Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (32 page)

They arrived at
the Boone Bagelry on Hwy. 105 a few minutes early.
 
The restaurant sported a typical
mountain lodge décor, with lots of wood paneling and a large stone
fireplace.
 
“I’ll bet this is really
nice in winter when they can have an open fire,” Sue commented, selecting a
table near the back, where they’d have some privacy to talk.

They’d just had
time to get coffee and place their order when Mark arrived; he was accompanied
by a man who appeared to be about Mark’s own age—perhaps in his early
thirties.
 
“Hello, ladies,” Mark
smiled, carefully eyeing the crutches Lin had propped beside her chair, “What happened
to you, Lin?”

“Don’t worry,
I’m really OK,” she responded, “We’ll tell you all about it in a moment, please
sit down and have some coffee.”

“This is Zack
Turner, special agent from the Hickory FBI office,” Mark introduced both Sue
and Lin as the men seated themselves.
 
The waitress appeared immediately with more coffee and left additional
menus.

“Mark has
updated me on your concerns about these unsolved cases,” Zack began, “but I’d
like to hear the story first hand from you folks.
 
How did you become interested in all
this?”

Sue began her
story, telling about her interest in researching a book and the additional case
information she’d uncovered in this effort.
 
Soon Lin joined in, recounting the
incidents that had occurred at their home and the seeming lack of interest
shown by local law enforcement.
 
She
also explained the situation regarding the death of Peter Dunne and the assault
on Ellen Clark, including how Eustace Hinson had initially confessed to this
and other crimes only to have the confessions thrown out due to his
dementia.
 
It was a long story and
they had almost finished eating by the time Lin and Sue had concluded.

The waitress
brought another pot of coffee to the table and cleared away the dishes.
 
Zack Turner stirred some cream into his
mug and sat back. “So, the bottom line is that there have been a series of
deaths on or near the Parkway, at least the remains of the victims have been
found on federally owned land.
 
The
park authorities have relied mostly on local law enforcement in these cases,
but most are still unsolved, and maybe one that has been closed shouldn’t have
been—at least in some eyes.
 
You folks are of the opinion that the local authorities haven’t really
been trying to solve these cases, and they haven’t really taken seriously the
incidents at your home.”
 
He perused
the list of observations and questions that Sue had given him earlier. He
turned to Lin, “Now, Ms. Hanna, how did you injure your ankle?
 
You haven’t mentioned that yet.”

Lin explained
that she and Sue had revisited the scene of Sandy Hill’s murder, the same place
they’d earlier encountered Eustace Hinson.
 
Together, she and Sue recounted the tale, finally coming to the stash of
tools Sue had found and the pictures Lin had taken of the plants and the bare
spots where plants appeared to have been removed.
 
She gave the plant photos to Mark.
“There’s a large patch of these plants in the area we visited, but we were
struck by these bare places.
 
They
have a regular shape and seem to indicate that someone has been digging
here.
 
The tools Sue found support
that idea as well.”

Mark eyed the
photos with interest and passed them to Zack.
 
He indicated that Lin should
continue.
 
She described how they’d
heard sounds, as if someone were nearby, and decided to leave the area.
 
She could feel herself growing tense
once more as she recounted how shots had rung out during their trek back to the
road, and how she’d twisted her ankle and managed to get into a patch of poison
ivy.
 
Finally, she told about seeing
Luke Taylor, with a shotgun, watching them as they left the area.
 
“He could have fired at me, or at our
car,” Lin recounted, “but he didn’t.
 
When he realized who we were he just stood there.
 
Frankly, I think he may have shot wide
deliberately, earlier.
 
I don’t
think he was trying to hurt anyone—just scare us away.”

While Lin was
finishing her story, Zack Turner had been studying the photos that Mark had
passed to him.
 
Now he placed them
in a file, along with the list Sue and Lin had shared. “You ladies have quite a
story here.
 
I think you may have stumbled
onto something—something that, whether or not it is related to any deaths,
is still important.
 
Did you recognize
the plants you photographed?”

“No,” Lin
confessed, “We were planning to look them up, but I was hurt and Sue has had
her hands full working and helping me.
 
Can you identify them for us?”

“Indeed, I can,
and I’m sure Mark recognizes them also,” he turned to the young ranger who
nodded. “These are ginseng plants.
 
It’s early in the season so they don’t have their characteristic red berries
yet, but the five leaflets—three large and two small, with serrated
edges—are unmistakable.
 
The
flowers are small and green, not very spectacular at all, but they have red
berries in the fall and the leaves turn golden.
 
That’s when they are usually
harvested—where they can be legally, of course.
 
It appears that someone is really going
after these plants and out of season on top of it—judging from these
patches where they’ve been dug.”

Mark spoke up
at that point, “Not only is this outside of the usual harvesting season,
harvesting these plants at any time would be illegal.
 
They are growing on parkland.
 
In season, the forest service issues
permits for limited harvesting on national forest land, and private landowners
can harvest or give permission to harvest on their own property.
 
The plant is endangered, and there are
limits set by the forest service for collection on public lands.”

“So, ladies,”
Zack Turner smiled, “You’ve just provided me with evidence of an illegal
operation going on at this park—clearly a violation of federal law.
 
I will recommend to my superiors that we
start an investigation of this, along with the park service.
 
Perhaps our investigation will lead to
our uncovering information that may relate to your unsolved murders—who
knows?”

“It may
indeed,” Mark added, pulling out an as yet unopened file he’d brought with him.
“These are reports and notes I found in files kept by Ranger Bryan Lee, one of
those victims whose case has never been solved.
 
I haven’t had time to really study them
yet; however, illegal ginseng harvesting is one of the things he was apparently
investigating at the time of his death.
 
It looks like he’d conducted some interviews related to the murders
also.
 
I’ve made copies of this
information for you Zack.”
 
He
handed Zack an envelope.

Lin really
wanted to see those papers but knew it was pointless to ask about that.
 
She stole a glance at Sue whom she knew
would also jump at the chance to see them.
 
Maybe, she could get Mark in a conversation later and he’d tell them
more about what Bryan was doing.

“Well, this has
been a very informative meeting, Mark.
 
Ladies thank you for sharing your information,” Zack Turner rose to
leave. “I’ll be back in touch through Mark.
 
We’ll let you know what progress we make
when we move this investigation forward.
 
Meanwhile, let me caution you to be careful.
 
I’d stay away from the area you
discovered.
 
Leave the sleuthing to
Mark and me.”

Mark remained
behind for a few moments and walked with them to Sue’s car.
 
“Sorry about your ankle Lin.
 
I hope it heals quickly.
 
I think we made some progress
today.
 
I personally think at least
some of these deaths may be linked to this ginseng thing.
 
If that’s the case we may turn up some
new evidence when we pursue the poachers—at least we can hope that
happens.”

Lin had one
more burning question, “What is going to happen with Luke Taylor, Mark?”

“Well, for
starters, I’m going to pick him up, and he’ll be charged with assault with a firearm.
 
Since he was on parkway land, he can be
tried in federal court.
 
Then we’ll
see how the rest of the investigation goes.”

“I really don’t
think he wanted to shoot us,” Lin said. “It was foggy, but his shots were well
off to our right side.
 
I think he
could’ve come closer just based on the sound of us moving through the
woods.
 
It seems like he wanted to
miss, and when he recognized me, he didn’t shoot at all.”

“That’s in his
favor,” Mark said, “but still, he’s committed a crime and it will be up to the
courts what to do.”

“Please keep us
in the loop,” Sue asked, “We’ll want to know what happens—especially with
Luke.”

“I will,” Mark
said.
 
Then he was gone.

Lin’s ankle was
beginning to throb again; she realized she needed to get it elevated once more
before the swelling returned.
 
She
hated that she needed to go home to rest.
 
The day was warm and sunny—the first nice day they’d had recently.
“I hate to miss doing something outside today,” she complained, “but I really
need to get this ankle propped up or the swelling is going to get worse.”

“That’s OK,”
Sue said, as she helped Lin into the car. “I have an idea.”

When they
arrived at the house, Sue went out to the back patio and arranged some chairs
so that Lin could prop her foot up while still sitting at the patio table.
 
“You just wait here, I’ll be right
back.
 
We have some work to do.”

In a few
minutes Sue returned with her laptop computer, a pen, and a pad of paper.
 
She set the computer up and then handed
Lin the pen and paper. “We’re going to educate ourselves about ginseng,” she
announced. “I really had no idea what they were talking about, but it must be
important if it’s regulated and folks will try to poach it.
 
We need to know more about this, for
sure.
 
I’ll look things up and you
can take notes.
 
Keep your foot
elevated.
 
Maybe, if it feels OK
later, we can go out for coffee or something.”

Lin was
grateful to have something to do and equally grateful to be sitting outside
enjoying the sunshine.
 
Soon they
were both absorbed in the research effort.
 
They were interrupted only once when Neal called to check on Lin’s
progress.
 
While Lin was talking to
him, Sue went inside to fix iced tea.
 
Neither of them was hungry for lunch, having eaten a large breakfast.

It was after
two o’clock when they decided that they’d pretty much exhausted their Internet
search and they turned to summarizing what they’d learned.

“This is
amazing,” Sue exclaimed, “I had no idea that a wild plant could be so highly
sought after.”

Lin began to
review the notes she’d taken. “ Ginseng is a perennial plant prized for its
fleshy roots that are shaped like a person’s legs.
 
It is especially sought after in Asia
where it is considered an aphrodisiac and stimulant.
 
Its genus is Panax, the root word for
panacea.
 
Some think it helpful for
type 2 Diabetes and there’s even been some research on its use to reduce
outbreaks of genital herpes.
 
Recently it has been used in some coffees and herbal teas—even in
energy drinks.”

She continued
summarizing what they’d found. “Sometimes leaves are used but they’re not as
prized as the roots, and the wild roots are considered much more valuable and
potent than those from cultivated plants.
 
The plant has been harvested almost to extinction in China—that
might explain why harvesting has been regulated and limited in the U.S.
 
The plant is very slow growing.
 
In fact, it is illegal to harvest plants
under ten years old.”

“ I forgot how
you’re supposed to know if the plant is old enough to harvest,” Sue commented.

“I have the
information here somewhere,” Lin shuffled through the pages of notes, “Here it
is.
 
A mature plant will have at
least three or more prongs of the five leaflet display.
 
A first year plant, for example, will
only have one prong. I think the general idea is that by the time a plant is
fully mature, the growth will have spread and there will be young plants coming
along.
 
That way, harvesting a
limited amount of mature plants will allow the younger plants to keep growing
and the plant won’t become extinct in that area.”

“This is what
is so amazing,” Lin commented. “Recently, a pound of wild ginseng root was
netting $800 to $1000 dollars when sold.
 
I’d think it would take a lot of roots to make a full pound.”

“And, even at
those prices, I’d doubt anyone would get rich harvesting wild ginseng,” Sue
added.