Chapter 15

Nate sat at his desk and stared at the reports in front of him. Yesterday he stood at two more crime scenes. He barely remembered the five hours of sleep he had been able to get last night. Ashley’s phone call and information from Kyle confirmed the direction they were heading. Jonathan Gardner knew something but yet his gut felt that he just wasn’t “the” guy.
With an extra push from Michael and the DA’s office Emma’s autopsy had been rushed and the medical examiner had stayed late to finish up. Nate had been there with him fighting fatigue and feeding the adrenaline with caffeine.
Different girl, same results. She was also strangled and had the remains of multiples donors. They had no actual DNA from Emma though. DNA results were still pending on Daisy. With what they were able to scrape together Nate doubted it would matter.
All they did know was that girls were being kidnapped after their mothers were killed and now those same girls were turning up dead. They were still missing three girls but time was running out on them. Two girls just two days apart meant little time for the remaining girls.
“How’s it going?” Eric asked as he came up to Nate’s desk. “Did you even leave last night?”
“Barely.”
“We’re getting calls like crazy around here about this case. Parents are worried about their daughters.”
“I know but I’ve got nothing new. What are your thoughts, Eric? I don’t think Jonathan is our guy.”
“Michael Fleming believes that he is and he’s putting everything he has in to tracking this guy down. He set up a press conference for this morning and he’s going to plaster Jonathan’s picture all over the news.”
“That’s a bad idea. If he is our guy he’ll probably kill the girls he has left and run. If he isn’t our guy then he becomes high profile and expendable. Either way we’ve got to stop this press conference.”
Nate could understand why Michael would be upset and why he would want Jonathan found but this way was unacceptable. Surely Michael would know this. Nate picked up the phone and dialed Michael’s office. After what seemed like an entire morning on hold, Michael’s secretary transferred him to Michael.
“Mr. Fleming, this is Agent Zimmerman. I’d like to ask you not to hold your press conference this morning…”
“Not going to happen Zimmerman. I’m holding this conference. This man has my daughter and I want her back.”
“But you could get her killed.”
“She may already be dead and she may not but while there’s a chance she’s still alive I want this Jonathan Gardner brought in for questioning. I thought you’d be happy about me doing you this favor.”
“I don’t need your favors Mr. Fleming. This is my case and I need to run it as I see fit. Having a press conference that may jeopardize the well being of a victim and possibly three victims is not acceptable. You may also get Jonathan killed…”
“How is that possible? If this sick man is kidnapping and murdering girls why do we care if he gets killed anyway?”
“Mr. Fleming, if Jonathan is not acting alone announcing this may make him expendable to someone else. If he is acting alone you may be giving him reason to kill the remaining girls and flee the country.”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take. This man may have my daughter. If he doesn’t he may know who does and I want her back. Neither you or anyone else will be able to stop me.” Michael was gone. Silence greeted Nate’s ear. Nate hit the desk with his fist. He’d never had much of a relationship with this particular DA and usually any contact was buffered by his lieutenant. Nate decided that this was a good thing.
“Will he back down?” Eric asked after Nate hung up the phone.
“Not a chance. Even if it means getting his daughter killed. We’ve got to find Jonathan before this press conference. What time did he set it up for?”
“Noon so he can make the news live. That gives us three hours to find Jonathan and question him.”
“We have just three hours to keep these girls alive. It’s not enough time. We know that Jonathan only rented this property for a short time. What do we have on him before that?”
Eric began work on his computer typing faster then Nate had seen him type before. Eric had always been as hard a worker as Nate. Partners for almost five years they had learned how to work together. Learned each other’s strengths and weaknesses. While Nate did well interrogating suspects and running crime scenes, Eric had background information in minutes. He knew who to ask, how to ask and when. He tracked down information in ways Nate didn’t understand and he was always happy to have Eric’s help.
“Here,” Eric pointed to something on his computer. Nate walked around their desks which faced each other and took a look at where Eric was pointing. What he saw looked like Jonathan Gardner’s life history including his time in prison. “Looks like he spent two years in prison before getting out last year. He lists one prior address to the DMV after getting out of prison. This one is in Orlando. After that he turns up in his rental here in New Port Richey.”
“It’s highly unlikely that he’s still there nor could we make it there and back in time. We have to find someone who knows him and track him down.”
Eric once again pointed to the computer screen. “Says he is employed at a local Goodyear Auto.”
“Let’s check it out. Even if he’s not there someone may know where he hangs out or who he hangs out with.”
“Let’s go.” Eric and Nate left the building and jumped into Nate’s cruiser. Within twenty minutes they were at the Goodyear Auto. After a five minute wait at the counter, staring at the dark paneled walls and the bubble gum machine they were greeted by a technician.
“What can I do for you?” The man asked. He had a good twenty years on Nate as well as a good fifty pounds. His face was wrinkled and his nose had grown larger with age. His name tag read Harper.
“We’re looking for Jonathan Gardner.”
“He hasn’t been in for three days.” Harper turned back to his work.
“Where does he live?” Nate asked.
With a huff Harper grabbed a book, slammed it on the table and opened to Jonathan’s name and address. Rather then recite it to Nate he tore the page out and handed it to him. “I don’t expect him to be back.”
“And why is that?”
“The man was strange. Worked on cars okay but he seemed to want something else.”
“Like what?” Nate was getting frustrated. They had a limited amount of time and he needed the information. Why was it always like pulling teeth?
“He just seemed to like kids a lot.”
“Doesn’t sound like a big deal,” Eric said.
“Well the way he liked them it was.”
Nate knew what he meant. “Thanks for your help.” Nate tapped the counter and headed back out the way they had come. Eric followed.
“Think he’s there?” Eric asked.
“No, but it’s a start. This address is different from the one we found Emma.” Eric nodded and they were back on the road again. Nate felt that while each mile should be taking him closer to a killer, each mile was taking him further away. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was still very, very wrong.

“Get in the trunk.” The tall, ugly man was talking to her but she was having trouble focusing. Her arms were loosely tied together as were her feet. She stumbled forward. “Move it.” The tall man pushed her. She hadn’t ever seen this man before and she had no idea what he wanted with her. She’d been taught not to talk to strangers since she was five but no one warned her about this.
“Please, please don’t do this,” the words stumbled out of her mouth but they didn’t sound like her. Instead it felt like she was eating chalk.
“Get in.” The man pushed her into the back of a car. She stumbled in and he closed the trunk with a curse. They drove for what seemed like forever. A small amount of light and air filtered through the trunk lid and she tried to look through it but could see nothing. She felt around her for some way to open the trunk but found nothing. She was stuck.
The car stopped.
Footsteps approached the trunk. With a flick light blinded her eyes and a long hand reached in to her. Was this help? With a quick jerk she knew it wasn’t.
“Out.” It was the same man. He pulled her by her hair and she felt out of the trunk with a thud. Something awful tasted in her mouth and her eye throbbed. “Get up!”
“What are you doing?” Another man’s voice yelled from somewhere she couldn’t place.
“I brought new merchandise. How much do I get for her?”
“Same price as last time. Think you can keep this one alive?”
“You know that was an accident.”
“I’m not so sure it was.” The new man pulled out a gun from behind his back. She trembled. Was he going to kill her? Was this some kind of weird game? She knew her mom was dead; did he want to kill her too? Where was her dad?
“Hey, man, what are you doing? I had to cut my losses.”
“Your losses? Since when are they yours?” The man didn’t point the gun at her but at the ugly man instead. He didn’t seem to be there to help her but he wasn’t yet hurting her either. She said nothing. Sometimes people talked in front of kids because they thought they were to young or stupid to listen.
“I’m sorry about those girls. But that one got out of the van. She was running away. I had to stop her.”
“But now, Jonathan, your name is all over the news. I’ve even heard there’s going to be a press conference to alert people about you. Before you know it the police will be all over us.”
“No man, I took care of everything. No traces at all.”
“How did they get your name?”
“Look, I’m sure it’s just a mistake. I’ll take care of it. I won’t talk, I swear.”
“No, you won’t.” The bullet took Julia by surprise as much as it did Jonathan. He had no time to react or protect himself. Julia felt him fall more than saw him since she had been looking down. Jonathan fell beside her and blood oozed from his forehead. His eyes were open and staring at the sky.
Julia took one look at his body and let out a scream. “Quiet girl. You’re still coming with me.” The other man grabbed her and pulled her to a different car leaving Jonathan behind her. “Let’s go meet some new playmates.”