Chapter 16

“Oh! You beat me again!” It had been six hours since Ashley had called Nate with the new information. Since then she had heard that Kyle’s dad had put on a news conference looking for a Jonathan Gardner. His face had been all over the TV at the nurse’s station. Ashley had been out to check ever hour or so. She didn’t want the TV disturbing Kyle but she wanted to find out about the case. It’s possible that with the information she had gained from Kyle she might not be needed any more. If Jonathan was the guy this could all be over. All she could pray was that they could find him, get the answers they needed and find the other girls alive.
As dinner approached, Michael made an appearance and Kyle’s relaxed demeanor disappeared. “Hey bud, how’s your day been?”
“Okay. Me and Miss Ashley have been playing cards. Do you want to play?” Kyle smiled at his father. But Ashley wondered if it was forced. Michael returned the smile easy enough and Ashley could see the fatherly love in his eyes. When he turned those eyes on Ashley she felt herself blush.
“I think I can join you for a few hands.” Michael pulled up a free chair and pulled it on the opposite side of Kyle’s bed. Even though Kyle did not have a private room he was alone in his room at his father’s request. It had made Nate happier as well; it was easier to control the visitors when Kyle didn’t have a roommate.
“How was your day?” Ashley asked.
“It was good. We had a press conference and we might have a lead on the man that took Kayla. The police are after him.”
“Are they going to get him?” Kyle asked.
“I think so, buddy.” Michael ruffled Kyle’s hair and smiled. It had been a week since his wife’s murder. He already seemed relaxed and if she read him right he was already flirting with her.
“How are you doing, Michael?” Ashley asked.
“I’m exhausted. I wish Gina were here to give direction. She was so good at that.”
“I miss mom,” Kyle said. “Do you miss her daddy?”
“I miss her a lot,” Michael said
“Even though you fought all the time?” Kyle asked and then waited for an answer but Michael said nothing. Ashley couldn’t decipher whether or not Kyle’s was an innocent question about parental banter or if he had witnessed something more severe.
“Kyle, your mom and I had our differences but I still loved her and I’ll always miss her…”
“Who was she?” The question came out of nowhere that at first Ashley didn’t believe it was Kyle that had asked it.
“Who was who?” Michael was attempting to act shocked but Ashley could tell there was a lot of truth to what Kyle asked.
“You know who! The woman you talk to all the time.” Kyle was yelling now and his monitors began buzzing and alarming. Two nurses rushed in to check.
“I think you both need to leave and let the patient rest,” one of the nurses said looking down her glasses at both Michael and Ashley. Michael began to argue but was cut off when the nurse glared at him again.
Ashley and Michael obeyed the nurse’s request and stepped outside of the room. Ashley leaned against the wall and looked up at Michael. She felt she should’ve bit her tongue but she just couldn’t, “What are you doing? Every time you enter the room Kyle gets upset. What is really going on?” She held her breath as she waited for his answer.
“Ashley, the truth is that Gina and I were having trouble. She, we weren’t getting along.”
“Were you seeing someone else?” Ashley had heard lots of things in her life and wasn’t surprised at much but her heart hurt all the worse for Kyle the more she knew about his father.
“For a brief time but I broke it off. We weren’t seeing each other anymore. Gina and I were trying to make amends.”
“Did Gina know about the affair?”
“Does it matter?”
“Michael, this may be relevant to the case…”
“No way, Kayla was taken by a psycho pedophile.”
“How do you know that?”
“I did a press conference this morning to that effect. Everyone knows that this Jonathan guy is guilty. It’s just some creep who likes little girls.”
“What if it’s not? What if Kayla’s case isn’t related and Gina died because of your mistakes?” Ashley had no idea why she asked him that. Maybe frustration at his narrow sightedness. Even Nate wasn’t ready to put all his money on Jonathan working alone yet Michael was so ready to throw all the guilt and blame on this one man. Would he not take responsibility for anything? He had obviously caused Kyle pain yet he wouldn’t admit to that either. While part of Ashley wanted to reach out to the man who had lost his wife and who should understand her pain her head warned her not to. Fortunately, Ashley never followed her heart.
“You’re right. Maybe he has a partner but if we find him we can find that out and then we can find Kayla.”
“You’ve got to tell Nate about your problems with Gina. You have no idea what kind of pattern he or anybody else is going after. What if he’s attacking girls whose parents are having problems so someone can point the finger at the husband? Every detail is important Michael. Just because you’re the DA doesn’t mean you get away with not telling the truth.”
“Okay, I’m sorry. Wow! Do you do this to all your patients? No wonder kids talk to you; you don’t give them any other choice.” Michael softened his comment with a laugh and Ashley saw why she had been attracted to him.
“I’m good at talking and usually I’m good at listening. I don’t mean to badger you but I can tell that Kyle is hurting. You’re the only family he has left. He needs you to be as open and honest with him as you can.”
Michael smiled and shook is head. Leaning against the wall next to her he gently rubbed his hand against her arm. A shiver ran up her spine but not the bad one that she had expected. No, this was a more excited shiver. One that wanted her to move closer to him.
“You’re right. I’m trying to be his father but I’ve gone into DA mode. Find out who did it, find the facts, prosecute and put the person in jail. It’s what I know.”
“But right now, your son needs you.” Ashley wanted to add “It’s not all about you!” but she didn’t. Her head and her heart were once again at war. What was the attraction to this man? What was the drawback? She couldn’t decide.
“Do you need to talk to him anymore tonight?”
“No, I think he’s had enough. We’ve been talking all day.” Ashley smiled at the thought of their conversation most of which revolved around Kayla and school. Ashley wanted to ask more about the case but when she watched Kyle laughing she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. This was so unlike her. She was known for getting the truth from a child quickly. Was one parent abusive? Was mommy mean? Who would you rather live with? Questions asked and answered without a second thought. But yet, something was different with Kyle. Maybe he just reminded her too much of Aidan.
“Has he told you anything?” Michael asked.
“Nothing new. He remembers the incident for the most part now which we’ve relayed to Nate but I want to talk to him about things before that. See if he remembers anything.”
“Is that important? I mean is it related?”
“Nate seems to think so.”
“But why him? You’re not talking to any other siblings.”
“Not right now. Michael, Kyle is special. This happened to him and he survived. I think he knows something but I don’t know what yet. I’d like to keep talking to him.”
“Don’t you need my permission?” Ashley searched Michael’s face for anger but the question was more of a resigned sigh. Like “does he have to go through this?” not “I don’t want you doing this.” Once again Ashley found herself being drawn to him.
“Not really. You’ve given me permission to talk with him already. If you want me to stop I can but we can probably get a judge’s order and make him talk to me which would just make matters worse.”
“I understand. I think it’s good for him. Gives him someone to talk to and if he does know something then maybe we can learn more.”
“I think so. I think he knows something but he’s not saying what yet.”
Michael didn’t respond except to nod. It seemed pointless to argue. Michael believed that Jonathan was guilty and nothing else. He wouldn’t understand the need to keep talking to Kyle. Not really, anyway. But Ashley knew different. She had been threatened. Threatened to back off from Kyle. That only made her more suspicious especially after his account of the events only led them to Jonathan Gardner. Was it Jonathan Gardner threatening her? If so, how did he find out about Jimmy? It didn’t make sense.
“Are you going to stay for a while or head back to the hotel?” Michael asked.
“I think I’m going to head back to the hotel.” Ashley’s body hurt. Every part of her ached for a bed to crawl into and sleep for hours. Being November, the sun was already gone at just 6 in the evening. Ashley’s energy had gone with it.
“Can I give you a ride?”
“I can call a taxi. I’ll be fine.” Ashley lied. She knew Nate would not approve of her going out on her own, not with a killer on the loose especially one that might have threatened her very life.
“No, I insist. I’ll just tell Kyle that I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’m sure the nurses are through with him by now.”
Ashley nodded and walked towards the elevators. She surveyed the hospital floor while waiting for Michael to return. So many rooms full of little people in need of constant care. She recalled the hospital where Aidan had spent his last moments and her arms ached to hold him again. He hadn’t been lucky enough to make it into an actual room instead he had died in the emergency room unable to resuscitate his tiny body.
She heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see Michael coming towards her, “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine. They’re going to feed him dinner while I’m gone. I promised him I’d be right back,” Michael said and hit the down elevator button. Ashley stood with her hands in her pockets while she waited rocking back and forth from her stiletto heels to her toes. The doors opened, Michael and Ashley stepped in.
As they waited for the doors to close Ashley noticed a man race up to the elevator. “Hold please.”
“Sure,” Michael said and pushed back the closing doors.
The man stepped into the elevator. Ashley noticed his blue scrubs including surgical hat and assumed him to be a doctor or a nurse. Her first inkling that something wasn’t right was when the man moved behind her and she noticed that he was still wearing a surgical mask covering his face. While doctor’s often wore them in situations outside of a patient’s room she had never recalled one that wore them in the elevator.
Ashley’s heart began to race and she wants the numbers tick away very slowly. They were only on the fourth floor but the first floor felt miles away. As the number changed to the second floor the man reached out and smashed the stop button.
Without warning he had a knife to Ashley’s neck. He pulled her with him to the corner of the elevator and waved the knife at Michael and then pressed it back into Ashley’s neck. She felt the trickle of blood dripping down her neck.
“I warned you!” Her attacker yelled. “I warned you to stay away from him and yet here you are.”
“Please. Please don’t do this,” Ashley said but even while she said it she wasn’t sure why she did. Did she believe it? Did she even care if she lived or died? After all, she would be with Donnie and Aidan again. She didn’t have much to live for again. But then, as quickly as that thought came it was replaced by Kyle’s face, by Nate’s face, by Michael’s and the desire to live took its place again.
“I told you to leave it alone. Why didn’t you listen?” The man’s hand shook at her neck and she felt another sting and more blood falling down her neck.
Training took over. Ashley didn’t plead for her life. She purposefully slowed her breathing down. She would only get out of this if everyone remained calm. She glanced at Michael who appeared pasted to the elevator wall, his face almost the same color of paste.
Ashley’s mind whirled with the right line to say but nothing came out of her mouth. Trained to talk and yet she wasn’t talking.
“This is your last chance. Talk to Kyle again and I will kill you.” The man cut deeper into Ashley’s neck before pulling her to the elevator doors where he pushed the button to continue the elevator’s descent. When the doors opened he made his quick escape.
Ashley dropped to the floor and her world went black.