Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (36 page)

“What
happened,” Lin asked, “were any of the riders hurt?”

Pat shook her
head.
 
“No, they’re just tired, but
everyone is fine.
 
They apparently
took a wrong turn somewhere, and, when the weather got worse, they got a little
disoriented by the fog and mist that was settling in out there.
 
They just got a little lost, but they
eventually found their way back…that’s not the problem.”

Lin swallowed
hard…Sue—what had happened to Sue?

Pat continued,
“ Sue wasn’t with them, in fact they never saw her.
 
I’ve asked the group leader to come back
here as soon as they get the horses stabled—with Clint.
 
We need to determine where this group
traveled, maybe figure out why Sue never caught up with them.”

Lin felt a
sense of panic coming over her.
 
There seemed to be a lump in her throat, and she thought she wasn’t
going to be able to breathe.
 
This
can’t be happening; she fought the feeling.
 
I mustn’t panic, she told herself.
 
Sue can’t be lost; she’ll come back here
shortly. Lin excused herself and went to the restroom where she splashed cold
water over her face and took a drink from the fountain.
 
Feeling more in control, she returned to
Pat’s office, just as Clint arrived with a slightly disheveled visitor.

The woman, who
had light brown, short curly hair, was damp from riding in the rain, but she introduced
herself with a smile. “I’m Abigail Townsend—Abby is what I go by—from
Houston, Texas,” she spoke with a soft drawl. “My friends and I wanted to ride
this morning, and the weather seemed fine then.
 
When it started raining and began to get
foggy, we must’ve taken the wrong path.
 
We were never off a road, but it took awhile for us to determine the way
back, even though we had a map.
 
I’m
sorry that we caused you worry—that you had to send someone looking for
us.”

“That’s not a
problem,” Pat said, “but we need to determine where you were riding.
 
Since you never saw Ms. Gray, she must
still be looking for you somewhere else.
 
After all, there are twenty-five miles of carriage roads on this
property.
 
Cell phone service is very
spotty. If she doesn’t return soon, we’ll send someone to get her.
 
We just need to determine what direction
she probably went.”

“I’ll be happy
to help in any way that I can,” Abby offered. “I’m in no hurry.
 
My friends and I are staying over in
Blowing Rock at Chetola all this week.”
 

Pat observed
that Lin, though outwardly calm now, still looked a bit anxious.
 
She needed to do something. “Lin, why
don’t you and Abby take the map of the carriage roads and maybe highlight where
her group traveled, or at least, where she thinks they were.”

Lin was glad to
have something to focus on.
 
She and
Abby spread the map on a table on the opposite side of the office and began
tracing the route away from the stables.
 
It took a few minutes and, at one point, Abby had to shift her focus to
tracing the route backward from the Cone Mansion, but eventually she was able
to locate where she thought they taken a wrong turn in their ride.
 
Lin carefully highlighted each path.

“I can’t be absolutely
sure about those roads that are sorta in the middle,” Abby said, “but I think
we’ve covered basically where we rode.”

“Thanks for
your help,” Lin said. “I think you could rejoin your friends now.
 
If you think about anything else we need
to add to this, please just give us a call.”

Pat stepped
over to thank their helpful guest and gave her a card with numbers for the
craft house and headquarters.
 
She
added her personal cell number and Lin did the same.

“I hope you
find her soon,” Abby seemed worried, “Please let me know when you catch up with
her, or she returns.
 
I’ll want to
know.
 
I hate to think that someone
trying to help us got lost.”

After
reassuring Abby that she shouldn’t blame herself for the situation, Pat told
her to go back to join her friends. “We’ll call you this evening, and let you
know what happens,” she assured her.

As Abby left,
Lin turned to Pat. She found herself fighting back tears and took a deep
breath.
 
She was determined to be
strong.
 
Sue didn’t need for her to
fall apart, besides it was still early.
 
Sue would’ve turned back by now, having not located the riders.
 
Pat read her thoughts.

“Sue should be
on her way back.
 
She has a map and
it’s not much more than an hour’s ride from the most distant point on these
trails.
 
We now have a general idea
of where she should be riding, and, if she’s not back soon, we can send someone
out to look,” Pat presented a calm demeanor, “Meanwhile, we’ll tend to our
visitors—we’re open until five.”

Lin returned to
the bookstore and relieved the local volunteer who’d been manning the
desk.
 
She needed to stay busy.
 
There were still lots of visitors to be
helped and a steady line remained to check out, but, try as she might, Lin
couldn’t help keeping an eye on the clock as the hands slowly moved toward four
and then past.

Finally, about half
past the hour, Pat came to the desk.
 
There were still a few customers browsing in the shop, but she indicated
that Lin should leave the desk and follow her back to the office.
 
“The cashier on the front desk can take
care of these folks,” she explained.

Lin felt a deep
knot of fear in her gut.
 
She knew
this couldn’t be good news.
 
Sure
enough, as soon as the office door was closed, Pat turned and indicated that
she should sit down.

“Sue should be
back by now,” Pat said. “Clint has gone out to look for her.
 
He left about fifteen minutes ago.”
 

“Are you going
to call for any more help?” Lin asked, “What if she fell off her horse?
 
What if she’s hurt?”
 
She was afraid to offer other
possibilities.

“Don’t panic,”
Pat said. “It’s too early for that.
 
If Clint doesn’t find her soon, we’ll call Mark Scott and he’ll get us
some help.
 
Try to relax and be
patient.”

Lin did try,
but it was hard.
 
She really wanted
to go back to work, but Pat thought she should remain in the office and rest.
“You’ve been on your feet all afternoon and you just got that boot this
morning.”
 
She brought another chair
up and insisted that Lin elevate her foot.
 
Then she disappeared for a moment, returning with a mug of hot coffee.

Lin tried, but
she still couldn’t really relax.
 
So
many things had happened this summer.
 
Sue had been in the midst of it all.
 
The fact that she was researching the
unsolved murders was known by quite a few folks…all of it made Lin nervous.

Five o’clock came
with no sign of Sue.
 
Clint hadn’t
returned yet, nor had he used his radio to call in. Why didn’t Clint give Sue a
radio when she went out? Lin thought.
 
As if reading her mind, Pat explained that, unfortunately they didn’t
have extra handsets available.
 
Clint had to keep his as that was the only communication between the
main house and the stable.
 
Then she
left the office to lock the main door; it was time for the center to close.

Just at that
moment a wet bedraggled Clint came into the office.
  
He shucked off his wet poncho hanging
it on a hook and dropped exhausted into the only available chair.
 
“I found the mare, tied to a pine tree,”
he reported, “ but there was no sign of Ms. Gray.”
 
Lin got up and poured a mug of coffee.
 
She needed to do something at that
moment, and Clint looked as if he needed some caffeine.

“Maybe she was
looking for signs of the lost riders, maybe she walked around,” Lin wanted
there to be some explanation that made sense.

Clint shook his
head. “I looked all around there—no sign of her.
 
These were all I found.”
 
He went over to his poncho reached into
the pocket.
 
He withdrew two items
and placed them on Pat’s desk—a very wet map and Sue’s cell phone.
 

Pat immediately
reached for her phone and began punching in numbers while Lin sat
speechless.
 
Sue was missing.

Lin sat in
silence for a few minutes, not sure how to respond.
 
Her brain was alive with all sorts of
horrible images.
 
She couldn’t help
but associate Sue’s disappearance with all that had happened earlier in the
summer, but she realized that Pat Dane knew nothing of this, and for her, this
was a simple case of someone who was lost—at worst lost and injured—somewhere
in the park.
 
Lin wasn’t sure what
she should say to her, but she knew she had to do something.
 
Just at that moment someone knocked on
the door of the craft center, and Pat left to see who had arrived.
 
She returned momentarily accompanied by
Mark Scott.

Lin felt an
immediate sense of relief.
 
Mark
knew what had been going on.
 
He
would understand the depths of her concern. “Mark, I’m glad to see you,” Lin
said, “I really need to talk to you, in private if possible.”
 
Pat gave her a strange look and Clint
stared down into his cup of coffee.

Mark nodded as
if he understood, but he didn’t say anything immediately.
 
Instead he poured a cup of coffee and
took a seat. “I know where you’re coming from Lin, but I think we need to bring
Pat and Clint here up to speed.
 
We
need their help, and they need to understand that this might not be as simple
as it appears.”

Pat had a
strange look on her face, but she sat down and asked Clint to close the door.
“OK Mark, there shouldn’t be anyone else here at this point.
 
Please, what’s going on?”

Mark very
carefully but succinctly related what had been happening.
 
He explained what Sue and Lin had been
doing—looking into the several unsolved murders on the parkway.
 
He also explained that he had involved
Zach Turner, the FBI agent, in the investigation and that they were looking into
Bryan Lee’s case files trying to determine what he had been investigating at
the time of his death.
 
Finally, he
mentioned the evidence of ginseng poaching that Lin and Sue had recently
uncovered.

Pat Dane sat
back and shook her head in disbelief, “That’s quite a story!
 
I can’t believe all of that has been
happening here, but why do you think Sue’s disappearance may be related to all
that?
 
There’d be no way anyone would’ve
known she’d volunteer to ride out and find those lost tourists.”

“Unless someone
has been following Sue and Lin,” Mark replied, “waiting for an opportunity.”

“Who would be
doing that?” Lin initially thought about Stefan Kovich, but none of the
evidence she and Sue had uncovered pointed to him—besides he was down in
Charlotte anyway, waiting for his deportation hearing.
 
It seemed unlikely that Eustace Hinson
would be able to mastermind an abduction…

Mark swallowed
hard and looked at Lin. “It could be Luke Taylor.
 
I have a warrant to arrest him on
assault charges, but when I went to his house yesterday he was gone.
 
I checked everywhere I thought he might
be, but he’s vanished.”

Lin’s jaw
dropped in disbelief.
 
She simply
couldn’t picture Luke doing this but…

“I can’t be
certain, of course,” Mark said, “but his disappearance is suspicious; Lin and
Sue were the victims in the assault and would be the prime witnesses if the
case comes to court.
 
I called the
local authorities earlier, and they already have an APB out for him.
 
Now, I guess we need their help to
search for Sue.”

Pat reached for
her phone once more and soon had alerted the sheriff’s office to their
need.
 
Lin was skeptical about how
effective that step would be; however, she realized that there really wasn’t
much else to do.
 
The Park Service
certainly didn’t have the resources to stage a full-fledged search.

Pat, Mark, and
Clint had gathered around a map of the trails and surrounding area and were
discussing how to organize a search.
 
Lin just sat there for a moment, feeling helpless.
 
Suddenly she realized that it was almost
six and Ted Whitley would soon be arriving at their house.
 
She had to call him.
 
She quickly grabbed her cell phone, but
the signal was weak so she asked to use Pat’s landline.
 
Fortunately Ted answered at the second
ring.

“I was just
gathering up my things to head for your place,” he said. “I’m stopping by
Harris Teeter on my way to pick up a pizza, but I called ahead so it’ll
ready.
 
I should be there in about
twenty minutes.”

Lin hated to
break the news but… “Ted, I’m glad I caught you.
 
I’m still at Moses Cone.
 
Sue is missing—lost somewhere on
the estate we think…we hope.”
 
She
didn’t have to explain.
 
Ted was
well aware of Sue’s activities of late.
 
His fear at hearing this news was almost palpable in spite of his
silence.

Finally, he
spoke, “How many people are with you at the Cone house?
 
I’ll call and order more food and I’ll
be right out.”
 
Lin started to
protest but did not.
 
She suspected
how Ted might be feeling about Sue and knew that he wouldn’t want to be left on
the sidelines.
 
She told him about
Mark, Clint, and Pat.
 
There will
most likely be others coming—we’ve called the sheriff’s department.

“I’ll take care
of it,” Ted was matter of fact.
 
“I’ll be there within the hour.”
 

Before Lin was
off the phone, Clint had already left.
 
He had called some of the park workers who lived nearby and was meeting
them at the stables.
 
They were
going to spread out and search the areas immediately surrounding the carriage
roads by horseback. “If she simply fell and injured herself while walking to
search for the lost visitors, she wouldn’t have gone too far from the paths.
 
She might have walked on after tethering
her horse, maybe because that was easier given the weather.
 
If that’s the case, we should find her,”
he’d said as he left the building.”

Lin realized
that there was really nothing to do but wait.
 
She couldn’t walk that far herself with
her boot, and she was no horsewoman.
 
She’d only be a hindrance in that department.
 
She could use her head, however.
 
She began thinking about other
possibilities.
 
What if Luke (or
someone else) had followed them—had
 
seen Sue leave to search for the visitors?
 
If Luke had grabbed Sue where would he
take her?
 
Lin didn’t really think
that Sue was still in the park—at least not in a readily accessible area.

By the time Ted
arrived with a stack of still warm pizzas, Deputy Dave Winkler and two of his
men had already arrived.
 
Winkler
had given Lin a strange look as he came in and saw her sitting there.
 
When he learned that Sue Gray was the
missing person, he almost said something.
 
Lin saw the look on his face, but he swallowed his words and instead
turned to study the map and talk to Pat and Mark about how to organize the
search.
 
Soon they’d agreed that
Mark would take one of the park’s four wheelers and Winkler’s team would take
their four-wheel drive vehicles and ride out after the searchers who were on
horseback.

“We should
catch them quickly,” Mark said, “We can move faster, but they can do better in
the wooded areas along the roads.
 
We should be able to cover most of the immediate search area within the
next couple of hours.
 
After that…”

Lin finished
the thought in her own mind.
 
After
that we’ll know Sue is gone from here.
 
She caught Ted’s eye and signaled him to follow her toward the front of
the building.
 
It seemed strange to
see the galleries and the bookshop empty and dark.
 
Lin led Ted away from the office area to
a spot where they could talk privately.

“Mark Scott seems
to think Luke Taylor may have Sue,” she explained. She brought Ted up to speed,
explaining that Luke was apparently on the run, trying to elude arrest on the
assault charge. “I think, if that’s the case, he won’t have her here.
 
He’ll take her somewhere else.
 
Searching this area is a waste of time
if Luke took her.
 
Someone needs to
find her, and soon or…”

Ted put his arm
around Lin’s shoulder. “I understand.
 
Besides, you can’t really do anything to help here.
 
I’m going to tell Pat that I’m taking you
home.
 
We’ll have to leave Sue’s car
here unless you have keys.”

Lin shook her
head.
 
“She has them in her pocket
always.
 
There are more at the
house.
 
We can come back for her car
later, but I really don’t want to go home…” she complained, “I…”

“Don’t worry,”
Ted replied, “I have no intention of going home—not without Sue…”

***

It was well
past seven o’clock when they made their way up the steps to Ted’s car.
 
Even though there was still some
daylight left, the clouds and mist made it darker than usual for the early
evening hour.

“There’s not
much daylight left,” Ted commented, “if they don’t find Sue somewhere along
those roads soon.
 
They’ll have to
call off the search for the night.”

Lin knew from
personal experience what it was like to be missing—to be held against
one’s will—to wake up in a strange place, afraid for your life.
 
She knew that she couldn’t rest until
Sue was safe.

Still, she
wasn’t sure where to start looking for her friend.
 
In her heart, she didn’t want to think
that Luke Taylor was capable of trying to hurt Sue or her, not anyone for that
matter, but he had evidently run away when he was facing arrest and it was Luke
who had appeared, following them after someone took a shot at her and Sue.
 
She had to remember he had experienced a
great trauma in the loss of Sara Fletcher and their baby.
 
He was a young man who believed his own
grandfather was guilty of murder; yet he lived with the man and cared for
him.
 
Lin realized that she couldn’t
ignore those facts.

“I ‘ve been to
Luke Taylor’s home,” Lin told Ted. “I’m not sure, but I think I could find it
again.”

“But you said
he’d run away from there—he was gone when Mark went to arrest him.
 
I doubt he’d go back there.
 
He’d expect his home to be searched.”
 
Ted shook his head, “I don’t really know
where to go, where to look.
 
I just
know I have to do something.”
 
His
knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel, guiding the car off the
parkway and onto Hwy. 321, heading back toward Boone.

“Remember,” Lin
said.
 
“Mark Scott has already been
to Luke’s home and he knows that he wasn’t there.
 
Luke may think that it is safe to go
back there, that the authorities will assume he’s still gone and look
elsewhere.
 
There’s old Eustace too,
Luke is responsible for him.
 
I
don’t think he’d leave him alone for long.”

“Yeah, but the
Hinson’s are a big family, a close-knit mountain clan,” Ted explained, “Luke
could’ve taken his grandfather to any number of family members.
 
They’d never tell where Luke had gone,
either.”

Lin was feeling
frustrated. “Well, we have to do something, and, unless you have a better idea,
it’s a place to start.”

Neither Ted nor
Lin were hungry; they’d left all the pizza for the searchers back in the park,
but Ted did think they needed some caffeine.
 
They stopped at Harris Teeter and he
went in to get grande dark roast coffees from the Starbucks inside.
 
Lin welcomed the warmth of the hot
drink.
 
She felt chilled from the
damp, even though the temperature was moderate.

They made their
way out toward Todd, driving slowly in the fading light so Lin could watch for
the turn-offs.
 
After a couple of
wrong turns, they finally located the sign that indicated they were approaching
the Hinson property.
 
Ted eased the
car over the small bridge and into the yard of the home—trying to
approach quietly.
 
It probably
didn’t matter though, there were no lights coming from the small home, even
though it was late and almost completely dark.

“I guess I was
wrong,” Lin said as she exited the car, “it looks as if no one is here.”

“…or someone
heard us coming and is hiding,” Ted replied.
 
He made his way carefully to the front
porch with Lin hobbling along right behind.
 
Ted knocked on the door and called out,
but there was no sound.
 
He had a
flashlight that was in his car, so they shone the light into the windows on the
porch.
 
Then they walked around the
house and did the same at the back.
 
They were able to look into each room of the small cabin, but it was
clear that no one was inside.