loud crash on the porch.
 
She
jumped up, fully expecting to hear a knock on the door or someone
calling…nothing.

Moving as
quietly as she could, Lin doused the lights in the room and slipped to the
window beside the door where she tried to peek out from behind the
curtain.
 
She could see most of the
porch, but the spot immediately in front of the door wasn’t visible.
 
At that moment she thought she heard a
motor start down on the road.
 
She
couldn’t be sure—she knew the fog threw sounds about and it could’ve been
someone passing on the road.
 
She
wished Sue were here, but there were no lights heading up the driveway.

Slowly, Lin
moved to open the door—taking deep breaths to maintain her
composure.
 
She turned the knob as
quietly as possible.
 
Should she
call out? Order whoever it was to leave?
 
She listened for a moment still holding the knob but not opening the
door—nothing, not a sound.
 
Finally, she took a deep breath and jerked the door open. A tall pottery
vase that had once stood by the door lay on its side—shattered.
 
The tall grasses it had contained were
scattered about.
 
That was all.
 
No threatening note, no muddy
footprints—nothing.

Lin peered into
the swirling mists just beyond the porch, but again she saw nothing.
 
Maybe the vase simply fell over.
 
That felt a little odd, as Lin didn’t
think it was particularly windy.
 
The mist and rain had been steady all day, but there’d been no real
storms and no real wind evident.
 
She closed the front door just as she saw Sue turning into the
driveway.
 
She headed for the garage
to greet her housemate.

Lin quickly
told Sue what had happened—about the shattered vase, about seeing nothing
else, about possibly hearing a motor.
 
“I can’t be sure, this fog throws sounds you know, it could’ve just been
someone driving by.
 
I was doing
Yoga and was really focused; I heard nothing until that vase crashed.”

“I didn’t
notice anyone as I drove in,” Sue put the pizza in the kitchen and together
they headed for the porch to survey the damage.
 
The lights inside were all on now and
added further illumination through the windows.
 
Before, only the porch light had been
on.
 
It was easy to see that the
vase was truly shattered into what seemed like a million pieces; only the
bottom was more or less intact.

“The wind
didn’t do this,” Sue was somber. “Even if there’d been a strong wind, and there
hasn’t been, the vase would have fallen over and rolled against the railing or
down the steps—the pieces would’ve been much larger.
 
Lin bent her head down beside Sue and
they looked closely at the debris and the scattered grasses.

“I think
someone shot this vase,” Sue exclaimed, “there are literally dozens of small
pellets scattered here and look—there are pock marks on the front door
and the frame.”

 
Lin’s heart was pounding in her chest and
she felt herself verging on breathlessness, but she stopped short, stood up,
and took some slow deep breaths.
 
She wasn’t going to allow herself to panic again.
 
It worked.
 
Her head cleared, and she felt focused
once more.
 
Sue was already dialing
911.

They left
everything as it was and headed for the kitchen.
 
“We may as well eat this pizza while
it’s hot.
 
The dispatcher said it’d
be about half an hour before anyone could get here.
 
There’ve been a lot of traffic accidents
due to the fog it seems.
 
I told her
there was no sign of an intruder at present.”

“And let’s pour
a glass of wine to go along with it,” Lin added.
 
“This is getting to be a habit around
here.
 
Now, Frank’s vase is
destroyed and his front door is damaged.
 
He’ll want to throw us out.”

“ No, he won’t,
I’ll talk to him tomorrow and explain what happened.
 
We can replace the vase and I’m sure
there’s someone on that list of his that can fix the door damage.”

At that same
moment, Lin had a sudden thought—this was the second time they’d
experienced an intruder—first they’d been threatened, and now someone had
shot at their front door.
 
Was it
Kovich? If not, who else could it be?
 
She was beginning to feel that they really needed some answers, and
soon.

“I guess our
unknown intruder really means business this time, upping the ante from written
threats to shooting at our front door,” Sue said in a disgusted tone. “Well, maybe
this time there’ll be enough evidence to actually go after someone.”

The doorbell
rang and they opened it to none other than Deputy Dave Winkler.
 
“Hello again ladies, we’ve got to stop
meeting like this,” he tried to inject a lighter note into this grim situation.

Lin tried to
smile but it was hard.
 

Sue saw Winkler
eye the leftover pizza slices with a hungry look.
 
“My guess is you’ve been on duty all day
and haven’t had any dinner.
 
Sit
down and I’ll get you a soda.
 
We’re
finished and you can eat while you take our information.”

Winkler started
to decline but then thought better of it.
 
He sat down and took a slice of pizza, at the same time opening his
notebook and placing it beside his plate.

After he heard
the entire story, mostly from Lin with Sue adding her observations upon her
return, he put his pen down and sat back. “So, who have you ladies made angry
now?
 
Who might’ve done this?”

Lin was
confused. “My first thought is still Kovich, and I think Sue agrees. This time
he did some serious damage. If not him, then I don’t know who it could be.
 
Has your investigation turned up
anything new? ”

Winkler seemed
to be a bit embarrassed.
 
Lin
guessed it was because he really hadn’t found out anything from the threatening
note.
 
He shook his head slowly.
“Can’t be Kovich.
 
Wasn’t him. He’s back
in jail.
 
It seems the immigration
authorities finally caught up with him.
 
The university has dismissed him, so his visa is no longer valid.
 
He’s heading to Charlotte tomorrow where
he’ll be held pending a deportation hearing, so who else doesn’t care for you
two?”

***

Lin was
dumbfounded.
 
She’d been certain
that Kovich, under continued investigation and still angry, had been their
visitor.
 
She couldn’t think of
anything to say to Dave Winkler.
 
She was still sitting there, shaking her head when Sue spoke up.