Sandrift: A Lin Hanna Mystery (3 page)

Fall came later
to the forests of the coastal region.
 
The dark reds of the oaks and golds of the hickories formed a contrast
with the dark green of the pines and yaupons.
 
The trail began with a boardwalk through
an area of ponds and wetlands, gradually rising to the steeper sandy slopes of
old sand dunes.
 
It ran along a high
ridge overlooking the wetter areas below.
 
Gentle light filtered through the tall trees.
 
Only the sandy texture of the soil
revealed that they were really near the sea.
 
Lin knew that to the south of this
preserve rose Jockey’s Ridge, the tallest active sand dune on the east
coast.
 
This wooded area was once
open sand dunes just like those found at Jockey’s Ridge.
 
Lin determined that she would definitely
visit the state park there and climb the dune.
 
She was less certain she wanted to try
her hand at hang gliding, a common activity on the sandy slopes.

Sparky had
settled into an easy gait, and Lin extended more of the long leash to allow the
dog some freedom to roam around the trail.
 
From time to time she called him and was pleased that he responded to
her voice by returning to her side.
 
Rounding a curve, Lin stopped to admire some late fall wildflowers still
blooming along the trail.
 
She was
surprised to see a couple of bees still hovering about.
 
In the colder climate of the piedmont
near her home these insects had already ceased to be active.
 
The trail began to slope downward toward
the wet areas.
 
Sparky was running
along a bit ahead of Lin.
 
Suddenly
the dog stopped in the middle of the trail and began to bark.
 
Lin looked around but saw nothing. Perhaps
he had caught the movement of a deer in the woods.
 
She called to the dog and tightened her
grip on his leash, but this time he took off down the slope toward the water.

 
Lin pulled back on the leash and hastened
after the barking animal.
 
For a
moment, she managed to maintain her balance as she followed Sparky off the
trail and down the hill, but the dog picked up speed and Lin’s feet slid out
from under her.
 
She sat down hard
on the packed soil, the leash slipping through her hands.
 
She slid several feet through the litter
that covered the slope finally coming to a stop near some shrubs. Lin could
hear Sparky, but he had ducked behind some underbrush.
 
She could tell that the dog had stopped
somewhere below, but she still couldn’t see him.
 
Lin pulled herself to her feet and
dusted the dirt from her jeans.
 
She
wasn’t hurt, maybe a bruised rear but nothing serious.
 
Carefully, she descended what remained
of the hill toward the wetland below taking care to maintain her balance.

As she rounded
the heavy shrubs that blocked her path, Lin let out a gasp.
 
Sparky stood at the edge of a small
shallow pond barking his alarm.
 
Lying at his feet was what appeared to be the body of a young
woman—blond hair streaming in the dark swamp waters, her face dark and
grotesquely swollen!

“Oh! Sparky,
what…who have you found?” Lin addressed the now calmer animal.
 
Having drawn Lin’s attention to his
find, Sparky now lay down and whimpered softly by the young woman’s body.

There was no
cell signal down in the area by the body, and Lin had observed no other walkers
on the trail as they started out so there seemed no point in calling out for
someone.
 
She shortened Sparky’s
leash so that the dog had to follow her on the climb back up to the trail.
 
She had to walk back about a hundred
yards to the highest point before she got a strong enough signal to dial 911. Lin
described her location and what she had found to the emergency operator who
promised help would arrive shortly.
 
Then there was nothing to do but walk back to the trail point nearest
the body and wait.
 
Lin chose a fallen
tree for a seat and kept Sparky close to her side.
 
She realized that she was shaking even
though the morning air was warm.

I can’t believe
what just happened, Lin thought.
 
She wondered what could have happened to the young woman.
 
It had only been a few months since Lin
had experienced death in the desert of northern Arizona.
 
This was the last thing she expected as
a start to her holiday at the coast.

The wait seemed
forever, but it was probably not more than 20 minutes before Lin heard help
approaching.
 
First to arrive was a
uniformed officer from the local Kill Devil Hills police and a deputy sheriff
from Dare County soon joined him.

“Hello, I’m
Jerry Lee,” the deputy introduced himself. “This is Sergeant Ken Parker,” he
indicated the local cop. “We usually work together when any type of death is
involved—maximize our resources,” he explained. “You the lady who called
911?”

“Yes, I’m Lin
Hanna,” she replied as she rose to meet the officers.
 
As she proceeded to describe her grisly
discovery, she realized that her voice was shaking as she talked.
 
It was difficult for her to relate what
had happened.
 
Lin felt surprised at
her own physical reaction.

Taking note of
her obvious distress and her dirty jeans, Ken Parker took her by the arm and
gently guided her back to the log on which she had been seated.
 
Jerry Lee was on his cell phone calling
for a medical examiner to come examine and remove the remains.
 
There was obviously no need for any
medical help.
 
The young woman had
probably been dead for several hours.

“Should we call
the medics to come check you out?” Parker asked. “You seem pretty shaken up and
it looks like you took a tumble.”

“I’m OK,”
Lin
insisted, “I did slide when Sparky took off but I’m not
hurt.”

 
“Did you have anything to eat before you
came out to walk the dog?” he asked, “You’re pretty jittery.”

“I’ll be ok,”
Lin felt somewhat better. “Now that you mention it, I had planned to eat
breakfast after walking—that’s probably why I have the jitters. I feel
better now.”

Ken took Lin’s
basic contact information and made a brief note regarding her discovery. “Why
don’t you take the dog back home and get some breakfast,” he suggested. “We’ll
be here for awhile taking care of all this. You can come in to the station
later this morning and we’ll take your complete statement then.”

Lin readily
agreed, taking Ken’s card and tucking it in her pocket. “ I’ll call before I
come down to make sure you are in.
 
Thanks.”

Ken spoke
briefly with Jerry Lee who was now off the phone.
 
He agreed that Lin could give her
statement later.
 
“No need for her
to stay right now.
 
It ‘ll be at
least half an hour before the doc and his crew can get here.”

Lin was only
too happy to take Sparky and head back toward the parking lot.
 
She still felt shaky but the physical trembling
had stopped by the time she reached the Jeep.
 
Sparky seemed ready to leave also,
jumping eagerly into the front seat as soon as she opened the door.

“Perhaps you
generally ride in back,” Lin told the dog, “but we’ve both had quite a shock so
let’s stick together for now.”
 
Sparky curled up in the passenger seat at her suggestion.

Lin drove
directly back to Kate’s house.
 
As
she pulled into the parking area underneath she saw that Eloise was outside
cleaning up some flowerbeds.
 
Lin
hastily grabbed Sparky’s leash and led the dog upstairs.
 
She didn’t want to talk to anyone just
yet.

An hour later,
Lin was in much better shape.
 
She
had changed clothes, observing that the only apparent damage resulting from her
fall was a bruise on her rear that was only a bit sore when she first sat down.
“That’ll be pretty,” she thought as she slipped into fresh clothes.
 
She had already fed Sparky and fixed
herself some scrambled eggs and toast.

 
Pouring a second cup of fresh coffee, Lin
went out on the porch to relax for a bit.
 
The shakes were gone but she was still troubled by the experience.
 
Who could the young woman be? What had
happened to her in such a peaceful place?
 
Although the body was swollen and the woman’s face was dark and
distorted, Lin had not observed any obvious wounds or injuries.
 
Perhaps she died naturally, but she
seemed to be pretty young.
 
Lin felt
truly puzzled.

For the moment,
all Lin wanted was to sit on the porch with her coffee and relax.
 
She focused on the peaceful view of the
sound and soon she felt herself growing drowsy.
 
She had slept well the night before, but
she guessed her body was reacting to the shock of her experience.
 
Putting her coffee cup aside, Lin
stretched out on the lounge chair and soon found herself drifting into that
comfort zone of relaxation between sleep and wakefulness.
 
A short nap would really help…

She awoke with
a start when she heard someone coming up the steps.
 
She sat up as Eloise appeared by the
screen door.

“I hope I’m not
disturbing you,” the kindly neighbor spoke gently, “but I just heard some
troubling news on the radio.
 
No
names were mentioned but it sounded to me like they were talking about you so I
had to check.”

“Come in
Eloise, there’s coffee in the kitchen.
 
What did you hear?”

Eloise described
a local news report that indicated that a lady who was walking her dog had
found the dead body of a young woman in Nags Heads Woods.
 
“I saw you heading out with Sparky this
morning and I hoped they were not talking about you but I had to check.
 
I saw you come back and you looked
pretty shaken up at the time.”

“I’m afraid
that was me,” Lin replied thinking of how fast news travels in small
communities. “Actually, Sparky found the young woman—he just dragged me
along.
 
It was pretty shocking and I
was pretty badly shaken up I’m afraid, but I feel much better now.”

“I’m so sorry,”
Eloise was genuinely concerned. “You probably need some company.
 
Why don’t you come over to my house and
have some lunch?
 
It’s after noon, a
few minutes anyway.”

Lin quickly
looked at her watch. “I’m supposed to go down to the police station to give a
statement,” she replied, “and officer Parker should be back by now.
 
He’s probably wondering what happened to
me so I’d better call and hurry on down.”

“Dinner then,”
Eloise insisted, “
come
about six.
 
I won’t take no for an answer.”

Lin agreed and
Eloise departed for her home.
 
After
letting Sparky out for a bit and checking his water bowl, Lin dialed the number
on Ken Parker’s card.
 
A
receptionist answered.
 
Parker was
in his office.
 
He hadn’t been back
long, it seemed.
 
Lin said she would
be down shortly.

Arriving at the
local police station, Lin was quickly escorted into a conference room where Ken
Parker waited to take her statement.
 

“You look much
better now.
 
Hope you feel ok.”

“Much better,
thanks,” Lin responded. “Some breakfast and a nap worked wonders.”

It only took a
few minutes for Lin to share her description of what had happened during her
walk that morning.
 
Nothing really
complicated, she realized. It was just an unfortunate incident; she and Sparky
happened to be the first ones to arrive on the scene.
 
As she signed the statement form, Lin
asked. “Has the young woman been identified? Do you know what happened?”

“I really can’t
tell you who she was,” Parker replied. “She had id but her family must be
notified before…”

“Of course,”
Lin said. “
and
I feel sure the medical examiner has
to do an autopsy.”

“Yes,” Ken
agreed, “but I can tell you that we saw no obvious signs of trauma.
 
I think this was probably a natural
death.
 
I’ll be glad to call you, if
you like, when we know more.
 
I
realize that finding someone like that is quite a shock and you’d like to know
what happened.”

“Thanks, I
would,” Lin shook hands with the young officer and left the station.

 
It was time to return to normalcy.
 
She decided to go to the outlet mall she
had spotted when she first arrived and try to do some shopping before she went
back to the house and her dinner with Eloise.
 
I need some normal activity, she thought,
something to take my mind off all this.
 
She looked at the ever-darkening sky; it
looked like that rain was finally coming so a walk on the beach was not a good
idea at the moment.
 
Shopping was
the best alternative.

***

Lin awoke
Sunday morning feeling well rested and almost fully recovered from her
experience the previous day.
 
Of
course, her trip to the outlet shops had put a bit of a dent in her bank
account, but she hadn’t been able to resist a couple of outfits that she felt
were exactly right for her.
 
She
planned to pack one of these to take tomorrow.
 
It would be perfect for dinner out with
Neal.
 
She’d even found a silky blue
nightgown to add to mix—certainly sexier than her knit pajamas!

Dinner with
Eloise had been just what she needed.
 
Kate’s neighbor was an excellent cook and the white wine she served with
the meal had been a great choice.
 
After a relaxing evening with the older lady, Lin had had no trouble
falling asleep.
 
Now, as she
showered and dressed for the day, she decided she would go out for a bite of
breakfast and then maybe take Sparky over to the beach for a walk.
 
The previous day’s rain had passed
leaving chillier temperatures and a brilliant blue fall sky.
 
Better wear a sweatshirt and take a jacket
for that beach walk, Lin thought.

Yesterday, she
had spotted a small café that had an outdoor eating area where Sparky would be
welcomed; she decided to take the dog with her and save a trip back to the
house after her meal.
 

Arriving at the
café, Lin selected a sheltered outdoor table that was in the warm morning
sun.
 
She tied Sparky’s leash to the
bench seat and then went in to place her order.
 
The warm aroma of fresh coffee and
sizzling bacon was almost irresistible.
 
Lin decided on a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon with a side of
sourdough toast.
 
As she poured
herself a generous mug of dark, steaming coffee she noticed several stacks of
newspapers on a table near the door.
 
She found a copy of the
Charlotte
Observer
among the out of town papers and decided to purchase it.
 
As she headed back to the counter, she
noticed a stack of local papers on the end of the table.
 
A bold headline caught her eye:
 
BODY FOUND IN WOODS.
 
She had to add that paper to her
purchases.

Settled at her
table, Lin turned to the local paper while she waited for her food.
 
There was a large article on the front
page describing her discovery of the day before.
 
She noted, with relief, that she was not
named.
 
She was just “a woman
walking her dog in Nags Head Woods.”
 
Even though the officers and
Eloise,
were aware
that she was that woman, she would be happy for that fact not to become widely
known.
 
She didn’t wish to become a
local news item. Lin was glad the police had used discretion.

The story began
in a relatively routine way, describing the finding of the body of the young
woman whose identity was now revealed as Dorothy Johnson who was from
Springfield, VA, a Washington suburb.
 
Her parents, who were identified as residents of Richmond, were quoted
as being shocked and grief-stricken by the news of their daughter’s death from
what appeared to be natural causes. The article went on to say that, while the
cause of death was still under investigation and the medical report was still
pending, there was no evidence of foul play found at the scene.