Sandrift: A Lin Hanna Mystery (16 page)

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 further?
 
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.

***

It was almost
four-thirty when Lin pulled up in front of Island Pawn.
 
As she entered the shop she observed a
handsome man who looked to be in his late thirties or maybe early forties.
 
He appeared to be readying the shop for
closing, putting up trays of jewelry, and stacking other display items on the
shelves.

“May I help
you?” he inquired with a ready smile.
 
Lin could see why Dorrie might have had a crush on him.
 
He was tall and muscular with dark hair
and deep brown eyes.
 
His demeanor
was almost flirtatious.

Lin had thought
about how to open her inquiry, but lacking any creative ideas, had simply
decided to approach Thornton directly.

“You must be
Billy Thornton,” she extended her hand, “I’m Lin Hanna.”

Thornton shook
her hand, “Yes, that’s me, how can I help you?
 
Are you looking for something special?”

“Actually, I’m
here to ask about Dorrie Johnson, the girl who died just before
Thanksgiving.
 
I was told that she
had plans to come by to see you and wondered if she did that.”

Thornton seemed
to withdraw.
 
His smile
vanished.
 
“Why are you asking? Who
are you, anyway?”

“I’m a friend
of Dorrie’s parents,” Lin explained. “I’m sure you can imagine how upset they
must be about her death.
 
They’re
simply trying to find out more about why she was here, what she was doing, and
so forth.
 
As you know, her death
was an accident, an allergic reaction apparently.
 
My only interest is in helping the Johnsons
find some closure.”

Billy Thornton
seemed to relax a bit, his smile returning. “Well, as a matter of fact, Dorrie
did come by here.
 
It was late
Thursday afternoon, I believe.
 
It
was good to see her; a lot had changed in ten years.
 
Dorrie was pretty much a mess way back
then but now…”

“I understand
she had really turned her life around,” Lin said, “If you don’t mind my asking
were you an Dorrie ever…” she struggled to find the right words.

“Do you mean
did we ever date?” Thornton came to her rescue. “Actually no, not back
then.
 
Oh, I knew she had a crush on
me, but she was really just a kid and a messed up one at that.
 
I tried to avoid getting involved.”

“ I see,”
Lin
responded, “you must’ve been surprised to see the change
in her.”

“ I was,”
Thornton seemed to be warming up to the subject, “Dorrie had really changed a
lot.
 
She was a different person… a
real knock-out too.”

“Did you spend much
time with her?” Lin asked, “What did you talk about?”

“Oh, nothing in
particular,” Thornton seemed to be considering what to say next, “Actually, I
took her to dinner then we came back here to… talk.
 
I live in an apartment upstairs.
 
We talked about old times mostly.”

Lin got the
distinct feeling that more than just talk had probably occurred, but she didn’t
press the issue.
 
Instead she turned
to another topic. “Did Dorrie mention what her plans were for Friday?” she
asked.

“Not specifically,”
Thornton seemed happy that she was not pursuing his own activities with Dorrie
further. “She mentioned maybe going over to Manteo to try to find one of Liz
Frazier’s old boyfriends.
 
She
couldn’t remember his name, but she thought he was in the jewelry and antique
business.
 
Asked me if I knew
anything but I couldn’t help her.
 
I
did tell Liz to talk to someone about that jewelry she had found, but I never
kept up with her love life—too hard.
 
We were just friends.”

“Did Dorrie
seem really concerned that she was a suspect in Liz’s death?”

“She was, but
she told me she had already left here when that happened.
 
She suspected this boyfriend whose name
she couldn’t recall, I think.”

Lin decided to
press a bit further. “I understand that you were considered a suspect at one
point yourself?”

Thornton’s
expression was grim, “Maybe, I was.
 
The Sheriff asked a lot of questions but I wasn’t even in town that
night.
 
I was Liz’s friend.
 
I certainly wouldn’t have tried to kill
her.
 
I was questioned but nothing
ever came of it.
 
You must’ve talked
to Connie Frazier, Liz’s sister.
 
She’s always tried to blame me somehow,” there was a tinge of genuine
anger in his voice. He didn’t seem to know that Connie was dead.
 
Of course, if the death had just been
discovered early this morning, it hadn’t had time to make the local
papers.
 
Still, news travels quickly
in small communities and Lin thought folks might’ve heard about it.
 
Nevertheless, Lin decided not to mention
it at this point.

“Well, thanks
for talking to me,” Lin said, “I won’t take up more of your time but it’s good
to know that Dorrie was with you on Thursday evening.
 
It appears that her accident occurred
sometime on Friday.
 
She was found
on Saturday morning.” Lin didn’t reveal that she was the one who found her. “I
would like to be able to tell her folks what she did on Friday.
 
I think they’re wondering how she came
to be walking in Nags Head Woods, apparently alone, and without her epipen.
 
Usually she always had it with her.”

“I’m sorry that
I can’t help you more,” Thornton seemed sincere. “I think she was planning to
go to Manteo, maybe see if she could recall who this guy was, but she might
have decided to just enjoy herself on her last day here.
 
She told me she was planning to leave
early on Saturday.”

Thornton walked
with Lin to the door of the shop. “I was really sorry to hear about
Dorrie—about her accident.
 
I
always thought she was a good kid at heart, and I was really surprised and
happy to see her again.
 
I really
liked her, and even thought we might see more of each other in the
future.”
 
He seemed really sad.
 
Maybe he and Dorrie had really hit it
off.

Lin gave
Thornton her cell number and asked him to call her if he thought of any more
information.
 
It was well past five when
she left the shop, time to go home and call Matt Johnson.

The sun was
beginning to set over the sound as Lin pulled into the parking area under the
house.
 
Kate’s Jeep was
missing.
 
Neal had probably gone to
the store as he had mentioned.
 
Lin
noted that, even though it wasn’t yet dark, he had turned on the outside
lights.

She went
upstairs where Sparky greeted her with his usual enthusiasm.
 
The light on the phone was blinking to
indicate there were messages waiting.
 
Lin pushed the button.

The first
message was from Eloise wanting to discuss a possible date for the holiday
party they had talked about earlier.
 
Lin made a note to return her call as the second message began.

The voice
seemed to be male but was difficult to hear clearly; it sounded as if someone
were talking through some sort of barrier—hoarse and distant. “Watch your
step, you nosy bitch.
 
Mind your own
business.
 
Keep asking questions and
you’ll regret it.
 
Next time you
won’t escape.” The message cut off abruptly at that point.

Lin couldn’t
really believe what she had just heard.
 
She replayed the message a couple of times trying to decide if she
recognized the voice, but it was too well disguised.
 
Even though the voice was garbled and it
was difficult to hear, the message was clear enough to understand.
 
This was a direct threat, possibly from
the prowler.
 
Lin felt herself
shaking more from anger than fear.
 
This was crazy, she hadn’t accused anyone of any crime; her questions
had only focused on what Dorrie had been doing, and her death was not even
being investigated.
 
It had already
been determined how she died, and it was ruled an accident.
 
Besides, Lin couldn’t even think of who
might have been disturbed by her activity.
 
None of the persons she had spoken with had seemed at all hostile.
 
Everyone had been helpful and seemed to
understand.
 
These threats made no
sense.

Leaving the
messages to share with Neal and Ken Parker later, Lin went upstairs to call
Matt Johnson.
 
He sounded better
than he had when they talked earlier, and he was eager to learn what she had
found out about Dorrie’s activities.

Lin gave him
the basics, generally telling him whom she had talked to and what Dorrie had
been doing during most of her time there.
 
While she was sorry that she hadn’t been able to learn what Dorrie
actually did on Friday, she was happy that she could provide the contact
information for the medical examiner’s office.

Johnson thanked
her for all that she had done.
 
“Sara and I are most grateful for this information.
 
This has been one tough week for both of
us but knowing what Dorrie was apparently doing and how the Frazier’s felt
about her helps a lot.
 
She was
trying to repay her debt, as she told us.
 
I guess there’ll always be a shadow hanging around the Liz Frazier case,
but at least, the folks closest to Liz do not blame Dorrie.”

“And it’s clear
that the evidence the Sheriff did have was largely circumstantial.
 
That’s apparently why formal charges
were never filed,” Lin added.

“I’m going to
contact the medical examiner anyway,”
Johnson
added,
“maybe we can get his report, for whatever it’s worth at this point.
 
Again, let me thank you Ms. Hanna.”

“I’m glad I
could help, even if just a little, and please call me Lin.
 
If there’s anything else I can do please
let me know,” Lin ended the call.
 
She heard the kitchen door open and realized that Neal was back from his
shopping.
 

“Need any
help,” she called as she went down to the kitchen.

“Nope, just
this one bag.
 
I’m making enchiladas
and we didn’t have any tortillas.
 
I
also picked up some seasonings, evidently Kate doesn’t use much hot pepper.”

Lin decided she
might as well bite the bullet and share the phoned threat with Neal so she
punched the button to replay the messages, “Listen to this, the second message
I mean.”

First came
Eloise’s voice.
 
Lin deleted that
message after it played. “Now,” she said.

The hoarse,
garbled voice repeated the warning.
 
Even though she’d heard it at least three times earlier, it still made
Lin angry.
 
Neal looked startled
when he heard the threat. “Play it again,” he demanded. “I want to be sure of
what I heard.”

Lin complied,
this time increasing the volume on the machine to make it easier to hear.

Neal’s reaction
was entirely predictable.
 
He
whipped out his cell and immediately dialed the police number, asking
specifically for Sgt. Parker.
 
Ken
must’ve been working late because he was still there.

Calmly, but
directly, Neal reported the threat.
 
Parker asked him to play it back once more, but it was too garbled for
him to hear clearly on his phone.

“ I’m leaving
here shortly,” he told them. “You’re on my way home so I’ll stop by and listen
to it again.
 
I may need to pick up
that set and bring it in for analysis, if that’s ok.”

“Sure thing,”
Neal agreed. “We’ll expect you shortly.”

Ken looked bone
tired when he arrived about half an hour later.
 
It was clear that he had put in a hard
day.
 
Neal invited him to stay and
share the enchiladas with them, but he declined.

“This has been
a long, tough day and I need to get home.
 
I was called out early this morning when Connie’s body surfaced, and I’ve
been at it steadily since then.
 
I’ll just check out this message and be on my way,” he said wearily,
“Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.
 
I’m still planning to come by tomorrow evening, and I expect I’ll know
more about this whole case by then.
 
I haven’t forgotten your concern that all of these events may be
connected in some way,” he nodded toward Neal.

They played the
message twice.
 
Parker listened
intently, shaking his head.
 
“This
is probably your prowler.
 
At least
it sounds like that.
 
I’ll take this
set in, if you don’t mind, maybe we can do some analysis, but I’m not
sure.
 
It would help if we had
something else to compare it to, but anyway, the recording can be evidence of a
direct threat.”

Neal unplugged
the base set and handed it to Ken.
 
“I hope it helps.
 
Keep it as
long as you need to.
 
We’ll look
forward to meeting with you tomorrow.”

“Meanwhile,”
Ken’s tone was serious, “if I were you I’d stop asking questions about Dorrie, about
any of this stuff.
 
Let us take care
of our business.
 
We’ll step up our
patrols around here.”

Lin heard what
he was saying but her anger at being threatened overrode what she was
hearing.
 
She felt her inquiries had
been entirely reasonable and justified.
 
She hadn’t accused anyone of anything.
 
If she felt like talking to someone she
was going to do it.
 

***

Dinner was a
quiet affair.
 
The food was
delicious, and Neal had purchased a good white wine to accompany the meal.
 
Gradually, Lin’s anger began to lift and
she began to feel more relaxed.

“ What are you
doing tomorrow?” she asked as Neal began to clear the dishes.

“I’m going back
to the fort and try to finish gridding all those sites.
 
The team is coming back Thursday, and
I’d like to have them all done, want to come with me?”

“I think I’ll
just stay here,” Lin replied. “We’ve had a lot of excitement the past few days,
not to mention how busy we’ve been.
 
I’m tired.
 
I think I’ll just
do a few things around the house, maybe talk to Eloise about the party,
take
Sparky on a good walk.
 
Just catch up and try to rest a bit.”

“Good idea,”
Neal was scooping coffee into the drip pot, “ I bought some mint chocolate chip
ice cream at the store,” he smiled.
 
“We can have dessert and coffee on the porch.”

“My favorite,”
Lin smiled as she finished loading the dishwasher.

 
They spent the remainder of the evening
sitting quietly on the porch enjoying their coffee and dessert and watching the
moonlight play on the still waters of the sound.
 
There was really nothing more to say
about the threat or the prowler.
 
They were both tired and happy for a peaceful evening.
 
A shadow remained, however; although
nothing more was said, it was clear that they couldn’t feel totally safe until
this mess was cleared up and the prowler caught.

Lin noticed
that Neal made certain to test all the doors and windows and they left the
exterior lights on when they went upstairs to bed.

***

The somewhat
somber mood of the previous evening hadn’t really left them by morning.
 
The day was overcast.
 
High gray clouds dampened the sun and
turned the waters of the sound to a silvery shade.
 
There was a decided chill in the air
when Lin let Sparky out from the porch.

“You’d better
dress warmly if you’re planning to work outside all day,” she told Neal as she
came back into the kitchen.

“I will, I
really want to finish these sites, that is if the weather will cooperate and it
doesn’t rain.
 
If that happens, I’ll
be back early.”

“It really
doesn’t seem too threatening,” Lin replied, “I think the forecast was for rain
coming in tonight.
 
We’re probably in
for a classic rainy day tomorrow though.”

“All the more
reason for me to get going today,” Neal smiled at her and reached to put his
arms around her, “ You take care today, call me if anything unusual happens,
please.”

“I will,” Lin
promised ,
“I plan to stick close to home, it’s a good day
to catch up on things around here.
 
I’m supposed to do that field trip tomorrow, but if the weather is too
bad they may cancel.
 
Maybe you
could check for me with the visitor center staff before you come home, see what
they’re ‘bad weather’ plans might be.”

“Will do, see
you later.” Neal gave her a quick kiss and then he was gone.

The morning
passed quickly and uneventfully.
 
Lin did a bit of extra cleaning in the kitchen, gave the downstairs a
quick turn with the vacuum cleaner, and then took Sparky for a long walk around
the neighborhood.

When she
returned it was almost noon.
 
She
spotted Eloise outside and stopped to chat.
 
They talked about dates for the party
and briefly discussed food possibilities, agreeing to get together later that
afternoon to make some lists and decide who would do what toward preparation.

After lunch Lin
put some potatoes in to bake then took a long hot shower.
 
Then she took a short nap, first setting
the alarm so she wouldn’t sleep too long.

The nap really
revived Lin’s spirits.
 
I really
just needed some down time, she thought as she dressed in jeans and a warm
sweater before going down to the kitchen to finish preparing dinner.
 
The potatoes were done, and she soon had
the ingredients for a hearty potato soup in the crockpot.
 
Before heading out to talk to Eloise,
she let Sparky out for a brief romp in the yard.
 

Eloise had
prepared hot tea and more holiday cookies that she brought out to her porch for
them to enjoy while they talked.

“If you’re not
careful, you won’t have any refreshments left for this party, we’re planning,”
Lin teased.

“Don’t worry,
there’s plenty more in my freezer.
 
I got into the mood and did a lot of baking yesterday.”

Lin laughed as
she bit into a chewy, double chocolate brownie allowing the sweet treat and
aromatic tea to further lift her mood.
 

By the time she
and Eloise had finished making lists of who would do what and had decided on a
tentative date for their celebration, Lin was feeling totally relaxed and found
her holiday spirits substantially revived.
 
She hadn’t mentioned the threatening message to her neighbor deciding
that it would simply worry her for no good purpose.

She stayed
longer than she had intended, and it was growing dark when she headed back toward
Kate’s.
 
The cloud covering had
increased throughout the day, and it was darker than usual for the hour.
 
As she started across Eloise’s yard she
realized that she hadn’t turned on any outside lights before leaving the
house.
 
I didn’t expect to be so
late, she thought.

As Lin
approached the house, she heard Sparky give a low growl from the porch.
 
The dog began to bark.