Chapter 12

****Sorry for the delay! Thank you Misty for the nudge :) ******

Ashley watched the coroner load Emma’s body in to a black body bag and then be laid on a black gurney. Black was probably the best color for body bags and coroner’s gurney’s. When they thought about what color to use they picked correctly. Thoughts of Aidan flashed through her head. He had left on a paramedic’s gurney which had been white and so full of hope. She wished it had been the black one. Wished she’d had warning.
“Have we looked into Emma’s father? We know that Daisy’s father wasn’t involved but maybe Emma’s was. Maybe the girls knew each other?” Nate was thinking out loud.
“We’ve checked every angle. They were taken two hours apart. They did not attend school together now or at any other time. They don’t go to the same church and we can’t find anyone who knew them both.” Eric’s said and Ashley watched his eyes follow the gurney out the front door.
“But we’re missing something. They are related somehow. And where are they now? Where are they keeping the other girls? They killed these two girls but took two others? Doesn’t make sense.” Nate’s phone rang. “Zimmerman.”
Ashley watched Nate’s face change from sorrow to anguish. Ashley couldn’t imagine Nate hurting worse for these people then he already did and yet there it was. Written in the lines of his face. She knew something was even more wrong.
Nate slapped his cell phone up. “Eric, we have to go.”
“What’s going on?” Eric and Ashley asked at the same time.
“I’ll tell you on the way,” Nate said.
Ashley walked toward the door until Nate held up his hand. “I’m coming too.”
“No, you don’t need to be anymore involved then you already are. You’ve been here; you’ve been at the other scene. You don’t need this.”
“Nate, I can help…”
“Ashley, it’s not about help. This can give you nightmares.”
“They can’t be any worse then the ones that are already in my head.”
“Then what about Kyle?”
“I’m going later. Michael will take me.” Ashley pointed to Michael who was in the kitchen yelling orders about collecting proper evidence and the something about finding the home’s owner.
Something flashed across Nate’s face. He opened his mouth to speak, closed it and then said, “Fine, come with me now. I’ll have Eric stay and babysit Michael.”
Ashley wasn’t sure why Michael needed babysitting but she didn’t say anything. She followed Nate out the front door and into his cruiser. If she stayed any longer she would have to rent a vehicle. Relying on two bull-headed men for transportation was becoming more and more difficult and she was tired of arguing with Nate as to whether or not she could go with him wherever it was he was going. She was in this case whether he liked it or not. He asked her here and she was determined to get as much information as she could before she talked to Kyle. She knew Kyle knew something but she needed more to find out what it was. Maybe if he thought she knew something he would tell her the truth.
“We have another dead body and another missing girl,” Nate’s words broke into Ashley’s thoughts.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“We’re going to another murder scene. Why is it that you want to go? What do you want to prove? That you can see more death and live? Haven’t you seen enough?”
Ashley wanted to say something. The sharp words were on the tip of her tongue but for some reason she swallowed them back. Nate didn’t need her anger, he needed the truth. “I think Kyle knows something…”
“We know that, that’s why you’re here.”
“I know. What I mean is, he knows something else. I don’t know how he knows but it’s important and he’s not talking. I’m trying to understand. I keep hoping that if I get enough information and talk to him about it he’ll open up to me.” Ashley sighed and ran her hand through her hair. Nate said nothing. “I can’t figure him out. He’s completely shut off. Lots of kids are like him but I have more time with them. Weeks, months. This you’re asking me to do in just a few days. I need to see what he’s seen. Even if I don’t like it.”
“Okay.” Ashley figured that was all she was going to get. They rode on in silence.
“How are you doing?” Ashley’s voice cut through the silence.
“What do you mean?”
“Have you slept at all? Taken any time to eat? I’ve been here for three days but you’ve been on this case longer. What are you doing to make sure that you’re okay?”
“Ever the psychologist.”
“Nate, it’s not that. I’m worried about you.”
“I’m fine.” A ringing tone stopped Nate from saying anything more. The ringing continued. “Aren’t you going to get that?”
Ashley looked for her purse. Picking it up off the floor board she searched through it until she found her small phone. Without checking the number she answered, “Hello.”
“The girls are mine.” A low, male voice came through the phone. Ashley didn’t recognize the voice at all.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“You heard me Ashley Parks. All the girls are mine. You won’t get any of them back alive.”
“Who is this?”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m warning you to stay away from Kyle.”
“What? Why are you calling me?”
“I think I made myself clear, Ms. Parks. Failure to follow my instructions will result in dire consequences.”
“Like what?” Ashley put her finger in her free ear to block out the noise coming from Nate and outside the car. Who was this man?
“If you Daisy and Emma aren’t good enough lessons then you are dumber than I’ve heard.”
“No, no! Don’t hurt anyone! Don’t hurt any more girls. What is it that you want?”
“You will see.” The voice laughed. “By the way, Jimmy says “hi”.”
Ashley’s heart pounded. She dropped the phone with a gasp. When she recovered and brought the phone back to her ear he was gone. Only strange silence remained. That and an angry looking Nate. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“Ashley, don’t be ridiculous, you know what I mean.”
“Nate, it was someone threatening the girls. They threatened me not to see Kyle anymore…”
“What number did they call from?”
Ashley flipped over her phone and checked the record of received calls. “I have a number here but I don’t recognize it. It’s a 727 area code. Where’s that?”
“That would be Pasco County I believe. I’ll get a trace on that right away.” Nate picked up his radio and called the information in. Ten minutes later they were turning on to Chestnut Street and Nate was receiving a call that the number was a pay phone off of County Road.
“It’s a pay phone but we’re sending a team out to lift fingerprints. I doubt they’ll find anything but it’s worth a shot,” Nate said. Ashley nodded as Nate put the car in park. “What else did he say?”
“What?”
“Ashley, what else did he say?” Ashley grabbed for the door handle but Nate grabbed her arm and gently pulled her to stay in the car. “Don’t think I don’t know. I can see it in the way you move. What else did he say?”
“He said “Jimmy says “hi”.” Ashley felt the tears brimming but she swallowed them back. She wasn’t strong enough to let herself cry. She certainly wasn’t strong enough to have Nate see her cry.
“Where’s Jimmy now?”
“Last I knew Florida State Prison in Starke. He was given the death penalty. They told me he was never getting out.” She couldn’t stop the tears. “They told me he was never getting out.”
Nate rubbed her back. Stroked her hair. He didn’t say anything but his presence said everything. Another officer knocked on the hood of the car and motioned for Nate to come out to the scene. With a finger Nate told him to wait. Ashley pushed the tears off of her face and smoothed her hair out. This wasn’t the time for this.
“We’ll check into it Ashley. I’ll make sure he’s still there.”
“Thank you.”
“Maybe you should go back to your hotel for a while.”
“No, I’m here. I need to see this. I need to talk to Kyle.”
“Are you sure you’re okay with that?”
“Nate, I’m not leaving Kyle. I really don’t care who this person thinks he is. I care about Kyle. I’m here to talk to him. I think he knows more then he’s saying, Nate and this call just proves it.” The tears were gone replaced by anger. She had made it through a lot. She could make it through a bit more.
“I think you should stay in the car…”
“Stop, Nate, I’m coming with you.” This time Ashley made it successfully out of the car with Nate right behind her. The scene in front of her was more then Ashley had expected. There were spectators and yellow tape everywhere. A red BMW sat abandoned on the road, the front door was open, a woman lay on the ground next to it. Blood pooled around her head and chest. Her eyes were open as if searching for something. Was her last view that of her daughter being kidnapped?
I know how you feel! The words screamed through Ashley’s head. Her heart could not understand the pain in the world. Maybe it was better for this mother. Better for her not to know what it’s like to live without a child. Better not to know the pain her daughter was going through even know; the pain she would know forever if she survived.
“Fill me in.” Nate was back in uniform. His words came out crisply and with authority.
“From what we can tell she was boxed in by two vehicles. Notice the damage here and here.” The Asian officer pointed to the front and rear of the BMW. “It also appears that at least six bullets hit the car in the back. We don’t see any blood in the backseat so it’s unlikely that the girl was hit. We also think that the mother was grabbed and pulled out of the front seat. She was shot twice, once in the chest, once in the head. I’m pretty sure the head was the money shot.”
“How did we get here so quick?” Nate asked.
“The girl managed to call 9-1-1 from the backseat. She told the 9-1-1 responder that they were being chased and shot at and that she was scared. By the time the paramedics and officers arrived the girl was gone and the mom was DOA.”
“Do we have anything? Anything new?”
“The tire tracks that leave here appear to be the same as the one we found around Daisy’s body.”
“Ford SUV?” Nate asked.
“From what we can tell,” the Asian officer replied.
“It’s not much.”
“Agent Zimmerman, this just came.” Another uniformed officer walked up to Nate and handed him a note. Nate took the note. “It’s not for you. It’s for her.” The officer pointed to Ashley. Nate rubbed the note in his hand and looked at Ashley. She could tell he was debating as to whether or not to turn it over to her.
Ashley held out her hand. Nate sighed and gave it to her. Even before she read it her hands were shaking. “I know it’s not the 14th but I thought I’d send you a note and say hello anyway. Glad to see you back in Florida, Ashley. Love always, Jimmy.”