“Ellie told me she’d recently broken up with someone and had enjoyed having a couple of dates with Pete Dunne, her old friend from high school. In fact she spoke as if she really liked Pete. Maybe things are over with this art professor.”
“Maybe,” Hillary continued, “we certainly hope that’s the case. Pete was a nice boy. We’d have been happy if she dated him, but I’m not sure the other thing was entirely over. Ellie told us Stefan, the professor, kept calling her—even coming by the apartment she shared with two other girls. Apparently, he wasn’t ready to let go. I know she went over to model for him at least once after the breakup. She even mentioned that he had a confrontation with Pete once at the apartment. In fact, I’m really afraid he might’ve been stalking Ellie—apparently he was unwilling to accept the fact that she wanted to break off their relationship. Actually, I’m not sure she really did. I think she might’ve broken up with him just because her father and I were threatening to make her leave school here. She said not, she told us she realized he was using and manipulating her, and she was definitely going to break it off. I’m just afraid she’ll not be able to handle the pressure if he persists. That’s why we’re insisting she leave and come home. Of course, now that she’s hurt, she needs further medical attention, but we wanted her to leave even before this happened.”
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.
Chapter 6
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 conti
nued, “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.
“We’re going back to Flagstaff tomorrow, and I have workmen lined up to do some repairs on my house next week. I think I should be able to get away a week or so after that. I’m really missing you Lin, we need some time together.”
“I miss you too,” Lin felt a little choked up at that point. “I can hardly wait until you come. I’ll be counting the days.”
“Well, I should have a specific date to give you by early next week after I see how the work is going to go. Meanwhile, I must admit I’m glad this case has been settled so quickly.”
Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery Page 7