Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (5 page)

“I think I’m
good for now,” Lin said as she tossed Sue the keys.

Lin had just
had time to fill her mug with fresh hot coffee and settle herself in one of the
easy chairs that adorned the lodge’s rustic lobby when her cell phone
buzzed.
 
It was Neal.
 
She answered, eager to hear his voice
and talk to him, but somewhat undecided about how much to tell him regarding
the events of the weekend.

Neal sounded
tired but happy.
 
Graduation had
gone well, the speaker had even been fairly interesting.
 
He gave Lin a run down on all of his
weekend activities.
 
Finally, he
paused, “You’re probably bored with all of this by now, tell me what you and
Sue have been doing on your last weekend before you become working
volunteers.
 
This may be your last
free weekend for awhile.”

“Perhaps,” Lin
laughed, “but we only work about twenty or thirty hours each week so we’ll have
ample time off, it just might not fall on Saturdays or Sundays.
 
We played tourist and spent Saturday
enjoying sights on the Parkway, even had a picnic lunch,” she offered.

“Sounds like
you had fun,” Neal responded, “I hope I can get there sometime soon.
 
I’ve never visited there and I’ve heard
it’s beautiful.”

“It is, I hope
you can come, the sooner the better,” Lin really missed him. She felt a little
guilty.
 
She’d not mentioned their
finding the girl who’d been shot.
 
Neal knew her very well and she knew he’d be concerned about her getting
involved in any new, possibly criminal matter.
 
Nevertheless, she’d promised herself
that she would always be honest with him and that included not hiding anything
so she began, “We did have a troubling encounter as we were coming home from
our picnic.”

For the next
half hour, Lin related all that had happened—finding the girl, getting
word out for help, learning she’d been shot and hadn’t yet been identified,
talking to the authorities—the whole story as it had unfolded thus far.

Neal was silent
for a moment as she finished.
 
Then
he finally spoke, “I’m sure all that upset you and Sue, but I’m glad you found
the girl.
 
She could’ve died had you
not been able to get help for her.”

“Yes, she might
have.
 
I’m concerned that she hasn’t
yet been identified, so far as we know, and her companion, this Pete fellow was
still missing last we heard.”

“I feel sure
that those gaps will be filled in the first of the week,” Neal responded.
 
“Once the university begins summer
classes and offices are open, the authorities should be able to find out if the
two are students, for example.
 
Someone will miss them when they don’t show up wherever they are
expected.”
 
He paused and was silent
for a moment.

Lin felt sure
he wanted to say more.
 
She knew he
was thinking about last spring and winter when she’d become involved in
situations that proved to be very dangerous for her.
 
For that matter, Neal himself had faced
danger. She almost changed the subject but decided to wait and see what he
would say.
 
Finally, he broke the
silence.

“Listen,
Lin.
 
I’m sure you want to know more
about this girl and about what happened to her and to her missing friend.
 
It’s only natural to be curious when
you’ve encountered such a situation but…”

Lin
interrupted, “…I know what you’re thinking, Neal and I promise you I won’t get
involved in this.
 
I’ll be too busy
learning the ropes in the park, but I do hope I can at least find out who this
girl is, maybe visit her in the hospital when she gets better.
 
After all, Sue and I both were very
concerned about her.
 
I’m sure the
authorities can take care of everything else.”

She could
almost hear the smile in Neal’s next remarks, “I’ll hold you to that promise,
Ms. Hanna.
 
Call me when you know
more and give me an update—meanwhile, have your calendar ready.
 
I have to go to Tucson to discuss that
project I told you about earlier, but I’ll be back here by the end of the
week.
 
Then I need to get some work
done on my house since I’m trying to sell it, but I should have those things
taken care of in a few weeks, and I plan to head east as soon as I can.
 
We need to make some wedding plans; he
lowered his voice, I can hardly wait to see you and…have some alone time.
 
I miss you every day, Lin.
 
I love you so much…”

“Me too,” she
murmured.
 
“I feel the same
way.
 
By that time Sue and I will be
in the house and it has plenty of room….” Neal cut her off.

“That’s fine
and I’ll probably stay with you guys most of the time, but I have something
more personal and private in mind too.
 
Don’t worry, I’ll find someplace for us to get away for some “alone”
time and…” Even though she was sitting alone in the lobby of the lodge, Lin
felt herself blushing at his next remarks.

After briefly
discussing possible dates for this visit, Lin promised to try to plan her work
schedule so as to have a bit of extra time off while Neal was around.
 
Then they said good night, agreeing that
she’d call him later in the week.

After ending their
conversation, Lin decided it was time to call it a day, maybe read a bit before
going to bed.
 
She’d seen Sue come
in while she was still on the phone.
 
By the time she arrived back at the room, Sue was in the shower.

Lin got
undressed and put on a soft knit nightshirt.
 
She was propped in bed with her IPad
reading when Sue came back into the room.
 
“I decided one of us might as well shower tonight.
 
That’ll save some time in the morning.
 
We’ll have to leave here pretty
early.
 
I’m supposed to be at the
Cone house by eight and you’ll have to drive all the way to Linn Cove after you
drop me off.”

“It’ll be Ok, I
think,” Lin responded, “Linn Cove Visitor Center opens at eight also, but I was
told it would be fine if I didn’t arrive until eight-fifteen or even
eight-thirty.
 
They know we’re
sharing a car for now. I get off at two-thirty so I should be there to pick you
up by three.”
 

They talked for
a while about their weekend and all that had happened, “It’s hard to believe we
just got here and we’re already witnesses, at least to some degree, in a
serious situation,” Sue remarked. “Finding that girl has pushed everything else
into the background it seems.” She glanced at the bloody blanket still lying on
the floor in a corner of the room, “We never got to the laundry, for example.”

“And we didn’t
go by the Wellness Center to see about an exercise program,” Lin replied as she
stretched and flexed her shoulder that was beginning to feel a bit stiff.

“OK, that
settles it,” Sue grinned, “tomorrow after work we check out the exercise
facility before we even come back here, and tomorrow night we do laundry.”

Stifling a
yawn, Lin nodded her agreement; she was already growing sleepy.
 
She checked her alarm to make sure it
was set for the morning and then turned out the light.

The beautiful
weather of the weekend was long gone by morning.
 
It was misty and overcast as Lin and Sue
left the lodge, and, by the time they reached the Parkway, they were driving in
dense fog.

“At least it’s
daylight,” Lin tried to be positive as she crept along the roadway with her fog
lights on, “it was worse the other night when we went out to the house.”

“Yeah, but this
is definitely limited visibility,” Sue responded. “I checked the weather online
and a mass of warmer air is headed our way, so we’ll probably have more of
this, maybe even thunderstorms, later in the day.”

“We’ll get used
to it, I guess,” Lin replied, but she still thought it was spooky.
 
Signs emerged as you were right on top
of them, and the trees had a ghostly appearance.
 
Thankfully, it was early so there wasn’t
much traffic.
 
Only a couple of cars
emerged from the fog approaching them.

Lin dropped Sue
off at the Cone mansion and then carefully proceeded to Linn Cove.
 
She was later than she’d planned to be,
but the fog had also kept visitors away; she still had time to get acquainted
with the staff on duty that day and check out the exhibits before she began
work.

“This fog will
lift within the hour,” the lead ranger on duty said.
 
She was a woman about Lin’s age named
Rachel Clifford.
 
The two discovered
that they had a lot in common.
 
Rachel had taken early retirement as a teacher and was now working as a
seasonal ranger.
 
This was her first
time on the Parkway.

She was right
about the fog.
 
Although the sky
remained partly cloudy, the sun did break through and the day, though warmer
than the weekend, was quite pleasant.
 
Most of the morning Lin spent reading material about the building of the
viaduct and studying the exhibits in the visitor center.
 
By late morning she was beginning to
feel comfortable talking with some of the visitors and answering their
questions.

“You’re a quick
study,” Rachel remarked, “I can tell this isn’t your first volunteer assignment.”

Lin briefly
told Rachel about her experience at Wupatki National Monument in northern
Arizona and as a “substitute” volunteer filling in for her friend Kate at Fort
Raleigh down on the coast of North Carolina.
 
Rachel had had some volunteer
experiences of her own before her retirement from teaching.
 
She explained that the seasonal work she
now did provided her with great opportunities to spend her summers in beautiful
and interesting places while earning a little extra money.

The morning
passed quickly.
 
When Rachel
returned from her lunch break, Lin decided to take her own lunch outside.
 
She walked the short trail that wound
under the viaduct, listening to the sounds the road made as cars passed
overhead.
 
She and Sue had been here
on Saturday, and she had noticed that there were some large rocks at the end of
the short trail near where it joined a longer hiking trail that led up the
mountainside.
 
She chose one of
these as a spot to sit and enjoy her food.
 
A few visitors came by, but mostly she was alone with the chipmunks and
birds.
 
Her break time passed
quickly.

Returning to
the visitor center, she helped Rachel organize some of the shelves in the
bookstore and then returned to the work area to finish reviewing some of the
orientation material she’d been given about this location.
 
That was accomplished fairly
quickly.
 
There was still about
ninety minutes left in her workday; hopefully, there would be more visitors, so
she could test her newfound knowledge.

Lin had just
begun talking with a family that had questions about how the viaduct was built
when she saw a familiar figure approach.
 
It was Mark Scott.
 
He
observed that she was occupied and went to the desk to speak to Rachel.
 
Rachel signaled to Lin and came forward
to talk with the family.

“Ranger Scott
needs to speak with you,” she smiled, “I’ll take over here.
 
You can talk in the office.”

Hopeful that
Scott was bringing news about the girl they’d found over the weekend, Lin
thanked the family for their interest and excused herself.
 
Scott was already waiting for her in the
office.
 
He looked weary and
depressed, slumped in a chair behind the desk.
 
Lin closed the door quietly behind her
and took a seat also.

“You look tired,
you must’ve been working almost round the clock since we saw you yesterday,”
she was sympathetic.

“It’s been
pretty tough,” Scott admitted, “a bad weekend, I’d have to say.
 
I’m new at this law enforcement
business.
 
Hopefully, I’ll find it
easier to manage when I’ve more experience but…”

“Having people
lost and injured is never easy,” Lin replied. “I suppose one can get used to
the difficulties, but it’s always hard I’d imagine.”

“I suppose
you’re right,” he nodded, “anyway, I stopped by because I promised I would keep
you and Ms. Gray informed about what we learned.
 
I stopped by Moses Cone and talked to
her before I came here.
 
I really
appreciate what you two did for that girl.
 
Without your being there she might’ve died, and I know you’re concerned
and want to know what’s going on.”

“The good news
is that our young lady finally woke up last night.
 
The doctors seem pleased with her
progress, but she’s going to have a lengthy rehabilitation period, I
think.
 
She was able to tell us her
name; it’s Ellen Clark.
 
She’s a
student here, was supposed to start the summer session today.
 
She was there for a picnic with another
student, this Peter Dunne who owned the car we found.
 
She doesn’t remember anything that
happened beyond that.
 
She has no
memory of your finding her even.
 
The doctors say that’s probably due to the trauma she suffered.
 
She has a skull fracture and a
concussion.
 
Her memory will
probably come back, but for now, she can’t tell us much of anything.”

“What about her
friend, this Pete she was evidently with?” Lin asked.

“That’s the bad
news,” Scott sighed. “We finally found Pete, his remains that is, down in the
woods on the slope below that overlook.
 
He’d been shot multiple times.
 
Evidently, the girl landed on that flat area about six feet down when
she fell.
 
Fortunately, she was able
to climb back up.
 
Pete wasn’t so
lucky.
 
He fell all the way down.”
Scott sat back and took a deep breath. “The ME said if the gunshot wounds
didn’t kill him then the fall probably did—apparently his body was badly
broken.
 
I just hope he didn’t
suffer too much,” there was a catch in the young ranger’s voice.

Lin brought the
subject back to the girl.
 
When
Scott had said her name, Ellen Clark, Lin had felt it was somehow
familiar.
 
Of course, it wasn’t an
unusual name.
 
“What about Ellen
Clark’s family?
 
Have you been able
to reach them?”

“ We’re trying
but haven’t caught up with them yet—hopefully we will soon—it seems
they’re traveling in Europe and are in transit between stops at present.
 
We should be able to reach them by
tonight though.”

“May I ask who
they are and where the girl is from?” Lin queried, “There’s something familiar
about her name…”

“Her parents
are John and Hillary Clark and they’re from Charlotte.
 
He works with Bank of America apparently.
 
Ellen told us this trip was part
pleasure and part business.”

Lin was
floored.
 
It seemed impossible, but
she thought she knew these people—had even known Ellen when she was much
younger.
 
A John and Hillary Clark
had served as co-presidents of the PTA at the school she served as principal in
Charlotte a number of years ago.
 
They were dedicated supporters of the school and she’d come to know them
well—and their daughter who, of course, she wouldn’t have had contact
with since she was about eleven years old and in the fifth grade.
 
The girl she and Sue had found on the
parkway had not seemed familiar at all, but she was cut and bruised and unable
to talk to them so that wasn’t surprising.
 
She recalled that Hillary Clark was a stay-at-home Mom, and she thought
John had been a bank executive.
 
She
felt fairly certain these were the people she’d once known quite well.

Lin turned to
the young ranger. “Unless I’m very much mistaken, your victim was once a
student of mine in Charlotte. I’m a retired school principal.
 
I think I know her parents and knew her
when she was much younger, of course.
 
Hopefully, I can see her parents when they arrive.
 
In the meanwhile, if there’s anything
you think I could do for Ellen, I think we called her Ellie when she was in elementary
school, just let me know.”

“I guess the
doctors are doing everything they can right now.
 
They asked us not to tell her about Pete
just yet—she hasn’t asked about him.
 
I think they were planning to move her to a regular room on the surgical
floor later today.
 
She should be
able to have visitors then.”

“I’ll be there,
for sure.” Lin said. “She should have someone to look in on her, at least until
her parents arrive.
 
Thank you for
bringing me this information.
 
I’ll
want to help in any way that I can.”

“Well, we know
where we can find you ladies if we need you,” Scott replied,
 
“and thanks again for your help thus
far.” He rose to go, “You have my number if you think of any more information
we should have.”

Lin walked with
Scott to the entrance of the visitor center.
 
She noticed that it was almost
two-thirty already.
 
She’d be
leaving shortly and she could hardly wait to see Sue and tell her about having
known the Clarks. She was fairly sure that these were the same people she’d
once worked with.

Before leaving
for the day, Lin checked her weekly schedule once more.
 
She was scheduled to work six hours
tomorrow, but she would be off on Wednesday all day.
 
She worked on Thursday but was off again
on Friday, returning to work on the weekend to complete a full thirty-hour
week.
 
She couldn’t recall Sue’s
schedule but knew that her hours would be similar.
 
She entered the days and times on her
cell phone calendar and went out to say goodbye to Rachel.

“I saw you
looking at the schedule in there,” Rachel commented. “Is that going to work for
you? Remember, you’re a volunteer and you can work the schedule as you see
fit.
 
We appreciate the help, but we
provide no housing or anything, and we realize you want to have time to enjoy
the area.”

“Oh, it’s fine as
it is,” Lin assured her. “Sue and I both will enjoy being here and staying
busy,” she did decide this was a good time to plan ahead. “In a few weeks, my
fiancé will be coming for a visit.
 
I would like to have some time to enjoy the area with him; I might ask
to have fewer hours while he’s here.”

“Absolutely,”
Rachel smiled, “just let me know how you want to schedule yourself when he
comes.
 
Congratulations, by the way,
when’s the wedding?”

“We haven’t set
a date just yet,” Lin replied, “I’m thinking about maybe September, that’s one
of the things we need to do—make some plans. I expect to be here all
summer though.”

“Well, you’d
better get going.
 
It’s past
two-thirty and your friend will be waiting for you at Moses Cone,” Rachel went
back into the visitor center as Lin headed for her car.

***

About
seven-thirty that evening, Lin and Sue walked into the Watauga County Medical
Center.
 
They’d called earlier and
learned that Ellen Clark was now in a regular hospital room and could have
visitors.
 
They’d stopped at the
nearby supermarket and purchased some colorful summer flowers.
 
Now they approached Ellen’s room on the
surgical floor.

Ellen was
propped up in bed, her left arm strapped to her body in a sling.
 
Her face was badly bruised and swollen
with black stitches marking where cuts had been closed.
 
She seemed pale and drawn.
 
Tears were streaming down her face; she
was crying softly.

“Ellen, is it
OK if we come in?
 
We can come back
tomorrow if you don’t feel up to having visitors this evening,” Lin spoke
quietly as they entered the room.
 
The unhappy girl turned and looked at them.
 
She gave a short gasp, “Dr. Hanna? Is
that you? What are you doing here?” Clearly she’d recognized Lin, although Lin
had to confess that she would’ve had a hard time recognizing Ellen, especially
with all those cuts and bruises.
 
Of
course, it had probably been eight or nine years since she’d seen her and she
would’ve been no more than eleven years old then.