Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (49 page)

Then—she
heard it again—a sound from the first floor…maybe outside on the
porch.
 
She was sure now that
someone was there.
 
She shook Neal
gently and when he woke, she put her finger over his lips, signaling him to
remain quiet.

“Someone’s
here,” she whispered, “I think maybe outside on the porch.
 
It’s raining and the wind is blowing,
but I’m sure I heard something out there or—maybe downstairs.”

Neal got up
quietly and reached for his clothes, tossing Lin’s to her so she could get
dressed also.

“I’m going down
to check this out,” he whispered. “Get dressed but stay up here.”
 
He tossed her cell phone onto the bed,
“Call the sheriff’s department, but then, call Mark Scott or Zach
Taylor—maybe both of them.”
 
He moved quietly out the bedroom door toward the stairs.

Lin hurried to
do what he asked.
 
She reached the
dispatcher at the sheriff’s office who said they’d contact the deputy on patrol
in the area to come by.
 
When she
reached Mark Scott she knew she’d awakened him, but he quickly became alert
when she told him that they’d heard something. “I’ll come right over, but it’ll
probably take me twenty minutes, maybe longer in this weather…I’ll call Zach
myself,” he said.

When she
completed the calls, Lin reached for her crutches.
 
She moved out to the hallway so that she
could hear better.
 
Neal was moving
through the lower rooms, no doubt checking for evidence of an intruder.
Suddenly, she heard a sharp cry of pain and the sound of a body hitting the
floor. What had happened?
 
Who had
cried out?
  
Who had fallen?
 
Lin was frozen in fear.
 
Was Neal hurt or had he stopped their
intruder?
 
She was afraid to make a
sound.

She heard
footsteps approaching the stairs in the dark and carefully slipped back into
the bedroom to hide behind the door.
 
She propped herself against the wall and lifted one of her
crutches—it wasn’t much of a weapon, but it was all she had.
 
She waited.
 
Her heart was pounding and her breath
was coming in short snatches.

Then someone
called her name—“Lin are you up there?
 
Where are you?”
 
It was Neal.
 
With great relief she slipped out from
behind the door, “I’m here Neal.
 
I’m fine.
 
What happened? Who
was there?”

She heard Neal
approaching from the stairs and stepped out to meet him. He was carrying the
small shotgun Sue had used against an earlier intruder.
 
He collapsed on the side of the bed, “I
don’t really know much about how to shoot one of these, but it makes a pretty
good club.
 
Knocked our intruder out
cold.
 
I taped his hands and ankles
with duck tape before I came up.
 
Did you reach anyone?

Lin nodded, “I
got the sheriff’s office and then I called Mark.
 
He’s on his way and the dispatcher said
she’d contact the officer on patrol who should be by any minute.”

“I think the
patrol officer’s already here,” Neal replied, “Our intruder was none other than
our good friend, Dave Winkler.”

Mark Scott
arrived about fifteen minutes later, about the same time as a county patrol car
also pulled into the driveway.
 
The
deputy who appeared was one of the young men who had been out on an earlier
call, but Lin couldn’t recall his name.

“Our intruder
is out in the kitchen,” Neal said as he escorted the two men back to where Dave
Winkler lay bound hand and foot.
 
The temporary fix on the back door had been the point of entry and now the
door had an open hole through which the rain and mist crawled into the
house.
 
Winkler stirred as they
approached, he was regaining consciousness.

Lin sat down at
the kitchen table, propping her crutches again the wall nearby.
 
The young deputy simply stared down at
the bound form of his superior, not sure what to say or do it appeared.

Mark approached
Dave Winkler and lifted him up to a seated position, “Deputy Winkler, how do
you explain your presence here?” he asked.
 
Since the younger man was speechless he’d decided to take over.

Dave Winkler
tried to shake the cobwebs out of his head.
 
Finally, he looked around at the scene,
“I think I’d ask the same thing of you,” he stammered, “I was on patrol out
this way, simply doing my job when the call came in.
 
I was here to investigate a report of an
intruder. No one answered the door when I rang so I came in here through the
back—er-er I found it open.” He moaned as he struggled to get up.
 
Mark Scott bent to help him, more or
less dragging him over to one of the chairs across from Lin.

“I should’ve
waited for my backup here to arrive when I realized the source of the call; now
I’ve been assaulted,” he raised a vicious, snarling face toward Lin, “ I guess
you’ll be visiting your boyfriend there in jail soon.
 
The sentence for assaulting a police
officer is pretty steep I hear.”

The young
officer who’d arrived when Mark did finally found his voice, “I-I-er, I didn’t
get a call for backup—I’m the regular patrol officer in this district
tonight.
 
When the call came in, it
was for a first response.
 
My
radio’s been on all night—that was the first call, I’m sure.”

Winkler simply
ignored the young man, turning instead to Mark Scott, “I’d appreciate it if you
would release me here.
 
I need to
place this gentleman under arrest,” he nodded toward Neal.

About that time
Lin could see lights sweeping the driveway as someone else arrived.

“That would be
Zach Taylor, probably,” Mark said.
 
He turned to Dave Winkler, “I expect he’s going to want to question you
further about the ginseng poaching, not to mention the kidnapping and assault
charges related to Ms. Hanna, her friend, and Luke Taylor.
 
Then there’re still some past crimes you
may be able to help us clear up—Deputy Winkler.”

By this time
Winkler had decided not to talk anymore.
 
He sat there sullenly, not even bothering to look up when Zach Taylor
entered the room.
 
Mark suggested
that the young deputy now make a call for back-up. “You’ll be taking Deputy
Winkler back to the jail I presume, and you might need some help.”

Neal and Lin
proceeded to bring Zach Taylor up to date on the evening’s events while the
young lawman was busy arranging for assistance in transporting his
prisoner.
 
Throughout all of this,
Dave Winkler refused to talk at all; his only words were a request that he be
allowed to call his attorney.

“You can
contact him when you get back to the jail,” Zach Taylor said curtly—not
before.

At that moment,
Lin’s cell phone rang.
 
She picked
it up and noticed that it was the hospital calling.
 
She hoped it wasn’t bad news.
 

“Ms. Hanna,
this is Liz Davis calling from the ICU at Watauga Medical.
 
I’m sorry to disturb you at this hour,
but you said to call, whatever time…Luke Taylor is awake and he’s asking to see
you.”

“I’ll be there
as soon as I can,” Lin responded, “While I’ve got you on the phone, how is Ms.
Gray doing?”

“Oh, she’s
doing quite well, I think.
 
Resting
comfortably tonight.
 
I’m sure
she’ll be moved to a regular room later today.”

Lin thanked the
nurse for calling. “You don’t need to call Mark Scott or Zach Taylor,” she
added.
  
“I’m with them now and
will give them the information about Luke.
 
They’ll want to talk to him too.”

“Just remember,
he’s still in ICU and he’s still quite sick,” Nurse Davis said, “Still only one
visitor at a time and it’s you he asked for.”

Lin ended the
call and turned to Mark and Zach, “You heard, I’m sure.
 
Luke’s awake now, and we can talk to
him—one at a time though.”

Zach Taylor
smiled, “I’ll be eager to ask him what he knows about Deputy Winkler’s
involvement in all this mess, but first I’m going to follow these guys back to
the jail and talk to Winkler here.”
 
He turned to Mark.
 
You go to
the hospital and try to talk to Luke.
  
I’ll call you later.”

“I need to go
to the hospital myself,” this was the first thing Winkler had said since the
federal officers had arrived. “I was assaulted, I was unconscious, I probably
have a concussion.”

Having found
his voice earlier, the young deputy spoke up, “We’ll have you looked at by Dr.
Parker at the jail, he’s on call tonight.
 
He can decide if you need to go to the hospital.”
 
He reached out and stripped the duck
tape from Dave Winkler’s wrists, replacing it with handcuffs.
 
Then he removed the tape from his ankles
and led the sullen, pouting Winkler out to his waiting patrol car.

Mark turned to
Neal, “Let’s get over to the hospital as soon as we can.
 
You can go into the sheriff’s office
later this morning and give a full statement regarding what happened to the
local authorities.
 
Luke Taylor’s
asking for Lin and I want her to have the chance to talk to him—even if I
can’t right now.”

***

The ICU was
eerily quiet when the three of them arrived.
 
Lin was tired of manipulating herself on
the crutches and had gladly accepted a wheel chair for the ride up in the
elevator.
 
“I’ll be glad when Monday
comes,” she sighed, “The doc said I could put the boot back on then.
 
I’ll be able to get around better.”

Nurse Davis met
them when they got off the elevator.
 
There was no one about except for the medical staff and a couple of
family members keeping vigil in the waiting room.
 
Neal and Mark were ushered in there to
sit while the nurse took Lin down to see Luke.

“Just a few
minutes,” the nurse said as she wheeled Lin into the room, “he just woke up,
and he may be disoriented.”
 
She
quietly placed Lin’s chair near the head of the bed and left the room.

Luke seemed
pale and drawn, almost melting into the white of the bed he lay on.
 
The monitors flashed and beeped
softly—measuring his vital signs.
 
His eyes were closed, and Lin thought for a moment that this
conversation might have to be postponed.
 
She decided to try though.

“Luke, it’s Lin
Hanna, I’ve come to see you.
 
The
nurse said you were asking for me.”

The transparent
eyelids seemed to flutter, and then Luke opened his eyes and turned his head
toward her.
 
A slight smile seemed
to trace his drawn lips.
 
“Thanks,”
Luke murmured, “you’ve been here before and talked to me.
 
I remember you came.
 
I wanted to talk to you then, but I
couldn’t wake up.
 
I’m so sorry
about what I did that night—about taking you.
 
That was wrong and I deserve to go to
jail for that—I’m so sorry, but I was so frightened I didn’t know what to
do.”

“What were you
afraid of Luke?” Lin asked. “You can tell me now.
 
You’re safe here, and no one is going to
hurt you.
 
Tell me whom you were
afraid of.”

Luke took a
deep breath and fingered his blanket, “I was afraid of my uncles, Herman and
Hiram, afraid of what they might do.
 
I knew they took Ms. Gray.
 
They wanted her out of the way.
 
She kept poking into those old killings—all those people.
 
They were afraid of what she might
uncover.
 
They wanted you too, but I
got to you first.
 
I’m so
sorry.
 
I was going to use you to
bargain with them.
 
I was going to
take you to them and give you to them if they’d leave grandpa and me
alone—leave us out of all this ginseng business—but that was
wrong.
 
I realized that when I
finally got you.
 
I couldn’t do
it.
 
I wanted to help you and Ms.
Gray, but it was too late…” the young man turned his head away, ashamed for her
to see his tears.

Lin reached out
and took his hand. “No, Luke. It wasn’t too late.
 
Sue’s here now, she’s right down the
hall here, and she’s getting better, she’s going to be fine and so are
you.
 
They’re all in jail
now—your uncles and Dave.
 
What did Dave have to do with all this?”

“Dave Winkler
started the whole thing,” Luke said. “He brought this man—George
somebody—to see my uncles.
 
This was a long time ago.
 
They were business partners, he said.
 
They were going to make a lot of money,
and he’d make sure that nobody from the law bothered them.”
 
Luke’s voice was trembling now.
 
He was clearly growing tired; Lin
thought she knew enough for now.
 
Zach and Mark could talk with him later and get more information.
 
The important thing was that he recover
fully—so he could fulfill his role as a prime witness.
 

“You need to
rest now, Luke,” she said.
 
“Some
federal officers will want to talk to you later, and I’ll be back to see you
soon.
 
Thanks for talking to
me.
 
Just remember, we all want to
help you, and I won’t be pressing any charges against you.
 
The other officers need your help and
they’ll help you too.
 
It’s all
going to work out now.
 
You just
rest and get well.”

Luke nodded
sleepily as Lin left, wheeling herself back toward the waiting room.
 
“He’s asleep again right now,” she told
Mark and Neal, “but he has a lot of information to share.
 
He told me that Dave Winkler was behind
this whole mess and all of it relates somehow to the ginseng poaching.
 
He wasn’t able to talk long, but he did
say that much.
 
I think these old
murder cases are linked into the whole situation too, although he didn’t get
into the details of all that.”

Mark Scott
shook his head, “You did well, Lin.
 
We don’t want to wear him out while he’s still so sick, but thanks to
you, we have a place to start with Dave Winkler.
 
I think I’ll go meet Zach at the
jail.
 
We need to hit Winkler before
he has time to lawyer up, if possible.
 
Maybe, he’ll want to talk when he knows Luke is telling what he knows.”

“First, you
need to get some security over here to watch over Luke.
 
Now that he’s awake and talking, the
guilty parties will be after him—wanting to shut him up,” Lin knew that
word would travel fast about Luke’s waking up.

“You’re right,”
Mark said, reaching for his phone and punching numbers. “I’ll stay here until
someone comes to provide security.”

The first
officers to appear were a couple of local Boone policemen.
 
They set up to guard Luke’s door. “The
county will send some folks over to relieve us later.
 
We’ll share this duty for the time
being,” they said.

By this time it
was beginning to get light.
 
Once
again, they’d been up most of the night, but Lin was too worked up to want to
sleep.
 
She decided to look in on
Sue before she left the hospital, as soon as the nurses would let her visit.

“OK, you stay
here,” Neal said. “I’ll have Mark drop me off at the house and come back with
your car.
 
Then, maybe, we can go
get some breakfast.
 
That bowl of
soup we ate yesterday afternoon is long gone.
 
I’ll board up the back door again before
I leave,” he added.

Lin watched him
follow Mark down the hallway.
 
For
the first time since Sue had been taken, she finally felt like all this was
coming to an end.
 
She believed that
soon everything would come out, and the families and friends of those who had
died would finally have some answers.
 
She headed back toward the nurses’s station to see if they would let her
visit with Sue.
 
It might still be
early but she knew her friend would want to know about everything that had
happened.