“Thanks to the alarm, otherwise I’d still be sleeping.” Lin hopped out of bed and dashed quickly to get her own shower. She was glad she’d taken the time last week to review the background material for the field trip. She just hoped she could fit into one of Kate’s volunteer uniforms.
By the time Lin had showered and dressed Neal had coffee ready downstairs. He found a few muffins left over and warmed them for a quick breakfast. They had just finished eating and were stacking their dishes when Lin’s cell phone rang. She saw that it was Ken Parker, so she took the call as she let Sparky out for a few minutes before they left for the day. She went to the porch so that she could see the dog as she talked.
“This is Ken Parker,” the young officer identified himself. “I understand you folks had an unwelcomed visitor last night.”
“Unfortunately, we did,” Lin replied, “thanks to Sparky and our neighbor no damage was done.” She went on to praise the professional manner of the young officer who had been on the scene.
“Thanks, I’ll pass that along,” Ken replied, “Actually, I need to talk to you about something else.”
Lin interrupted, “We’re due at Fort Raleigh shortly and were just on our way out when you called, but we’re coming in this afternoon about one to fill out the paper work for this attempted break in, could we talk then?”
“If that’s the earliest you can make it, I suppose it’ll have to do,” Ken replied, “ but plan to stay after you do the paperwork so we can talk.” He sounded serious.
“We will,” Lin responded, “I had something I wanted to ask you about anyway, but may I ask what you need to discuss with us?”
Ken was quiet for a moment before he spoke. There was a concerned weariness in his voice, “ Connie Frazier’s body was found this morning in the dumpster behind Tim’s Bar and Grill. According to her Mom she went to meet you Saturday afternoon before she reported for work that evening. That was the last time her Mom saw her. You must have been among the last people who talked to her; we need to know what was on her mind.”
Lin was stunned. She couldn’t find her voice for what seemed like a long time but was probably only a few seconds .“Neal was with me when I talked to Connie. We’ll both be in this afternoon and will be happy to share any information we have. I can’t believe this has happened.”
“I know,” Ken replied, “it’s tough. I’ll expect you both at one.”
Lin hung up the phone and called Sparky to come in.
“You won’t believe what’s happened,” she told Neal as she came back to the kitchen. She briefly shared Ken’s news as they gathered up their belongings for the morning at the fort. He was equally shocked.
They were both silent as they drove down the main highway and crossed the Baum Bridge to Roanoke Island. Finally, Neal spoke. “This raises a lot of questions in my mind—Connie dead, the break-in attempt at the house, the fact that you’ve been asking questions about Dorrie Johnson, not to mention the stuff Connie brought up when she talked to us. What if it’s all tied together somehow?” he grasped Lin’s hand and squeezed it. “Frankly, I’m concerned, extremely concerned for your safety.”
Lin tried to be reassuring, “ We shouldn’t try to make assumptions, we’ll talk to Ken this afternoon and he’ll probably have more information by then. This time I’m borrowing a page from your book,” she smiled and gave his hand a squeeze, “let the police do their job and figure this out. Besides, we’re in this together. I’m concerned for you too.”
Neal gave her a smile. “You’re right. We’ll just have to wait until this afternoon, maybe Ken will have some answers for us then.”
Chapter 11
The morning passed quickly. Herding a group of inquisitive third graders around the park was more than enough to keep Lin occupied. She enjoyed the enthusiasm of the youngsters and was glad that they had lots of good questions. Evidently their teacher had prepared them well for this field trip. Before they left they stopped at the visitor center where the staff had prepared hot chocolate and Christmas cookies for the group. Lin took a moment to talk with the teacher and complement her on the student’s good behavior as well as their enthusiasm.
“It was a pleasure to work with your students, I really enjoyed them,” Lin said.
“Thanks,” the young teacher responded, “you did a super job with them. Have you had much experience with school groups?”
“Actually, your class is my first here, but I spent more than fifteen years as an elementary principal before my retirement last year. I guess you could say I’ve had my fair share of experience with kids,” Lin smiled. “It’s fun for me to have the chance to do things like this.”
The teacher rounded up her group and prepared to leave. Lin said her goodbyes and wished everyone a Merry Christmas as they boarded the school activity bus that had pulled up out front.
When the kids left, Lin returned to the office area and checked the schedule for the week once more. She was scheduled to do another group on Wednesday, but that was all for this week. She checked with the ranger on duty and asked if he needed her for anything else, but he said everything was good so she was free to go anytime.
Checking her watch, she saw that it was just a few minutes past eleven. If Neal could wrap things up at the site where he was currently working, they might have time for lunch before they met with Ken. She pulled out her cell phone and called him. Fortunately, he was almost done with the first survey site. “If you could walk down here and help me bring the equipment back, we could be off in just a few minutes,” he said.
“I’m on my way,” Lin replied as she headed out the door and down the path toward the forested area near the shoreline.
They made quick work of loading the equipment on a cart and returning it to the storage shed behind the visitor center. Neal went in to let the staff know that he would return the next day to continue the gridding. Hopefully, he could have most of the sites ready when the full team returned on Thursday for a few days.
As they drove back toward the center of Manteo, they were both quiet and thoughtful. Without the welcomed distractions of their work, they were both thinking of their coming visit with Ken Parker. Finally, as they were parking near the waterfront, Neal turned and forced a smile. “Let’s try that neat little café we noticed when we were down here talking to the Sheriff; you know, the one across the street from the waterfront with all the blue glass bottles in the windows—what was it called?”
“I think it’s the Full Moon,” Lin responded. “It’s a brewery too, I think.”
“That’s the ticket,” Neal managed a smile, “Nothing like a good lunch before talking to the cops. I’m a bit grubby though, should’ve brought a fresh shirt with me.”
“You’re fine,” Lin said as Neal straightened his collar and slipped his jacket on. “Fortunately, it’s pretty cool today, your jacket covers the smudges,” she teased.
They did enjoy the café. Neal had a crab cake sandwich and a dark beer while Lin decided on seafood chowder, a salad, and iced tea. Neither of them brought up the topic of their upcoming visit with Ken. Instead, they resumed their discussion of plans for things to do during the upcoming family visit.
Soon enough lunch was finished, and they reluctantly left the café to head back to Kill Devil Hills for their appointment. Lin found her thoughts returning to questions about what had happened to Connie. It was hard to believe that the vibrant young woman they talked to less than two days ago was now dead. Lin found it hard to comprehend. She had come to the coast to help a friend and enjoy a holiday vacation with Neal, her kids, and their families. She had been here less than two weeks and already things seemed to be spiraling out of control—two dead young women and lots of unanswered questions.
***
They arrived a few minutes early for their appointment. The receptionist was expecting them and ushered them into a conference room. “Sgt. Parker will be here shortly, he’s meeting with the crime scene techs right now.” She gave them a couple
of forms, “These are the report forms for the attempted break-in last night at your place. You can be completing these while you wait.”
The forms were pretty straightforward. They had just completed them when the door opened and Ken came into the room.
Greetings were exchanged, and Lin introduced Neal to Ken. “I’m sorry this happened,” Lin said, “but I’m glad you’re the one in charge of this investigation. I feel confident you can learn why someone wanted to break into Kate’s house.”
“I certainly hope so,” Ken responded, “but I’m afraid just now the death of Connie Frazier is our top priority.”
“Of course,” Lin agreed. “It’s hard to imagine she’s dead. We just talked to her Saturday afternoon.”
“That’s why I need to talk to the two of you,” Ken prepared to take notes and pulled out a small tape recorder. “Do you mind if I record our conversation? It helps me to keep track of information gathered during our investigation.”
Both Neal and Lin nodded their agreement. Over the next few moments Lin explained how she had been inquiring about Dorrie Johnson activities before her death on behalf of her parents. “I talked to Mrs. Frazier on Friday because Dorrie had visited her earlier. Apparently Connie was asleep at that time. She called on Saturday and said she wanted to talk to me, so I invited her to come meet with the two of us at Starbucks.”
Lin related what she could remember of their conversation with Connie; Neal filled in the gaps from his recollections. She covered everything she could think of, including Connie’s suspicions regarding Billy Thornton and Dorrie’s comments to Connie about the boyfriend Liz had argued with prior to her death. Ken was quiet, taking notes and asking questions as the story proceeded.
“Actually, I had planned to ask you to inquire about Connie failing to show up for work last night before you called us this morning with the news of her death,” Lin said. “I was also planning to ask you about the ME report on Dorrie Johnson.”
Parker seemed a bit puzzled, “Why were you going to ask about the report on Dorrie? We turned all of the information we had on her over to Sheriff Midgett since it related to his case regarding the murder of Liz Frazier. I’m sure that the medical examiner would’ve kept a copy, but we are no longer involved in that case. Why were you interested?”
“I think Dorrie’s parents would like to know more of the details regarding her death and apparently the Sheriff didn’t share a copy with them; he only told them about the finding of death by a severe allergic reaction,” Lin responded, “I talked with the Johnsons, at Sheriff Midgett’s request, and they asked me to try to learn more about what Dorrie was doing while she was here. Basically, I have already collected some information but they would like more particulars I think.”
Ken reached into his wallet and produced a business card with contact information for the Dare County Medical Examiner’s office, “I think that their best bet is to contact the ME directly. He would only release that information to the family, I’d imagine, since there is no ongoing criminal investigation into Dorrie’s death.”
Lin took the card and slipped it into her pocket, “I’ll share this with them, thanks, Ken.”
“Well, I guess that just about wraps up what I need to know about your conversation with Connie. You’ve been very helpful, but I have a couple of follow-up questions. First, was it very crowded in Starbucks when she was there? Could your conversation have been overheard?”
This time it was Neal who spoke up. “Yes, it was a busy place. We were seated near the back, but there was an almost continuous line of customers, and it is quite possible someone may have overheard part of what she was saying.”
“I see,” Ken made a note regarding this fact. “Anything else you can add to what we’ve already gone over?”
Again, Neal spoke up. Lin was a bit surprised when he spoke. “ I can’t think of anything more we could add to what we have already told you, but I think we both have some questions we would like for you to answer for us. I know this is a major, on-going investigation you’ve got going here, and you are probably not at liberty to share much information with us, but I for one am becoming quite concerned that this attempted break-in we experienced last night was not a simple robbery attempt. What if that was somehow connected with our seeing Connie yesterday?”
Ken sat thoughtfully for a moment, reviewing all of his notes and perusing the completed break in reports they had completed. Surprisingly, he did not seem at all dismissive of Neal’s concern. Finally, he spoke, “Please excuse me for a moment and let me get the remaining file on the break in, I’ll be back in a moment.” He got up and left the room.
When he returned a few minutes later, he had the file on the break in attempt. Adding their reports to the stack of papers, he took a few moments to carefully read everything in the file. When he had finished he sat back and looked straight at Neal. “I think you have good reason to be concerned. I’m going to ask that a police patrol car make regular passes through your neighborhood beginning tonight. Don’t be alarmed, but if you leave, please make sure there are lots of lights on. Maybe you might even want to leave the outside lights on all night for a time.”
Lin spoke up, “We appreciate your help and we will take precautions. What makes you think that there might be a connection here to Connie’s death?”
Ken seemed hesitant to answer but finally he said, “We can’t be absolutely certain until all of the crime lab reports are in, but our officer on the scene found a short crowbar in the shrubs near your place. Connie Frazier was badly beaten. Her official cause of death has not been confirmed as yet, but it appears she was attacked with a blunt instrument of some kind. There could be a connection there.”
Lin was stunned. Was their prowler trying to break in and attack them? She had assumed the crowbar was only a device for getting into a door or window, perhaps to steal something.
Apparently, Neal had already had other thoughts, “I was afraid of that,” he said soberly. “There are too many things going on here for there not to be any connections. What did the crime scene techs find this morning? Were there any helpful prints?”
“Not much at the house,” Ken responded, “the prowler evidently wore gloves. There were some footprints but of a rather generic pattern found on many rubber boots. Almost everyone who lives here has rubber boots to wear when fishing. They might help us, but I doubt it. Our best bet is finding some trace evidence on the crowbar that might tie it to Connie. We’ve contacted the state lab in Raleigh about that work already.”
“I guess we’ll just have to wait on that information,” Neal said, “but I feel I must share with you my general concerns about this entire situation.” He carefully explained to Ken what Lin had been doing on behalf of Dorrie’s parents, even though Lin had already mentioned this, and the feeling he’d had that, somehow, all of this was tied together. “I know that Dorrie’s death was ruled an accident, and there’s no evidence otherwise, but I can’t shake the feeling that somehow Lin’s presence here, her talking to folks about Liz Frazier, her visiting with Connie, all of that seems to have ‘stirred up’ something. I’m not sure how everything fits together, but my gut feeling is that it does fit somehow and it has me worried.” He reached instinctively for Lin’s hand. The gesture was not lost on Ken Parker.
The young police officer didn’t try to dismiss their concerns. Instead, he quietly thought about what Neal and Lin had told him. He reviewed the material he had in his file again while they waited for his response. Finally, he closed the file and sat back in his chair.
“I do understand what you’re saying, Dr. Smith. While we can only build cases with concrete evidence, our feelings about a situation shouldn’t be ignored. Sometimes they can help us determine where we need to look for evidence. I’ve got a meeting with my investigative team in a few minutes, but I’d welcome the opportunity to talk with the two of you again soon. Could I come over to your place sometime tomorrow, maybe in the evening so that we could explore this fu
rther? By that time I may have more information anyway.”
“Good idea,” Lin replied. She mentioned that she was going to call Dorrie’s parents that evening, and she would share the contact information for the medical examiner with them. They decided that Ken would come by the next evening about seven-thirty so that they could talk further. “Meanwhile, be careful around your place,” he warned.
“We will,” Lin replied, “ and thank you for listening to our concerns.”
They left the police station and drove back toward Kate’s home. It was almost three when they arrived. Sparky was obviously delighted that they were home.
“I guess you’re telling us it’s time for a walk,” Neal roughed the happy dog about the ears.
Lin smiled at the two of them as she climbed the stairs to the bedroom, ready to change out of Kate’s park uniform. Neal joined her, shedding his jacket and peeling off his dirty shirt.
“I was really too warm in that jacket at the police station,” he smiled, “but I didn’t want to take it off and reveal how filthy my shirt was. I really need to shower”
“You go ahead and clean up,” Lin smiled. “I’ll take Sparky for a quick walk around the neighborhood, then I’m going to pay a brief visit to Billy Thornton’s Island Pawn shop.”
Neal paused as he was undressing. For a moment, Lin thought he might raise an objection, but when he finally spoke all he said was, “Be careful, and don’t be too long.” He turned with a smile. “I’m going to make something special for dinner tonight. If I’m not here when you return, I may be on a quick run to the store.”
Lin took his hand and pulled him toward her. She gave him a kiss and what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “I won’t be long and I’ll be careful. I’m only going to ask whether or not Dorrie actually came to see him. When I get home I plan to call Matt Johnson.”
Neal gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as she grabbed her jacket and headed out to walk the dog.
Sandrift: A Lin Hanna Mystery Page 13
