Sandrift: A Lin Hanna Mystery (25 page)

Parker followed
Lin to the reception area where he made a copy of her list returning the
original as she walked toward the door.
 
“Lin, I do feel that I must warn you again to be very careful about
where you go and who you talk to.
 
I
think you realize that this case is becoming more complex than it originally
appeared.
 
There are many unanswered
questions, as you yourself have discovered.
 
I do feel the need to ask you to let us
handle this.
  
You were
threatened earlier, and even though we can’t prove harassment at this point, I
think we both know you and your friend were being followed this weekend.
  
Hopefully, we’ll have all of this
tied up soon but until we do…”

Lin smiled and
extended her hand, “I promise that I will be careful, and any information that
might come my way I’ll bring to you.”
 
That was as much as she wanted to promise.

***

It was past
noon by the time Lin left the police station.
 
There was one more thing she wanted to
do.
 
She’d been told that Mark Simon
should be back in his gallery today, and she wanted to ask him if he’d seen
Dorrie in his shop earlier.
 
Apparently, he’d also been in business longer than some of the other
merchants so he might remember something about the Liz Frazier case and the
fact that Dorrie was a suspect.
 
She
had another reason to drop in.
 
Neal
had revealed that he’d purchased her ring there, and she could ask about having
it sized.

Arriving in
Manteo, she decided to go straight to the Simon Gallery; she was getting a bit
hungry, but lunch could wait.
 
When
she entered the gallery she was relieved that Mike Clark was nowhere in sight,
perhaps this was his day off, or maybe he was working in the back.
 
The clerk she’d met previously was busy
with customers who were looking at paintings.
 
A tall, slim man stood behind a counter,
sorting items in a jewelry tray.
 
He
was quite handsome she thought, slightly graying hair, chiseled features.
 
If he’d been dressed in western attire
he could’ve passed for the Marlboro man.
 
He looked up with a big smile as Lin approached.

“May I help
you?” he asked.

“Perhaps,” Lin
said, “are you the proprietor?”

“I am,” he smiled,
“I’m Mark Simon.”

“Lin Hanna,”
she shook his offered hand, “I believe my fiancé purchased this here last
week.” She extended her hand to show him the ring.

“Ah, yes,” he
took her hand and examined the ring with his long, slim fingers. “This is a
beautiful piece, one of the prettiest we’ve hand in stock.”
 
He almost caressed her hand as he
slipped the ring around her finger.
 
Lin felt a moment of discomfort with his familiar touch.

“It appears to
be a bit too large for your lovely hand,” he continued to finger the ring,
increasing her sense of discomfort with his familiarity.
 
She firmly removed her hand from his
grasp.

“It is, just a
little, I don’t think it will fall off…”

“But, my dear,
you don’t want to risk that nor risk hitting it against something and damaging
the setting.
 
This is one of our
best pieces, handcrafted.
 
It came
from an estate sale.
 
We need to
make sure it’s perfect.”

Lin felt somewhat
intimidated by his overwhelming personality and presence.
 
She could only nod her agreement,
allowing him to remove the ring from her finger.
 

Simon placed
the ring on a piece of black velvet placed on the counter.
 
He carefully measured its size and then
reached for her hand once more.
 
Even though she still felt uncomfortable, Lin allowed him to check her
ring size, happy when he had finished and released her hand from his grasp.
 

“It’s only half
a size too large but that can make a difference.
 
You’ll see
,
it
will be more comfortable to wear once it’s properly fitted.”

“How long will
that take,” Lin asked. “I’m going to be in town for a short while…”

Simon was still
smiling, but he shook his head. “My dear, I regret that I’m unable to perform
such work here, and there’s no one else here in town I’d trust with such a
valuable piece, if I were you.
 
I’ll
need to send it to a friend of mine in Elizabeth City.
 
He’s very skilled, and I trust him with
all my repair work.
 
Don’t worry, I
can have it back for you on Friday.”

Reluctantly,
Lin surrendered the
ring,
signing a duplicate form Simon
gave her.
 
“I’ll deliver this
tomorrow and pick it up personally Thursday afternoon.
 
You can come by anytime on Friday to
pick it up.
 
We open at ten,” Simon
smiled as he placed Lin’s ring in a small velvet lined box.
 
“I’ll take very good care of it.”

Lin nodded
reluctant agreement and took a deep breath, seeking to allay her sense of discomfort.
 
She still needed to talk to this man so
she resisted her desire to get away.

“I stopped by
last week to talk with you, but you weren’t in,” she deliberately smiled trying
to feel more relaxed.
 
“I wanted to
ask if you’d seen a friend of mine.”

“Oh, was that
you?
 
My clerk told me someone was
asking for me, who were you inquiring about?”

Lin decided to
revert to her story about gathering information for Dorrie’s family. “She was
coming to Manteo the Friday before Thanksgiving. I think she was inquiring
about a friend of hers from years ago—maybe trying to find folks who knew
her?
 
Dorrie’s parents are trying to
find out what she was doing here, hoping to understand how she came to have the
tragic accident that took her life.”
 
Lin hoped her inquiry seemed reasonable; perhaps Simon would be
sympathetic.

Simon appeared
to be thinking.
 
Trying to recall
or, perhaps, trying to decide how to answer her?
 
Lin sensed a tension in his demeanor.

“I’m sorry, Ms.
Hanna, but I simply do not recall seeing anyone who fit the description of your
friend—not on that Friday or on any other day.
 
I did read about this death in the local
news, terrible thing to happen and to such a young person, but I didn’t know
the young lady, never met her and she certainly didn’t come to my shop.
 
Maybe, she found the answers she was
seeking elsewhere.

Lin decided
that, as long as she’d started, she might as well press on,
 
“She was looking for folks who knew the
late Liz Frazier, you may recall that she was killed about ten years ago.
 
I believe Dorrie was her roommate.
 
Dorrie had been away from this area for
many years and was not aware that Liz had died.
 
I’m sure it was quite a shock to her, and
on top of this shocking news, she learned she was a prime suspect in this
unsolved case.
 
I think she was
seeking information, trying to satisfy her own curiosity about what might have
happened.
 
Of course, she asserted
that she was innocent of this crime.”

Simon seemed to
grow tense, even angry.
 
Lin was
aware that he was gripping the edge of the counter in what seemed an obvious
attempt to maintain calm.
 
Finally,
he relaxed his hold and stepped back.
 
He looked her straight in the eye and smiled unctuously. “I’m so sorry,
but I can’t help you there either,” Simon insisted. “Of course, everyone who
lived here at the time has heard about the Liz Frazier case; it was the number
one topic of conversation for weeks.
 
Now that you have reminded me, I do recall that this Dorrie Johnson’s
name was mentioned in that connection, but I’m afraid all I know is what I
heard and read about.
 
Liz Frazier
was unknown to me personally, as was Dorrie Johnson, then and now. If you’ll
excuse me,” he looked in the direction of a couple just entering the store, “I’d
best be tending to my business.
 
Don’t forget, I’ll have your ring on Friday.”
 
He turned away from Lin, heading toward
the newly arrived customers.

Lin took her
receipt and left the store, only too happy to get away from this
individual.
 
Something about Mark Simon
and the way he’d responded to her questions gave her a sense of
uneasiness.
 
She wasn’t sure why
exactly, but she knew somehow that Simon wasn’t being entirely truthful about
what he knew.

***

Later that
evening as she reflected on her day and told Neal what she’d learned and
experienced, Lin realized that the uneasy feeling Simon had engendered had not
abated.
 
“I simply do not believe
him,” she insisted, “I feel sure he’s lying about everything.
 
There’s something ‘fishy’ about him.”

Neal put his
arm around her, seeking to provide some reassurance, “Well, he struck me as
rather full of himself, but he is quite knowledgeable about jewelry and he does
have the best selection in town.
 
Believe me, I shopped everywhere, and that ring was the prettiest thing
I saw, hands down.”

Lin smiled,
“You’re right about that.
 
I can’t
wait to get it back.
 
I’ve only worn
it for two days, but I already don’t feel right without it.”

“Tell you what,
if you feel so uncomfortable around Simon, I’ll pick the ring up for you on
Friday.
 
You won’t have to see him
again.”

“Oh, I’m sure
I’ll feel ok about that.
 
I won’t
try to talk to him, that’s all.
 
Besides, he might not even be there; he often stays home with his wife.
 
Apparently she suffers from some type of
illness.”

“Well, if you
change your mind, just let me know,” Neal offered. “You haven’t asked me about
my day.
 
You weren’t the only one
who got some information to add to that list of you made. I now know who’s defending
Billy Thornton.”

“Really? How’d
you find out?”

“Actually, it
wasn’t too difficult.
 
It was in the
Sunday paper.
 
There was a copy left
on the desk in the office at the visitor center.
 
They’d done a follow up story regarding
Connie’s death and a possible link to Dorrie and to Liz’s murder ten years
ago.
 
In talking about the arrest of
Billy Thornton they mentioned that he was charged with murder in Connie’s death
and also mentioned that charges were probably pending related to negligence and
possible sexual assault related to the death of Dorrie Johnson.
 
The attorney was quoted as saying his
client was, of course, innocent of all charges.
 
He’s a fellow by the name of Thomas
Pickett, has an office in Manteo, I believe.”

Lin immediately
grabbed a phone book to look up the attorney’s number.
 
She wrote that, along with the office
address on a slip of paper. “I’m going to give him a call tomorrow, maybe he’d
like to talk about what we’ve learned that might help Billy’s case?”

“I expect he
would,” Neal replied, “ but aren’t you working at the park tomorrow?”

“Just in the
morning,” Lin said, “I’ll call and see if he’s available in the afternoon or
maybe some other time.
 
I just think
he should know that there’s a witness who could testify that Dorrie Johnson
didn’t appear to be hung over or impaired in any way the morning following her
date with Billy.
 
It won’t help with
the charges related to Connie, but it could help with the other possibilities.”

“Well, I
thought you’d be happy to know about the attorney, and Thomas Pickett should be
happy with what you have to share, provided he doesn’t already have the
information.”

“I’m not sure
that Ken Parker even had that information yet.
 
He was pretty closed mouth and didn’t
reveal much of what he did know, but he did mention following up with the clerk
at the Holiday Inn,” Lin replied.

“Let’s sit on
the porch for a few minutes before we go upstairs,” Neal suggested, “I really
enjoy the view especially when it’s a clear night and the moon is almost
full.
 
He poured them each a second
glass of the wine they’d enjoyed with dinner.

They sat
quietly for a time, simply enjoying the dancing light on the water and the
sound made by the wind rustling the marsh grasses.
 
It was chilly though and Lin snuggled
closer to Neal on the sofa.

He put his arm
around her and drew her closer. “I’ll bet I know why Mark Simon made you feel
so uncomfortable,” he said, “When I was shopping for your ring I asked some of
the park service folks at the visitor center to recommend a good jewelry
store.
 
Everyone agreed that Mark’s
gallery had the best selection and the most unique pieces, but I was also told
he has quite the reputation as a ladies man. Apparently, he’s cheated on that
sick wife of his over the years.”
 
He looked at her with a sly grin, “I’ll bet he was trying to put the
make on you.”