Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (7 page)

Red warning
flags were going off in Lin’s head.
 
A professor romantically involved with a student, and continuing to
pursue her after a supposed breakup, a confrontation with a young man who was
now dead.
 
Lin wondered whether or
not Ellie had told any of this information to the authorities.
 
Had she even made these connections in
her own mind?

Lin shared her
concerns with Hillary.
 
“None of
this may be related to what happened over this weekend,” she said, “but I do
think that Ellie should tell the authorities about this situation, if she
hasn’t already.”

Hillary was
thoughtful. “I promise I’ll talk to her about it.
 
I know she’ll have to come back to talk
to them further at some point, but right now I just want to get her home.”

Lin understood
the worried mother’s concern, but she silently promised herself to tell this
story to Mark Scott the next time she saw him.
 
It might be second hand information, but
it might at least point him toward questions he and the local authorities
should be asking in the investigation.

***

Lin had hoped
she might bump into Mark at Moses Cone when she went to pick up Sue that
afternoon; the young law enforcement ranger patrolled the entire Highland
District so he might turn up anywhere.
 
However, there was no sign of him and it was already late in the day so
they headed back to the lodge.
 
They’d picked up food at the Harris Teeter before returning, and now
they were sitting at a table in the lobby enjoying a quiet dinner.

“I’m really
concerned that this Stefan fellow might be trouble,” Lin had brought Sue up to
date on what she’d learned from Hillary Clark about Ellie’s relationship with
the handsome art professor. “It sounds as if he might indeed have been stalking
her.”

“You definitely
need to tell someone about this,” Sue agreed, “of course, Ellie might’ve done
that already.”

“I’m worried
that she hasn’t,” Lin replied. “She might not see the connection and she might
not want anyone to know about all this.
 
She never mentioned it to me, after all.
 
Not even when she was talking about her
parents wanting her to leave school.
 
She never gave any real reason for that.”

“True,” Sue
replied, “maybe you’ll see Mark tomorrow, if not you could give him a call, or
that deputy sheriff he’s working with.
 
At least you could find out if they already know about this guy and his
relationship with Ellie.
 
It’s
second-hand information coming from you, but they could follow-up with the
Clarks.”

“By the way,”
Sue continued, “if you don’t mind, I think I’ll drive you to work tomorrow and
keep the car.
 
With the shopping you
did today, I think we have all we need to move in this weekend, and I thought I
might use my day off tomorrow to visit the local library and
newspaper—try to get started on my research about those cases.”

“Absolutely,”
Lin nodded, “Once I’m at Linn Cove I really have no need to go anywhere else.”

“If I have time,
I might even start looking at used cars,” Sue smiled. “I’m sure we’ll really
need two before summer’s over.
 
At
least it would give us a lot more flexibility with scheduling and stuff.”

They’d finished
their food and decided to drive over to the local Greenway Park for a walk
before it grew too dark.
 
Their walk
began in the gentle light of dusk but they noticed that clouds were gathering
around Howard’s Knob and Rich Mountain on the other side of town.
 
By the time they’d walked about a half
hour and decided to return to their parking spot, a light mist had
appeared.
 
Fog began to roll in to
accompany the gathering darkness.
 

“I continue to
be amazed at how rapidly weather changes around here,” Lin remarked as the
visibility was rapidly becoming sharply reduced.

They carefully
made their way along the trail. “I’m glad we’re on a marked trail,” Sue
replied. “It would be easy to get lost in this if that weren’t the case.”

The surrounding
sounds of traffic on nearby streets became muted and somewhat dislocated as the
fog created an eerie atmosphere.
 
The trees along the way became ghostly apparitions; their branches
seemed threatening as they emerged ahead of them.
 
Both women were quite happy when the
parking lot appeared ahead of their path, and Lin’s car seemed like a welcomed
haven.

It was
mid-afternoon the next day before Mark Scott arrived at Linn Cove.
 
Lin had been about to call when Rachel
told her he was on his way out. “Apparently he’s been tied up in town working
with the sheriff’s department on that case from last weekend, the one involving
that girl you and Sue found.”

Lin was eager
to learn of any new developments, and especially eager to tell him the
information Hillary Clark had shared with her.
 
As soon as she saw him come in, she
hurried over and asked if they could talk in private.

“Sure,” the
young man responded.
 
He seemed to
be in a much lighter mood, “I have some news to share with you anyway let’s go
back to the office, if Rachel can spare you for a few minutes.”
 

Rachel nodded
her OK.
 
Traffic had been fairly
light that day as the foggy conditions from the night before had persisted
until mid morning.
 
Now though, it
was sunnier and there were more visitors but it wasn’t really crowded.

As soon as the
door was closed, Mark turned to Lin with a smile, “We’ve made an arrest in this
weekend’s case.
 
In fact, we have a
full confession so it’s going to be a cinch to wrap this up now.” He was
obviously relieved.

“That’s great
news,” Lin said. “I was going to give you some more information about Ellen
Clark that I thought might be worth investigating, but I guess you already have
your answers.
 
Perhaps she’d already
told you about her relationship with her art professor and the confrontation he
had with Peter Dunne recently.”

Lin could tell
from Mark’s expression that he didn’t know about this. “I guess it doesn’t
matter now, at least not in this particular case,” she said as she took a seat
opposite Mark at the desk. “I’ll fill you in later, but first tell me what
happened.
 
Who have you arrested?”

Mark sat back
and pulled out his notebook.
 
Lin
had to smile, Mark was apparently a stickler for putting everything down on
paper.
 
She had to appreciate that
as she was a note-taker herself.

“An elderly man,
Eustace Hinson, came in this morning and confessed to shooting both Peter Dunne
and Ellen Clark on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Hinsons are a large family pretty well known in this area, ” Mark
reported. “They are typical of a lot of rural mountain folk, live off the grid
pretty much, do a little farming, hunting and such to make a living.
 
Generally don’t want to have much to do
with any government or authority figures, but these folks are generally
honest.
 
They don’t want any
trouble.
 
They like to be left
alone.
 
Eustace’s sons, Hiram and
Herman brought him in this morning.”

“What
happened?” Lin queried. “How did the old man come to kill someone and almost
kill someone else?”

According to
his sons, they were all hunting on some private land just off the Parkway.
 
Apparently the owner gave them
permission.
 
They were mostly
hunting small game—possums, squirrels—the sons said that Eustace
went off by himself for a while.
 
When he came back he seemed upset but didn’t say anything.
 
Apparently sometime yesterday he told
them that some people had scared him and he thought he’d shot someone.
 
According to him, Pete Dunne was walking
in the woods and scared off the small game and frightened the old man.
 
Eustace chased him and shot him.
 
Apparently, he didn’t kill him right
then; he caught up with Pete and they had a struggle.
 
The old man says he shoved Pete off the
side of the overlook.
 
My guess is
the fall down the mountainside finished him off.
 
In fact, his account does match the ME’s
findings regarding Pete’s wounds and injuries.”

“What about
Ellie?” Lin asked.

“Apparently,
she heard the shot and saw him chase Pete and throw him over.
 
She must’ve been napping on the blanket but
woke up and tried to run away. Eustace says he shot at her, and when she fell,
he threw her over too.
 
My guess is
he just shoved her, and that flat area kept her from going down the mountain
after Pete.
 
She’s lucky she was
able to climb out of there.”

Lin had a lot
of questions rolling around in her head. She turned to Mark, “Today is Thursday
and all of this happened on Saturday, why are they just now coming forward?”

“The brothers
said that Eustace just told them about all this last night.
 
They think he has some form of dementia,
say he sometimes forgets lots of things, especially if they are upsetting to
him.
 
Then he’ll remember them
later.”

“Today he was
clear as a bell.
 
Told me the entire
story just as it happened.” Mark seemed relieved. “Of course, Eustace is an old
man in his eighties, almost ninety I’d guess.
 
He’ll probably be declared incompetent,
but he’ll at least be put away in a secure hospital even if he doesn’t stand
trial.
 
His sons said they knew that
and that’s why they brought him in.
 
They didn’t want him to go to the state penitentiary and thought he’d be
better off confessing, which is true.”

Lin could
understand Mark’s sense of relief that this whole episode could now be laid to
rest.
 
It was certainly tragic, but
everyone would be relieved that the shooter was now in custody and parkway
visitors were no longer in danger from this person.

“What were you
going to tell me?” Mark asked.

“Well, it isn’t
really important for this case anymore, but I thought it might be originally.”
She told him the full story about Ellie’s relationship with the art professor,
including the fact that he’d had a confrontation with Pete Dunne recently.

“That is a
concern,” Mark acknowledged, “even if it’s not related to this particular case.
 
The threats and stalking, if that’s what
it is, are definitely troublesome.
 
Of course, that didn’t happen on the Parkway so it would be the
Sheriff’s job to investigate and follow through there.
 
If Ellen wants to bring charges she
should talk to Dave Winkler.”

“I rather doubt
she’ll want to do that,” Lin said. “She’s gone home with her parents now, but
her mother has promised to talk to her about reporting the situation.
 
I’ll mention it also, should I have the
chance to talk to her again, but as I said, she’s not likely to press charges
unless the situation changes and she’s not even here right now.
 
I’m glad you were able to conclude this
Mark, I know you’re relieved and, hopefully, the old man can be placed
somewhere secure to get the help he needs.”

After Mark had
left the visitor center, Lin continued to think about what he’d reported.
 
She still found it strange.
 
She wasn’t all that familiar with
dementia; she’d have thought the old man would’ve told his sons about the
shooting right after it happened.
 
It seemed to her that something so
unsettling would’ve stuck in his mind at that point, but short-term memory
issues could be really tricky, she guessed.
 
Mark had indicated that Dave Winkler was
going to call the Clarks, so she felt sure they now knew about the arrest.
 
She was still worried about Ellie’s
relationship with Stefan.
 
It was
certainly troublesome, to say the least.
 
Lin had to admit she was happy that the girl was with her parents in
Charlotte, even if Ellie herself wasn’t happy about it.

Later that
evening, Lin found herself in a somewhat melancholy mood.
 
Perhaps the stresses of the weekend and
the pending move had caught up with her at last.
 
Things had now calmed down; the shooter
was caught, everything was ready for the weekend to come.
 
Now she just felt let down.
 
She realized she was really missing
Neal.
 
She hadn’t talked to him
since Sunday evening.
 
He was in
Tucson with Chris, his department chair, looking at a possible archeological
site he might work on later.
 
Lin
felt sure he was really busy.
 
She
glanced at her watch.
 
It was just
now five in the afternoon in Arizona; maybe he was finished for the day.
 
She decided she would try to call him
and went down to the lobby for the stronger cell phone signal.
 
Sue again declined to come down with
her.
 
She was engrossed in
organizing her notes from the research she’d been doing that day.

“I’ll bring you
back a cup of coffee,” Lin offered, “and a cookie if Sally’s put any out.”

“Thanks, tell
Neal hello,” Sue replied without really looking up from her work.

Lin was
disappointed when Neal didn’t answer his phone.
 
She had to leave a message.
 
Now what to do? She didn’t want to go
back up to the room because Sue was certainly not in any mood to talk.
 
She was too engrossed in her research. Lin
decided to have a cup of coffee and a fresh chocolate chip cookie and look at
some of the new magazines Sally had evidently put out that afternoon.
 

She had just
settled herself down to daydream over House Beautiful when her phone rang.
 
She was so excited when she saw it was
Neal calling back; she almost tipped her coffee over.

Recovering, she
answered eagerly. “Sorry I missed you earlier,” Neal’s deep voice was music to
her ears, “We’d just finished up and I was driving.
 
Had to wait till I got to the hotel to
return your call. How’re things going there?”

That invitation
led to Lin launching into the entire story.
 
She told him all about discovering that
Ellen Clark was a former student and about her visits with Ellen and her
parents, including the story of the affair with the art professor.
 
Finally, she told him about Eustace
Hinson and his confession and arrest for the crime.
 
When she finally paused, she realized
that Neal hadn’t had a chance to say anything. “How are things with you?” she
hastily concluded.

Neal laughed,
“That’s quite a story.
 
I could tell
you really wanted to tell someone all that.”

Lin felt a
little chagrined at how she’d dominated their talk to that point, but Neal was
right.
 
She’d needed to share, to
share with someone who knew her and who cared. “I wanted to tell you,” she
said. “I’ve told everyone else, but you’re probably the only one who really
understands my feelings in all of this.
 
You know how I hate unanswered questions, and I have some here.”

“I doubt you’ll
ever get all of those answers,” Neal spoke with gentle understanding. “Dementia
is like that—hard to understand and explain.
 
One time the old man might have told his
sons right away, the next he might have forgotten it for months or more.
 
The authorities are lucky that he did
remember in a more or less timely fashion and that his family reported it.
 
Now this unfortunate incident can be
laid to rest.
 
I feel sorry for the
young man’s family, especially.”

“Yeah, me too,”
Lin replied. “It’s really sad.”

“I will add
that I agree with you that Ellie Clark needs to do something about this
professor, if he is indeed harassing her,” Neal seemed especially concerned
here. “Even if she doesn’t want to press charges, she should report his
behavior to the university.
 
That’s
totally inappropriate on his part.”

“I agree,” Lin
said, “but I’m not sure what she thinks.
 
Her parents seemed to feel she wasn’t entirely over this relationship,
even though she says differently.
 
She might not want to get him into trouble.”

“That’s
probably true, but these things usually don’t end well,” Neal continued,
“Ellie’s an adult so there was nothing legally wrong with the relationship, but
he was her teacher and that is totally unprofessional.
 
If you have the opportunity to talk to her
I think you should encourage her to report it through the proper channels.”

“I’ll do that,”
Lin replied, “Now, really.
 
Let’s
talk about your stuff instead of this.
 
What have you been doing?”

The next half
hour was spent with Neal telling her all about the potential work at a
construction site where some early graves had apparently been discovered.
 
He seemed excited.
 
Apparently, there was evidence that this
was part of a much larger complex so there was going to be a dig started toward
the end of the summer, provided all the proper paperwork and funding went
through.

“I’d love to
work on this, and I think I could even possibly be paid a small amount.
 
These folks want to build a shopping
center down here, and they are in a position to fund the project so it can be
concluded in a timely fashion, and they can get on with their business.
 
If everything goes according to plan,
I’d probably start work down here sometime in August and it could continue for
months.
 
I’m just not sure yet,”
Neal reported.