Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page B

greeting. “What happened
here?”
    “We really
aren’t sure,” Lin responded. “We were driving back to Boone after a day on the Parkway.   As we were getting ready to exit, Sue
saw this girl fall to the side of the road so we stopped to help.   There was no cell signal right here so
we couldn’t call anyone.   A kind
gentleman driving past stopped and went back to call you folks while we stayed
here to try to help the girl.   She
was awake at first, but then she passed out and hasn’t waked up again.   I looked around here.   The grass is bloody over near the
parking area.   Looks like she might
have come up from the drop off over there.   Maybe she had an accident and fell.”
    Deputy Winkler
walked over to the area Lin had spoken about and followed the bloody trail back
to where the girl lay.
    “Did she say anything?”
he asked.
    “She just asked
us to help her, said she couldn’t find someone named Pete,” Sue replied.   She explained that Lin had looked down
the slope as far as she could see, and she had walked part of the trail on the
other side but they had seen no one.
      “We think that might be her vehicle,” Sue
indicated the parked car. “It was there when we arrived and no one has come to
claim it.   Looks like someone had a
picnic here,” she indicated the remains they had observed earlier.
    By this time
the medics had the girl ready for transport to the hospital and the deputy went
to speak to them regarding her apparent injuries.
    “Do you think
she fell, had an accident?” Winkler asked the EMT as he closed the ambulance
door.
    “Don’t know
about that, but it looks to me like she’s been shot—probably with a
shotgun at fairly close range.   Her left
shoulder took the brunt of it.   She’s got a lot of cuts and bruises too.   They can tell you more at the
hospital.”   He got into the driver’s
seat and started back toward the exit.   They could hear the siren as the ambulance entered the highway below.
    Up to this point
the park ranger had said very little.   Now he and the deputy conferred about how to proceed with their
investigation.   Finally, they turned
to Sue and Lin.
    “Thank you
ladies for stopping and having us notified,” the ranger said. “Generally the sheriff’s
department and the park service work together in situations like this.   If a crime has been committed, it will
most likely wind up in federal court and the FBI may get involved, but we
really don’t have the personnel or facilities here in the park to investigate
fully or properly evaluate evidence; therefore, we partner with local law
enforcement.   I’m going to take your
contact information and then you can go.   I’m sure someone will want to talk to both of you later, but right now
we need to get some techs up here to check this area.   I’m not sure what might have happened
here.”
    Lin looked at
the ranger’s nametag.   Mark Scott
hadn’t introduced himself. “Thank you, Ranger Scott,” she smiled. “I’m Lin
Hanna and this is Sue Gray.   We’re
new volunteers here on the Parkway.   We’ll start working Monday at Linn Cove and Moses Cone, but we’re
staying in Boone.”  
      “I apologize for not introducing myself,”
Mark Scott said sheepishly, “This is my first summer here, actually my first
anywhere as a law enforcement ranger. I guess I forgot my manners.”   He got out a pad and took down their
contact information. “Someone will definitely contact you tomorrow
sometime.   It may be later in the
day though.   It’ll be dark here soon,
so we may have to come back out in the morning to examine the scene more
fully.”
    “And look for
Pete?” Lin asked.
    “If we don’t
find him now,” he responded.   He
moved away to begin putting yellow tape around the area, closing it off from
any visitors.   Lin observed that the
deputy was in his car using his radio.  
    Before they
left, he emerged and came back to ask a few more questions about what