Sandrift: A Lin Hanna Mystery

by Sharon Canipe

  Mrs. Frazier thanked her and rose from her chair. She was still standing on the porch when Lin drove away.

  Her visit with Mrs. Frazier had given Lin her best news yet. Although nothing she said proved anything, Lin felt that her belief in Dorrie’s innocence would be a real comfort to Matt and Sara Johnson. As she drove into Kate’s neighborhood, she reflected on her day. She had really learned a great deal—maybe all that she needed to share with Dorrie’s parents. There was one piece missing though. They might feel better if they could see the medical examiner’s complete findings regarding Dorrie’s death. Lin knew that they might not want to know everything, but she didn’t get that feeling from Matt Johnson when they last talked. She decided that she would call Ken Parker later and see if he could do anything to help in that direction.

  It was close to four when Lin finally arrived home. She was surprised to find that the Jeep was still missing; Neal hadn’t yet arrived. Sparky was there to greet her, however. The dog was running back and forth on the screened porch, barking excitedly, eager for some attention.

  As she entered the kitchen, Lin noticed that the answering machine was blinking. That reminded her that she had silenced her cell phone while she was talking with Tom and had yet to change the setting. Neal might have tried to reach her. A quick glance at her phone revealed that there was indeed a voice mail message. Neal had called more than an hour earlier.

  Lin checked both messages. They were the same, both from Neal saying he would be late finishing up with the archeology team and asking her if she wanted to join them later for dinner at The Crab Shack in Nags Head. She quickly returned his call.

  “ Hi there, about time you called back,” Neal teased, “Guess you got my message.”

  “I did, both of them, I’m home now. I had coffee with Tom Miller this afternoon and had silenced my phone while we talked. Forgot about it until now or I would’ve called back earlier.”

  “That’s fine,” Neal replied, “I thought I’d be home by now but we’ve found some really good potential sites for further surveys and decided to mark them today. The other team members invited us to join them for dinner tonight, are you up for that?”

  “ Sounds like fun,” Lin replied. “Are you coming home first or should I plan to meet you?”

  “Oh, I’ll be back in about an hour, we’re all too dirty to enjoy dinner at this point. They’ve made reservations at The Crab Shack for seven.”

  “Sounds good, see you soon then,” Lin replied, happy to have a chance to shower herself and rest a bit before dinner. She felt she had had a productive day, but she was tired.

  Sparky had waited eagerly by the kitchen door throughout Lin’s conversation with Neal so she left her bag on the table and grabbed his leash. A quick tour of the neighborhood would do them both good.

  ***

  It was past ten that evening when Lin and Neal returned from dinner with the team of archeologists. It had been a fun evening. Everyone was enthusiastic about the prospects for working on the sites at Fort Raleigh. Lin found their excitement was contagious and she was especially happy to see Neal so eager to be involved as a volunteer team member. She realized that it had been months since he had had the opportunity to do any fieldwork. This would be good for him.

  They had lingered over coffee after dinner talking about plans for the following week. Neal was planning to return on Monday to beginning gridding the sites they had identified. They discussed their schedules as they walked to the car.

  “We can drive over together,” Lin said, reminding Neal that she had volunteered to work with a school group that day, “Maybe stay in town and do some Christmas shopping after we finish at the park.”

  “Good idea,” Neal said. “I should be done by early afternoon. I’ve already done some of my shopping, but I could use your advice on gifts for your grandkids. It’s hard to believe Christmas is only three weeks away, we need to do something about decorating Kate’s house.”

  “This weekend,” Lin responded, “we can find a tree maybe tomorrow. Kate showed me where she keeps all her decorations.”

  They let Sparky out in the back yard for a few minutes before heading wearily upstairs. It had been a long day and they were both tired.

  They lay in the large bed happy to be able to rest. The showers that had been promised earlier had finally arrived. The gentle rain made a soft sound on the roof.

  “I’ve always liked to listen to the rain as I’m falling asleep,” Lin said.

  “ Me too,” Neal responded, putting his arm around her.

  “How did your day go? We spent so much time talking about the work at Fort Raleigh, I didn’t even ask you?”

  “I think I learned pretty much what I need to know,” Lin replied. She briefly recounted her day’s activities, concluding with her visit to Mrs. Frazier. “I may talk to Ken Parker sometime this weekend to see what I can find out about the ME report, but that will probably be all I can do at this point. I just hope this information will help Dorrie’s parents.”

  “It should,” Neal responded sleepily, “you’re a caring person Lin. Not everyone would be willing to go so far to help someone, especially folks they just met.”

  “Well, not everyone finds a dead body when they’re out walking the dog,” Lin reminded him. “I think I’m helping myself, as much as I’m helping them.”

  Neal drew her closer and kissed her gently. They drifted off to sleep comfortable in each other’s arms.

  Chapter 9

  Friday night’s rain lingered until mid-morning Saturday, but then the gray clouds blew away and were replaced by puffy white ones dotting an otherwise clear blue sky. The front had brought colder temperatures. There was a decidedly wintry nip to the air as Lin and Neal set out on their holiday errands. They found a station playing Christmas music on the radio.

  They observed Eloise stringing lights along her front porch with the assistance of Tom Miller and stopped to say good morning.

  “This shift in the weather has put me in the holiday spirit,” Eloise smiled. “I had to bribe Tom with breakfast to get him over to help,” she teased.

  “We’re heading out to find a tree ourselves,” Lin replied. “ I’m getting excited about my grandkids coming,” she admitted. “They’ll be here in about two weeks, soon as school is out.”

  “That’s so much fun,” Tom picked up on her light-hearted mood. “I still remember when my own grandkids were small. Made the holidays so exciting. I still get excited about seeing them, even though they are all grown now. They’ll be coming soon also.”

  Eloise announced that some of her family was also planning to spend part of the holiday season at her home. “We’ll have to have a big Christmas party, what with all this company coming. We can do it right here at my house,” her eyes were sparkling in anticipation.

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Neal joined in the festive mood. “Just set the date and Lin and I will help.”

  The festive mood that started the day continued as they selected a tree and had it tied on top of the car. The nursery promised it had been cut just the day before in the North Carolina mountains, but Lin insisted that they take the tree back to the house and put it in water before they proceeded with the rest of their plans. She realized that many of the “fresh cut” trees, even those sold in state, were often cut pretty far in advance of actual shipment. She had to instruct Neal in cutting off part of the bottom so that the tree could more readily absorb water.

  “Guess, I’m a novice when it comes to Christmas; sometimes I don’t even bother with a tree at all. When I do, it’s generally a small artificial one,” he admitted. “ I really am looking forward to having a real Christmas this year,” he grinned, “and spending it with you.” He wrapped an arm around her and gave her a big hug.

  “Merry Christmas, Neal,” Lin smiled. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  They left the tree standing in a tub of water under Kate’s house and set out on the rest of their errands. The day passed quickly,
and Lin found no time to think about what she had learned the previous day.

  They stopped by a local nursery and purchased two wreath forms. Lin had noticed there was a large holly full of berries in Kate’s yard, so she decided to make simple wreaths for the front door and the porch. Neal offered to help by cutting the prickly branches for her.

  They shopped the outlet mall for a while, selecting shirts for Ben, Jr. and Brian and some lovely silk scarves for Erica and Lucy. Neal was pleased with the selections. A couple of times he wandered off, leaving Lin to shop on her own for a time, and she suspected he was making purchases for her.

  The children were harder to shop for. Lin wasn’t sure what items were on “Santa’s” list, so she suggested that they head up to Southern Shores where they might find a better selection at Wal-Mart. After browsing the entire toy department they finally settled on a selection of puzzles and games. They ended their shopping by purchasing wrapping paper and ribbon, including some red velvet ribbon for the wreaths Lin planned to make.

  By that time they were both exhausted and a bit hungry. They had eaten a good breakfast, but it was now almost three in the afternoon. Lin suggested that they stop at the Starbucks for coffee and a snack before heading home with their purchases.

  They had just settled down with steaming cups of dark roast Christmas Blend and blueberry scones when Lin’s cell phone rang. She didn’t recognize the local number, but she took the call, heading outside where she could avoid the general hubbub in the noisy shop. The caller identified herself as Connie Frazier, Liz Frazier’s sister.

  “Mom told me you came by yesterday, I’m sorry I missed you. I wait tables at Kelly’s and I had to work last night so I took a nap. I really want to talk to you. Mom said you were asking about Dorrie Johnson.”

  “That’s right,” Lin replied, “I’m trying to find out what she was doing in the days before she died. Her parents just want to have some idea. They are really upset, especially with it being reported that she was involved in your sister’s death,” Lin hesitated to use the word murder.

  “I know what the Sheriff is saying,” Connie sounded angry, “but I also know that Dorrie would never have harmed Liz. She was a messed up kid, but not that way…I told everyone back then that she never hurt Liz, but no one believed me. I told them who killed Liz—at least who I think did it. They said then that there was no evidence to prove that. Everything pointed to Dorrie. I talked to Dorrie last week too, later on Thursday after she talked to Mom. I went to her hotel and told her what I thought. She had some ideas about Liz’s death too.”

  Lin could sense that Connie was upset and that she needed to talk to someone, but she realized that the sidewalk was not in a good place for such a conversation. “Maybe we could get together and you could tell me what you and Dorrie shared. I’m at the Starbucks right now, would you have time to come by?”

  “Sure,” Connie said. “I don’t work until five and I’m only a few minutes away. I can stop by before I go to Kelly’s”

  “Good,” Lin replied, “I’m with a friend. We’re sitting at a table near the back. I’ll watch for you.”

  Lin went back into the coffee shop and told Neal about the call. He didn’t seem happy to have their holiday mood interrupted by a return to gathering information about Dorrie Johnson. “Besides,” he said, “it sounds like she wants to talk about who killed her sister and that’s like beating a dead horse.”

  “I realize that,” Lin agreed, “Liz’s murder was more than ten years ago and Connie said she told authorities about her suspicions at that time. I’m sure they investigated all that then—but Dorrie died sometime on Friday and Connie talked to her on Thursday so she might know something more about what she did before her death. This will fill in some gaps.”

  “I suppose, you’re right,” Neal said. He took their cups to be refilled.

  A short while later an attractive young woman, probably in her mid-thirties entered the shop. She made her way to the table where Lin and Neal were sitting.

  “Can I get you some coffee?” Neal was putting his best foot forward.

  “Thank you,” Connie smiled, “Medium roast, no room for sugar or cream.”

  The line was long. It was evident Neal would be a while waiting for the coffee so Lin decided to go ahead. “Connie, what did you and Dorrie talk about when you visited her last Thursday.”

  “Well, we mostly talked about Liz. Had a good cry over that, actually. Dorrie didn’t know Liz was dead, much less murdered, before she got down here. She told me she had run away a couple of days before Liz died—she owed Liz money so she left without telling her, while she was at work one night. Dorrie told me she was jealous of Liz finding that jewelry and thinking that was going to be her ticket to a fresh start. Apparently that made Dorrie think about her own life, and she decided she had to get away from all she was into and start over somewhere. She ran away, but she didn’t steal anything, nor hurt anybody.”

  “ What about the jewelry,” Lin asked, “ Did you see it?”

  “Sure did,” Connie said, “it was real pretty. Looked real to me, but then I don’t know about those things. Liz said Billy thought it was valuable though, and I guess he knew.” There was a hint of bitterness in Connie’s voice.

  “Whose Billy?” Lin asked.

  “Billy Thornton, he runs Island Pawn, Liz showed it to him,” she said. Connie lowered her voice and stared at her hands. Lin could see that she was trying to control her emotions. “I always thought Billy was the one who killed Liz and set that fire. I think he took that jewelry. I told the cops that but they said he had an alibi and it checked out, but I still think he did it. He moved his shop to a new bigger place right after that—and…” her voice trailed away as Neal returned.

  Lin felt the urge to keep Connie talking but she wanted to return to Dorrie. “What did Dorrie think?” she asked.

  “ She disagreed, I think she always had a crush on Billy—he’s a handsome guy. Dorrie said Billy told Liz to take the jewelry to Manteo to some of those gallery people and let them check it out, you know, see what it was worth. Dorrie had her own ideas about what happened to Liz.”

  “What did she think?” Lin pressed on. By this time Neal had placed the cup of coffee in front of Connie without interrupting the conversation.

  “Dorrie said Liz was dating some guy from Manteo who ran some sort of shop—sold antiques, art, something like that. I didn’t know anything about who Liz was dating—she had a lot of boyfriends—but Dorrie said this one seemed special, at least to her.” Connie lowered her voice even more, “Dorrie said he was married and didn’t want Liz to tell anyone they were dating, afraid his wife would find out, but she remembered that they had a big argument over this jewelry Liz found. He wanted to take it to his shop to keep it safe. Said someone was going to steal it with Liz talking it up all over the place. He said he’d keep it for her and find out what it was really worth, but Liz didn’t want to let it go. They argued and she sent him packin’. This must’ve been about a week before Liz died, a couple of days before Dorrie left town. She thought he might’ve had something to do with the whole mess, but I’d still put my money on Billy Thornton.” By this time Connie seemed spent emotionally. She was close to tears as she sipped her coffee.

  “Did Dorrie tell you this guy’s name?” Lin wanted to get as much information as possible. Maybe Dorrie tried to contact this person.

  “She couldn’t remember, said she was high a good bit of the time when he was around. She just knew he was from Manteo and he was married.”

  Lin realized that all of this was interesting, but she still didn’t know what Dorrie did during her last twenty-four hours. Where did she go? Who did she see? She turned to Connie. “Did Dorrie tell you what she had planned for Thursday evening or for Friday?”

  “As a matter of fact, she said she intended to look up Billy Thornton, asked me if he was still single. It seems she had sort of a crush on Billy back then. When I left her, she said she was going
to stop by his store and see if it was still open.”

  “Is Billy still single?” Lin asked.

  “Oh, yes, he’s never married. Lots of girlfriends but he never settled down.”

  Lin added one more item to her “to do” list. She needed to talk to Billy Thornton.

  ***

  Lin noticed that Neal didn’t have much to say as they were driving back to Kate’s house. They unloaded their purchases deciding to put them upstairs until they had the opportunity to get them wrapped and under the tree.

  “We should try to get the tree in after dinner,” Lin said. “If we can set it up the branches will have time to relax a bit, and we can decorate it tomorrow. She knew Neal was worried about the information Connie had shared with them, but she decided not to bring that up for discussion at the moment. They had enjoyed a fun day shopping and preparing for the holiday, and she wanted that mood to continue.

  “Let’s do it now,” Neal gave her a small wink. “It’ll be easier to get it in while it’s still light I think. Let’s find the stand and decide where to put it. Then we can relax, have a drink, make dinner….”

  Lin picked up on his lighter mood. “That sounds good to me,” she smiled. “I think I know where the stand is; it would be nice to put the tree in front of that big window so it’ll be seen from the street.”

  Neal groaned when he saw that placing the tree there involved completely rearranging the living room furniture, but he agreed, and together they made quick work of it.

  After placing the tree in the perfect spot and making sure it’s best side faced the room, Neal decided that the lights should go on. “That’s always the hard part,” he asserted, “we’ll be glad tomorrow that it’s done.”

  Lin located the box that held Kate’s lights. Fortunately, she had packed them carefully, and Neal’s height made it easier to place them near the top so this proved to be a fairly easy job.