all behind her?” She hadn’t
expected to have any further contact with Matt and Sara Johnson after
today. In fact she had more or less
promised Neal that she would drop the entire matter after talking to the
Sheriff and he had felt she should, perhaps, not even do that. Now she was not only planning to talk to
him for her own peace of mind and sense of closure ; she had promised to further involve herself by reporting what she learned to
Dorrie’s parents. Why had she
offered to do this? Mr. Johnson hadn’t
asked anything of her.
Lin realized
that her own desire to be helpful to others was kicking in. Throughout her career as a teacher and
school administrator she’d always been faced with situations that required her
to ask questions, to examine events and behaviors, to try to understand fully
what was happening. Her goal had
always been to help students and their parents. She’d learned long ago not to simply
accept things that happened at face value but rather to look for underlying
issues. She supposed that this was
simply “her”—part of who she was.
Lin sat back,
closed her eyes, and tried to relax. Somehow, this desire to help others, not to mention a strong sense of
curiosity and desire to know and understand what was going on around her,
seemed to lead to her getting involved where she probably shouldn’t. She realized that she might regret
pursuing this but Matt and Sara Johnson at least deserved to know why their
daughter was the prime suspect in this case. There had to have been strong evidence
against her when the crime occurred. Hard as it might be for the Johnsons to accept the fact that their
daughter had been involved in a crime, it would be better for them if they, at
least, knew what evidence had led to that conclusion. At least Lin could use this as rationale
for calling them after she talked to Sheriff Midgett. That would be it, she promised herself, one
phone call and then she would put the whole mess aside and move on. Neal was on his way and they had several
weeks ahead to enjoy each other and this lovely place. Then there would be Christmas with her
entire family joining them. She had
a lot to look forward to and she was not going to let this unfortunate
experience spoil her holidays.
Chapter 4
The drive west
was, thankfully, uneventful. Flat stretches of open farmland punctuated by pine
forests gradually yielded to the slightly hillier terrain near Raleigh. The state capital sat near the border of
the coastal plain and the hilly piedmont area of the state. There were more hardwoods here and many
of them had already lost their leaves resulting in a mostly brown and tan
landscape that foreshadowed the coming winter. Lin was grateful to realize that she
would enjoy a few more weeks before that happened on the Outer Banks. The climate there was a bit milder. She knew that the coast could experience
terrific storms even though the hurricane season would soon be past. Even so, warm sunny days were not
uncommon during the weeks leading up to the New Year.
Even though she
had taken her time, stopping for a coffee break along the way, Lin arrived at
Raleigh-Durham airport about an hour ahead of Neal’s scheduled arrival. She parked the car and went into the
terminal looking around for what she might do to pass the time. She hadn’t eaten lunch, but she wasn’t
really hungry. She had, after all,
had a late breakfast. Neal had
mentioned making dinner reservations so she really didn’t want to eat a meal at
this point; it was a few minutes past four. Lin spotted a Starbucks that wasn’t far
from the place where arriving passengers exited the concourse and decided that
a latte would make a perfect afternoon snack.
Someone had
left a newspaper on one of the tables. Lin browsed through some of the articles and then decided to work on the
crossword puzzle while she waited. A couple of
expected to have any further contact with Matt and Sara Johnson after
today. In fact she had more or less
promised Neal that she would drop the entire matter after talking to the
Sheriff and he had felt she should, perhaps, not even do that. Now she was not only planning to talk to
him for her own peace of mind and sense of closure ; she had promised to further involve herself by reporting what she learned to
Dorrie’s parents. Why had she
offered to do this? Mr. Johnson hadn’t
asked anything of her.
Lin realized
that her own desire to be helpful to others was kicking in. Throughout her career as a teacher and
school administrator she’d always been faced with situations that required her
to ask questions, to examine events and behaviors, to try to understand fully
what was happening. Her goal had
always been to help students and their parents. She’d learned long ago not to simply
accept things that happened at face value but rather to look for underlying
issues. She supposed that this was
simply “her”—part of who she was.
Lin sat back,
closed her eyes, and tried to relax. Somehow, this desire to help others, not to mention a strong sense of
curiosity and desire to know and understand what was going on around her,
seemed to lead to her getting involved where she probably shouldn’t. She realized that she might regret
pursuing this but Matt and Sara Johnson at least deserved to know why their
daughter was the prime suspect in this case. There had to have been strong evidence
against her when the crime occurred. Hard as it might be for the Johnsons to accept the fact that their
daughter had been involved in a crime, it would be better for them if they, at
least, knew what evidence had led to that conclusion. At least Lin could use this as rationale
for calling them after she talked to Sheriff Midgett. That would be it, she promised herself, one
phone call and then she would put the whole mess aside and move on. Neal was on his way and they had several
weeks ahead to enjoy each other and this lovely place. Then there would be Christmas with her
entire family joining them. She had
a lot to look forward to and she was not going to let this unfortunate
experience spoil her holidays.
Chapter 4
The drive west
was, thankfully, uneventful. Flat stretches of open farmland punctuated by pine
forests gradually yielded to the slightly hillier terrain near Raleigh. The state capital sat near the border of
the coastal plain and the hilly piedmont area of the state. There were more hardwoods here and many
of them had already lost their leaves resulting in a mostly brown and tan
landscape that foreshadowed the coming winter. Lin was grateful to realize that she
would enjoy a few more weeks before that happened on the Outer Banks. The climate there was a bit milder. She knew that the coast could experience
terrific storms even though the hurricane season would soon be past. Even so, warm sunny days were not
uncommon during the weeks leading up to the New Year.
Even though she
had taken her time, stopping for a coffee break along the way, Lin arrived at
Raleigh-Durham airport about an hour ahead of Neal’s scheduled arrival. She parked the car and went into the
terminal looking around for what she might do to pass the time. She hadn’t eaten lunch, but she wasn’t
really hungry. She had, after all,
had a late breakfast. Neal had
mentioned making dinner reservations so she really didn’t want to eat a meal at
this point; it was a few minutes past four. Lin spotted a Starbucks that wasn’t far
from the place where arriving passengers exited the concourse and decided that
a latte would make a perfect afternoon snack.
Someone had
left a newspaper on one of the tables. Lin browsed through some of the articles and then decided to work on the
crossword puzzle while she waited. A couple of
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