Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (39 page)

Something hard
struck her from behind, hitting her squarely on the back of the head.
 
She heard nothing but the ringing in her
ears.
 
She felt her knees collapsing
and the world went totally dark.

Neal slammed
his cell phone down on the king-sized bed in frustration.
 
What was going on back in North Carolina?
 
He’d told Lin to call him back after she
notified the authorities about the intruder, but she hadn’t.
 
He’d tried to call her numerous times
but got no answer.
 
The last time
he’d gotten some strange recording that the number was no longer in
service.
 
He didn’t know what was
going on back there, but he knew it was nothing good.

He had called
the Watauga County Sheriff’s department but had only been able to reach the
dispatcher.
 
Even though he’d been
assured that someone would investigate his report, he felt uneasy.
 
He’d personally observed how Deputy Dave
Winkler had reacted to earlier problems reported by Lin and Sue.
 
He didn’t feel at all confident that
anyone would follow through this time.
 
Lin had said Sue was already missing, and now he felt sure Lin was
missing also—at least from his perspective.

I need to reach
that park ranger somehow—Mark Scott, he thought.
 
Unfortunately, he didn’t have a cell
phone number for him and it was still early morning on Tuesday back east.
 
No one would be at park headquarters for
another four or five hours at least.
 
He didn’t know where to turn.
 
Finally, he decided to try the only other agency he could think
of—he would try the FBI.

He called the
local Flagstaff listing for the Bureau but only reached a recording asking that
he call back during regular office hours, or if he had an emergency, contact
local law enforcement.
 
Then he
thought of Deputy Billy Taylor of the Coconino County sheriff’s
department.
 
Billy had been involved
with Lin and with him in solving a case more than a year ago when Lin had been
volunteering at Wupatki National Monument.
 
He’d seen Billy several times since then.
 
In fact, he thought he was still dating
the law enforcement ranger at the park. He’d bumped into them together at a
local restaurant recently. Danielle was her name he recalled.
 
Neal felt sure he must still have
Billy’s personal number somewhere in his contact list.
 
He grabbed the phone off the bed and did
a quick search.
 
There it was.
 
It was after midnight, but he had
nowhere else to turn.
 
He quickly
punched in the numbers, hoping the deputy hadn’t turned off his cell phone for
the night.

A sleepy Billy
Taylor answered after several rings.

“Sorry to wake
you up Billy. This is Neal Smith, and I couldn’t think of anyone else who might
be able to help me.”
 
Neal quickly
tried to bring Billy up to date, telling him all that he knew about what might
be going on back in North Carolina.

“I know that
Sue Gray is missing, and, at this point, I have to assume that Lin may be
missing also.
 
I need to find a way
to get in touch with the FBI and the Park Service back there.
 
He explained that Mark Scott and FBI
agent Zach Taylor were involved in the current investigation.

“The problem is
that I don’t have their contact information, and the local FBI office is
closed.
 
Do you know any of the
agents here who might be willing and able to get in touch with someone in North
Carolina?
 
I really think that time
is of the essence,” Neal was pleading for help.

“I do have
numbers for the local folks,” Billy was wide awake now,
 
“but they’re at my office.
 
Could you meet me there in about half an
hour?
 
We’ll see what we can come up
with.”

“Thanks,
Billy,” Neal was relieved, at least for the moment. “I’ll be there.”

When he ended
the call, Neal suddenly realized that he was sitting on the bed stark
naked.
 
He’d just gotten out of the
shower when Lin had called, and he’d been so frantic trying to reach her and
then trying to do something to help that he’d not taken the time to dress.
 
He donned a pair of jeans and a tee
shirt and slipped his feet into a pair of casual canvas boat shoes.
 
He hastily ran a comb through his hair
and grabbed a light jacket before heading out to meet Billy.

As he was
driving out Butler Avenue toward the county law enforcement facility on Sawmill
Road, he thought about his situation.
 
Today was Tuesday.
 
He still
had some furniture at his home yet to be picked up by purchasers.
 
All that stuff was supposed to be gone by
Thursday morning, and the movers were supposed to get the remaining stuff into
storage by Thursday afternoon.
 
The
closing for the sale of his house was scheduled for Friday and he was supposed
to fly to North Carolina on Saturday.
 
He wasn’t exactly sure how he was going to manage, but he knew that he
couldn’t wait that long to go back.
 
He resolved that, as soon as all the businesses involved were opened, he
was going to make other arrangements. He’d have to act today; tomorrow was the
4
^th
and everyone would be off for the holiday. He had to get
back.
 
He had to find Lin.

When he arrived
at the law enforcement center, he saw Billy still seated in his dark blue SUV
apparently waiting for him.
 
Someone
was with him.
 
Neal was a little
surprised to see Danielle exit the car along with Billy; apparently she’d been
spending the night at his place.

“Hello, Neal,”
Danielle seemed a little embarrassed that her relationship had been
revealed.
 
Evidently though, she’d
not been concerned enough to remain behind. “When Billy told me this was about
Lin and Sue I had to come along.
 
I
want to help if I can, and I might be able to get in touch with that ranger you
mentioned was involved.
 
I’ve
already tried a couple of district folks back east but so far no luck in getting
a number for Mark Scott. I’ll keep trying though.”

“Thanks,
Danielle,” Neal replied as they walked toward the building, “I’m sorry, I ‘er
intruded on your evening like this.”

Danielle smiled
and shook her head. “Don’t worry.
 
Like I said, I want to help.”
 
She stretched out her hand to reveal a lovely diamond engagement ring.
“Billy and I got engaged last month, and we’re talking about getting married
this fall.”

“Congratulations,”
Neal smiled.
 
“Lin and I have our
wedding plans set for September back in North Carolina—at least they are
mostly set.
 
I’ll have to tell her
about you and Billy—she’ll be happy to hear that news.”
 
He found himself feeling a bit choked up
when he thought about his own wedding—the fact that his bride-to-be was
probably missing right now…

By this time
Billy had the door unlocked and the three of them were heading down the hall to
his office.
 
Danielle was continuing
to try numbers of park service folks she knew back east.
 
Finally, she hit pay dirt—a
colleague currently working in Asheville whom she had known in training also
knew Mark Scott and had his personal number.
 
Danielle went into the next room to make
the call because Billy was on the phone trying to reach a contact in the local
FBI office who might be able to locate a number for Zach Taylor.
 
Neal felt helpless, but all he could do
was wait.

A few minutes
later, Danielle poked her head into Billy’s office and asked Neal to come talk
to Mark Scott.
 
A wave of relief
swept through Neal; finally contact had been made with someone back in North
Carolina.

Mark, of
course, already knew about Sue’s likely abduction and he told Neal about that
search. “We’re just waiting right now, but we’ll resume looking as soon as the
sun is up—now you say Lin is missing also?”

Neal told Mark
everything he knew, everything Lin had managed to tell him before the intruder
interrupted her.
 
He told Mark that
evidently Lin and Ted Whitley had gone to Luke Taylor’s home thinking that Sue
might be there… “ I know that they didn’t find her, but the intruder
interrupted Lin before she could tell me all that had happened, so I don’t know
if they learned anything of significance or not…I just can’t say.
 
I’m just pretty sure she’s missing now
because I cannot reach her—her cell phone seems to be out of service.”

Mark was
concerned, “I see what you’re saying…she didn’t mention Whitley when you
talked?
 
Was he with her still?”

“She didn’t
mention him, but I’m pretty sure she was alone because she said she’d have to
check on the noise at the back door.
 
If Ted had been there he could’ve done that,” Neal added.

“Well, OK.
 
Sounds like I’d better get back to work
right away.
 
I’ll call Zach Taylor
and check with the locals too.
 
Thanks
for calling Neal.”

“Mark, let me
give you my own cell phone number.
 
This one belongs to Danielle.
 
I’ll get yours from her.
 
Please call me the minute you find them—the minute you have any
information at all, please…”

“I will,
Neal.
 
I’ll do that, I
promise.”
 
He ended the call.

Neal felt
somewhat better.
 
At least someone
back in North Carolina knew that Lin was missing also—someone who would
start working to find both of the missing women.
 
He went back into Billy’s office and
made a note of Mark’s number for his own contact list before returning the
phone to Danielle.
 
Billy was
obviously talking with someone.
 
In
a few moments he ended that conversation and turned back to Neal.

“I did finally
reach Zach Taylor and gave him the information.
 
He was already aware that Sue was
missing, and he ended our conversation when Mark Scott was trying to reach
him,” Billy reported.

“Then I guess
that’s all that we can do from here,” Neal sat down with a sigh, “Thanks so
much Billy, you too Danielle.
 
I was
spinning my wheels searching for a way to help earlier.”

“I’m glad you
thought of me,” Billy extended his hand as they rose to leave, “I’m glad that
Danielle and I were able to get in touch with the folks you needed to update on
the situation—I just hope they find Lin and Sue right away.”

“Me, too,” Neal
said. “I feel so helpless being way out here.
 
I’m going to try to get back there as
soon as possible.
 
I just need to
contact some folks about trying to wind up my business here quickly.”
 
He looked at his watch.
 
“Nobody will be open for several hours
yet, though.”

“Maybe, you can
get some sleep now,” Danielle reached for his arm. “I know it’s hard when
you’re worried, but you really need some rest—if you’re going to be
trying to conclude your business and travel soon.”

Neal nodded in
agreement as the three of them exited the building.
 
It was now almost two-thirty.
 
He couldn’t possibly reach anyone before
eight.
 
There was nothing to do but
go back to his hotel.

When Neal
arrived back in his room, he still felt wide-awake.
 
He felt so helpless.
 
He fumbled around in his luggage and
extracted a bottle of award-winning Malbec he had purchased as a gift for Lin.
 
He’d been planning to take it back for a
celebration when he returned.
 
Now
he decided to open it and see if a couple of glasses would help him to relax
and rest.
 
I’ll get some more for
Lin, he thought as he poured himself a generous amount in the plastic cup provided
by the hotel.

He laid back
against the pillows fully clothed, sipping the rich, dark red wine.
 
It felt warm and somewhat soothing going
down, but he still was far from relaxed.
 
His emotions were swinging back and forth—he was worried about
Lin, about her safety, and at the same time, he felt almost angry at
her—why did she always seem to be getting into these messes?
 
What was it about her that seemed to
attract trouble?
 
Was this what
their life was going to be like, always?

Then he felt
angry with himself for thinking along those lines.
 
Lin didn’t ask for trouble—all
this started when she tried to help a former student, then tried to help her
friend Sue, who had certainly helped her in the past—why did it make him
feel so angry, so upset that she did these things?
 
Neal’s emotions were in a jumble he
didn’t know what he felt anymore.
 
He lay there alone, sipping the wine and tried to blank everything
out.
 
Finally, he felt the edges of
his frayed nerves begin to relax, felt sleep trying to overtake him.
 
He set the wine aside and turned out the
light.

***

When Neal
awoke, he saw that light was streaming into the room through a crack in the
curtains.
 
He glanced at the clock
and saw that it was almost seven.
 
A
quick glance at his cell revealed that he hadn’t missed any calls during the
few hours he’d slept.
 
He resisted
the urge to call Mark Scott.
 
Mark
would call if he had any news, otherwise Neal would just be wasting his
time—at least at this point.