Chapter 30

Author's Note: I apologize for the delay. I'll work harder to get chapters up more quickly next time - I know it's been a while! I'd certainly appreciate your prayers as I head to a writer's conference next month. I'm bringing the novel along so we'll see how that goes!! More details later.

Anyway, here's what you're waiting for:

Twelve hours. Ashley had been sitting around for twelve hours with nothing to do. No word on Nate or his arrest. No word on Kyle or any of the girls that were still missing. Ashley had talked to her mom twice and Trish once for an hour. They had gone over everything that Ashley missed and made sure everything was covered for an extended leave. Ashley had no idea how long it would take to resolve the case but she had no intention of leaving the case, Nate or Kyle before it was all over.
Ashley began pacing the small living room. Then she moved into the kitchen. After pacing for a few short minutes, she looked through the blinds that hung in front of the sliding back doors. Finding a patio she stepped out and was a bit surprised to find a pool beyond the patio. It looked just long enough to swim laps and just deep enough for the diving board on the end. Rocks on the side of the pool gave the whole outdoors the feeling of the pool being more like a river. Ashley was a tad disappointed that Nate hadn’t mentioned the pool. She shouldn’t have been surprised, the one way to survive the Florida heat was a pool but still if she had known she could’ve brought a bathing suit.
She sat on a chaise lounge beside the pool and put her feet up in an attempt to relax. Unfortunately her brain did not follow her body’s movements and despite the soothing water sounds she could not block out the day’s and week’s events from her mind. Something wasn’t connecting.
Kyle.
His named popped into her head and no matter what she tried she couldn’t shake it. Kyle needed her. Of this she was sure. If it were Aidan she would’ve spent every second at the hospital, she wouldn’t have left him alone. Kyle shouldn’t be alone either.
Slipping on red sandal heels to offset her blue top and dark denim pants, Ashley grabbed her bag and headed outside. She wasn’t sure if Officer Jack Williams would let her leave the house. She was sure Nate had given him strict orders not to let her go anywhere. But this was important and Jack was just going to have to understand that.
As it turned out, she need not have worried. Jack Williams was bored and quite tired of sitting in the heat in front of her house and he would be more than happy to take her to see Kyle in the hospital. Especially after Ashley logically explained how important Kyle’s well being was to the case at hand.
Settling herself in the back of the marked cruiser Ashley attempted to ignore the smell that seemed to cling to the seat as though it had moved in and no one had even attempted to kick it out. It was a strange mixture of alcohol, sweat, urine and cigarette smoke. She assumed that at many times all of those had been mixed together along with some other excrements she didn’t care to think about.
Jack attempted to make small talk on the ride to the hospital but Ashley tuned him out. She needed to focus on Kyle. She had been flopping around for more than a week with no direction. Even though she had come to talk to Kyle and had found some common ground with him it wasn’t enough. He needed her and she needed him.
“I have to accompany you to the room. Nate’s not going to be happy that you’ve left the house but he would have my head if I let you out of my sight,” Jack said as he pulled into an empty spot in the hospital parking lot.
“Fine,” Ashley said and waited for Jack to let her out of the back seat. Jack held out his hand to help her out of the car but she ignored him and headed towards the hospital. Jack struggled to keep up. Ignoring the feelings of dread and fear that threatened to smother her when she entered the elevator she punched in Kyle’s floor. In minutes she was on Kyle’s floor and headed for his room.
Ashley stopped.
“Where’s the officer that’s supposed to be outside Kyle’s door?” Ashley asked.
“I don’t know. I’ll look into it. You check on Kyle.” Jack stepped towards the nurses station and away from Ashley but she knew he still had his eye on her. Ashley stepped into the room expecting to find Kyle in great distress but instead she found nothing.
Both beds were empty and made up. Ashley checked the bathroom but found that also empty. Kyle was not in the room.
“Jack!” Ashley yelled. “Jack, he’s not here! They got him. Someone got him. Why didn’t they tell me?”
Jack and two nurses ran into the empty room. Jack caught her before she fell onto the bed and helped her stand up again.
“No, he isn’t missing, ma’am. He was discharged this morning,” One of the nurses said. But her voice sounded hollow in Ashley’s brain. Why wasn’t she told?
“Was he okay? I mean, was he well enough to be discharged?” Ashley asked.
“The doctor seemed to think so.” This from the other nurse.
“Who took him home?”
“His father. They left this morning. He has some rehabilitation ahead of him but he’s going to make a full recovery.” The first nurse again, her tag read Amy.
“Shouldn’t he do some of that in the hospital?”
“Normally, yes, but his father wanted to take care of it himself,” Amy said.
“Is he going to be okay?” Ashley demanded.
“He’ll be fine as long as his father takes him to see a therapist on a regular basis.” Ashley couldn’t tell if Amy’s disdain was for her question or the fact that Michael had removed Kyle from the hospital.
“Thank you.” Ashley ended the conversation and exited to the hallway. Jack was on her heels. Ashley marched back to the elevator, her heels clicking softly on the linoleum floors.
“Where are you going?” Jack asked when the elevator doors closed.
Ashley barely glanced at him, “We’re going to Michael’s house.”
“No, we’re not. Nate would not allow you there.”
Now Ashley turned and faced Jack head on. She felt like she was in a fight for her life but not only her life, for Kyle’s. She couldn’t put her finger on it but she knew Kyle needed it. She had let Aidan down she was not about to do the same for Kyle. “I don’t care what Nate said. This is my life and I want to see Kyle. You will take me there or I will walk myself.”
“Fine,” Jack mumbled. Neither said a word as they left the hospital and got back into Jack’s cruiser. This time Ashley chose not to ride in the back or more importantly didn’t allow Jack to put her in the back. With a sigh, Jack opened the front door and let her into the front passenger’s seat.
“I need to at least let Nate know where I’m taking you,” Jack said and flipped open his cell phone. Ashley thought about protesting but knew she was already walking on thin ice. She tuned out the conversation as Jack rode on to Michael’s house. She knew Nate wouldn’t be happy but she didn’t have time to care. Someday he would understand. Someday when he was a parent and had a child, he would understand the need to be there. She wasn’t deluding herself into thinking that Kyle was her son but he was a boy without a mother and she a mother without a son. There was a connection there and she wasn’t going to just leave him.
Jack pulled into Michael’s driveway and looked over at Ashley, “You can visit but you can’t stay. I need to get you back home. Actually, I’m switching off with another officer in an hour so he will get you back home. He may not be as nice as I about taking you places.”
“Just let Nate know I may be here a while,” Ashley said as she opened her car door.
“You do remember what happened last time you were here don’t you?” Jack raised his eyebrow at Ashley and she understood his fear. Cole had been killed here even if it wasn’t this exact location.
“I remember Jack and I’m sorry about Cole but Kyle needs me and I can’t just leave him.”
“He has his father to do that.”
“But he doesn’t have his mother.” Ashley climbed out and closed the door behind her. She didn’t expect anyone to understand but that didn’t matter. She was concerned only with Kyle.
Ashley knocked on Michael’s front door and waited for him to answer. When he opened the door her breath caught in her throat. His black hair was slightly messed up giving him a more boyish appearance. He wore a button up short-sleeved top over a blue tee. The shirt hung open and she could see how the tee underneath hugged the curves of his abdominal muscles. His dark jeans were this years shade and fit him snugly. His feet were bare. He smiled at her and small wrinkles formed around his blue eyes giving him a distinguished and casual look all at the same time.
“Ashley, I didn’t expect to see you here.” Michael stepped aside and motioned for Ashley to step in.
“I went to the hospital to visit Kyle but he wasn’t there. The nurses said that you had checked him out. I wanted to see if he was okay.”
Michael walked into the kitchen and Ashley followed. The smell of cinnamon filled the air. Michael opened the stove and peeked inside. “Almost done. I’m making cookies for Kyle. Cinnamon snicker doodles are his favorite.”
“You haven’t answered my questions. How is Kyle?”
“He’s fine, Ashley. Really he was off all the machines and recovering quite well. With all that’s gone on I’d rather he be here at home.”
“But he has no protection.”
“He has me.” Michael’s dark look kept Ashley from asking any further questions about the situation.
“May I see him?”
“He’s in his room down the hall. You are free to talk to him but please don’t upset him especially with questions about the case.”
Ashley wasn’t sure if she could consent to that so she said nothing. Instead she made her way through the family room and to the back hallway that led to all the rooms. A chill crept through her as she remembered the last time she was there.
She found Kyle in a large blue room at the very end of the hallway. The large pink room she had passed had not escaped her attention. Ashley cautiously entered Kyle’s room and scanned for him. “Kyle?”
“Up here,” a small voice said.
Ashley looked up and noticed some movement on the loft bed. He was in his bed but how did he get up there? Obviously there was a ladder but he shouldn’t be climbing in his condition.
“It’s Ashley, I wanted to see how you were doing.”
Kyle sat up and looked at her. His head came close to touching the ceiling but not quite. Glowing stars weren’t glowing in the day but she knew they would light up his room as soon as the sun went down. The remainder of the room was covered in planets painted on the wall. A telescope stood waiting in front of Kyle’s only window.
“I’m okay,” Kyle said.
“Are you sure? I thought you’d be in the hospital a few more days.”
“My dad thought it better if I came home.”
Ashley scanned the room and found a chair that she could stand on so that she could see Kyle face to face. “How do you feel about being home?”
“I don’t know. I miss Kayla a lot. Have you heard anything?”
“Not yet but when I do you’ll be the first to know.”
“Kyle, buddy, are you ready for some cookies? I made your favorite!” Michael’s voice echoed down the long hallway.
Kyle’s hands clamped down on Ashley’s arm. “Don’t leave me Ashley. No matter what my dad says please don’t leave me here alone.”