Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (51 page)

Lin and Sue
smiled and thanked everyone. “It was a joint effort,” Sue said. “After all, we
wound up at the bottom of a hole in the ground and had to be rescued.”

“And nothing
would’ve happened without the efforts of all of you to solve these cases,” Lin
added.

“OK.
 
Enough patting each other on the back,”
Neal chimed in, “Let’s eat before this delicious food gets cold.”
 

***

It was growing
late by the time everyone left.
 
Ted
remained to help with the clean up which was accomplished in short order by the
four of them working together.
 

Knowing that
she and Neal had to get up quite early to make their flight to Arizona, Lin
announced that she was heading up to bed.
 
“I’m right behind you,” Neal said, “ and
we’d better set an alarm to make sure we don’t oversleep.”
 
He turned to Ted and extended his hand.
“It’s been great getting to know you Ted.
 
I’ll look forward to seeing you in a few weeks at our wedding.”

“ I’m looking
forward to the occasion,” Ted smiled. “ I understand there are several social
events planned for that weekend so I think I should try to bring a date, don’t
you?” He winked knowingly, nodding at Sue who was putting up the last of the
dishes.

“You already
have a date, Mr. Whitley,” Sue grinned and winked at him, “and you’d better not
forget it!”

Afterword

Our National Parks are places of great peace and beauty that
we can all enjoy; however, the parks are not immune to the problems that we
encounter in other places as well.
 
We owe much to the men and women who serve as rangers and who protect
our parks and their visitors daily.

While this is a work of fiction and the incidents related
herein are the product of the author’s imagination, the Blue Ridge Parkway and
its environs have been the scene of true crimes, some of which do remain
unsolved.
 
If the reader has further
interest in learning more about such incidents, there are numerous resources
available in print and online.

Two publications that might be of interest are:

A Park Ranger’s Life: Thirty-two Years of Protecting Our
National Parks
 
by Bruce Bytnar.

Ranger Confidential: Living, Working, and Dying in the
National Parks
 
by Andrea
Lankford.

There are numerous other publications and resources that can
be found through researching the Internet.
 
Ginseng poaching is a real threat to this endangered plant species and
cases continue to appear in the news on a regular basis.

About the Author

           
Sharon
Canipe is a retired educator.
 
During her working career she served as a teacher and school
administrator.
 
Since her retirement
she has worked part-time as an educational consultant, volunteer, and online
university instructor and mentor to graduate students.

           
Her
volunteer experiences and love of travel led to her interest in sharing her
“journey” through writing.
 
Her
books are set in areas she has come to know and love.
 

           
Sharon
and her husband Steve live in Tucson, Arizona.
 
They love to travel worldwide and enjoy
spending time with their two adult children and their “boys” Lucky and
Snoopy—two lively “chowbradors.”

Check out my website:
 
canipe.net

Check out my page:
 
facebook.com/linhannamysteries