Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (34 page)

“We understand
perfectly,” Ted gave her a winning smile. “We can certainly wait until you’re
off work.”
 
He looked at Sue who
nodded her agreement. “What would be a good time—and place?”

Olivia looked
at Sue, “I believe you know where I live; my neighbor said you came by.
 
I have a sitter with my son tonight, and
I need to get home.
 
Could you meet
me there, say in about an hour from now?”

“We’ll be
there,” Sue said, “and thanks for taking the time to see us.”

“It’s
important,” Olivia seemed serious. “I need to know why Bryan died.
 
I want some answers.”
 
She left them then and returned to her
duties.

Ted sipped on
his beer and smiled at Sue. “Hopefully, she’ll know whether or not Bryan kept
papers or files at home and, if he did, perhaps she’ll let us look at
them.
 
Meanwhile we have a few more
minutes before this place shuts down—tell me more about Sue Gray.
 
I’d like to get to know you better.”

The two of them
sat there until Galileo’s closed talking and enjoying their beer.
 
After that they returned to Ted’s car
where they continued their conversation, waiting for Olivia to finish her work
and leave for home.
 
Sue realized
that she was really having a good time.
 
She and Ted had a lot in common.
 
Not only did they share similar professional experiences, but she
discovered that Ted was an avid skier, as was she.

“I usually get
out to Colorado at least once during the season,” he said. “I belong to a local
ski club and we try to travel when we can—sometimes we get up to New
England, and, during the season here, you’ll find me on the slopes at least
once or twice a week.
 
Now that I’m
more or less semi-retired, I try to ski during the week when it’s less
crowded.”

“I thought you
were still a full time worker,” Sue said, “not a retired one, like me.”

“Actually, I’m
really only considered part-time, but sometimes I feel like it’s full time; I
no longer work regularly on our print edition.
 
I’m responsible for the on-line edition
and a lot of that I can do from anywhere—even when I’m traveling.
 
All I need is my laptop and the Internet.
 
I spend a lot of time at my home
office.
 
When I try to do something
big—like this series on the unsolved murders for instance—then Ben
runs the stories in the print edition as well as online.
 
For me it’s a perfect set up.
 
I still feel useful and involved, but I
have more time to enjoy myself too.”

“Sounds like
you have a great setup,” Sue replied. “The main reason I retired was to have
time to do some writing and to travel more—volunteering here is part of
that plan also.
 
I like to be home
in Colorado for most of the winter though—I’m just a short drive from
some of the best ski slopes around.”

“You wouldn’t
be trying to entice a poor North Carolina skier to come west for a visit now
would you?”
 
Ted teased.

Sue realized
she’d opened herself up for that one, but she had a quick response. “I often
have friends camping out all over my place on weekends in the
winter—Colorado skiers are famous for their hospitality.”

“I’ll make a
note of that,” Ted winked. “Now, I think I just saw Olivia drive out,
presumably heading for home.
 
It’s
time for you to show me where she lives.”

They were at
Olivia’s just after she’d arrived; they passed the babysitter on her way
out.
 
Olivia invited them to make
themselves at home in her small living room while she went upstairs to check on
her son and change out of her work uniform, “ There’s beer in the frig if you’d
like another,” she said.

“Thanks, but
I’ve had enough for one evening,” Sue responded.
 
Ted also declined.
 
Olivia returned shortly and seated
herself in the easy chair opposite their seat on her sofa. “I’m really glad
that you’re interested in calling attention to these murders.
 
It’s been tough since Bryan died, in
lots of ways, but the worst has been not having answers—not knowing who
killed him or why he died?”

“I’m sure it’s
been hard,” Sue responded, “I have a feeling that at least some of these
murders are related and something is going on here that needs to be
uncovered.
 
Hopefully, Ted’s series
will lead to more questions being asked.”

Olivia nodded
her agreement, “What can I do?
 
What
do you want or need from me?
 
I
don’t know anything, but I’m willing to help in any way that I can.”

Ted spoke up, “
Sue tells me that you mentioned Bryan was concerned about some things that were
going on, things he may have been looking into shortly before he died.”

“Yes, he did
seem worried and he told me he thought something illegal was going on and he
was looking into it, but he never told me what it was—in fact, when I
asked, he quit talking about it and said he didn’t want me to worry.
 
He said it wasn’t anything big enough to
concern me, but it was—whatever it was got Bryan killed,” Olivia’s eyes
were wet with tears.

“Did Bryan have
an office or desk at home?
 
Did he
ever work on things here or keep any files around?”
 
Ted asked.

“Yes, he did at
the other place.
 
It was
bigger.
 
I had to move here after
Bryan died—couldn’t afford the rent over there on just his benefits and
what I could earn.”
 
Frankly, I was
so broken up at that time that I couldn’t even face packing up his things.
 
My sister helped me with all that.
 
We sold his desk and some of the other
office furniture, but I think she packed up all his papers in boxes.
 
I think they’re downstairs in the
storeroom here.
 
I told her to throw
them away, but she said I should go through them first to make sure there
wasn’t anything important in there—stuff I should keep, you know.”
 
She shook her head, still fighting back
tears, “I guess I’ve just never been able to face doing that.
 
I keep putting it off—I know I
should but—I just can’t yet.”

Sue gave Olivia
a moment to collect herself before she spoke, “Would you be willing to let Ted
and me look at some of these things.
 
We might find some information about what he was working on when he
died, information that might help to solve his case.
 
Of course, the authorities may have kept
anything relevant when they looked through his things during the initial
investigation…”

 
Olivia cut her off, “No one but my sister
has ever looked at those things—and she didn’t really look, she only
packed them up for me to do later—the sheriff’s men never asked about them.
 
I’d be glad if you’d take them and look
through them—use anything you find that might help solve Bryan’s
murder.
 
Maybe, if you find any
personal papers, you could save them for me.”

Ted and Sue
looked at each other in disbelief.
 
They couldn’t comprehend the fact that no one had looked into Bryan
Lee’s personal papers while investigating his death.
 
Finally, Ted spoke, “With your
permission, Olivia, we’ll be glad to take the papers and review them.
 
We’ll certainly separate any personal
things and save them for you.
 
If we
find anything related to his work, to whatever he might’ve been concerned
about, we’ll let you know and get your permission before using the information
in any stories or sharing it with any law enforcement folks.”

Sue explained
to Olivia that federal officers were showing an interest in looking into the
cases. “I know that Mark Scott, a law enforcement ranger on the Parkway, has
looked at Bryan’s files from work and he’s shared them with someone from the
FBI.
  
I personally think they’re
more likely to uncover something than the local authorities are.”

“That’s good
news to me,” Olivia almost smiled. “You know how I feel—no one from the
sheriff’s office ever seemed interested in reopening this case when I tried to
talk to them.
 
They said, they’d
already done everything they could do and there was no point in reopening the
case, unless I had more evidence to share with them…” she suddenly halted,
realizing what she had just said, “…maybe if I’d looked at his papers, maybe…”

“Don’t blame
yourself,” Sue said, “they should’ve asked for his papers when the
investigation first started.
 
You
had no way of knowing about that—it’s not your fault.
 
Ted and I will go through them and let
you know if there is anything helpful there.”

Olivia led them
downstairs to her storage area and located the boxes that contained the
papers.
 
There were only two.
 
They took them to Ted’s car and then
left.
 
Olivia seemed happy to know
that someone, at least, cared enough to do this.

Ted and Sue
were both quiet as they drove back to the house.
 
Finally, as they pulled into the
driveway, Ted spoke. “ Where and when do you want to start looking through
these things?
 
We could work at my
place or…”

“ There’s
plenty of room here also,” Sue explained. “I’ve set up an office in the
basement, and I already have a lot of notes about these cases—as I’m sure
you do also…”

“All of my work
is on my laptop,” Ted smiled. “I can work anywhere.
 
Why don’t we take these things down to
your office, and when we decide on a time to work, I can bring my laptop over,
and we’ll have all of our information together.
 
That way your friend Lin can help
too.
 
I gather she has more than a
passing interest in these cases.”

Sue chuckled,
“Indeed, she does.
 
Lin has
insatiable curiosity and a dogged persistence when she’s determined to solve a
problem.
 
She’s been involved in
more than one such situation and, I might add, she generally gets to the bottom
of things.
 
We definitely want her
to stay involved with this—not that she would let us leave her out.”

Ted helped Sue
to carry the boxes to the basement and they agreed that he’d come over the
following evening and they’d get to work sorting the papers.
 
“This time please don’t try to cook
anything.
 
I’ll bring dinner for the
three of us,” he smiled.

Sue walked him
to the door as he prepared to leave. “We enjoyed having you this evening and
thanks for the nightcap.
 
I’m glad
you had the idea of trying to see Olivia right away.
 
It really paid off, hopefully these
papers will reveal something of interest.”

“I hope so
too,” Ted agreed.
 
He turned to Sue
with a smile, “and I hope this evening revealed something more of interest to
the two of us—I really enjoyed your company Sue.
 
I’m excited about our working on this
together, but I’d also like to spend more time with you—socially that
is.”

Sue couldn’t
hide her smile, “I’d like that too,” she replied.
 
Ted leaned down and gently kissed her
lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow—about six.”
 
Then he was gone.

***

As soon as she
got up the next morning, Lin knew that Sue’s evening had been a success.
 
She could hear her humming a tune as she
moved about the kitchen preparing breakfast.
 
Lin grabbed her crutches and made her
way to the top of the stairs.

“Are you alone
down there,” she yelled, “or did Ted spend the night?”

“Not on your
life! We haven’t even had a real date yet.
 
What kind of girl do you think I am?” Sue feigned irritation as she came
upstairs to assist Lin in coming down.
 
Lin could tell from the sparkle in Sue’s eye that the evening had been a
success in more ways than one.

“I’ll bet
you’ll have a real date soon enough,” Lin teased, “you can’t fool me—you
really like that guy.”

“I can’t deny
that,” Sue said, “but let’s take things one step at a time.”
 
She helped Lin to sit down at the table
and placed her crutches against the wall.
 
“Let me get us both some coffee and I’ll catch you up on what we got
from Olivia Lee.”

She joined Lin
at the table and told her about the boxes of papers they’d obtained and the
very interesting fact that no one had asked to see them in the initial
investigation into Bryan’s death.

“That just adds
more evidence to support our feeling that the local authorities just haven’t
given their full effort to solving these murders—I can’t believe they are
that inept,” Lin remarked.

“Or that
determined to leave them unsolved,” Sue added. “I’m not sure what I believe
anymore.
 
In any case, Ted will be
here tonight, so the three of us can get started on these papers.
 
Now, you need to get ready for your
appointment; I have to go to work this afternoon after we see the doc so I need
to get a move on also.”

“I hope I’ll be
going in with you,” Lin added, “provided I can get rid of these crutches.”