Chapter 32

“What are you guys up to in here?” Michael’s voice was much closer indicating he must be just beyond the door of Kyle’s room. Kyle’s eyes were big as saucers and his face was pale. Ashley was more convinced now then ever that Michael had removed him from the hospital much too soon.
“Hold that thought.” Ashley smiled at Kyle and looked towards the door as Michael stepped into the room holding a tray of food.
“Hey buddy, how are you feeling?”
“Okay.”
“I brought you your favorite, peanut butter and banana. I also brought you a coke. I know you love those.” Michael held up the tray and smiled broadly. Looking at Michael it was hard to imagine that this man could frighten anyone much less his own son.
“Thanks dad.” Kyle smiled back at his dad but Ashley could tell there was little heart in it. Michael didn’t seem to notice as he reached up over Kyle’s bed rails and placed the tray on his lap. Kyle ate like he had been starved for weeks. Ashley was at least glad to see that he had an appetite. He had to be on the mend after all.
“Hey bud, do you think you’d be up to playing a game of Clue? I bet Ashley would play with us.”
“Sure, dad. That sounds good,” Kyle said through bites of sandwich.
“Come on, I’ll help you get down.” Michael reached over the bars and carefully lifted Kyle over them and out of bed. “We’ll play in the living room. You can lie down on the couch and Ashley and I will sit on the floor. Try and move your arm some, okay?”
Kyle nodded and leaned close in to his father as Michael carried his son into the living room and laid him on the couch. Ashley followed trying to keep her heart steady as she wondered what Kyle meant and what she should do about it.
The three of them played Clue and Ashley laughed as Kyle continually made wild guesses about who could have done it. Michael, ever the prosecutor, made much more educated guesses and ended up winning most of the games. Ashley failed miserably at her attempts but she didn’t mind. She had been blessed with the gift of counsel not detective work.
As the hour got later, Kyle’s eyes began to droop and Ashley feared he would fall asleep where he was.
“I think that’s enough excitement for one night buddy, let’s get you to bed,” Michael said and carried Kyle back to his room. Ashley desperately wanted time alone with him but with Michael around it felt impossible. Kyle has something to tell her and she needed to find out what it was. The wait was killing her.
“Ashley will you come tuck me in?” Kyle’s sleepy words were a bit muffled by Michael’s shirt but she didn’t miss them.
“Absolutely buddy.” Ashley used the same endearing nickname as Michael in the hopes of not drawing any attention to her desire to be alone with Kyle.
“Don’t worry, Ashley, I can do it. His bed is so high in the air it’s hard to get to him anyway.”
“I know, but I could pray with him.” The words came out of Ashley’s mouth before she could examine what she’d said. Pray with him? Ashley hadn’t prayed in years though she might just start by asking God to give her time alone with Kyle so she could learn what information he had. As quickly as the “prayer” entered her head Michael agreed to let Ashley pray with Kyle but only after he tucked Kyle in alone.
“I haven’t had this little guy at home for a while and I’d like a few minutes with him.” Michael gave Ashley his smile again. That smile certainly could steal any spotlight. Could this man have truly done anything wrong? Maybe Kyle had an over-active imagination. No, she had seen the fear in his eyes. The plea for her not to leave him. Ashley could only hope Michael couldn’t do any further damage in the short time they would be alone.
As Ashley pondered whether it was good for the two of them to be alone and waited for her turn, her cell phone rang. She quickly pulled it out of her purse so as not to draw Michael’s attention to it. She answered before she saw it was Nate calling her.
“Where are you?” Nate asked.
“I’m at Michael’s.”
“What are you doing there?” Ashley couldn’t tell if it was anger or jealousy in Nate’s voice.
“Look, I went to see Kyle but Michael had already checked him out and brought him home. I feel like he needs me here with him.” It was more than a feeling but she wasn’t sure if she should say anything just yet. Knowing Nate he would be at Michael’s house interrogating Kyle before Ashley got a word in edge wise. And even without the information Kyle had she knew he didn’t need Nate down his throat right now.
“We have another missing girl.” Now Ashley only heard exhaustion and frustration in Nate’s voice and it wasn’t directed at her.
“What? What happened?”
“They broke in to a girl’s home and took her. Mom was here and tried to stop them. She was shot but I think she’s going to survive. The good news is that we may have another witness. We might not need Kyle’s testimony. Maybe you can even go home.”
Home. Did she want to go back to Maryland? For some reason she had no desire to leave yet. She’d been gone a week, she could at least hang around another. Kyle needed that. “Kyle knows something,” Ashley blurted out.
“What do you mean?” Nate asked.
“He asked me not to leave him alone with Michael. Nate, something’s up.”
“I’m coming over…”
“No. You’ll only make it worse. You’re busy there. Let me talk to him here and then I’ll get back to you.”
“Fine,” Nate sighed. “Fine. Talk to him and then get back to me. If he knows anything. If Michael knows anything, please let me know right away.”
“Okay, I will, I promise.” Ashley went to close her phone when she had a thought. “Nate?”
“Yea?”
“What’s the home life of the latest victim?”
“I’m not sure but it does look like the father isn’t in the picture. I don’t know where he is.”
“There’s a pattern, Nate. I can feel it. I don’t profile serial killers or even killers but all the girls seem to come from broken homes. Maybe the murderer targets girls in rough homes,” Ashley said.
“Maybe but why?”
“Maybe they have a heart of some kind and don’t want the father’s to suffer…”
“Harvey Brandt is suffering. He and his wife weren’t having any marital troubles and he was distraught over his wife’s and Daisy’s death. I’m not sure you’re theory holds up.”
“Okay, maybe not one hundred percent or maybe there were difficulties that you haven’t uncovered yet. Not everyone is upfront about their troubles.” A noise from behind Ashley made her jump.
“You okay?” Both Nate and Michael asked at the same time.
“I’m sorry, Michael, you scared me.” Ashley put the phone behind her back and turned to see Michael behind her.
“Ashley, are you okay?” It was Nate now. She knew if she didn’t say anything he would rush over and try to save her. But if Michael suspected that she was talking to Nate would he be angry?
Ashley put the phone back up to her ear. “Mom, I’ll have to call you back. I’m going to talk to Kyle now and say good night,” she paused for effect, “No, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me at all. Goodnight.” She closed the phone before Nate could say a word and prayed that he wouldn’t think of rushing over to “save” her from Michael. At this point she didn’t know if she needed saving or not.
“Kyle’s asking for you. Be brief though, I can tell he’s exhausted.”
“I noticed. I’ll be quick.”
Michael grabbed Ashley’s arm as she walked past and her heart began to pound. She tried hard to control her breathing. “Do be quick. I’d like to spend some more time with you alone.” The smile again. He probably used that on all the girls.
“Sure, that would be great.” Ashley hoped Michael didn’t notice the shakiness in her voice. Ashley once again passed Kayla’s room and sent up a quick prayer that she was okay. She wasn’t sure where that prayer came from either but in her situation she’d take all the help she could get. If God didn’t listen to her maybe He would listen on behalf of Kayla. Hadn’t enough children already died?
Ashley knocked on Kyle’s door and waited for a muffled “Come in” before entering the room.
“You still awake or did your dad put you to sleep?”
“Nah, he tries but I’m way past stories putting me to sleep.” Kyle leaned up on his good arm and looked down at Ashley. She could just make out his face in the nightlight. “Did you mean what you said?”
“What?”
“That you would pray with me?”
“Uh, sure.” Ashley pulled out the chair again and set it next to Kyle’s bed. Standing on it she was now tall enough to be even with Kyle. “Did your mom pray with you?”
“Yea, she talked about God a lot to me and Kayla. She tried to talk to dad about it but he would never listen. He went with us to church a few times but Kayla thought it was just to make him look good before an election. Otherwise he didn’t care.”
“Was there anything else different about your dad?” Ashley asked softly.
Kyle lay back on his bed and stared at his ceiling, his hands crossed across his chest. For a while she didn’t think he would say anything at all. Then he sat up again. “Will you pray with me, Miss Ashley?”
“I haven’t prayed in a long time, Kyle. Not since God took my Aidan. It’s too hard.”
“But what if He’s there and He’s listening?”
“If He was listening why would He take Aidan?”
“I don’t know but mom would say that sometimes bad things happened to people but God is always in control. We get good things and we don’t complain. We should be willing to accept the bad.”
Who was counseling who? “Those are big words for a young boy.”
“My mom was very smart. I asked her lots of questions. She said that when sin entered the world it caused bad things and bad people. We still have to trust God.”
“I’m trying, Kyle, but it’s hard.”
“I know. I miss my mom. I miss Kayla but still I want to pray. If I stop talking to God who do I have left?”
“You have me,” Ashley said.
“Okay,” Kyle said. And that was the end of the discussion on God. That was one thing Ashley loved about kids. They could move on so quickly.
“Kyle, was there something you wanted to tell me earlier?” Ashley knew she was running short on time. If Michael walked in again her chances of talking to Kyle alone would be gone.
“Yea, I wanted to give you this.” Kyle carefully contorted his body to reach underneath his mattress. He pulled out a small white envelope and handed it to Ashley.
“What is this?”
“I don’t know. My mom told me to keep it and hide it from dad.”
“Did you look at it?” Ashley asked as she took the envelope from him.
“No, I don’t want to know. Miss Ashley, he’s my dad and I love him. He does things sometimes that makes me afraid so I want you to stay with me but I don’t want to know all the bad things.”
“You’re a very smart kid. You are going to make a wonderful husband and father someday.” Ashley smiled and roughed up Kyle’s hair and then before she could think she leaned down and gave him a kiss on the top of his head. “Okay, I think it’s time for you to get some sleep. I’ll be here to see you tomorrow.”
“Are you going to stay here tonight?”
“I don’t know. That’s up to Mr. Nate and your dad.”
“I hope you do. My dad likes you. I think you’d make a good mom.” His eyes fluttered closed and Ashley bit back tears. She wanted to be a mom. She had been and she wished she still was. Holding the envelope tightly she stepped off the chair and quietly made her way out of the room.
She shut the door and then stepped into the kids bathroom to rip open the envelope she held in her hand. It was a small slip of paper with a web address on it and a tiny key. Nothing else. No explanation but Ashley knew enough to know that what she held in her hand just might break the case wide open and save the lives of two, make that three girls.