Chapter 14

“What did he say?” Ashley asked as soon as Nate stepped within ear shot.
“Not much. I don’t think you should worry about him.” Nate could tell his comment had do effect on Ashley’s demeanor. At least not in a positive way. She might have been more upset but he couldn’t tell.
“I want to talk to Kyle again,” Ashley said.
“Maybe that’s not a good idea. I was wrong to call you here and you should head home. I did promise Trish that I wouldn’t keep you here too long and it’s been almost four days. Surely you have something more pressing in Maryland.” Nate was trying to sound casual, trying to brush her off. The truth was he was scared to death for her and he didn’t want anything to happen to her. At least nothing more then had already happened.
“I’m in this, Nate whether you like it or not. You called me to help and I’m here. And I’m staying till it’s over. Someone has threatened me and that means I’m pushing someone’s buttons.”
“Fine. I’ll get you a ride back to the hospital. I want an officer with you at all times. I can’t afford to be looking for your dead body.” He didn’t want to fight her. In fact, he was glad that she had some fight left. He could only wonder why she hadn’t used any of that spunk to her advantage over the past eleven years.
With Ashley safely secured with yet another officer Nate turned back to the scene he actually had come for. Another dead woman. Another crashed car. It didn’t make sense. Why would someone choose to do this? Was someone so desperate to take a child that they’d stoop to this?
Crime scene investigators were dusting the car for fingerprints and looking for bullets. The coroner was arriving shortly and then investigators would look over the body. Nate expected little difference between this woman’s body and the last four they had found. What he prayed he didn’t find was this little girl’s body in another week or so.
“Are you finding anything?” Nate asked.
“I can’t be 100% sure without further analysis but the tire tracks here appear to be the same tire tracks we found leaving Daisy’s body. I’d bet they are connected.” Leslie Rawlings flipped her blonde ponytail behind her as she glanced back at Nate.
“I’d have to agree but we need more proof. Find it for me please.”
“You know I’m looking.” Leslie smiled and showed off her perfectly straight and very white teeth. Her red lipstick didn’t get past Nate either. Nate shook his head to clear his thoughts. He needed to focus on the case not on the women around him as tempting and distracting as they might be.
“Nate, phone call for you.” The same Asian officer Nate had talked to before approached. His nameplate said “Yu-na” but they had not made formal introductions.
“Who is it?” Yu-na didn’t answer but returned to his work after handing Nate the phone. “Zimmerman.”
“Nate, I tried your cell but you didn’t answer.”
“Sorry, it’s been really busy here. Ashley’s been threatened.”
“What?”
“I don’t know if it’s related or not. I’ve sent her back to talk to Kyle.”
“Do you think that’s wise?” Eric asked.
“She wanted to go. I need her there more than here,” Nate said.
Accepting his explanation Eric replied, “I have more information on Jonathan Gardner.”
“Tell me.”
“Seems our boy did time for selling child pornography over the internet. He was charged with assault on a minor but nothing was ever proved. But, in issuing the warrant officers found child porn on his computer. At least that charge stuck.”
“How long was he in?”
“A little under two years, got out on good behavior,” Eric said.
“Any other charges?”
“Some petty things, theft, auto theft, nothing else that concerns us.”
“Let’s bring him in. I want to talk to him,” Nate said.
“We’re working on it.” Nate cut the connection and handed the phone back to Yu-na. Nate wouldn’t be surprised if Jonathan had something to do with the murders but he knew that Jonathan wasn’t the mastermind. Someone else was putting him up to it and it was Nate’s job to figure out who.

Ashley said nothing to the officer that gave her a ride to the hospital. Over and over she recalled the words of the note left for her. What in the world did Jimmy Livingston have to do with this? Ashley’s only impression of him was that he was a love-sick, abusive man who killed only because he missed his wife. Donnie and Aidan were casualties of an unplanned war.
The officer dropped Ashley off at the hospital door. She made her way up to Kyle’s room, showed her credentials to the officer standing guard, made her way to the chair next to Kyle’s bed and sat down next to him.
“How are you doing buddy?”
Kyle made little attempt to answer. He was sitting up or at least his bed was tilted up so that he was no longer lying flat. His color was back but he didn’t look normal. His face was drawn and his eyes looked sunken in. His arm was lying beside him like a wooden appendage. She could detect slight movements in this other limbs but not that one. She was sure it would take weeks of physical therapy before he would regain some use of the arm.
“How has your day been? Mine has been very busy. I’ve been following Nate around on his job.” Ashley made her voice sound loud and upbeat even though her heart didn’t feel it.
“Do you miss him?” Kyle’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“Do I miss Nate? Not really. I just saw him…”
“Do you miss Aidan?”
Ashley’s heart caught in her throat. “Every day.”
“I miss my mom like that. I miss Kayla too but not like I miss my mom. I think Kayla is still okay.”
Ashley didn’t respond to Kyle’s statement. Surely he’d heard by now that Daisy was found dead. It wouldn’t be long before the news would be talking about Emma.
“She’s not dead you know.” Kyle’s voice cut into her thoughts.
“I didn’t say that she was.”
“But you were thinking it. I may only be nine but I’m not stupid. I know about Daisy and even Emma but it’s not Kayla and it’s not going to be.”
“How did you hear about Emma? That hasn’t even been on the news yet.”
“Yes it was and the nurses were talking about it. They were whispering about it like I couldn’t hear but I could. I knew what they were saying.”
Thoughts of the news conference ran through Ashley’s mind. She vaguely remembered that part of her day but was still surprised that it had already aired. Was this case already big enough to interrupt regular broadcasting? She hadn’t expected to see anything until the evening news and even then she had hoped for a side story not a “we-interrupt-this-broadcast” story. Maybe it was for the best. Maybe parents would be more cautious about mothers and daughters going out together. She doubted it. Ashley knew most people filed that under “news that could never happen to them”. And Ashley had been among them until it did happen to her. Until her husband and son were mowed down in cold blood.
“Then good for you for having a positive attitude, Kyle. I’m proud of you.” Ashley took Kyle’s hand and forced a smile to her face. She hoped a nurse would not come in. Surely an adult would notice that it was just an upturn of her muscles plastered to her cheeks and not an actual smile.
If Kyle noticed, he didn’t let on, “It’s not about my attitude. I know she’s alive but I also know she’s in danger.”
“How do you know? Have you heard something? Do you remember something?”
“Not really. The whole day is a blur. My dad has come in a bunch of times to try to get me to remember but I don’t remember much.”
“Anything at all is helpful, Kyle.” Ashley moved her hand to Kyle’s forehead and stroked his head and his hair. She wanted to lean down and give him a kiss on his head but she didn’t dare. This wasn’t her son. She wasn’t his mother. “Why don’t you close your eyes and think. Try to remember what happened before the shots.”
Kyle shrugged and at first Ashley thought he would protest but then he closed his eyes and settled further back into his mattress if that was possible. “We were fighting over going to school. Kayla had a dentist appointment and I begged to go along. I hate going to school without her. We were driving and talking. Someone was cutting us off. Mom was trying to go around them but they wouldn’t let her and when they stopped short she hit them.” Kyle’s eyes flew open, wide with terror and shock. “I can’t…”
“I know how hard this is. I really do but you are the only one who has seen anything and we need your help. Kayla needs your help.”
“I’m scared, Miss Ashley. What if they come back for me?”
“Kyle, do you see that officer out there by your door? Before I came in here I had to show him my ID. He wouldn’t have let me in if he didn’t trust me. He won’t let anyone in that isn’t allowed to be in here.”
“It’s not the people not allowed in that I’m worried about…” Kyle clamped his mouth shut and looked past Ashley and out his window.
“What? Who are you worried about?” But Ashley could tell it wouldn’t do any good. “Okay, Kyle. Let’s remember what you did see. Forget about this room right now and let’s think back three days ago.”
Kyle swallowed hard and nodded. He was a brave kid and Ashley had a feeling she didn’t know the half of it. Whatever Kyle had been through hadn’t started just three days ago. “I remember mom trying to get out of the car to talk to the driver of the car we hit. She had hit her head and had trouble standing. Then she fell down. I don’t know what happened. I heard a pop and then I couldn’t see her anymore. Kayla reached for me. We were hugging when someone reached in the back for her. He looked surprised to see me.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’m not sure. He was reaching for Kayla and when he saw me he said bad things. Another guy had to come around to help him. They pulled Kayla out. She was screaming and kicking and yelling for me. One of the men hit her and the other shot me.” Kyle opened his eyes. They weren’t as wide or terrified as they were. It was as if saying what happened released some of his fear. Ashley wasn’t surprised. Talking about things often made them less frightening.
“Do you remember what either man looked like? Or how they sounded? Even what they said would be helpful.”
“They were yelling at each other.”
“Do you remember any names?”
“No. They were cursing at each other and at someone else that wasn’t there.”
“How do you know?”
“One of them said, ‘we don’t get paid enough for this’. I think one of them said something about how they were told that it would just be my mom and Kayla and that I wasn’t supposed to be there.”
“What about how they looked?”
“They were both tall. Um, I don’t remember. I’m sorry, Miss Ashley.”
“Don’t worry sweetie. You did great. You’ve given me so much to work with. Do you mind if step out and call Mr. Nate? He’s going to want to know all the stuff you just told me. Then maybe we could hang out and play cards. Would you like that?”
“Sure.” Kyle smiled and Ashley recognized it as more real then her own. How could he be so happy just days after his tragedy when Ashley couldn’t let go of her own pain from eleven years ago?
Ashley reached the door and pulled out her cell phone. While she was at it she should probably call Trish and give her an update. Even though Kyle was opening up there was still so much more that he wasn’t saying. Not to mention she was in this case deep and she wasn’t ready to quit threats or not. Trish would need to make more schedule changes.
“Hey Miss Ashley?”
“Yes, Kyle.”
“I think one of them was named Jonathan.”