“I need help,” she cried out, “There’s a man out in my car and he’s been shot.” Heads turned in the waiting room as the young woman called for a nurse and orderly with a gurney. Lin followed them to the car and watched as they carefully removed Ted from the floor of the back seat and rushed him inside.
As Lin went inside, she was approached by a young aide, “Are you hurt? Do you need to see a doctor, yourself?”
“No, no,” I’m fine Lin replied. “I just need to maybe prop my foot up and I need to call the sheriff’s office.”
***
It was after midnight when Lin finally left the hospital. Ted had been rushed to surgery almost immediately. He had lost a lot of blood, but fortunately none of his major organs were seriously damaged by the blast from the shotgun. The barn door itself had taken much of the blast it appeared, although the driving splinters of wood had torn into Ted’s chest, doing almost as much damage as the shotgun pellets. His wounds were primarily focused around his upper chest and shoulder area.
“He’s going to have a lot of pain,” the surgeon had reported to Lin, “but he should recover fully. Might need some physical therapy for his shoulders and arms. He’s a lucky guy. We’re giving him blood and keeping him sedated for now so you may as well go home. He won’t be awake until sometime tomorrow—or rather, later today,” he added looking at the clock.
Lin realized that the doctor had probably assumed that she was Ted’s wife, or some other family member, but she didn’t correct him. She wanted to be able to visit and continue to monitor his recovery.
Now she felt somewhat at a loss. She didn’t know what to do at this point. She’d reported the shooting to someone at the sheriff’s office who told her they’d send someone out to pick up Eustace Hinson, and she could come in the morning to give her statement. She’d called Pat Dane and learned that Sue hadn’t been found, and the search had been suspended until morning. She told Pat what had happened to Ted, informing her that she’d already reported it to the authorities so the sheriff’s men would soon know about it.
Now she sat alone in Ted’s car not knowing where to turn. Sue was still out there somewhere, and she had no idea where to start looking for her—she’d been so hopeful that they’d find her at Luke’s place. There was nothing left for her to do except go home. Maybe in the morning she’d be able to think more clearly. She realized that it was only about ten in Arizona and resolved that she’d call Neal when she got back to the house. Maybe he’d have some ideas. In any case, talking to him would help fill the hole in her heart right now.
Chapter 25
Normally the drive from the hospital to the house would only take about ten minutes, but the fog had settled in heavily near the Parkway severely reducing visibility. Lin almost missed the driveway. Having left early that morning and expecting to be home by late afternoon, they’d not left any lights on.
As she approached the garage, Lin realized that the door opener was still in Sue’s car back at the craft house. Leaving the headlights on to light her way, she hobbled to the panel beside the door and entered the code. The welcoming glow of the garage light as the door lifted made her feel much better.
By the time she got into the house her ankle was throbbing. Lin was absolutely exhausted, but she didn’t feel sleepy. She was hungry though, so she made her way to the kitchen and located the leftover pot roast from Sunday’s dinner—it didn’t seem possible that had only been yesterday. Well, really day before yesterday, Lin thought—it’s already Tuesday.
She put some slices of the roast along with some gravy in a dish and placed it in the microwave. A hot roast beef sandwich would be perfect. She dropped two slices of bread in the toaster and sat down at the table. Her first thought was to get her foot out of the boot. Her ankle had swollen a good bit; it felt good to get the tight boot off. She realized she really needed to elevate her foot and decided to get a pillow from the living room. When she tried to put weight on the ankle a sharp pain reminded her that she couldn’t walk without the boot. She managed the short distance by hopping along and using the furniture and walls for support. By the time she retrieved the pillow, her food was ready so she hopped over to the counter to get it before she sat down.
Finally, she was all set. Hot food, her foot propped up on the chair next to her, and a good cell signal. She punched in Neal’s number, hoping he was still awake. It rang several times before he answered.
“Hello, sweetheart. This is late. I thought you’d be in bed by now,” he said.
“I hope I didn’t wake you,” Lin replied.
“No, but I was just getting out of the shower. I’m at the hotel now, you know.”
“I know, I’m sorry to be calling at this hour but…” Lin almost choked on her words. She was determined not to break down. “Oh, Neal, Sue is missing. I think someone abducted her.”
“What!” Neal was shocked, “everything was good this morning. What happened!”
Lin had almost forgotten that she’d called Neal when they left the doctor’s office. She began to bring him up to date on the day’s events, starting with Sue getting “lost” while looking for visitors riding in the park. She’d just reached the part about Ted and her going out to Luke Taylor’s home when she thought she heard a sound on the back porch.
“Just a minute, Neal. I thought I heard something at the door. I’ve got to go check,” she said.
“Don’t do that,” Neal replied anxiously, “At this hour and under these circumstances you stay put. I’m going to hang up and you call the sheriff’s office immediately. Then call Mark Scott, just to be safe. When you’ve done that call me right back.” The phone went silent and, just at that moment, the lights went out. Lin froze in her chair, blinded by the sudden darkness. She fumbled for the phone, grateful for the glow when she touched the screen. Quickly she punched 911. At the same moment a rock shattered the glass on the back door. A long arm reached in and grabbed at the lock.
Ignoring the pain in her ankle, Lin got up and scrambled back toward the living room, managing to reach the hallway before the intruder entered. She heard heavy steps cross the kitchen. There was nothing to hide behind in the hallway; she needed to reach the living room beyond. She managed a couple of hops, but then was forced to put some weight on her ankle—it was too much. The ankle gave way and she tumbled forward, knocking a lamp off the hall table.
As she struggled to get up, she felt the pressure of cold steel against her neck. At the same time her cell phone began to ring. “Don’t answer it,” her assailant’s voice was familiar. A strong hand gripped her arm and began to pull her up. “Hand me your phone, then we’ll go to the living room. I don’t want to hurt you, but I have a gun.” Lin recognized the voice and turned her head to look straight into Luke Taylor’s frightened eyes.
Luke picked up the phone from the floor where it had fallen. It had quit ringing. He stuffed it in his pocket and reached with his left hand to help Lin get up, still gripping the shotgun in his right hand. She tried to speak but nothing would come out. Luke shifted the weapon to his left hand and gripped her left arm with his right.
“Be careful of your foot,” he said, “supporting her as she hobbled toward the sofa.” Lin couldn’t believe what was happening. They reached the sofa and she dropped down on one end.
“That ankle’s badly swollen,” Luke said, “better put it up.”
Lin shifted her position so that she could rest her leg on the sofa and finally managed to speak. “What are you doing here Luke? What’s going on? What have you done with Sue Gray? Where is she?” The questions rolled out—Lin wanted answers?
“Calm down and I’ll try to explain,” Luke sat in the chair opposite, but he kept the gun across his knee, still pointed in her direction. Just then her phone began ringing again. Luke looked down to see who was calling. “It’s that same 928 number that was calling before. Who is that?”
“That’s my fiancé Neal. I was talking to him when you broke in. He’ll just keep calling
. Let me talk to him,” Lin reached for the phone but Luke was having none of that.
“No,” he lifted the gun pointing it directly toward her. “Sorry, but I can’t do that. I’ll put a stop to his calling.” Luke had a desperate look in his eye as he placed her still ringing phone on the carpet and smashed it with the butt of his shotgun.
“That’s better,” Luke said. “Now we can talk.”
“You need to explain yourself,” Lin tried to sound calm but her insides felt like jelly. Even in the darkness she could tell that Luke was extremely nervous. He kept shifting his shotgun from hand to hand and he was sitting on the edge of a straight chair, rocking it from side to side with his body movements. Lin was afraid that he was close to completely losing control. She feared he would fire the gun whether he wanted to or not.
Finally, she gathered her courage and spoke, “You’re right, we do need to talk but we don’t need to do it in the dark. There are some candles and matches in the drawer beside the refrigerator in the kitchen. Why don’t you get some?”
Luke spoke in almost a whisper. “I flipped the main breaker on the back porch. I could put the lights back on, but I’ll need to take you with me—you might call someone…”
“Didn’t you cut the phone lines also?” Lin shot back.
Luke shook his head nervously. “I wasn’t sure where that one was. Never mind, I’ll get the candles but, if you move, I’ll shoot you—I promise that.” Apparently he realized that Lin couldn’t manage to go very far, even if she tried to get away. He carefully backed his way toward the kitchen and was back quickly with two candles and some matches.
Seeing how nervous and unsure of himself Luke was, Lin’s own courage began to grow. “Luke, why don’t you put the shotgun down. You said we needed to talk, and we do. You can see that I can’t really run away—I wouldn’t get far with this ankle. You say you don’t want to hurt me, but I don’t think I can talk much with that gun pointed at me.” She waited to see how Luke would react.
Finally, Luke stopped rocking the chair. Then he moved the gun from his lap, placing it on the coffee table between where he sat and the sofa where Lin was sitting. He moved his chair so that the gun was within easy reach, but at least it wasn’t pointed toward Lin any more.
Luke still seemed very nervous. His eyes, now more visible in the candlelight, darted back and forth. He kept clenching and unclenching his hands and a couple of times reached as if he wanted to pick up the gun once more. Lin tried to wait patiently for him to say something, but finally, she decided not to wait any more.
“You said we were going to talk and you have a lot of explaining to do. You need to do it fairly quickly because the sheriff’s men will be arriving at any moment. Luke grabbed the gun once more, but this time he didn’t point it toward Lin. “Why do you say that? Did you call them?”
“I tried, but you broke in before they answered. My guess is they can trace the call to my cell phone and they know where I live. Anyway, I was talking to Neal when I heard you making noise outside. I’d hung up to call the sheriff. That was he calling me back just now—when you smashed the phone. He’ll call the authorities I know since I didn’t answer—probably they’re on their way by now. So, if you have anything to say you’d better make it quick.”
Lin surprised herself. She hoped she sounded braver than she felt. Luke had probably figured all this out for himself—she’d already told him it was her fiancé on the phone earlier.
“We’ve got to go then,” Luke said aiming the shotgun in her direction once more. “I can’t let the sheriff’s men get me. You come with me. We’ll go somewhere safe and then we’ll talk.” He nudged her side with the gun, “Put that contraption back on your foot—no, that’ll take too long.” He jerked her up and supported her as they headed toward the kitchen. “Grab that thing and bring it along.” He pointed the gun toward the boot. Lin picked it up as they passed through to the back porch.
A pick up truck was parked just beyond the porch at the edge of the driveway. Luke practically dragged Lin across the yard. He yanked the door open and shoved her clumsily into the passenger seat. Then he ran to the other side. He got behind the wheel and propped the shotgun on the floor between them as he cranked the engine. As they exited the driveway and turned left, away from town, Lin thought she caught a glimpse of a blue light flashing through the fog still some distance away from the house.
They rode in silence for a few miles. Luke was tightly focused on the road ahead, driving slowly but deliberately through the fogbound countryside. Lin wondered where he was taking her—whether he even knew where he was going. Finally, she could stand the silence no longer.
“OK, Luke, you said we would talk so talk to me. Tell me what is going on here. Why are you running from the sheriff’s men? It’s the federal officers who have a warrant for you—for shooting at Sue and me the other day. She could barely see Luke in the darkened cab, but when he spoke she could tell he was close to tears.
“I never shot at you two. I knew where you were. I shot wide, on purpose. I had to scare you away from there, but I never shot at you. I wouldn’t have done that only…” he stopped mid-sentence.
Lin didn’t reply immediately. She’d felt all along that Luke had deliberately missed that shot. She also knew he could’ve shot her beside the road, but he didn’t even try. “Why were you trying to scare us away?” she ventured to ask, “and where are you taking me, where have you taken Sue?”
Luke slammed at the steering wheel. “I never took her anywhere. I don’t even know where she is. That wasn’t me.”
“Then who was it that took her,” Lin pressed on. She was certain that Luke knew about the abduction, even if he didn’t know where Sue had been taken. “Where are you taking me?”
They had arrived at a traffic light and Lin realized that they were at the junction with Hwy. 421. She also thought that Luke didn’t really know where he was going; she decided to take a chance. She pointed toward an empty parking lot across the way at a small grocery store that was closed. There were no houses nearby. “Let’s park over there and you can explain all this to me.” She tried to sound confident. To her surprise, Luke nodded and when the light changed he pulled across the road into the lot. He parked the truck at the side of the building where it wouldn’t be easily visible from the road and cut the engine.
They sat in darkness. The mist covering the windshield, combined with the swirling fog just beyond the building, made it seem as if the two of them were in a state of suspension—as invisible to the outside world as it was to them.
Finally, Lin could take the silence no longer. She tried to stay calm, but she was growing increasingly impatient with the situation. “OK, Luke. There’s no one here, and I don’t think any traffic that might pass can see us. For now, at least, we are alone, and you are safe from whoever is looking for you. Now, tell me why you’re so afraid of the sheriff’s men. Why did you run away when Mark Scott came to arrest you? He’s not with the sheriff, he’s a park ranger. The feds are the ones after you…”
Luke interrupted before she could say anything more, “Yeah, but the sheriff’s men control the county jail. That’s where they’d put me—at least until they could transfer me to Charlotte. I can’t be in that jail. They’ll kill me. They will.”
“Who’ll kill you?” Lin pressed on, “What are you afraid of?”
Luke shook his head and gripped the steering wheel. Lin could tell that he was crying—openly sobbing—but he said nothing. Lin finally decided to shift the subject.
“You said you didn’t know where Sue was, but I think you do know who took her? Who did that Luke?”
“I didn’t say anything about her,” he came back angrily. “I know I had nothing to do with it. That’s all.”
Lin didn’t believe him. He was a very frightened young man. Somehow she had to convince him to trust her. To make him believe she could help him. “Well, we can’t sit here like this all night. Eventually, it’ll be light and there’ll b
e people around. Then the sheriff is exactly who they’ll call. We know they’re already looking for you anyway. Either you tell me what’s going on and let me help you or you’re going to wind up in exactly the place you don’t want to be.” She was putting all her effort into this, hoping to get him to talk. Instead, he jerked back and grabbed the gun once more. Pressing it against her side.
“No, I won’t. I’ll shoot you and then I’ll kill myself. I’d rather die than let them take me.” Lin felt a sense of panic rising within her. She couldn’t lose control. This young man was desperate. She had to remain calm.
In a last ditch effort to reach him—to get him to cooperate with her, Lin began to talk to him about what she and Ted had done earlier that evening. She started with Sue’s disappearance from the park and then told about how she and Ted had thought maybe he, Luke, had her and had taken her to his grandfather’s place. Finally, she told him about the old man shooting Ted through the barn door, about her taking him to the hospital and calling the sheriff—the whole story. Before she’d finished she saw that Luke had allowed the gun to slip forward where it rested against the dashboard. He’d placed his head on the steering wheel and was sobbing openly.
“I should never have left grandpa alone. He was just frightened. He didn’t know what to do. Now they’ll send him to prison—he’ll die there and it’ll all be my fault.” Luke looked at her in despair.
Lin reached carefully forward and put her arm around the young man’s shoulders. “I’m sure the sheriff has picked him up by now, but I don’t think he’ll end up in prison. Remember, when they thought he shot that girl and killed her friend? They were going to put him in a home where he’d be safe and looked after, but they couldn’t because he changed his story and there were no witnesses. This time I saw him leave the barn with the gun. This time they can do something.”
Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery Page 32