She’d pushed herself up to a sitting position by this time, and she was more alert. The sounds were of voices and footsteps retreating rather than approaching the place where they were.
“You know,” she whispered to Sue, “if they try to come back here to check on us, if they actually try to come into the pit, they’ll have to have a ladder of some sort.”
“They do,” Sue answered. “I just remembered. Shortly before they dropped you and Luke in, one of them came down here. I pretended to be asleep, but whoever it was came close to me—as if checking whether I was dead or alive. Then he kicked me, hard—kicked me in the head. I must’ve blacked out for a moment because I’d forgotten about that until you just mentioned ladders. I came to when they tossed you and Luke in—the ladder was gone.
“Well, you’ve given me an idea,” Lin said. “If someone comes back down again we’ll pretend to be unconscious. If anyone comes close, maybe we can grab their ankles and knock them over. I’ve seen some fairly large rocks down here. If we can knock someone off their feet we might be able to hit them in the head. It was a rather unlikely, risky scenario, but Lin couldn’t think of anything else at the moment. She couldn’t hear any voices at that time so she crawled a short distance and gathered a couple of stones—large enough to do some damage but not too large for them to pick up. She placed these in a pile beside Sue and her; it was doubtful Sue would be able to move much, but maybe she could still do some damage. Then she sat back, listening carefully for any signs the voices were returning.
After what must have been a half hour of silence, Lin and Sue concluded that whomever they had heard was not coming to check on them. Evidently, they had been delivering something else to another pit in the area. It was growing late in the day. Lin could tell that the light from above was slowly dimming. It would be dark soon. She also became aware of a tremendous sense of thirst. Sue had been here at least two days by now, and she and Luke had been deposited in pit not long afterward. Luke especially would be suffering from dehydration.
The atmosphere of this pit was dank and damp. Lin knew that these mountainous areas were full of springs. Surely, there must be some source of water around here. “I’m going to explore around on the far side of this place, past where Luke was thrown,” she said to Sue. “We’ve got to have some water and there might be something here.” She decided to try to put her boot on again. If she could do that, she could probably walk around.
Fortunately, the swelling had gone down some. I guess even the small amount of elevation I could give it helped, Lin thought as she slipped the boot over her foot and fastened the straps. She couldn’t get it as tight as it had been at first, but she was able to make it fit firmly. Cautiously she got up—first on her knees and then, holding on to the wall behind her she stood up slowly. A stab of pain shot up her leg when she first put weight on her foot, but it did subside a bit, and she was able to move.
“Actually, I’m sore all over,” she commented, “the ankle has a lot of company from all my bruises, I guess.” She moved cautiously toward the other side using the wall to steady herself. When she came to Luke’s crumpled form, she checked on his pulse and breathing. He was still unconscious, but his breathing seemed no worse than it had earlier, and he even stirred and moaned a bit when she checked his pulse. He was still a bloody mess, but it seemed dried. Lin didn’t observe any signs of fresh bleeding which was a good thing. Maybe he was beginning to wake up. Lin almost hoped he remained out of it. If he grew restless and moved a lot the bleeding might begin again.
She moved past Luke toward the far side of the pit—an area she hadn’t traversed earlier. She didn’t see or hear any signs of flowing water, but the walls were increasing wet. “Water’s seeping out of these walls from somewhere,” she commented. “The question is can we collect enough to help.”
“Check the base of the wall,” Sue suggested. Lin thought her voice sounded noticeably weaker. “If there are any depressions in the rocks along the walls, water may collect there. Lin dropped to her knees and began to feel her way along. Finally, she realized that her hands were getting wetter. They were partially submerged in a shallow pool maybe ten inches in diameter that seemed to be collecting moisture. It wasn’t much but it would help some. Lin brought her hands to her mouth and licked the drops of water from them. It had a slight metallic taste but otherwise seemed fine. Rock made a good filter for water; hopefully, this stuff wouldn’t sicken them.
“I found some, but how can I collect it?” Lin asked. “I don’t have anything with me that will hold water.”
“Hold on a minute,” Sue said. In the increasingly dim light, Lin could see that Sue was checking her pockets. “I had a small plastic bag I’d taken to protect my cell phone from the rain. I lost the phone but…Yeah, we’re in luck; the bag is still in my pocket.”
This time, Lin hobbled painfully straight across the pit to get the bag from Sue. She went back and filled it with the precious fluid that had collected. “There’s not going to be much, this isn’t a spring and it’s going to take a long time for it to collect more water, but I guess it’s better than nothing. It took several minutes for her to get most of the water from the small pool in the bag. Then she carefully hobbled back to where Luke lay and did her best to get a few swallows of the precious fluid in his mouth. The rest she saved for her and Sue.
By the time they’d finished drinking it was fully dark. Lin was exhausted from her efforts. She wasn’t even sure what day it was or exactly how long they’d been in this pit. She couldn’t be sure exactly how long she’d been unconscious at first or how long she and Sue had slept earlier. She only knew that they needed to get out of here soon, and she hoped that the next day would see that happen.
It appeared that Sue was asleep, or maybe passed out. She didn’t answer when Lin spoke to her. Nothing to do but try to rest, Lin thought. If our captors do return, we’ll need all the strength we can muster. She carefully removed her boot and once again arranged it so she could elevate her foot at least to some degree. It was cold in the pit. She was glad that Sue had her rain gear. At least it provided some insulation. Luke had hustled her out without anything other than her volunteer shirt and pants. Now she shivered as she curled herself up as close to Sue as she could manage in an effort to stay warm.
***
Neal arrived in Ted’s hospital room with a brown paper sack from Five Guys containing two large, juicy burgers and a second bag containing an enormous amount of French fries. “I’ll probably be evicted if they catch us with this stuff,” Neal grinned as he placed the bags on Ted’s bed tray, “It’s certainly not healthy!”
“But nothing’s wrong with my stomach,” Ted reported and I’m starving. “I just sort of rearranged stuff on my dinner tray when they brought it—everything there was gray or white, ugh.”
Neal arranged the food where Ted could reach it and then slipped down the hall to the lounge to get some soft drinks from the machine. The nurses at the desk gave him a knowing look when he passed, but no one attempted to follow him. Ted was already chowing down when he arrived.
Neal took his sandwich to the chair in the corner, but not before he’d placed his notepad on the tray beside Ted’s food. “Here’s all the notes I got from going through Bryan Lee’s stuff,” he reported. He explained how he’d organized the material and how he’d decided what to make note of. Ted nodded his approval and began reading as he ate. Neal watched him read, feeling good when he saw nods of approval.
Finally, Ted finished reading through the notes. He grabbed a couple of fries and turned to Neal. “I think you’ve found some really helpful things here. Apparently Bryan was careful about not putting things into official files until he had evidence to back them up. My guess is that the Hinsons—or some of these other folks he mentioned—caught on to what he was doing and set him up. He died before he could complete his investigation, and, unfortunately, the local authorities never thought to actually examine his personal papers.”
“Another example of their failures where these murders were concerned,” Neal added, “but what do I tell Mark. Is there anything here that will help the search? Bryan’s informant mentions some old mining pits being used sort of as warehouses, but there’s no location or identifying information given.”
Ted had finished his meal; Neal cleaned up the evidence of their food transgressions and helped him to lower his bed into a more comfortable position.
“Actually, I think I might know where those pits are—or some similar ones anyway,” Ted said, “Out in Ashe County—between Todd and West Jefferson there used to be some old ore pits—people found copper out there, but that was a long time ago. In the past they would’ve dug a number of test pits to locate the ore. That could be the place, I suppose. Today I’ve heard folks sometimes go to such places hoping to find gemstones or samples of minerals.”
“And an old pit would make the perfect place to stash…captives,” Neal didn’t want to say ‘bodies’. He refused to think the worst had happened.
“It would be a good place,” Ted hesitated, obviously thinking of the worst case scenario, “Remember, with the past killings the bodies were found in the open, along the parkway.”
“We have to stay positive,” Neal said, “and I have to locate Mark Scott as soon as possible.” He was already dialing his number. Unfortunately, the phone went to voice mail again. Neal left yet another message asking for an urgent call back, but he turned to Ted when he finished. “ Can you tell me how to find these ore pits? Do you know where they are exactly?” Unfortunately, Ted wasn’t certain of the exact location. “I’ve never actually been there, but I do know they are off a side road somewhere between Hwy. 194 and 221. Your best bet might be to contact someone at the Ashe County Sheriff’s department; they should be more familiar with the area and they might be willing to help you.”
Promising to keep Ted in the loop, Neal set out to drive to the next county. He knew he wasn’t likely to find anyone out and about in the rural community of Todd, so he headed for West Jefferson. The drive took about half an hour during which time the weather began to change once more. The sunshine he’d experienced early in the day had already changed to cloudy and overcast by late afternoon and now, well after dark, the fog and misty rain were returning. Conditions were extremely murky as he approached the 221 junction in Deep Gap. Had it not been for the traffic light, he’d probably have missed the intersection entirely.
Things were slightly better when he reached West Jefferson. Everything except a few restaurants was closed for the night, but he did see a local police officer parked near an intersection. Neal slipped into the parking spot behind him and got out of the car. The officer rolled down his window, “May I help you?” he asked.
Neal explained that he was hoping to find someone who could assist him in finding a location in a rural area. He didn’t want to take the time to explain the entire story. “That would be someone at the Sheriff’s office in Jefferson,” the cop explained. He followed up with specific directions on how to get there.
When Neal arrived at the small department, he noticed that there were only a couple of cars in the parking lot. He approached the receptionist and asked if he could please speak to the deputy on duty. She directed him to take a seat as she picked up the phone.
Soon he was approached by a young man in uniform. “Hello, I’m Deputy Michael Jones, how may I help you?” the deputy greeted him politely.
“It’s sort of a long story,” Neal explained, “and time is of the essence. I’m trying to locate some old ore pits I’ve learned are somewhere around here.”
The young man looked puzzled but indicated that Neal should follow him back to a conference room where a large county map hung on the wall.
Just as they arrived in the room, Neal’s phone rang—it was Mark Scott. Apologizing to the young deputy, Neal took his phone into the hallway to talk to Mark. He noticed that the young man was perusing the map carefully as he left.
As quickly and succinctly as possible, Neal told Mark about the information he’d found in Bryan Lee’s personal papers—mentioning the names he could remember as well as the ore pits. “I think it might be worth looking there he said, and I’m in Jefferson right now trying to find out an exact location.”
“Stay right where you are,” Mark directed. Zach and I are still on the parkway and not far from your area. We can meet you in half an hour tops. Just sit tight and find out all you can from this deputy.”
When Neal went back into the conference room, the young deputy was still focused on the county map. He was placing some pins in a couple of spots.
“ There are a couple of spots that might fit the description you gave of old abandoned ore pits,” the young man said, “I’m pinning the most likely locations on this map and we have some spare maps. I can give you one and you can mark these spots for yourself. I’d wait until tomorrow to try to locate them if I were you. It can be pretty dangerous out there when it’s dark. Lots of folks try to go gem and mineral hunting and fall even when they can see where they’re going.” Neal hadn’t yet had time to tell the young deputy the full story.
“Actually, I need to get out there to search right away,” Neal said. “I hadn’t yet had time to tell you the full story. I think there may be lives at stake here.” He proceeded to bring the young man up to date as to what was going on. Finally, he reached the end of his tale.
“You see, there are two women missing. The park service has been looking for them since Monday night and they’ve had no luck. This is the best clue we’ve had. If they’re in these pits we need to find them. They may be hurt…”
He didn’t have to go any further, “I’ll get you some help. I’m going to contact the deputies on patrol in that part of the county and have them meet you.” He immediately left to go to the dispatch desk.
Neal felt at least some sort of relief. Here was someone in local law enforcement who seemed to take this seriously, and who was willing to provide assistance. He sat down for a moment, hoping that Mark and Zach wouldn’t be too long.
Michael Jones returned shortly with a map and a marker. He marked the spots he’d pinned on the larger map and circled an intersection nearby. “There is a church there,” he said. “That’s where the men on patrol will meet you.”
“Great,” Neal said, “I’m waiting here for a park ranger and an FBI agent to meet me. They’ve been searching for these folks for the past few days, but this is the best information we’ve found. As soon as they arrive we’ll head out to meet the patrol officers. Thanks so much, this means a lot…” he had to stop talking at that point. He was beginning to feel emotional—both hopeful and fearful—about the upcoming search. Who knew what condition Lin and Sue were in? He had to stay positive. He couldn’t allow himself to think about what they might find—even if they were successful in locating the place where the women were held.
***
When Lin awoke again, she could see light drifting down into the pit from above. She could hear Sue breathing beside her, but her friend was evidently still asleep. Lin got up and gently felt Sue’s head and face—she was too warm, especially for this cold, dank place where they were. Sue must have a fever, Lin thought, worried that the broken leg might’ve become infected.
Lin pushed herself up to a sitting position and tried to examine her ankle. It didn’t seem to be swollen too much—at least no more than it had been the previous evening. She put her boot on again and once more forced herself up into a standing position. Her body was stiff and she hurt all over, but still, she didn’t think she’d sustained more than bad bruising when she fell—that was fortunate. She could’ve had a broken bone like Sue, or worse still, she could’ve been shot if Luke hadn’t insisted she remain behind.
Thinking of Luke, she made her way to the place where he was lying. He was still out of it, but he too felt warmer than he had before. Lin took the plastic bag from her pocket and moved toward the place where she’d found the water. She gave her
self a drink by licking her wet hands. Then she submerged the bag so that it could fill with the moisture that had collected overnight. While she waited she moved to a dark corner of the pit well away from the water source and relieved herself. From the odor she’d detected around Luke and Sue, she realized that they’d wet their clothing, but then that was the least of their problems.
Lin realized that she had very little energy in spite of the fact that she’d slept for several hours. She hadn’t eaten since Monday; she remembered the hot roast beef sandwich she’d left in the kitchen when Luke broke in. That must account for her weakness. She carefully made her way back to the water and gingerly picked up the bag trying to make sure no water spilled. She made her way back, first stopping to give Luke some water. His eyes were still closed, but she noticed that he swallowed when she poured some water in his mouth. There wasn’t much so she had to ration it. She gave most of what was left to Sue, who murmured thanks but then sank back into a state of sleep. Lin drained the last small swallow of the liquid herself and leaned back against the wall once more. She slid down into a seated position and found herself drifting back into sleep. Might as well rest, she thought, can’t really do anything else.
Lin didn’t know how long she’d slept, but she awoke with a start at the sound of voices immediately overhead. This time she could see the shadowy outline of what appeared to be three men standing near the opening at the top of the pit.
“You got that big ladder on your truck?” a deep voice questioned. “We ought to go down and check on them.”
Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery Page 36
