Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery

by Sharon Canipe

  “Don’t worry,” Rachel said, when she apologized, “it’s bad all over today, and, if Ray can be believed, tomorrow won’t be much better—should improve by the first of the week, hopefully.” Apparently, everyone consulted Ray’s Weather just as Sally Mackey, the manager at the lodge they’d stayed in when they first arrived, had told them. The local weather site was the work of a professor of meteorology at the university. His forecasts were more specific to the mountain area and took into account local nuances that could make a huge difference in the weather experienced in different spots.

  “How about your fiancé?” Rachel asked. “Did he call yet?”

  “Indeed, he did. He arrives in Charlotte Sunday night. We’re going to try to make some wedding plans there on Monday before driving back up here. I would like to take the rest of the weekdays off, if you’re sure that’s ok. Then I can show Neal around the area. I thought I’d plan to work full days next weekend though, you always have more visitors then.”

  “That would be perfect,” Rachel grinned. “Actually, I try to schedule folks for at least one weekend day off, but it really does help to have the extra hands here during those busiest days. I’ll change the schedule right now.”

  The bell at the door rang, indicating that some brave souls had ventured out on this foggy morning, so Lin hurried to the front area to greet them. Actually, they had more visitors that entire morning than they’d expected. “I guess folks had their vacation plans set so they came anyway, despite the weather,” Lin remarked when she and Rachel finally got a break about lunchtime.

  “I’ve noticed that pattern, especially as the season moves forward,” Rachel added. “Actually, I kind of like the fog. It adds a magical touch to the area—sort of like a fairyland.”

  “A rather eerie fairyland, in my book.” Lin was not convinced that the fog was magic at all.

  As the afternoon wore on, Lin couldn’t help thinking about their situation and the continuing investigation into the shooting. She still worried about the fact that she and Sue had been threatened and there seemed to be no clues as to who had come to their house and left that message. She’d hoped Mark Scott might stop by or, at least, call but no such luck. She really wanted to talk to someone about her lingering concerns, and she felt he would understand. As the working day drew to a close, she tried to call Mark herself, but his phone went straight to voice mail, and she had to leave a message. Guess he’s had a busy day of it with this weather and all, she thought. Maybe he’ll call tonight. She hoped he might know about the status of the ongoing investigation.

  The ride home was no better than it had been going in to work that morning, if anything the fog seemed thicker, especially around the house. Lin could barely discern the driveway when she arrived and the garage door loomed large more quickly than expected. She thought for a moment and knew why. There were no lights on. Evidently Sue wasn’t at home. Lin thought she was supposed to get off earlier—maybe she’d been delayed or maybe she’d stopped at the Wellness Center to exercise. Lin had thought about doing that herself but was discouraged by the weather. She just wanted to get inside and out of this mess. Promising herself to do some yoga, she went into the house and headed for her upstairs bedroom, flicking on lights everywhere she went. Her cell phone rang just as she sat down to take off her shoes. It was Sue.

  “Sorry, I didn’t call you earlier but we had an entire busload of tourists arrive at the craft house about thirty minutes before closing. Needless to say we were really late getting them through. Today was a little lighter than the usual Friday, but I guess tour buses stay on schedule no matter what. Now I’m heading to Harris Teeter. How ‘bout a pizza for dinner? I’m too tired to cook and you probably are too.”

  “Sounds great. Get extra mushrooms and onions. I thought maybe you were going to exercise.”

  “I should, you should too for that matter,” Sue replied with a laugh.

  “I’m getting ready to do some yoga right now,” Lin asserted. “You can join me when you arrive. It’s too nasty to go out again.”

  “Agreed, I can’t wait to get home. See you shortly.” Sue ended the call.

  Lin changed into some soft loose clothing and headed back to the living room. She moved the coffee table and one chair aside so she could use the area rug as a mat and settled in to a basic yoga routine. Almost immediately she began to feel the stresses and tensions of the day slip away. I’ll follow this up with a hot shower and that will be just perfect, she thought.

  She continued with the exercises for several more minutes, sliding into a personal nirvana where her only thoughts were about how relaxed and calm she felt. Suddenly she was jerked back to reality by a loud crash on the porch. She jumped up, fully expecting to hear a knock on the door or someone calling…nothing.

  Moving as quietly as she could, Lin doused the lights in the room and slipped to the window beside the door where she tried to peek out from behind the curtain. She could see most of the porch, but the spot immediately in front of the door wasn’t visible. At that moment she thought she heard a motor start down on the road. She couldn’t be sure—she knew the fog threw sounds about and it could’ve been someone passing on the road. She wished Sue were here, but there were no lights heading up the driveway.

  Slowly, Lin moved to open the door—taking deep breaths to maintain her composure. She turned the knob as quietly as possible. Should she call out? Order whoever it was to leave? She listened for a moment still holding the knob but not opening the door—nothing, not a sound. Finally, she took a deep breath and jerked the door open. A tall pottery vase that had once stood by the door lay on its side—shattered. The tall grasses it had contained were scattered about. That was all. No threatening note, no muddy footprints—nothing.

  Lin peered into the swirling mists just beyond the porch, but again she saw nothing. Maybe the vase simply fell over. That felt a little odd, as Lin didn’t think it was particularly windy. The mist and rain had been steady all day, but there’d been no real storms and no real wind evident. She closed the front door just as she saw Sue turning into the driveway. She headed for the garage to greet her housemate.

  Lin quickly told Sue what had happened—about the shattered vase, about seeing nothing else, about possibly hearing a motor. “I can’t be sure, this fog throws sounds you know, it could’ve just been someone driving by. I was doing Yoga and was really focused; I heard nothing until that vase crashed.”

  “I didn’t notice anyone as I drove in,” Sue put the pizza in the kitchen and together they headed for the porch to survey the damage. The lights inside were all on now and added further illumination through the windows. Before, only the porch light had been on. It was easy to see that the vase was truly shattered into what seemed like a million pieces; only the bottom was more or less intact.

  “The wind didn’t do this,” Sue was somber. “Even if there’d been a strong wind, and there hasn’t been, the vase would have fallen over and rolled against the railing or down the steps—the pieces would’ve been much larger. Lin bent her head down beside Sue and they looked closely at the debris and the scattered grasses.

  “I think someone shot this vase,” Sue exclaimed, “there are literally dozens of small pellets scattered here and look—there are pock marks on the front door and the frame.”

  Lin’s heart was pounding in her chest and she felt herself verging on breathlessness, but she stopped short, stood up, and took some slow deep breaths. She wasn’t going to allow herself to panic again. It worked. Her head cleared, and she felt focused once more. Sue was already dialing 911.

  They left everything as it was and headed for the kitchen. “We may as well eat this pizza while it’s hot. The dispatcher said it’d be about half an hour before anyone could get here. There’ve been a lot of traffic accidents due to the fog it seems. I told her there was no sign of an intruder at present.”

  “And let’s pour a glass of wine to go along with it,” Lin added. “This is getting to be a habit around
here. Now, Frank’s vase is destroyed and his front door is damaged. He’ll want to throw us out.”

  “ No, he won’t, I’ll talk to him tomorrow and explain what happened. We can replace the vase and I’m sure there’s someone on that list of his that can fix the door damage.”

  At that same moment, Lin had a sudden thought—this was the second time they’d experienced an intruder—first they’d been threatened, and now someone had shot at their front door. Was it Kovich? If not, who else could it be? She was beginning to feel that they really needed some answers, and soon.

  “I guess our unknown intruder really means business this time, upping the ante from written threats to shooting at our front door,” Sue said in a disgusted tone. “Well, maybe this time there’ll be enough evidence to actually go after someone.”

  The doorbell rang and they opened it to none other than Deputy Dave Winkler. “Hello again ladies, we’ve got to stop meeting like this,” he tried to inject a lighter note into this grim situation.

  Lin tried to smile but it was hard.

  Sue saw Winkler eye the leftover pizza slices with a hungry look. “My guess is you’ve been on duty all day and haven’t had any dinner. Sit down and I’ll get you a soda. We’re finished and you can eat while you take our information.”

  Winkler started to decline but then thought better of it. He sat down and took a slice of pizza, at the same time opening his notebook and placing it beside his plate.

  After he heard the entire story, mostly from Lin with Sue adding her observations upon her return, he put his pen down and sat back. “So, who have you ladies made angry now? Who might’ve done this?”

  Lin was confused. “My first thought is still Kovich, and I think Sue agrees. This time he did some serious damage. If not him, then I don’t know who it could be. Has your investigation turned up anything new? ”

  Winkler seemed to be a bit embarrassed. Lin guessed it was because he really hadn’t found out anything from the threatening note. He shook his head slowly. “Can’t be Kovich. Wasn’t him. He’s back in jail. It seems the immigration authorities finally caught up with him. The university has dismissed him, so his visa is no longer valid. He’s heading to Charlotte tomorrow where he’ll be held pending a deportation hearing, so who else doesn’t care for you two?”

  ***

  Lin was dumbfounded. She’d been certain that Kovich, under continued investigation and still angry, had been their visitor. She couldn’t think of anything to say to Dave Winkler. She was still sitting there, shaking her head when Sue spoke up.

  “I find this hard to fathom,” Sue remarked, “but the only other folks who might have an ax to grind here are the Hinson’s. Not so much against us, but possibly against Ellie. After all, her testimony resulted in their being stuck with the care of Eustace. They’d have no reason to know she’d left town afterward, but that said, I don’t know how they knew where she’d been staying.”

  Sue’s comment led to Lin’s thinking about their encounter with Eustace on Sunday and she told Winkler about their meeting, about him “ordering” them off his property. “We didn’t think it was significant enough to report at the time,” she offered. “After all, he was unarmed and he didn’t even try to follow us. We considered it simply a result of his dementia. He must’ve thought he was at home and we were trespassing.”

  Dave Winkler was not so dismissive of their account. “That place where you encountered Eustace is nowhere close to the Hinson’s homeplace. Either he drove there, and he shouldn’t be driving, or someone else was with him. In any case, it’s possible someone followed you back here without your knowing, or perhaps they got the information from someone at the law enforcement center. I know we had the address when Ellie was staying here. It’s probably known that she was with you ladies, at least by someone. Such information isn’t supposed to be given out but…it does happen sometimes. I’ll pay the Hinson’s a visit and let you know what I learn. If nothing else, they need to supervise Eustace more closely—if he’s driving or wandering about on his own.”

  Everyone was momentarily quiet as they sat around the table thinking about what had happened. Finally, Sue said, “I have some other thoughts, I think we should consider. It may be far-fetched but please hear me out. I think there may be a killer in this area who has been operating on the Parkway off and on during the past few years, someone other than Eustace Hinson or Stefan Kovich. I’ve been doing some research—at the newspaper and the library—maybe I’ve stirred up something here.”

  Dave Winkler shook his head in disbelief. “I’m not sure I follow you, but go ahead tell me what you’re thinking.”

  Sue excused herself for a moment and went downstairs to get her notes. Lin cleared away the remains of their pizza to make more room at the table. When Sue returned, she spread her file on the table.

  Winkler listened respectfully as Sue reviewed her findings about the crimes she’d researched, especially those still classified as unsolved cold cases. She also talked about her impression that the Sandy Hill case didn’t fit the pattern of the person thought to be responsible for her death. She was careful to stick to the facts but she pointed out similarities in location and manner of death. Finally, she concluded by reviewing what had happened to Peter Dunne and Ellie Clark. Throughout all of this, Dave Winkler listened but his demeanor indicated he wasn’t convinced.

  “The things you’ve pointed out may be true Ms. Gray,” the deputy responded, “but I’m afraid those elements don’t really prove anything. I’ve worked on all of these cold cases from time to time—the three that are still considered open, that is, and I can tell you that we have found not one shred of concrete physical evidence that connects them either to each other or would connect them to our recent case. I know your findings are interesting, and your thoughts would probably make a good book, but that hardly works to prove anything in an actual investigation.”

  “But perhaps you could find such connections if you looked at these cases again with a fresh lens. What would you have to lose? If there are connections and this killer is still around here, the knowledge that someone, namely me, has been looking for information could’ve gotten back to that person. Maybe that explains our vandalism tonight and the earlier threat.” Sue was being polite and calm, but she wasn’t going to drop the issue.

  “We are always looking for new approaches and new evidence in our cold cases,” Deputy Winkler seemed somewhat offended. “I can assure you of that, but I can also assure you that our time would be better spent on our current investigations just now.” With that Winkler rose to leave, “Thank you for the pizza ladies. I’ll let you know what I learn when I talk to the Hinsons.”

  After he’d gone, Lin turned to her friend. “Do you think he was offended by your suggestions?”

  “I think maybe, but I really don’t care,” Sue asserted. “I may just be a reporter, but I’ve been combing over every fact I can find in press accounts and other public records. I’m convinced that connections do exist, at least in some of these cases, and I fully intend to keep looking for more information. How about you? You want to help?”

  Lin couldn’t resist, “When have I ever backed away from looking into a mystery? Of course I’ll help, and maybe we’ll find some answers as to what’s going on here and now. It looks like Kovich is out of the picture. I’m sure he’s guilty of harassing Ellie, but everything else we’ve thought he might be guilty of seems to be a dead end. It’s a moot point anyway, if he’s going to be deported. Right now his immigration status seems to be the top case against him; everything else seems to be circumstantial. ”

  Sue nodded her agreement, “ He definitely wasn’t the shooter tonight, and most likely it wasn’t him that left the threat earlier. We don’t know who it was. What I do know is that someone out there sees our being here as a problem and our only possible connections would be our involvement with Ellie Clark or my involvement in researching these cold cases. Right now, these cases seem to me to be the best place t
o start to look for some answers.”

  Chapter 13

  It was about four-thirty on Sunday afternoon when Lin pulled into a space in the parking garage at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Neal’s plane was due in about half an hour so she hurried inside to check the arrivals board. Flight 210 from Phoenix was listed as on time. Neal had told her to wait for him in the baggage claim area, but Lin hurried instead toward the end of the B concourse and found a seat where she could observe all arriving passengers before they went downstairs to claim their luggage. She was fairly tingling with anticipation and excitement, but this time she was definitely not experiencing a panicky sensation. This was pure joy and excitement over seeing Neal again.

  She’d awakened early that morning and arrived at her Lake Norman condo by ten. The place didn’t look as disheveled as she’d feared it might, but she’d devoted a couple of hours to straightening things up, changing linens, doing a bit of basic cleaning. That accomplished, she’d paid a visit to the local Harris Teeter where she purchased a couple of nice steaks and two bottles of their favorite wines. Adding salad ingredients, fresh bread, and a cheesecake for dessert gave her a first class welcome dinner. She’d even cleaned the gas grill on her expansive balcony so it would be ready for cooking. When she was satisfied that all was in readiness for her “surprise” evening at home, she’d taken a short nap. Now, rested and energized, all she had to do was wait for Neal to arrive.