Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (42 page)

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 herself 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.