Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery

by Sharon Canipe

  This was not the first time Lin had ever found herself in similar circumstances. She was not one to simply give up and accept her fate. Sue had been right, though. She’d found nothing at all that might help them to escape, but she thought perhaps their captors would eventually return to this spot—at least she hoped they would. Maybe they used this pit for some purpose, she couldn’t be sure, but if they came back she wanted to try to use it to some advantage. She just had to think of a way.

  The sound of Sue’s breathing beside her lulled Lin into quiet relaxation. Perhaps she should take a nap also. She knew she’d wake up if anyone returned; taking care to keep her foot balanced on the boot, she slid down along the damp wall of the hole and curled herself up on one side to try to rest.

  ***

  When Neal awoke, the sun was shining brightly through the bedroom window. A quick check of the clock showed that it was already almost eight-thirty; he’d slept almost seven full hours. He jumped up and had started to get dressed when he realized that the only clothes he had that were even somewhat clean were the ones he’d worn to travel in yesterday. He decided that his first visit needed to be to the basement laundry room. He grabbed his suitcase and headed downstairs.

  When he’d loaded the washer, he went back up to the kitchen to hunt for breakfast. Soon he had a pot of coffee started and bacon sizzling in a pan on the stove. He was anxious to try to learn more about the search for the missing women. Neal had managed to persuade Ben, Jr. not to end the family’s trip just yet. He assured him that everything possible was being done to locate his mother and promised he would call him with daily reports.

  He decided to try to reach Mark Scott. No luck, Mark wasn’t answering his cell so he left a message. His bacon was done, so he put in on a paper towel to drain while he scrambled a couple of eggs and dropped bread into the toaster. Soon he had a great breakfast ready to eat. By the time he’d finished, the clothes were ready for the dryer; he took care of that and returned to the kitchen.

  Pouring another cup of coffee, he decided to call the hospital. It had occurred to him that Ted Whitley might be able to share some information that would help with the search. Mark had already talked to him, but there was always the possibility that there was more to learn. He dialed the hospital reception desk and inquired. Ted was still a patient and had been moved to a regular room. Neal determined that he was able to have visitors and then decided that was where he would head as soon as he had some decent dry clothes to wear. He didn’t try to call, realizing that sometimes hospital patients had trouble reaching their phones anyway.

  The dryer was buzzing in the basement, so he went down and gathered his clean clothes into a laundry basket and headed upstairs. Fortunately, most of his clothing was of the no-iron variety, but he did take the time to fold and hang up things before putting on clean jeans and a plaid sport shirt. He’d just finished dressing when Mark Scott returned his call.

  Mark didn’t have any direct news of the missing women, but he had taken the time to review Bryan Lee’s files the previous day. “I know now that Bryan was convinced there was a significant poaching ring illegally harvesting ginseng on public lands. He’d even marked several areas where he believed the operation was well established. Apparently he was in the process of searching some of these areas and trying to document the operation when he was shot. I’m thinking now that he was lured to that parking lot deliberately by the poachers. Any one would know that tourists who saw a man with a gun might call authorities, and I’m sure it wouldn’t have been hard to discover when Bryan was on duty. Anyway, that’s not proof, but it does strengthen the case that the poaching and the murders are connected—at least some of them.”

  “Do Bryan’s files reveal any names or other information about the operation?” Neal asked.

  “Unfortunately no,” Mark said. “The best information was the map where he marked several places he was planning to search. Actually, most of his files are pretty sketchy otherwise. Some notes and a couple of typed reports. I think he must’ve been trying to collect evidence and information sufficient to convince his superiors of the problem. He wanted to make sure he had a good case before he lowered the boom. If he had any information identifying the possible culprits it’s not in these files.”

  “So what are you doing now?” Neal asked.

  “Right now, I have a group of local park volunteers who are working with Zach Taylor and me to conduct a thorough search of all the areas Bryan marked on his map as possible ginseng poaching sites. We have two teams and we are trying to cover the woods, trails, everything in those areas. We are looking for possible places to hide the ladies, assuming these guys took them. On the side, we are photographing any evidence we find of poaching operations. It’s taking a good bit of time and so far we haven’t found signs of Lin or Sue—but we won’t quit now. There are lots of places in those woods where you could hide a couple of people easily; that’s why we’re trying to be thorough.”

  “I appreciate that, Mark,” Neal replied. “I’m ready and willing to help if you need more searchers.”

  “Thanks, Neal, if we don’t find them today, we may indeed need to spread out further tomorrow—maybe create a third team. Right now, we really need more information. Anything that would help us to narrow our search options.”

  “I think I’m going to try to talk to Ted Whitley this morning, if he’s up to having visitors that is,” Neal said.

  “Good, idea,” Mark agreed. “When I talked to him, he was still pretty well sedated and all he really could tell me was where he and Lin had been and what had happened to him there. I didn’t ask him anything about the investigations he and Sue had been engaged in, Lin too, of course. I know he was planning a series of news articles on the unsolved cases.”

  “If I learn anything from him that might help, I’ll let you know,” Neal replied. “Could you call me later and let me know how your day went. It’s hard to just sit around and wonder.”

  “You got it, Buddy, I understand. I’ll talk to you later today,” Mark ended the call leaving Neal to plan the rest of his day on his own.

  His next problem was how to get his rental car back to Enterprise. That was easily resolved when he called the local office and learned that someone could give him a ride back home when he dropped the car off; he didn’t need to do that right away because his one day rental didn’t end until about ten that night. That settled, he grabbed the keys and headed out to the hospital.

  When he arrived he checked again to make sure Ted could have visitors before proceeding to the third floor. He found Ted in a private room on the wing reserved for surgical patients. He was propped up in bed with tubes and IVs in abundance. His eyes were closed so Neal presumed he must be asleep, but when he moved a chair from the corner so he could sit down, the scraping sound caused Ted to open his eyes.

  “Hi, there?” Neal offered his hand in greeting, “I’m Neal Smith, Lin Hanna’s fiancé and I was hoping you might feel like talking a bit. If you don’t that’s OK, I can come back…”

  “No, No, please stay. Please sit down,” Ted responded. His voice sounded stronger than his appearance would indicate. “I’m happy to meet you, sorry about the circumstances though. I think we were supposed to have dinner together sometime this coming weekend. At least that’s what Lin had proposed but…” his voice trail off. No need to explain the current circumstances.

  “I’m hoping that we can still have that dinner—maybe postponed until they spring you from this place, but still. When I found out Lin and Sue were both missing I got my act together and flew in from Arizona last night. I was hoping you might feel like talking a bit, maybe bring me up to date on all the stuff you guys had uncovered before all this happened. Mark already told me that Lin was with you when you were shot.”

  “And, if not for her, I might’ve died. The surgeon told me I was lucky that none of my major organs sustained serious damage, but I was pretty much ripped up by the shotgun pellets and the splinters of wood
that flew out of that barn door. If she hadn’t gotten me to the hospital, I could’ve bled out and died. I owe her my life,” Ted was choked with emotion.

  Neal simply nodded and gave Ted a friendly pat on the hand. “She’s pretty special that way. Always ready to help her friends—no matter what the circumstances. Sue’s a strong person too, she helped Lin when she faced circumstances similar to yours last year. She’s pretty special also.”

  “You bet she is,” Ted said, “I’m just finding out how special. We’ve just met really, but already I feel like I know her. I find her one of the most attractive women I’ve ever met, and not just physically, although she’s pretty good looking. Sue and I have a lot in common. I just wish I knew where she was and who has her.”

  Neal brought Ted up to date on the direction the search was taking. As he described what Mark Scott was doing, he noticed that Ted was nodding his approval. “I’d say he’s on the right track. That goes along with what Sue, Lin and I were learning.”

  “Can you bring me up to speed on that?” Neal asked. “I told Mark that if I could uncover any helpful information I’d get it to him as soon as possible.”

  A nurse entered about that time to check Ted’s vitals. As she was leaving she gave Neal a severe look. “He needs to rest so don’t stay too long.”

  “Maybe I should go and come back later, if you’re tired…” Neal didn’t want to force Ted to talk to him.

  “I’m not that tired,” Ted was serious, “the thing that would help me recover most quickly is to find Sue and Lin. I can’t get out of this bed, but I can tell you all that we’ve learned.”

  Neal sat back and listened carefully as Ted recounted his own investigation into the unsolved crimes as well as the information Sue had shared with him. As he brought the story up to date, he told Neal about the visit he and Sue paid to Olivia Lee, Bryan’s widow, and told him about the boxes of notes and information she had allowed them to take from her storage room. “They are in the basement at the house. The three of us were going to start going through them on Monday evening. In fact, I was about to head over there when Lin called with the information that Sue had gone missing. I went out to the Cone house then, and later Lin left with me and we went to Luke Taylor’s home looking for Sue. That’s when I got shot; I think it must’ve been the old man. If I remember correctly, Lin saw him—but that night’s pretty fuzzy for me. That was Monday though, I’m sure of that; Sue’s been missing for more than two days.”

  “And Lin for almost that long,” Neal added. He told Ted about the interrupted phone call when an intruder evidently broke into the house in the early hours of Tuesday morning, shortly after Lin returned from the hospital.

  Neal could see that Ted was really tired, but he had been a fount of information. Now he knew what he needed to do for the rest of today. He needed to search those boxes Ted and Sue had obtained from Olivia Lee. Maybe they would reveal more information to add to that which Mark had found in the official files.

  Neal told Ted that was what he was going to do. As he rose to leave, Ted reached for his hand. “Thanks so much for coming, for listening to me and understanding how I feel. I hate to ask but could you come back to visit again? I don’t have any family here. My editor’s been by already and will probably come again, but I don’t have anyone else…”

  “You bet,” Neal said. “I’ll try to come back tonight. You and I have a common interest here. I’ll probably need your help to decipher what I might find in Bryan’s papers. Is there anything I could bring you?”

  “Maybe a good pizza or a hamburger,” Ted grinned. “You know what hospital food is like.”

  Neal took his leave and left the hospital with renewed energy for the day ahead. Now he had some sense of direction. He knew what he had to do. He was going to return his rental car and then go back home to do research. He just hoped those papers in the basement contained new information—new clues as to where the women might be found.

  Chapter 28

  By the time Neal returned from dropping off his car it was almost noon, but he wasn’t hungry. His big breakfast had been very satisfying, and all he could think about was digging into those papers in the basement. He did decide to make a fresh pot of coffee to accompany his efforts. Earlier, he’d noticed that Sue had a coffee maker downstairs so he ground some fresh beans and took them down with him. It was easy to locate the boxes Ted had told him about. They were sitting on a folding table in the center of the room, but no one had yet touched them.

  Neal put the coffee on to brew and started in on the first box. It was filled with what appeared to be miscellaneous papers and dog-eared composition books with various dates on the cover. Where do I begin? Neal thought. He decided to try to organize the material in some fashion and dates seemed like a good place to start.

  An hour later, Neal had managed to separate all the material into piles. All the dated material was placed in stacks chronologically from left to right across the table. Undated material had gone into another stack and scraps of paper that seemed unrelated, including receipts and notes about errands to run he tossed back into one of the now empty boxes—now to get to work. He located a legal pad to make notes on and a pen on Sue’s desk and poured himself a fresh cup of coffee. Soon he was immersed in the life and work of park ranger Bryan Lee.

  He spent the remainder of the afternoon reading and making notes about anything he thought might be significant. A lot of the material documented locations he’d visited that appeared to have ginseng poaching going on. Neal assumed these were the locations he’d officially reported and marked on the map Mark and Zach were using as a search guide.

  About halfway through the pile, he began to find notes that named possible persons of interest. Neal made a careful note of any names mentioned—even if no particular evidence was cited by Lee. It seemed that most of these names were pure speculation. People who were suspected poachers perhaps, but Neal found no evidence actually linking these people to specific sites.

  Finally, Neal reached the stack that reflected dates within a couple of months of the time Bryan Lee was shot. The first notebook he opened revealed the best information yet. Apparently, Lee had located a man who claimed to have purchased ginseng he believed had been harvested out of season—perhaps on government land. He was apparently in the export business and had become suspicious of his source and decided to talk to the park service about it. Lee had gotten the referral and made contact.

  Neal turned the page to the actual notes Lee had made after talking with the source. There it was—a list of names and the very first name on the list was Hinson. Apparently, Hiram and Herman Hinson had sold ginseng to this supplier. There were a couple of other names mentioned, and Neal noted these also, but something told him that the Hinsons were in the middle of all this. Theirs was the only name that had surfaced, other than Stefan Kovich whose connection was of a different sort and who was now well out of the picture, during all the problems Lin and Sue had experienced this summer.

  Something grabbed him. Neal felt certain that somehow the Hinsons were responsible for the disappearance of the two women. He grabbed his phone and tried to reach Mark Scott—no luck. He left another message but didn’t want to mention names yet. He simply told Mark he’d found something he thought might be important and asked that he call him back as soon as possible.

  Neal checked his watch. It was almost five. He’d promised to visit Ted again that night and he was growing hungry. There were only a few papers remaining; he pressed on seeking to complete the task.

  Neal was glad that he hadn’t stopped. Now that he had some names, the next thing he needed was more information about locations. Mark and Zach had the map and were searching, but so far they’d been unsuccessful. Neal began to leaf through the remaining notes, trying to determine what information Bryan had learned from his informant. Finally, he came upon notes made from an interview the park ranger had had with the ginseng dealer and there it was—what had led him to become suspicious
and report his source.

  The informant had reported that he’d met the people who were selling him the product at a number of unusual areas—most often at picnic areas and overlooks along the Parkway. That had led him to believe they might be harvesting illegally on government lands. Timing was off also. They claimed that they had stored some of the product from the previous season, but it appeared to him to have been freshly dug. Finally, he mentioned that their storage facility was quite unusual. Apparently, they took him to an old mining site where they apparently used a series of open test pits as storehouses for the ginseng roots. They explained that these places were cool and helped to prevent the roots from drying out too much, but something didn’t ring true to him. It was shortly after that he’d decided to report these people to someone at the park service.

  Neal placed the last paper carefully back on the stack—he was convinced this was the key. The person who’d taken the report was Bryan Lee. Evidently, Bryan was still in the process of checking out the information when he was lured to his death—these notes never made it into his official files. Now, Neal gathered his own notes and prepared to leave. He was eager to talk to Ted Whitley about what he had found. Perhaps Ted would be able to relate these notes to his own research. First though, he needed to pick up some good food to take to the hospital.

  ***

  Lin awoke with a start to the sound of voices approaching above; someone was coming to this place—perhaps searchers come to their rescue? More likely it was their captors returning, Lin thought. She felt Sue stirring beside her and put out her hand, “Quiet, don’t let them know we’re awake.”

  The voices stopped short of the pit they were in. They had to be nearby though. Lin could make out their voices, even though it wasn’t clear what they were doing. She heard distant sounds of something, or someone, being thrown or shoved. She could hear distant thuds of something hitting ground. Not people, she thought no cries—of course, if it were people they could be dead or unconscious. She realized she’d probably not cried out when she’d landed in this pit. Still, she thought what she’d heard was the sound of something else being tossed.