Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (45 page)

That’s
fine.
 
Go take care of your girl,”
Ted grinned, “I’ll bug the nurses around here and find out what I can about
Sue.”

Neal made his
way back down to the emergency room, arriving just as Lin returned from
X-ray.
 
Her skin tone was already
improved—in spite of the bruises.
 
The doctor arrived shortly and gave them the good news that she had no
broken bones and no serious internal injuries.

“You must’ve
landed on your back though.
 
In
addition to extensive bruising in that area there seems to be some internal
bruising of the kidneys.
 
You may
experience some lower back pain for a while, but that should resolve itself
fairly quickly.
 
That ankle you
sprained earlier needs more pampering than you’ve given it recently, but still
should heal fine.
 
It may take a
couple of extra weeks though.
 
Be
sure you stay off it completely for the next 2 or 3 days—not even the
boot before then.
 
Otherwise, you’re
just badly dehydrated.
 
I want to
admit you for twenty-four hours to give you fluids.”
 
He turned to Neal, “I’ll also prescribe
some pain killers and an antibiotic to help prevent infection—especially
for the kidneys. We’ll have her upstairs shortly, and you can plan on her being
discharged tomorrow morning.”

Neal wanted to
stay until Lin was settled in a room, but it appeared that might take
awhile.
 
Neal told her that Mark
Scott would find her soon. “He wants to know everything that happened.”

“I’ll try to
stay awake for him,” Lin replied, already feeling the effects of the relaxants
she’d been given.

Neal stopped by
the admissions office but couldn’t be of much help as all of Lin’s information
was back at the house.
 
He got a
form and promised to return with the information in the afternoon.

Hospitals and
red tape, Neal thought as he left to go find Mark.
 
The two are synonymous.
 
He was eager to get home and rest but
Mark was his transportation and he needed to talk to Lin.
 
Neal walked back through the emergency
room and found Mark doing just that.
 
Lin was parked in the hallway, awaiting transport to a room upstairs and
was deep in conversation with the young ranger.
 
The conversation ended just as Neal
approached.

“Thanks,
Lin.
 
This has been invaluable.
 
Now we know what we have to do
next.
 
You take care and try to get
some rest,” Mark said turning toward Neal. “I’ll catch you up as I drive you
home.
 
This lady is about to go to
sleep on me anyway.”

Neal leaned
over and kissed Lin gently on her forehead.
 
“I’ll be back this afternoon—have
a good nap.”

***

As Mark drove
Neal back to the house, he brought him up to date on Lin’s report about what
happened.

“This will
really help,” he said, “I think the Ashe County deputies were planning to put
surveillance out near those ore pits anyway since we found those bundles.
 
They want to know if anyone comes for
them.
 
I’m pretty sure they contain
the ginseng these guys have been poaching.
 
Lin said one of the voices she heard mentioned ‘sang’ and that’s the
local slang term for the plant.
 
Apparently, at least one of the other men
was Luke Taylor’s uncle, and she was positive that another voice she heard
belonged to Dave Winkler, the Watauga County Deputy.
 
I just wish she’d been able to make a
visual identification of him.”

“If he is involved
in this operation that would explain why he’s been so seemingly hostile toward
Sue and Lin, as well as why his department seems to have been dragging their
feet when it came to investigating the incidents at their house,” Neal replied.

“You’re right,”
Mark said, “but a good lawyer can make mincement out of a voice based
identification, especially if the person making the identification has
experienced some sort of trauma, but I’m going forward with this.
 
We’ll find out what’s going on.
 
I promise.”

Neal thanked
the young ranger as he exited the car. “Please stay in touch.
 
We’ll both want to know what’s going on.”

He went into
the house and started upstairs to shower and get some rest.
 

As Neal got
upstairs he realized how very tired he really was.
 
He’d been up more than twenty-four hours
and those hours hadn’t exactly been easy or relaxing.
 
He headed straight for the bed, deciding
he’d wait til later to shower.
 
First
he set an alarm to make sure he’d get up in time to visit the hospital
admissions office before it closed.
 
He fell asleep almost immediately.
 
A deep, peaceful rest—the first he’d really had since Lin had gone
missing.

After he
dropped Neal off, Mark Scott immediately tried to contact Zach Taylor.
 
He knew that Zach had planned to
establish a stakeout of the area near the ore pits with the help of the local
authorities.
 
He hoped that they’d
been successful in arresting the men responsible for this whole thing.
 
He wasn’t surprised when his attempt to
call Zach’s cell phone was unsuccessful.
 
Cell service in the backcountry was always spotty.
 
His next option was to call the Ashe
County Sheriff’s Department.
 
There
he learned that they had maintained radio contact with the surveillance
operation, but thus far, no one had returned to the scene of the crime.

 
It was now almost eight a.m. The day
promised to be a sunny one—a major improvement over the fog and mist
they’d faced the night before. Mark was dead tired, and he knew the same was
true for Zach and the other men on duty.
 
He wanted to go help them, but he also realized that his arrival could
prove untimely and could actually interfere with their operation.
 
He opted instead to ask the dispatcher
in Ashe County to notify him directly at his home if they heard anything from
the team.
 
Then he called in to his
own office and headed to his house for a much needed shower and a short nap.

***

Mark awoke from
a deep sleep to the ringing of his cell phone on his nightstand.
 
Glancing at the clock he saw that it was
about ten-thirty; he’d only been asleep a couple of hours.
 
He saw that the caller was the Ashe
County Sheriff’s department so he answered quickly.

“This is Mark
Scott,” his voice betrayed that he’d been asleep.

“Sorry to wake
you, Ranger Scott,” it was the dispatcher he’d spoken with earlier, “but you
said to let you know when we heard from the surveillance team.
 
They just called and they’re on their
way in here with three men—Herman and Hiram Hinson and somebody named
Clarence Reagan.
 
The three of them
were arrested in possession of a rather large amount of illegal ginseng that
they were attempting to transport away from those ore mines.
 
They should be in here soon. That FBI
agent, Zach Taylor asked if you could meet them here.

“On my way,”
Mark replied. “I’ll be there within the hour.”
 
He got up quickly and dressed in a clean
uniform.
 
On his way to Jefferson,
he hit the drive through at Bojangles and grabbed a ham biscuit and a large
coffee.
 
He figured that might have
to hold him for the rest of the day.

By the time he
arrived at the office in Jefferson, the team had already arrived.
 
The local deputies had taken the
arrested men over to the jail to book them, and Zach Taylor was waiting for
him.
 
They went back to the
conference room to talk.

“I told the
guys we’d be over later to question these men.
 
I think we have them dead to rights on
federal poaching charges, and if there’s enough corroborating evidence, the Hinsons
can probably be charged with kidnapping and assault by the state, and that’s
just for starters.
 
I personally
believe that they’re guilty of conspiracy and murder in the death of Bryan Lee
and possibly others,” Zach said.

“What about the
other guy—this Clarence Reagan fellow?
 
We’ll have to check those notes
belonging to Bryan that Neal Smith told us about, but I think that was the name
he gave for Lee’s informant, the one they were doing business with.
 
He’s probably going to try to avoid
being charged because he had told Bryan about his suspicions, but it’s pretty
clear he didn’t pursue things after Bryan died, and he’s still buying from
these characters,” Mark asked.

 
“He’ll go on the poaching charges for
sure.
 
Thing is, I really doubt he
had anything to do with the kidnappings and assaults, probably not the killings
either,” Zach explained. “He’ll likely only get a few months for the illegal
operation, we can hope he might know something about the other crimes, but I
doubt it.”

Mark was
beginning to realize that, without additional evidence, Lin Hanna’s identification
of these men by voice alone would never stand up in court.
 
Of course, the ginseng charges were
clear, but Dave Winkler hadn’t been present this morning.
 
He would certainly deny any
knowledge.
 
Mark knew they’d have to
look hard and continue to investigate if justice were to be done for the
current victims and for any victims in the past. “Well, let’s get over to the
jail and talk to these guys.
 
Maybe,
they’ll trip up and tell us what we want to know.
 
Then you need to get some rest.
 
I at least got a nap.
 
You look horrible.”

“I’m about to
drop,” Zach confessed as they began walking over to the jail, “but I do want to
talk to these men before they can make bail—then I’ll try to get some
shuteye before we get back to work on this investigation.”

“When we’re
done here, I’m going back to Boone,” Mark said. “I understand they’ve got old
Eustace Hinson locked up over there for shooting at Ted Whitley the other
night—course he doesn’t know what he’s doing most of the time, and Ted
was on his property, but I think they’re going to try to get him committed to a
home again since he’s done this.”

“Well, with his
sons under arrest and his grandson fighting for his life in the hospital
there’s no one left to look after him anyway,” Zach replied.

“Fighting for
his life!” Mark exclaimed. “I knew Luke was bad off but…”

“Someone here
talked to the hospital, awhile ago,” Zach reported, “ he was in surgery most of
the morning and now he’s in the ICU in critical condition, still hasn’t waked
up yet.
 
Apparently the doctors say
it’s touch and go—next twenty-four hours are critical.”

Mark felt a
deep sense of sadness for the young man and a healthy dose of frustration for
himself.
 
He’d realized that Luke
might be a critical piece of this story and perhaps the most valuable witness.
 
Lin Hanna had told him that Luke was the
one who took her captive, but he had been a reluctant participant
apparently.
 
In the end he’d been
trying to help her find Sue Gray when he was shot—by his own uncle.
 
Luke was probably the only person who
knew what was going on here, at least the only one who might be willing to talk,
and if he never woke up…Mark realized that they might have no case at all if
that happened.

By that time
they’d arrived at the jail and were waiting in the interrogation room for the
first of the prisoners to be brought in.
 
Mark tried to regain his focus.
 
He had to forget about Luke Taylor for the moment and concentrate on the
information he could gather from these men.

Clarence Reagan
was the first person brought in.
 
He
was obviously scared and from the start he seemed to be willing to cooperate in
the hope he’d avoid going to jail.
 
When Zach informed him of his rights, he indicated that he planned to
hire an attorney, but he was willing to talk to them right away. “I want to
cooperate in any way that I can,” he smiled, “after all, I’m the one who
originally reported my suspicions about these suppliers to Ranger Bryan Lee…I
told him about the storage in the ore pits…”

“Mr. Reagan
that was more than two years ago.
 
Ranger Lee is dead and there’s no record of your ever coming forward
after you talked to him initially.
 
No one else has heard from you about these dealings.” Zach wasn’t going
to let him off the hook that easily. “Now, I’m happy that you want to cooperate
with us, and I’d encourage you to tell us everything you know.”

“Certainly,” Clarence
Reagan replied, obviously concerned at this point. “Please, I’ll help you
anyway that I can.”

For the next
half-hour Reagan gave them a full account of his dealings with the Hinson
brothers.
 
Apparently they’d been
selling him ginseng, much of it out of season, for at least six or seven
years.
 
He claimed that he’d only
become suspicious that they were poaching about two or three years ago and that
was when he went to Bryan Lee.

“And after
Ranger Lee was killed?
 
Why didn’t
you come forward then, did you not think his death might be connected to the
investigation he was conducting?” Zach had him cornered now.

 
Reagan began to squirm nervously in his
chair; for a few moments he said nothing.

“Didn’t you
find his death suspicious—you knew he was looking into this smuggling!”
Zach was in his face now, “You knew who killed him didn’t you?”

Reagan was
blinking furiously.
 
He was close to
tears. “I—I—er I was afraid? Afraid for my life—and I think
I’m not going to answer any more questions.
 
I’d like to contact my attorney
now.”
 
That interview was over.

After Reagan
had been taken back to his cell, Mark turned to Zach.
 
“Do you think he was involved in the Lee
killing or any of the others we think might be linked to this?”

“Naw,” Zach
said, “he’s guilty of buying illegal ginseng and that’s all we can get him
on.
 
I really don’t think he knew
anything about any of the murders, but I do think he was suspicious of his
suppliers—I think he suspected them but was afraid to do anything about
it.
 
He might think he can avoid
jail time for dealing with these guys, but I’m going to throw the book at
him.
 
It might not be much jail time
but he’s going to serve every day of it if I have my way.”

The Hinson
brothers were brought in next and they refused to talk at all, demanding a
court appointed attorney.
 
They even
refused to acknowledge their own names.
 
Evidently, someone had gotten to them at some point and warned them that
their best bet was to remain entirely silent.
 
Finally, Zach and Mark saw the
handwriting on the wall and sent them back to their cells.
 
They’d schedule another interview after
the Hinsons had met with an attorney.

Zach was about
to go to sleep on his feet; he headed back to his hotel in Boone to rest.
 
Mark decided to head for the hospital to
check on how the victims were doing.
 
He was most concerned about Luke Taylor.
 
It was beginning to look as if Luke held
the key to everything here.
 

***

When Mark
arrived at the medical center, his first stop was at the front desk.
 
He was given Lin’s room number and was
told that both Sue Gray and Luke Taylor were still in ICU and couldn’t have
visitors.
 
He found Lin looking much
better and sitting up in bed reading a magazine.
 
Her sprained ankle was elevated on two
pillows.
 
He could tell that she was
sore when she shifted to a more upright position but she greeted him with a
ready smile.

“You look much
better than you did before—even this morning,” Mark greeted her. “I hope
you’ve had some sleep.”

“Actually, I
just woke up a short while ago when they brought me some lunch.
 
I missed breakfast altogether.
 
I was so hungry that even the hospital
food tasted good,” Lin smiled.

“Do you feel
like talking a bit?” Mark asked.
 
“I’d like to review all the stuff you told me earlier and then bring you
up to date on what’s happened since then.
 
We’ve arrested the Hinson brothers.
 
We caught them trying to move the ginseng but haven’t been able to get
them to talk about anything else.”

Lin was eager
to hear more.
 
Mark filled her in on
what had transpired that morning and what he and Zach had learned from Clarence
Reagan. “So, you see, he concluded.
 
The poaching case is a pretty good one, but we need some additional
evidence to go after these folks for any of the killings.
 
I think we can make a case that they
must’ve assaulted you, Sue, and Luke or you wouldn’t have been found in the ore
pit, but even that is circumstantial—at least somewhat.
 
They could claim not to have even known
you were there—I don’t think they’ll try that, but we really have nothing
to go on but what you overheard them say, and you didn’t actually see
them.
 
We need more.”

“What about
Luke?” Lin questioned. “Luke knows a lot more than he told me at first—I
know that much.
 
I don’t think he
really wanted to be part of any of this, and I think he probably knows the
whole story—even knows about the earlier murders.
 
I just have a gut feeling about that,”
Lin insisted.

“I don’t
disagree,” Mark said, “but Luke’s in ICU and the last I heard he’s still
unconscious.
 
In fact, I think
they’re not sure he’s even going to make it.
 
Without his knowledge, we’re going to
have a hard time making a case.”

Mark realized
that Lin probably hadn’t known much about Luke’s condition before he
spoke.
 
He saw that she was having a
hard time thinking about the young man—tears were streaming down her
cheeks.
 
Mark looked at Lin’s
situation and noticed that other than her IV she wasn’t attached to
anything—no monitors, no tubes. “Would you feel up to a wheel chair
ride?” he asked.
 
“Maybe we could go
upstairs to the ICU and at least find out about how Luke is doing, maybe check
on your friend Sue too.
 
I understand
she’s also up there.”
 
He could see
that Lin brightened immediately at his suggestion.