Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (46 page)

“I’d love to do
that, and I can manage just fine if I can keep my foot elevated,” she beamed.

Mark went down
to the nurse’s station and returned with one of the nurses and a nice padded
wheel chair that had a maneuverable leg rest.
 
Together they helped Lin out of bed and
into the chair, raising the leg rest so that her ankle remained elevated.
 
The nurse pushed the IV pole toward Lin,
“Just hold on to this and push it along.
 
Unless this guy goes too fast you should be fine,” she winked at Lin.

They maneuvered
down the hall and into the elevator.
 
Soon they emerged upstairs into the quiet of the ICU.
 
Mark stopped at the nurses station and
asked to speak to someone about Lin visiting two patients, even if just for a
very few minutes.
 
He explained that
she was also one of the victims brought in early this morning after enduring a
grueling two-day ordeal at the bottom of an abandoned ore pit. “She’s the one
who was less seriously injured and was able to find just a bit of water for
herself and for the others.
 
They
might owe their lives to her, and she really just wants to have the chance to
speak to them, even if they aren’t able to talk to her.”

The nurse in
charge looked at Lin waiting there and then consulted the charts. “Neither of
these patients have had any visitors although they are allowed a family visit
for five minutes each hour.
 
I
suppose, since no family members have come forward to sign up for the visits,
we could allow Ms. Hanna to take one of those slots—but only five
minutes.
 
Ms. Gray is awake,
although she’s still very ill, but Mr. Taylor hasn’t shown any signs of waking
up yet.
 
She offered to lead them
down the hallway, making sure Mark understood that he couldn’t go in—just
Lin.

They followed
her down the hall, first to Sue Gray’s room.
 
Then the nurse took over and pushed Lin
inside, parking her wheelchair near the head of the bed.
 
Sue lay there with her eyes closed, but
when Lin spoke to her she opened them and managed a slight smile. “Hi there,
girlfriend,” Lin smiled back, “I thought we might not get out of that hole, but
we did.
 
How’re you feeling?”

Sue shook her
head, “Like I fell off a cliff or something.
 
I hurt all over, but they tell me I’m
going to be fine.
 
They put a bunch
of pins in my leg and I have a bad infection,” she indicated her IV rack that
contained three bags dripping fluids into her system. “They’re pushing so much
stuff into me right now, but hey, at least I’m awake.
 
Maybe I’ll get out of this unit in a few
days.”

Lin quickly
gave Sue some encouraging words, telling her that she felt sure she would do
just that. “I’m probably going home tomorrow, but I’ll come back to visit as
often as they’ll let me.
 
I’m here
now because you don’t have any family signed up to visit you.”
 
Lin had not told Sue much about Ted when
they were in the pit—not wanting to worry her unnecessarily, but now,
since Neal had told her that Ted was definitely on the mend and moving toward
full recovery, she gave her the full story.
 
“He’s going to be fine and so are
you.
 
Hey, maybe they’d let him come
to visit since you’re not going to have family to do so.
 
I’ll talk to someone about that.”
 
She could see that prospect pleased Sue.
 
She smiled and nodded her approval as
she closed her eyes and slipped back to sleep.

Next, the nurse
took Lin down to where Luke Taylor lay, hooked up to all sorts of monitors,
IVs, and other pieces of medical paraphernalia.
 
“He hasn’t waked up yet,” the nurse
reported, “but he does show increased brain activity this afternoon and that’s
a good sign. He’s still not out of the woods yet though.”
 
Again, she pushed Lin close to the head
of the bed.
 
Even though Luke showed
no signs of hearing her, Lin began to talk to him quietly.
 
She’d read that comatose patients often
could hear voices, and she decided it would do no harm.
 
She told him where he was and what had
happened.
 
She also said that she
understood that he felt he was threatened and under pressure to take her a few
nights ago, but she didn’t have any plans to press charges against him.
 
She told him to hang in there and to
wake up when he could.

“You’re so
important Luke.
 
You can help put an
end to all the bad stuff that’s been going on.
 
We need you to wake up so you can talk
to the authorities.
 
Nothing bad is
going to happen.
 
We’ll see that you
are protected.”
 
She knew she
couldn’t make real promises, but she felt certain that Mark and Zach would stand
by Luke if he could help them to solve these cases. The nurse came back in to
get her, but before she left Lin took Luke’s hand in hers and gave it a gentle
squeeze.
 
To her immense surprise
she felt a small but definite squeeze in return.
 
She turned to the nurse who nodded that
she had observed what happened.

“That’s the
second good sign today,” the nurse smiled, “I’ll be willing to bet that he heard
what you were saying to him.
 
Actually, I wish he did have some family members that would come visit
and talk to him every day.”

“He does have
family,” Lin said glumly, “but I think most of them are in jail right now.
 
I’ll try to come back though, and I’ll
see if I can find some other folks to do likewise.”

The nurse
returned her to Mark’s capable hands and together they headed back to Lin’s
room.
 
It was mid-afternoon and Lin
was feeling tired.
 
She was glad
that Mark was there to help her get back into the bed.

“I guess I
should be going now,” Mark said, “I’ve got to keep pushing things forward on
this case.
 
Zach went home to rest;
I rested some this morning.
 
I think
I’m going to head to the Watauga County Sheriff’s office—I’d like to talk
to Deputy Dave Winkler and see what he has to say.”

“Be careful,”
Lin said, “It might be dangerous for you to let him know what you suspect.”

“Maybe,” Mark
said, “but sooner or later we’ve got to confront him.
 
I’m convinced, as I’m sure you are, that
he did have some role to play, however small, in these events.
 
Maybe I could convince him to help
us.
 
Maybe he’d be willing to talk
about the ringleaders in this case.
 
I ‘d like to give it a try.”
 
Mark made sure that Lin had her call button within reach and then he left.

Lin adjusted
her bed to a lower position.
 
She
was surprised at how tired her small trip to the ICU had left her.
 
Neal was coming later, and she wanted to
be awake for him.
 
As she drifted
off to sleep, she was thinking about Mark confronting Dave Winkler.
 
I don’t think he’ll talk, Lin thought to
herself.
 
In fact, I think he’s
right in the middle of all this.

***

Dave Winkler
was not in when Mark first arrived at the office; however, the receptionist
indicated that he should return shortly and offered to let Mark wait in the
conference room.
  
Sitting in
the warmth of the sunlit room, Mark was having a hard time staying awake.
 
He wanted to talk to Zach about Luke
Taylor but was afraid he’d wake him if he tried to call.
 
Finally, he walked down the hall to the
soda machine and got a diet coke.
 
Maybe, he needed a jolt of caffeine.

He’d just
returned to the conference room and settled himself when Dave Winkler
entered.
 
The deputy approached him
in a business-like manner—rather brusque, Mark thought.
 
He noticed that Winkler had closed the
door when he entered the room.

“And what can I
help you with today, ranger,” Winkler pulled out a chair and sat down opposite
Mark.
 
“I hope this won’t take too
long.
 
I’ve got a busy
afternoon.
 
I need to arrange a
competency hearing for Eustace Hinson, and the judge said he could talk to me
about that case if I got there by four-thirty.”

Mark noticed
that it was already a few minutes past four. “I’ll get right to the point
then,” he said. “I assume you’re aware that the Hinson brothers and George
Reagan were arrested this morning up in Ashe County.”

Winkler shifted
in his seat and re-stacked the files he had in front of him.
 
He finally looked up at Mark. “Actually,
this is the first I’ve heard about that.
 
What were they arrested for, and why did you think I’d know about it
already?”

Mark decided to
jump right in, “ The initial charges relate to ginseng poaching; however, other
more serious charges are pending.
 
I
thought you might know because I have a witness who says you were with these
men, at least some of them, last night at the place where they were eventually
arrested this morning.”

Winkler’s eyes
shot up toward Mark’s face.
 
His
expression was stern, “And who might this so-called witness be, I frankly don’t
have any idea what you could be talking about.”

Mark didn’t
take the bait, “At this time I’m not at liberty to reveal names, but I can
assure you that the witness is a reliable person.
 
If you can explain your association with
the arrested men…”

“There’s
nothing to explain,” Winkler was on his feet.
 
He crossed the room and opened the door,
signaling that Mark should leave. “I have an appointment and you need to
go.
 
I’d strongly suggest that you
be more cautious about what you say.
 
I’ve lived here a long time, and, of course, I’ve had associations with
the Hinsons—I’m dealing with their father again right now.
 
George Reagan is a well-known,
respectable businessman.
 
I doubt
seriously if the unsubstantiated words of a couple of strangers to this community—busybodies
at that—will stand up against the word of respectable citizens and
officials.
 
Be advised that I will
not take kindly to any efforts to undermine my integrity and reputation and you
can pass that message along to your volunteer lady friends.”
 
With that he exited the room and slammed
the door.

That went well
didn’t it, Mark told himself.
 
Winkler’s reaction had convinced Mark that indeed he was present last
night at the ore pits.
 
Lin wasn’t
mistaken about the voice she heard.
 
Winkler’s jumping to the conclusion that Lin or Sue was his witness was
further proof in his mind.
 
Now he
just had to get more evidence.

Mark got up to
leave.
 
He thought that he’d better
call Neal Smith and tell him what had transpired.
 
Neal would be going to the hospital soon
to see Lin.
 
Mark wanted to warn him
to be cautious—who knows what sort of tricks Winkler might have up his
sleeve.
 
Mark didn’t take his
threats lightly.

“I hope I
didn’t wake you,” Mark said when Neal answered his phone.

“No, I was just
getting up.
 
I’m getting ready to go
back to the hospital,” Neal responded.

“I was there
earlier,” Mark told him.
 
He brought
Neal up to date on how all the victims were doing and then reported on his
visit with Dave Winkler.

“We’ll be
cautious,” Neal said.
 
He too
realized that Winkler could be dangerous, especially if he felt his position
was threatened. “I’ll be bringing Lin home tomorrow and I plan to keep her
close by for the present.
 
I’d be
happy to help you with anything I can—just let me know what I can do to
aid in the investigation.”

“I’m going to
start interviewing everyone I can find that might know anything at all about
the poaching or any other issues.
 
You never know where information might come from.
 
I’m going to visit Bryan Lee’s widow and
anyone else I can find related to other victims.
 
If anyone has any information that might
be helpful, I’ll find it.
 
I still
think Luke Taylor is going to be our key witness—if he recovers.
 
Maybe that’s where you can help.
 
Maybe you and Lin can keep visiting
him.
 
In spite of his coma, he
seemed to respond to her.
 
Maybe
that’s what he needs to help him wake up.
 
If he does regain consciousness, I want to know it right away.”

“You, will,”
Neal responded, “I’ll talk to the hospital personnel when I get there and see
what we can do to visit him on a regular basis.
 
Meanwhile, you be careful too.
 
Stay in touch, Mark.”

“I will,” the
ranger said, “and thanks for helping.”

Thinking that
Lin would be hungry following her ordeal and that she had only had hospital food
available that day, Neal decided to take something good for dinner for the both
of them.
 
He stopped by the Asian
food bar at the local Harris-Teeter and left with heaps of stir-fried chicken
and veggies along with eggrolls and even a carton of egg drop soup.
 
He arrived at the hospital just in time
to observe Lin picking at her dinner tray that contained mostly items that were
brown or white and largely unrecognizable.
 
When she saw that he had brought food she pushed that aside with a
thankful grin.