Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (50 page)

August 2012

Lin closed her
suitcase and placed it against the wall near the bedroom door.
 
She checked her watch, noting that she
still had plenty of time to shower and dress before their dinner guests
arrived.
 
Fortunately, Boone was
enjoying a taste of perfect summer weather having endured more than its share
of rainy, foggy days earlier.
 
This
evening would be perfect for dinner on the patio.

She heard Sue
and Neal stirring downstairs in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on
some of their culinary specialties.
 
It was great to have Sue back on her feet again, even though she had to
use crutches still for walking any distance.
 
Most of the time around the house she
could manage with a cane.
  
After surgery her broken leg had healed well.
 
She had begun physical therapy just the
week before.
 
Sue had to take leave
from her volunteer position on the Parkway but, maybe, in a few weeks, she
might be able to resume light duties.
 
With her continued therapy she would definitely be staying on here for a
couple more months.

Lin sat on the
edge of the bed and removed the bandage from her ankle.
 
She was still wrapping it when she was
going to be on her feet for an extended period, but she was about ready to give
that up.
 

We’re all on
the mend, Lin thought.
 
Ted Whitley
had returned to his own apartment after spending a couple of weeks with them
earlier, and was making great strides with his therapy, growing stronger by the
day.
 

I’m going to
miss this place and these people, Lin thought.
 
Fortunately, she’d been able to get in a
few more weeks of volunteering after recovering from the “ordeal of the ore
pits”, as she’d labeled the abductions.
 
Now she was leaving the area to accompany Neal to Arizona where he would
begin working on the archeological dig near Tucson.
 
They would stay there until they
returned to North Carolina for their wedding in September.

Fortunately,
they’d been able to conclude most of their wedding plans by phone, and Lin’s
daughter Lucy had promised to follow up on the few remaining details now that
she was back from her vacation.
 
The
only thing Lin had to do was find a dress, but she’d have plenty of shopping
time in Tucson while Neal was working.

           
She
laid out a pair of linen slacks and a bright print shirt to wear that evening
and headed for the shower.
 
Lin was
looking forward to this evening.
 
It
was to be sort of a combination farewell dinner for Neal and her and
celebration of their success in solving at least some of the Parkway Murders,
as the press now called them.
 
Mark
Scott and Zach Turner were coming tonight to join them.

 
Unfortunately, Luke Taylor couldn’t be
there.
 
Luke was still at a
rehabilitation facility, but he was also making good progress toward what would
eventually be a full recovery.
 
He
had promised Lin that he would be present at her wedding next month.

When she
finished dressing Lin went downstairs to relieve Sue in the kitchen so that she
could change.
 
It did her good to
hear Sue laughing and joking with Neal; she was obviously feeling much stronger
these days.

“Everything is
really ready for dinner,” Sue smiled. “If you’ll get the appetizers and wine
ready we’ll be all done.” She turned to Neal, “If I can borrow the services of
your fiancé to help me with the stairs…”

“My pleasure,”
Neal responded enthusiastically.
 
He
was happy that Sue had made so much progress also.
 
He offered his arm for support as she
made her way carefully upstairs using her cane.

Lin put ice in
the bucket to keep the wine chilled and prepared a tray of appetizers.
 
“Did you finish packing?” Neal asked as
her returned to assist her. “We’re going to have to leave early tomorrow to
make our flight.”

“All ready to
go,” Lin smiled. “How ‘bout you?”

“My bag is
already sitting in the hallway down here,” Neal nodded toward the foyer. “I’ll
bring yours down after dinner.”

The doorbell
rang and Neal left to admit Ted Whitley, the first of their guests to
arrive.
 
He carried a notebook and
pen along with the dessert he’d promised to bring.
 
“I can’t wait until Mark and Zach
arrive,” Ted smiled. “I expect I’ll be able to finally finish preparing my
series on the murders after I hear what they have to tell us.
 
I’ve written all the background material,
and I think it’s going to be a smashing series if I do say so myself.”

Ted walked with
a firm stride, but his slightly hunched shoulders revealed that he had yet to
regain his full upper body strength.
 
Nothing could stop his enthusiasm, however.
 
He was moving full steam ahead with his
series on the Parkway Murders and was looking forward to helping Sue with her
fictional account of these events.

Sue was
planning to stay through the fall to work on this project.
 
She needed the time for her own further
recovery, and Frank Leonard was not planning to return home before the end of
the year, anyway.
 
Her injury and
subsequent surgery had given Sue the excuse she needed to turn down Frank’s
invitation to visit him in Italy; Lin, however, was pretty sure Sue’s
blossoming relationship with Ted Whitley had more to do with that decision than
did her health.

Ted and Neal
took the drinks and appetizers out to the patio while Lin put the finishing
touches on a salad to accompany their Lasagna dinner.
 
Soon, Sue joined her in the kitchen.

 
Mark and Zach arrived together shortly
thereafter.
 
They had invited Zach
to bring his wife; however, she’d not made the trip up to the mountains this
time.
 
Zach was here to work with
Mark as they prepared for the first of the upcoming trials.

 
The actual trials would take place in
federal court in Charlotte, but it was more convenient to prepare up here, near
the place where the crimes had occurred.

Sue went to the
door to greet their guests.

“Hey, look at
you,” Mark grinned as he entered, “You look like you’re doing great.
 
How’s the leg?”

“Still a bit
stiff,” Sue responded, “I still need some assistance walking, but I’m seeing
improvement almost every day now.
 
Should be able to ditch the crutches altogether soon and maybe the cane
will go in a couple of months.”

They made their
way to the patio where Ted and Neal were pouring glasses of wine for everyone.
 
Lin could hardly wait to pepper Mark and
Zach with questions but decided to try to practice some self-control and
socialize a bit first.
 
Fortunately,
she didn’t have to wait long.

Ted broke the
ice by proposing a toast to the success of the group in solving these crimes and
to the upcoming publication of his series about them. “Which I plan to complete
as soon as these gentlemen fill us in on where things stand at this point,” he
concluded.

Lin jumped in
eagerly, “Yes, we’re all eager to know how the prosecution of these cases is
coming together.”

“I’d have to
say things are coming together rather nicely at this point,” Zach began.
“George Reagan struck a deal to be a witness against Dave Winkler and the
Hinson brothers in exchange for not being tried as an accessory to the more
serious crimes.
 
We’re sure he knew
about them, but he didn’t actually participate.
 
He’ll face charges for the ginseng
poaching.
 
It’s true that he’ll
probably only get a few months of jail time, but he’ll also face some stiff
fines—serious enough to wipe out most of the profits he made from those
illegal sales.
 
Besides, we needed
his testimony to strengthen our cases against the other men.
 
George will go on trial first—in
just a couple of weeks.”

“What about the
others?” Lin queried. “ Will his testimony be sufficient to convict them of
murder?”

“I think so,”
Mark offered, “especially when combined with Luke Taylor’s testimony.
 
Luke has been able to tell us that his
uncles definitely killed Sandy Hill and Bryan Lee.
 
He heard them discussing both events
after the fact.
 
He is not certain
about the death of Peter Dunne and the shooting of Ellie Clark.
 
He knows that his grandfather didn’t do
it though.
 
He thinks maybe his
uncles talked Eustace into that confession, taking advantage of the old man’s confusion.”

Zach joined the
conversation, “Ellie is coming back to testify also.
 
We did a voice test for her with both
Herman and Hiram and she feels certain the voice she heard was like theirs.
 
Her memory is also clear as to the
strength of the person who pushed her over that ledge.
 
On its own, her testimony wouldn’t be
enough for a conviction, since she can’t make a visual identification, but we
still plan to use it to strengthen our overall case against the two of them.”

“Let’s see…”
Lin pondered, “that leaves the man whose dismembered body was found and Luke’s
girl friend, Sara Fletcher—what about them?”

 
“We have no real evidence in either of
those cases, but we think they are also related somehow…if we can make the
charges in the Hill and Lee cases stick, I think we’ll feel satisfied that we
have solved the others as well.
 
The
evidence may be circumstantial, but those deaths fit the pattern of the others,
and there is absolutely no evidence pointing to anyone else,” Mark explained.

“I’m
impressed,” Neal said. “You guys have done a wonderful job with all this.”

Mark smiled and
nodded toward Lin and Sue, “Without these ladies and their persistence in
trying to get to the bottom of all this, we wouldn’t have gotten very far.
 
Ted too.
 
His research was very valuable.”

Lin had one
more burning question. “What about Dave Winkler? He’s not going to get off
scott free here is he?”

“Definitely
not,” Zach said. “While there is no evidence that he actually participated in
any of the killings, we have Luke’s testimony, as well as that of his uncles
and George Reagan, that Dave was the mastermind behind the poaching operation.
 
He enlisted the Hinson’s to collect the
ginseng and connected them with Reagan for the marketing—for his own
healthy cut of the proceeds, of course. I seriously doubt that Winkler was
behind any of the killings.
 
I think
things got out of hand with the Hinson’s in that department; however, there is
strong evidence that he knew about the crimes and failed to do anything about
them.
 
He’s facing a substantial
sentence for all his involvement.”

“I have one
additional question,” Sue spoke for the first time, “Did Sandy Hill’s camera
ever turn up in any of this investigation?
 
Her friend felt sure that would prove what she saw and maybe who killed
her.”

“No, I’m afraid
it was never found,” Zach replied, “Luke told us that he saw it at the home of
one of his uncles, shortly after the girl was found dead, but apparently it
later disappeared.
 
They probably
got rid of it somewhere.
 
Fortunately, with Luke’s testimony we should have a good case without
it.”

“Well, that
seems to cover the situation with the murder cases,” Lin commented.
 
“I’m still curious about our intruders
here.
 
We caught Dave Winkler the
last time, but was he responsible for the earlier instances?”

Zach shook his
head, “Probably not, though he may have had a hand in planning them.
 
I’m sure he had knowledge of them.
 
We really don’t have positive evidence
to prove this, but I feel that the Hinson brothers were responsible for those
incidents.
 
They aren’t talking much
though, and we can’t be certain which one it was.
 
Luke thinks they did that to discourage you
folks, but he swears he had nothing to do with any of those
incidents—just your abduction Lin.”

“And we know
why he did that; he was terrified of his uncles and especially Dave
Winkler.
 
He was sure that something
bad would happen to him if he went to the county jail.
 
I think initially he planned to hold me
hostage and try to negotiate something for himself, but he simply couldn’t do
it.
 
When we went to the ore pits, I
think he was planning to try to free Sue.
 
I’m so glad that he’s
 
recovering, and that he can help convict
those who were responsible for all this,” Lin still had no intention of
pressing charges against the young man.

“It’s getting
dark fast now,” Sue commented, “We’ll need to get some light out here if we’re
going to eat dinner, and I’m sure everything is ready and waiting for us.”

Everyone
pitched in to set the table, light some candles and serve the food.
 
As the group gathered to enjoy their
meal, Mark Scott rose to propose a toast.
 
“To the best team of amateur detectives I’ve ever had the pleasure of
working with.
 
Without these ladies
I’m not sure we could’ve done this.”