Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (24 page)

“Do you happen
to know where she works?” Sue asked.

“Waits tables
at Galileo’s on West King St.,” the young man offered. “Just summers
though.
 
She works ski patrol in the
wintertime.”

“Thanks,” Sue
said, pulling a business card from her wallet. “Could you see that she gets
this, in case we don’t see her?
 
My
cell phone number is on it, and I’d like to talk to her.”

“Sure, I can do
that,” the young man took the card and disappeared once more behind his closed
door.

“I guess we’re
going to Galileo’s for dinner tonight,” Sue said as they started their car and
headed back toward town.
 
“It’s
almost five now so maybe we should go home and relax a bit first.”

“Yeah, good
idea,” Lin replied. “Actually, I’d like to do a few yoga sets and then shower
and change before we go out again.”

They made their
way through the bumper-to-bumper downtown traffic.
 
Lin commented, “It never ceases to amaze
me how much traffic there is in this place.
 
It’s more like a major city than a small
town.”

“ It’s a
college town; these days the majority of students have cars it seems.
 
Besides, it’s also a mountain town and
there aren’t many through streets,” Sue said.

“That’s true,”
Lin added, “most of these neighborhood streets dead end somewhere up a
mountainside.”
 
About that time Sue
had to brake for a student who’d discovered a parking place he could U-turn
into. “Nothing’s changed since we first arrived,” she joked, remembering a
similar incident on their first trip to downtown.

Arriving at the
house, they both decided to exercise.
 
Lin stuck to her yoga while Sue elected to walk, taking advantage of the
still beautiful late afternoon.
 
By
seven o’clock they were heading back through somewhat lighter town traffic on
their way to the popular eatery on the western edge of downtown.

Galileo’s was a
small place with a typical college pub atmosphere.
 
The lights were dim and the décor
focused on items carrying the colors and logo of the local university.
 
A billiards table and dartboard could be
seen in a side room beyond the bar.
 
 
The clientele seemed to be
about equally distributed between students and other folks, however.
  
As this was a Monday evening, the
crowd was small.
 
A sign indicated
that they could seat themselves, so Sue led the way to a booth in a quiet
corner where they could observe the activity throughout the room.
 
There appeared to be only two persons
waiting on tables, with a third employee staffing the bar near the back of the
room.
 
They were all young women.

They’d just
gotten seated when a tall, slender blond came by to take their drink
orders.
 
Sue opted for a glass of
red wine and Lin selected the house white.
 
Their waitress wore a nametag that indicated her name was Cheryl.

When she
returned with their wine, Sue asked, “Is Olivia Lee working here tonight?”

“Yep, that’s
her tending bar.
 
Our regular
bartender called in sick and Livvy’s filling in.
 
Tina came in to wait tables—she
can’t handle the bar so Livvy has to switch when Mike’s out.
 
Are you ready to order?”

Sue opted for
the Fish and Chips and Lin selected a salad with strawberries, pecans, and goat
cheese topped with grilled chicken.
 
“I’ll put these orders in right away.
 
Were you wanting to talk to Livvy?”
Cheryl asked.

“Maybe later,
when she’s not so busy,” Sue said.
 
The bar area was packed at the moment.
 
They observed that Cheryl stopped to
speak to Olivia as she headed for the kitchen with their orders.
 
The girl at the bar looked their way but
then went back to take another order.
 
Their meals arrived shortly.
 

The food was
really delicious. “This is a neat place,” Lin observed. “I’ll bet it’s packed
on weekends, especially during the school year.”
 

“I’m sure,” Sue
said. “It’s actually pretty busy tonight—especially since it’s
Monday.
 
I keep looking to see if
the bar business might be slowing down, but it’s been pretty steady.
 
I’m not sure we can manage to talk to
Olivia Lee.”

“I’ll bet we
can,” Lin smiled.
 
“Let’s wait and
see if things lighten up by the time we finish eating.”
 
They continued observing the crowd at
the bar while they ate.
 
Soon Cheryl
came by to ask if they had room for dessert but they had to decline.
 
She left to get their check.

 
“ A couple of seats just opened at one
end of the bar, I see,” Lin commented.
 
“I think maybe we might need an after dinner drink.
 
Why don’t you go grab those seats and
I’ll pay our dinner tab.
 
Order me
an Irish coffee.”
 
She grabbed their
ticket and headed for the register while Sue secured the empty seats at the
bar.

Olivia Lee
appeared to be about thirty.
 
She
was of average height but had the stocky compact build of an athlete, testimony
to her work on ski patrol, no doubt.
 
Her dark hair was cropped in a boyish cut and she had piercing brown
eyes.
 
She brought their coffees and
placed them on the bar. “Will this be all or would you like something more?”
she asked.
 
When they said they were
fine, she moved on down the bar, checking with the remaining customers.
 
Seeing that everyone was covered for the
moment, she headed back to where Lin and Sue were seated. “Cheryl said you two
were asking about me?”

“Yes, we were,”
Sue said.
 
She introduced herself
and Lin explaining that she was a writer, and she was looking into unsolved
crimes of recent years on and near the Blue Ridge Parkway.
 
A dark shadow seemed to move across
Olivia Lee’s face and her smile disappeared, but she didn’t walk away.

“I know it must
be hard for you, but would you consider talking to us about your husband’s
death?
 
I understand the case has
never been solved,” Sue spoke quietly so as not to be easily heard by other
patrons.

At first Olivia
said nothing. She simply stood there, wiping the moisture from the bar and
glancing at the customers as if hoping someone would signal her for a drink
refill.
 
No one did, however.
 
Finally, she took a deep breath and
turned back to Sue. “You’re right, it’s still hard to talk about Bryan’s death
even after two years.
 
They’ve never
arrested anyone, and I sometimes think the whole thing has been
forgotten—at least by the sheriff’s department.
 
Not by me though—I still miss him
every day.”
 
Her eyes were bright,
as if she were about to cry.
 
She
blinked twice and swallowed hard, seeking to control the tears.
 
“I keep hoping someone will ask more
questions, look into what happened.
 
I think everyone is tired of me asking questions—they just ignore
me—so I’ve quit trying.”

Sue spoke up.
“I know you’re busy now, but would you be willing to talk to us at a more
convenient time?
 
I’m serious about
looking into Bryan’s case and some other unsolved cases.
 
I think some of them might be related—to
each other and to a case that happened just recently.
 
I’m a professional writer.
 
I used to be a news reporter, now I’m
thinking of writing a book.
 
Maybe,
if I can learn more about these cases and make some of the facts and questions
about them known, the authorities will take another look.
 
At any rate, I don’t think my looking
into these cases can hurt anything.”

Olivia had
listened carefully to what Sue was saying, but she still said nothing.
 
Just then a patron at the other end of
the bar ordered another beer, and she moved away to refill his mug.
 
Sue and Lin exchanged glances.
 
Was Olivia going to talk to them or did
she just want to be left alone?
 
They were about to pay for their coffees and leave when the young woman
approached them once more.

“I’d like to
talk to you.
 
I’ve been hoping
Bryan’s case would get another look for the past two years and, tough as it is,
I don’t want to pass up a chance to draw attention to the case again.
 
I can’t talk right now though.
 
I get off in another two hours and
Timmy, that’s my son, is spending the night with his grandmother—Bryan’s
Mom.
 
She keeps him at her house
when I have to work late hours.
 
I
hate to ask because it’s so late, but could you come back here about ten?
 
I could talk then.”

“We’ll be
here,” Sue said. “That’s fine.”

Lin noted that
it was after eight-thirty already.
 
She thought about what they could do to kill time until ten.
 
The only places in town that would be
open were other restaurants and supermarkets.

They returned
to their car and sat for a few moments in the parking lot.
 
Finally Lin suggested that they go to
the Harris-Teeter. “Our grocery supply at home is dwindling fast,” she
remarked, “we couldn’t get meat or other perishables, but we could replenish
our supply of staples.
 
At least we
wouldn’t be wasting our time.”

“Good idea,”
Sue replied. “We could get the other stuff after work tomorrow.” They hadn’t
made a list, but between the two of them, they managed to recall most of the
things they needed and the time went quickly.
 
They arrived back at Galileo’s just at
closing time.

Olivia was
wiping the now empty bar and signaled that they should wait for her in the
corner booth opposite.
 
She joined
them shortly.

“We can talk
here.
 
I’m through for the night,
but they’re still cleaning in the kitchen, so it’s ok if we stay.
 
Do either of you want something to
drink?”

They both
declined, but Olivia went to get herself a coffee.
 
Returning to the table she eyed Sue’s
notebook.
 
“So you’re going to write
a book about unsolved murders?”

“That’s what I
hope to do,” Sue replied. “I’m trying to talk to people close to some of these
cases, to get their perspective on things.
 
You’ve already mentioned that you felt the authorities never fully
investigated Bryan’s death.
 
Why do
you think that?”

Olivia was
thoughtful.
 
“Well, I’ll have to
admit that they didn’t have much to go on at the start.
 
The witnesses who saw the man with the
gun weren’t much help.
 
No one
actually saw the shooting, of course.
 
They really didn’t have any evidence at all.
 
I just kept thinking they should push
for more information, maybe look into some other connections, known
troublemakers for example, other cases.”

“Did you think,
at the time, that Bryan’s death might be related to other cases?” Sue asked.

“Well, I didn’t
know much about those things, but Bryan had talked about some of the crimes
that had happened not too long before he was shot.
 
He was concerned, I know.”

“Can you tell
us about those concerns?” Sue asked.
 
She knew about these cases but wanted to hear about them from Olivia’s
perspective.

“Well, first
there was Sara Fletcher, that pregnant girl who was found dead in October,
Bryan was killed the following March.
 
That case was still open, and I don’t think it’s been solved yet
either.”
 
Olivia reported.
 
“Then in February, just a couple of
weeks before Bryan died, the body of a man was found.
 
He’d been shot and, I think, he’d been
mutilated—partially dismembered.
 
They thought he’d been killed somewhere else and then dumped on the Parkway.
 
I don’t know his name.
 
I’m not sure he was ever identified, and
I don’t think anyone’s been arrested for that either.
 
I know that Bryan worried because it
wasn’t illegal for people to carry guns on the Parkway if they had a
license.
 
He said that made it hard
to keep track.
 
Besides, the park
service folks never have had a lot of resources to fight crime.
 
They depend a lot on local law enforcement
for support.
 
Bryan told me he felt
like they gave more attention to crimes that happened elsewhere in the county
or the towns.
 
I don’t know.
 
I just know that they never even talked
about suspects in Bryan’s shooting.
 
I don’t think they ever made an arrest.”

“They didn’t,”
Sue replied. “From what I’ve read, they felt stymied.
 
The description of the man seen at the
park could’ve fit lots of folks in this area.
 
I haven’t seen any accounts that mentioned
suspects at all—not in the case of the man found along the road or in
Bryan’s case.
  
Of course, in
Sara Fletcher’s case they investigated her boyfriend.”