Sandrift: A Lin Hanna Mystery

by Sharon Canipe

  ***

  It was almost four-thirty when Lin pulled up in front of Island Pawn. As she entered the shop she observed a handsome man who looked to be in his late thirties or maybe early forties. He appeared to be readying the shop for closing, putting up trays of jewelry, and stacking other display items on the shelves.

  “May I help you?” he inquired with a ready smile. Lin could see why Dorrie might have had a crush on him. He was tall and muscular with dark hair and deep brown eyes. His demeanor was almost flirtatious.

  Lin had thought about how to open her inquiry, but lacking any creative ideas, had simply decided to approach Thornton directly.

  “You must be Billy Thornton,” she extended her hand, “I’m Lin Hanna.”

  Thornton shook her hand, “Yes, that’s me, how can I help you? Are you looking for something special?”

  “Actually, I’m here to ask about Dorrie Johnson, the girl who died just before Thanksgiving. I was told that she had plans to come by to see you and wondered if she did that.”

  Thornton seemed to withdraw. His smile vanished. “Why are you asking? Who are you, anyway?”

  “I’m a friend of Dorrie’s parents,” Lin explained. “I’m sure you can imagine how upset they must be about her death. They’re simply trying to find out more about why she was here, what she was doing, and so forth. As you know, her death was an accident, an allergic reaction apparently. My only interest is in helping the Johnsons find some closure.”

  Billy Thornton seemed to relax a bit, his smile returning. “Well, as a matter of fact, Dorrie did come by here. It was late Thursday afternoon, I believe. It was good to see her; a lot had changed in ten years. Dorrie was pretty much a mess way back then but now…”

  “I understand she had really turned her life around,” Lin said, “If you don’t mind my asking were you an Dorrie ever…” she struggled to find the right words.

  “Do you mean did we ever date?” Thornton came to her rescue. “Actually no, not back then. Oh, I knew she had a crush on me, but she was really just a kid and a messed up one at that. I tried to avoid getting involved.”

  “ I see,” Lin responded, “you must’ve been surprised to see the change in her.”

  “ I was,” Thornton seemed to be warming up to the subject, “Dorrie had really changed a lot. She was a different person… a real knock-out too.”

  “Did you spend much time with her?” Lin asked, “What did you talk about?”

  “Oh, nothing in particular,” Thornton seemed to be considering what to say next, “Actually, I took her to dinner then we came back here to… talk. I live in an apartment upstairs. We talked about old times mostly.”

  Lin got the distinct feeling that more than just talk had probably occurred, but she didn’t press the issue. Instead she turned to another topic. “Did Dorrie mention what her plans were for Friday?” she asked.

  “Not specifically,” Thornton seemed happy that she was not pursuing his own activities with Dorrie further. “She mentioned maybe going over to Manteo to try to find one of Liz Frazier’s old boyfriends. She couldn’t remember his name, but she thought he was in the jewelry and antique business. Asked me if I knew anything but I couldn’t help her. I did tell Liz to talk to someone about that jewelry she had found, but I never kept up with her love life—too hard. We were just friends.”

  “Did Dorrie seem really concerned that she was a suspect in Liz’s death?”

  “She was, but she told me she had already left here when that happened. She suspected this boyfriend whose name she couldn’t recall, I think.”

  Lin decided to press a bit further. “I understand that you were considered a suspect at one point yourself?”

  Thornton’s expression was grim, “Maybe, I was. The Sheriff asked a lot of questions but I wasn’t even in town that night. I was Liz’s friend. I certainly wouldn’t have tried to kill her. I was questioned but nothing ever came of it. You must’ve talked to Connie Frazier, Liz’s sister. She’s always tried to blame me somehow,” there was a tinge of genuine anger in his voice. He didn’t seem to know that Connie was dead. Of course, if the death had just been discovered early this morning, it hadn’t had time to make the local papers. Still, news travels quickly in small communities and Lin thought folks might’ve heard about it. Nevertheless, Lin decided not to mention it at this point.

  “Well, thanks for talking to me,” Lin said, “I won’t take up more of your time but it’s good to know that Dorrie was with you on Thursday evening. It appears that her accident occurred sometime on Friday. She was found on Saturday morning.” Lin didn’t reveal that she was the one who found her. “I would like to be able to tell her folks what she did on Friday. I think they’re wondering how she came to be walking in Nags Head Woods, apparently alone, and without her epipen. Usually she always had it with her.”

  “I’m sorry that I can’t help you more,” Thornton seemed sincere. “I think she was planning to go to Manteo, maybe see if she could recall who this guy was, but she might have decided to just enjoy herself on her last day here. She told me she was planning to leave early on Saturday.”

  Thornton walked with Lin to the door of the shop. “I was really sorry to hear about Dorrie—about her accident. I always thought she was a good kid at heart, and I was really surprised and happy to see her again. I really liked her, and even thought we might see more of each other in the future.” He seemed really sad. Maybe he and Dorrie had really hit it off.

  Lin gave Thornton her cell number and asked him to call her if he thought of any more information. It was well past five when she left the shop, time to go home and call Matt Johnson.

  Chapter 12

  The sun was beginning to set over the sound as Lin pulled into the parking area under the house. Kate’s Jeep was missing. Neal had probably gone to the store as he had mentioned. Lin noted that, even though it wasn’t yet dark, he had turned on the outside lights.

  She went upstairs where Sparky greeted her with his usual enthusiasm. The light on the phone was blinking to indicate there were messages waiting. Lin pushed the button.

  The first message was from Eloise wanting to discuss a possible date for the holiday party they had talked about earlier. Lin made a note to return her call as the second message began.

  The voice seemed to be male but was difficult to hear clearly; it sounded as if someone were talking through some sort of barrier—hoarse and distant. “Watch your step, you nosy bitch. Mind your own business. Keep asking questions and you’ll regret it. Next time you won’t escape.” The message cut off abruptly at that point.

  Lin couldn’t really believe what she had just heard. She replayed the message a couple of times trying to decide if she recognized the voice, but it was too well disguised. Even though the voice was garbled and it was difficult to hear, the message was clear enough to understand. This was a direct threat, possibly from the prowler. Lin felt herself shaking more from anger than fear. This was crazy, she hadn’t accused anyone of any crime; her questions had only focused on what Dorrie had been doing, and her death was not even being investigated. It had already been determined how she died, and it was ruled an accident. Besides, Lin couldn’t even think of who might have been disturbed by her activity. None of the persons she had spoken with had seemed at all hostile. Everyone had been helpful and seemed to understand. These threats made no sense.

  Leaving the messages to share with Neal and Ken Parker later, Lin went upstairs to call Matt Johnson. He sounded better than he had when they talked earlier, and he was eager to learn what she had found out about Dorrie’s activities.

  Lin gave him the basics, generally telling him whom she had talked to and what Dorrie had been doing during most of her time there. While she was sorry that she hadn’t been able to learn what Dorrie actually did on Friday, she was happy that she could provide the contact information for the medical examiner’s office.

  Johnson thanked her for all that she had done. “Sara and I are most grateful for
this information. This has been one tough week for both of us but knowing what Dorrie was apparently doing and how the Frazier’s felt about her helps a lot. She was trying to repay her debt, as she told us. I guess there’ll always be a shadow hanging around the Liz Frazier case, but at least, the folks closest to Liz do not blame Dorrie.”

  “And it’s clear that the evidence the Sheriff did have was largely circumstantial. That’s apparently why formal charges were never filed,” Lin added.

  “I’m going to contact the medical examiner anyway,” Johnson added, “maybe we can get his report, for whatever it’s worth at this point. Again, let me thank you Ms. Hanna.”

  “I’m glad I could help, even if just a little, and please call me Lin. If there’s anything else I can do please let me know,” Lin ended the call. She heard the kitchen door open and realized that Neal was back from his shopping.

  “Need any help,” she called as she went down to the kitchen.

  “Nope, just this one bag. I’m making enchiladas and we didn’t have any tortillas. I also picked up some seasonings, evidently Kate doesn’t use much hot pepper.”

  Lin decided she might as well bite the bullet and share the phoned threat with Neal so she punched the button to replay the messages, “Listen to this, the second message I mean.”

  First came Eloise’s voice. Lin deleted that message after it played. “Now,” she said.

  The hoarse, garbled voice repeated the warning. Even though she’d heard it at least three times earlier, it still made Lin angry. Neal looked startled when he heard the threat. “Play it again,” he demanded. “I want to be sure of what I heard.”

  Lin complied, this time increasing the volume on the machine to make it easier to hear.

  Neal’s reaction was entirely predictable. He whipped out his cell and immediately dialed the police number, asking specifically for Sgt. Parker. Ken must’ve been working late because he was still there.

  Calmly, but directly, Neal reported the threat. Parker asked him to play it back once more, but it was too garbled for him to hear clearly on his phone.

  “ I’m leaving here shortly,” he told them. “You’re on my way home so I’ll stop by and listen to it again. I may need to pick up that set and bring it in for analysis, if that’s ok.”

  “Sure thing,” Neal agreed. “We’ll expect you shortly.”

  Ken looked bone tired when he arrived about half an hour later. It was clear that he had put in a hard day. Neal invited him to stay and share the enchiladas with them, but he declined.

  “This has been a long, tough day and I need to get home. I was called out early this morning when Connie’s body surfaced, and I’ve been at it steadily since then. I’ll just check out this message and be on my way,” he said wearily, “Hopefully, tomorrow will be better. I’m still planning to come by tomorrow evening, and I expect I’ll know more about this whole case by then. I haven’t forgotten your concern that all of these events may be connected in some way,” he nodded toward Neal.

  They played the message twice. Parker listened intently, shaking his head. “This is probably your prowler. At least it sounds like that. I’ll take this set in, if you don’t mind, maybe we can do some analysis, but I’m not sure. It would help if we had something else to compare it to, but anyway, the recording can be evidence of a direct threat.”

  Neal unplugged the base set and handed it to Ken. “I hope it helps. Keep it as long as you need to. We’ll look forward to meeting with you tomorrow.”

  “Meanwhile,” Ken’s tone was serious, “if I were you I’d stop asking questions about Dorrie, about any of this stuff. Let us take care of our business. We’ll step up our patrols around here.”

  Lin heard what he was saying but her anger at being threatened overrode what she was hearing. She felt her inquiries had been entirely reasonable and justified. She hadn’t accused anyone of anything. If she felt like talking to someone she was going to do it.

  ***

  Dinner was a quiet affair. The food was delicious, and Neal had purchased a good white wine to accompany the meal. Gradually, Lin’s anger began to lift and she began to feel more relaxed.

  “ What are you doing tomorrow?” she asked as Neal began to clear the dishes.

  “I’m going back to the fort and try to finish gridding all those sites. The team is coming back Thursday, and I’d like to have them all done, want to come with me?”

  “I think I’ll just stay here,” Lin replied. “We’ve had a lot of excitement the past few days, not to mention how busy we’ve been. I’m tired. I think I’ll just do a few things around the house, maybe talk to Eloise about the party, take Sparky on a good walk. Just catch up and try to rest a bit.”

  “Good idea,” Neal was scooping coffee into the drip pot, “ I bought some mint chocolate chip ice cream at the store,” he smiled. “We can have dessert and coffee on the porch.”

  “My favorite,” Lin smiled as she finished loading the dishwasher.

  They spent the remainder of the evening sitting quietly on the porch enjoying their coffee and dessert and watching the moonlight play on the still waters of the sound. There was really nothing more to say about the threat or the prowler. They were both tired and happy for a peaceful evening. A shadow remained, however; although nothing more was said, it was clear that they couldn’t feel totally safe until this mess was cleared up and the prowler caught.

  Lin noticed that Neal made certain to test all the doors and windows and they left the exterior lights on when they went upstairs to bed.

  ***

  The somewhat somber mood of the previous evening hadn’t really left them by morning. The day was overcast. High gray clouds dampened the sun and turned the waters of the sound to a silvery shade. There was a decided chill in the air when Lin let Sparky out from the porch.

  “You’d better dress warmly if you’re planning to work outside all day,” she told Neal as she came back into the kitchen.

  “I will, I really want to finish these sites, that is if the weather will cooperate and it doesn’t rain. If that happens, I’ll be back early.”

  “It really doesn’t seem too threatening,” Lin replied, “I think the forecast was for rain coming in tonight. We’re probably in for a classic rainy day tomorrow though.”

  “All the more reason for me to get going today,” Neal smiled at her and reached to put his arms around her, “ You take care today, call me if anything unusual happens, please.”

  “I will,” Lin promised , “I plan to stick close to home, it’s a good day to catch up on things around here. I’m supposed to do that field trip tomorrow, but if the weather is too bad they may cancel. Maybe you could check for me with the visitor center staff before you come home, see what they’re ‘bad weather’ plans might be.”

  “Will do, see you later.” Neal gave her a quick kiss and then he was gone.

  The morning passed quickly and uneventfully. Lin did a bit of extra cleaning in the kitchen, gave the downstairs a quick turn with the vacuum cleaner, and then took Sparky for a long walk around the neighborhood.

  When she returned it was almost noon. She spotted Eloise outside and stopped to chat. They talked about dates for the party and briefly discussed food possibilities, agreeing to get together later that afternoon to make some lists and decide who would do what toward preparation.

  After lunch Lin put some potatoes in to bake then took a long hot shower. Then she took a short nap, first setting the alarm so she wouldn’t sleep too long.

  The nap really revived Lin’s spirits. I really just needed some down time, she thought as she dressed in jeans and a warm sweater before going down to the kitchen to finish preparing dinner. The potatoes were done, and she soon had the ingredients for a hearty potato soup in the crockpot. Before heading out to talk to Eloise, she let Sparky out for a brief romp in the yard.

  Eloise had prepared hot tea and more holiday cookies that she brought out to her porch for them to enjoy while they talked.

 
; “If you’re not careful, you won’t have any refreshments left for this party, we’re planning,” Lin teased.

  “Don’t worry, there’s plenty more in my freezer. I got into the mood and did a lot of baking yesterday.”

  Lin laughed as she bit into a chewy, double chocolate brownie allowing the sweet treat and aromatic tea to further lift her mood.

  By the time she and Eloise had finished making lists of who would do what and had decided on a tentative date for their celebration, Lin was feeling totally relaxed and found her holiday spirits substantially revived. She hadn’t mentioned the threatening message to her neighbor deciding that it would simply worry her for no good purpose.

  She stayed longer than she had intended, and it was growing dark when she headed back toward Kate’s. The cloud covering had increased throughout the day, and it was darker than usual for the hour. As she started across Eloise’s yard she realized that she hadn’t turned on any outside lights before leaving the house. I didn’t expect to be so late, she thought.

  As Lin approached the house, she heard Sparky give a low growl from the porch. The dog began to bark.

  Lin rounded the largest of the hollies that separated the two yards. She thought she saw movement in the tall shrubs that surrounded the lower level of the house. Increasing her speed to a jog, she shouted “Whose there? What do you think you’re doing?”

  A dark figure emerged near the back of the house running toward the marshy verge of the sound. Whoever it was wore dark clothing and a toboggan pulled down low. Lin caught only a fleeting glimpse of the person splashing into the marsh grass that separated the yard from the sound. A few moments later she thought she heard a small boat being pushed out from the shore scraping against the leathery grass. She scrambled up the stairs to the porch and threw the light switch hoping to see the intruder, but it was too late. Evidently whoever it was had a rowboat well hidden in the marsh. It was growing too dark to see beyond the edge of Kate’s yard even with all the lights on.