Chapter 13

Nate took one glance at the note and knew it was worse then the phone call. He grabbed it out of Ashley’s hands before she could read it a second time. “Officer Greenwood,” Nate called the officer back who had handed him the note. The overly tall African American turned around to look down at Nate. “Who gave this to you?”
“It was a guy in the crowd.” Greenwood scanned some of the bystanders and then pointed to a small man with glasses, “There, that’s him.”
Nate didn’t wait for a second confirmation. Instead he walked over to the small man and grabbed his shirt. “Where did you get that note? Why did you give it to Ashley?”
“Hey, man, I’m just a bystander.” The man threw up his hands and backed away from Nate. Something in the way he shrugged away his shoulders made Nate nervous.
“Did you give a note to the officer over there?” Nate grabbed the man by the collar. Tight but not too tight.
“Alright, I passed the girl a note. You gotta admit she’s hot. Some guy asked me to give it to her. Figured it was a love note. I woulda written one too.” The short man adjusted his glasses and smoothed back what little hair he had left on his head.
“What’s your name?”
“Craig Porter.”
“And Mr. Porter what did this man look like?”
“I don’t know. About your height but he had blonde hair and blue eyes. Looked military like. He certainly worked out a lot. I was afraid he would beat me up if I didn’t do what he asked.”
Nate listened but wrote nothing down. The man was lying through his teeth. It was the most bland description he had ever heard. Not to mention if this man had actually been there any one of Nate’s officers would have noticed. A man like that would have stood out.
“I think we need to talk more at my office. Take your statement. Maybe you can talk to a sketch artist.”
“No, man, I don’t want to get involved.” Craig was slowly backing away from Nate, his eyes searching for an exit. “I lied. There wasn’t a man. I just found the note.”
“You found the note? And you decided to just hand it to someone you don’t know?”
“Yea, had her name on it. Thought it would be fun.”
“Well, Mr. Craig Porter you are under arrest.”
“For what?”
“For starters lying to the police.”
“That’s not a real crime.”
“It is now.”
Nate put cuffs on Craig and read him his rights. At the very least he had the guy on harassment. A misdemeanor but enough to hold him and talk to him. The man was lying. That much was obvious but the question was why. Nor did Nate understand all the references to Jimmy or what any of this had to do with him.
Ten years ago Nate had attended James Livingston’s trial. Eleven years ago Nate had just finished his first week as a police officer and was sitting in his Bachelor pad or so it had been called by many a date when the phone call came.
“Nate.” It was a woman’s voice and all she could get out was his name followed by hard and loud sobs. He hadn’t had a date in over three months and they had broken up without a fight. Surely she was over him?
“Hello?” Nate asked when the sobbing quieted down.
“Nate, its Ashley…” Ashley Voigt. No, now it was Ashley Parks. Of course Nate remembered her. She had stolen his heart the moment he laid eyes on her. The perfect girl. Seriously. Perfect. Never a hair out of place. Always in the latest fashion. A new wardrobe every year. The girl all the guys on campus wanted to date; including Nate. And he’d had a shot too until Donnie Parks showed up. Ashley had been his friend but never more. They had dreamed together and talked but as far as he knew Ashley didn’t know how he felt. He was gathering up his courage. He was going to tell her. But Donnie told her first.
Donnie was everything a man should be to a woman. If there had been even the slightest reason for Nate to protest the relationship he would have but Donnie had been nothing shy of perfect. And Ashley deserved perfect so Nate said nothing. He even stood in their wedding. And per Ashley’s request he had brought a date. Did he love his date? Not even close. He was still in love with Ashley.
“Ashley, what is it?” Nate finally realized that she had become quiet and he had said nothing. He was still working through the fact that he was talking to Ashley again.
“He’s dead.”
“What? Who’s dead?” Nate’s heart pounded. He’d been a cop for a week but already he had a sense for when something wasn’t right. Okay, so the sobbing made it easier to tell.
“Nate, Donnie is dead.”
“Oh my goodness, what happened? Was he even sick?”
“There’s more. Aidan is dead too.”
Oh God, no! How could this happen? Was she serious? She certainly sounded serious. “Ashley, what happened?”
“They were shot.” Ashley sobbed and then hiccupped with the effort to stop more tears. Nate said nothing but waited. “Last night I was cooking and I heard a sound. I went out and they were both lying in the driveway. Donnie was declared dead on the scene but Aidan lived for a few hours. He died in my arms in the hospital.”
“Oh, Ashley. What happened? Who did this?” Nate fumbled over his words.
“They have someone in custody. A witness saw the car and got the license plate. They found the gun in his car…” Ashley sniffled.
“Who was he? Why did he do it?”
“We’re not sure. His name is Jimmy Livingston. I counseled a Heather Livingston and the officers are pretty sure that this is her boyfriend. I remember telling her to go to a woman’s shelter but I hadn’t seen her in a while. I assumed she went. They think that Jimmy couldn’t find her so he found me instead.”
Nate couldn’t breathe. He wasn’t sure how this could be real. In all his thoughts and fantasies of getting together with Ashley this was never among them. He had moved on after all. Had tried to date other girls. Had sent Ashley and Donnie a baby gift when Aidan was born. Had laughed and cried at the baby pictures, then at Aidan’s first steps. This, no, not this. “Did he confess?”
“No. Not that I know of. They’re still processing him. They just found him this morning sleeping in his car.”
“And he still had the gun on him?”
“Yes.” She said no more and Nate didn’t push. She was emotional and scared and sad. She needed support not Nate’s questions. But Nate wanted answers. How could this have happened?
“What can I do?” Nate asked.
“Would you come here? Would you stay here a while?”
“Of course. Absolutely.”
Nate packed his things immediately and left Orlando to head to Tampa. While Ashley and Donnie had moved away from the University of Central Florida after graduation, Nate had not. He worked as a uniformed officer for the Orlando P.D. Donnie had opened his own business as an IT Analyst, whatever that was and Ashley had begun her Master’s in Counseling stopping her studies after she gave birth to Aidan. It was how Nate pictured her, a wife and mother.
Nate stayed for a two weeks and helped with the funeral. He became involved in the investigation as best as he could but everyone seemed satisfied that Jimmy Livingston was the guy even though he never confessed.
The trial dragged on for months with postponements and delays. Nate came when he could but Ashley drew further and further away and she wasn’t the girl he had known. Jimmy was eventually convicted of two counts of first degree murder and sentenced to two life sentences to run consecutively. He would not be eligible for parole for fifty years.
Nate had heard of the flowers. Ashley told him in the beginning that she had received a single rose in a vase every month on the 17th and a dozen roses on June 17th, the anniversary of Donnie and Aidan’s death. There was no note or markings as far as Nate knew. What he didn’t know is whether or not the flowers continued. By Ashley’s demeanor he assumed they were.
And now Ashley was in pain again. An old wound had been ripped open and Ashley’s heart was laid raw again. Her one saving grace in everything was that Jimmy was behind bars. But if the bars couldn’t hold him then what did it matter?
Nate let his “witness” be removed from the scene by Officer Greenwood and returned to Ashley. “Are you okay?”
“How does he know? Nate, he’s behind bars isn’t he?” Ashley’s face was twisted. Her lips curled up and her eyes were wider then saucers. Her agony was written on her face. But he couldn’t save her. He couldn’t tell her what she wanted to hear.
“I don’t know Ashley. I really don’t.”
“What did he say?” Ashley grabbed Nate’s shirt and pulled.
“He said it wasn’t him and he doesn’t know.”
“He’s lying.”
“What?”
“He’s lying, Nate.”
“How do you know Ashley?”
“Nate, he’s lying and I’m scared.”