Chapter 38

We have to go!” Nate made his voice heard over all the noise on the Major Crimes division of the Tampa Bay Field Office. “What is her location?”
“We’re getting a fix on her cell phone. It’s still on. We’ll have her location in a minute,” Jose said.
“I need SWAT. If there’s any chance they’re still in the area I need to get her back.” This couldn’t be happening. Ashley was under protective custody. How did someone get to her? How did anyone even know where she was? It was her fault that she had skipped out on Jane but there’s no way anyone should have known where she was to begin with to follow her. And if Nate admitted the truth Ashley’s giving Jane the slip probably saved her life. If Jane had been there she wouldn’t have lived.
Of course Nate was just assuming Ashley was still alive. He hadn’t heard a gunshot after the accident but he had heard the screams. If they planned to kill her they probably wouldn’t have taken her alive. Nate hoped.
“Have we located Michael?” Nate asked to no one in particular.
“We’re at the bank but he hasn’t shown up yet,” Eric said with a cell phone to his ear.
“Anything on Ashley’s car?”
“We have uniforms on their way to the scene. I’ll let you know when they get there.” This from another agent.
“Pick it up! We’ve already lost one of our own; I don’t want to lose Ashley too.” Nate met Eric’s gaze asking silently where he should go.
“Head to the bank, Nate. There’s nothing you can do at the traffic accident. If you find Michael and he is involved then maybe he’ll know something,” Eric said.
Nate nodded. He would defer to Eric for instructions from now on knowing he was too close to the case already. Not that every other agent didn’t want to see the creep who took these girls suffer and die but now without Ashley. Well, Nate knew he wouldn’t be thinking straight. Taking the stairs two at a time, Nate descended three floors to the parking lot.
Exiting through the gate Nate waved at the guard and pulled onto the street to make his way to SunTrust Financial Centre near Tampa’s City Hall. Please God, we need all the help we can get.

Jennifer Peters was tired of her job. Tired of cashing checks and depositing money. She had worked for SunTrust bank for nearly seven years and she was doing the same thing. She stayed because the hours were good and made it convenient for her to pick her son up from school. But nothing exciting had happened at SunTrust Financial Centre for as long as she had been there. Not that she wanted to be robbed. No, she didn’t want that but then again maybe it would be a more interesting day if someone actually tested the bullet-proof glass she spent her days behind.
“Next in line,” Jennifer said for at least the thirtieth time of the morning. A man in a dark black suit with crisp white shirt and sunglasses stepped forward to Jennifer’s line. He slid something under the glass to her side. She lifted her hand to take it expecting a check or license. Instead her hand rested on a picture of a well-groomed man with dark black hair and clear blue eyes. His smile was bright and his teeth were perfect.
“Have you seen this man?” The suit standing before her asked.
I wish. “Who is he?”
“Answer the question, please, ma’am.”
Jennifer looked up at the suit in front of her. His hair was not nearly as dark as the man in the picture and his face was older and more jagged then the picture she now held. Not the same man. Pity. “Why do you want to know?”
The suit slipped his hand in his pocket and pulled out something else that he slid under the glass to Jennifer. Now she was grateful for the glass in between. She needn’t have worried. The suit passed her a badge of some sort. She read it: Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department. “You’re police?”
“I’m Detective Jack Williams and I need to know if you have seen this man.”
Jennifer considered a snide remark but from the frown on the detective’s face thought better of it and simply said, “No, I haven’t seen him.”
“Can you tell me if he’s a customer here?”
“I’m sorry, sir, I cannot share that information with you.”
“I could get a warrant.”
“Then you’re going to have to do so.” No way was she risking her job over some random detective even if he was who he said he was.
The detective leaned in closer and gave Jennifer a crooked smile. “Are you sure you haven’t seen him? It’s very important. Maybe he’s not a customer. It’s possible he’s just visited the bank before.”
“I’m sorry, no.” Jennifer slid the picture and the detective’s credentials back through the slot under the bullet-proof glass. “Maybe you would like to speak with my manager.”
Detective Williams rested his hand on his fist. “Maybe I would, Jennifer.” Give the man a medal, he could read her nametag. The smile again. Was he attempting to use his charms on her? Yuck, he was old enough to be her father.
“Let me get her for you.” But before Jennifer could step away from her someone walking through the door caught her eye. Strange, it looked just like the man in the picture. Detective Williams followed her gaze and it landed on the man as well.
The detective turned away from her and spoke into the radio he had removed from his belt. “He’s here. I’ve got eyes on him in the bank.”
“Let him get what he came there to get then we need to detain him.” Came a reply.
“I have no cause to stop him, Agent,” Williams said drawing out the word Agent. Jennifer got the distinct feeling that Jack Williams did not care much for the man he was talking to.
“I suggest you find one,” the radio said.
Jennifer served three more customers but her eyes remained fixed on the dark-haired man and the detective stalking him. Jennifer’s manager, Mildred Gillespie, was serving the man Detective Williams wanted. He had shown her a key and then taken him back to where the safe deposit boxes were kept. Jennifer had no idea what this man had done but her curiosity was peaked.
She motioned to Andrew who was covering the window next to her and told him she was going on a break. In her spare time, in other words, the few hours that her son was asleep and she wasn’t working, Jennifer spent reading mystery novels. She had never been a part of something exciting. Maybe this was her chance.
Jennifer moved from behind the teller desk to the lobby area where the customers gathered. Her interest peaked she snuck back into the safe deposit box area. She had the clearance to go anywhere she wanted in the bank. She’d been offered three promotions but had turned them all down. She liked working with the customers and she liked her hours. But it didn’t mean she hadn’t taken on any other responsibilities from time to time for extra money. One of those was helping customers who had recently opened a safe deposit box. She had seen lots of things go into the boxes but none of them had been exciting enough to warrant a detective looking into it.
A hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Her heart pounded as pain shot through her shoulder. “What are you doing?”
It was the detective. What did he think he was doing? She jerked her arm out of his grasp. “I have clearance to be back here. What do you want from me?”
“I asked for your help. Can you do that?”
“Fine, what do you want?”
“Do you think you can see what it is he’s getting out of his box?”
“That’s a violation of his privacy,” Jennifer said.
“I need this man for questioning. Anything you do to help I won’t forget.” That dorky smile again. Did he really think he was attractive?
“Fine, follow me but if I lose my job…”
“I’ll vouch for you.” Jennifer was 90% sure the detective was lying but she nodded anyway. Her life was normally boring maybe today she would make the news.
“Follow my lead.” Jennifer walked through the curtains that separated the private viewing area from the rest of the bank. She saw two legs sticking out from under one of the individual curtains. Taking a deep breath she said, “Mr. Williams, you can view the contents of your box in here.” She drew back the curtains of the occupied stall.
“What the…?” The man behind the curtain cursed. He turned to face her. “Are you stupid? This area is occupied.” He reached over her head to draw back the curtain but not before she noticed a stack of pictures sitting on the table in front of him. Was that what she thought it was?
“I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t see you there.” She fumbled over her words sure that the man would demand to see her manager but instead he turned back to what he was doing. She smoothed her A-line skirt and made her way back to Detective Williams.
“Did you see anything?” he said through gritted teeth.
“He had some pictures,” Jennifer said.
“What kind of pictures?”
“I…I’m not sure.” Jennifer wrung her hands together to try and calm the shakiness. It wasn’t working.
“What do you mean you’re not sure? Did you see something or not?”
“I think I did but I hope I didn’t see what I thought I saw.” Jennifer stepped past Detective Williams and back into the lobby area. Her stomach was revolting. She wanted to find a bathroom to relieve herself of her breakfast.
“Jennifer, please, this is important.”
She stumbled to one of the chairs in the lobby ignoring the looks her co-workers were throwing her way. If she wasn’t careful Andrew would come around to the lobby and make a scene with the detective. They weren’t dating but Andrew still managed to treat Jennifer in a protective and more brotherly way. She held up her hand to show everyone she was fine. She wasn’t sure if she wanted them to believe the lie or not.
“I’m running out of time. What did you see?”
“I think I saw pictures of little kids naked. Did I see that? Is that what I saw?”
The detective let out a string of curses. Had she done something wrong? “Did you see a gun?”
“Wait, what?”
“A gun? You saw a gun?”
“No…”
But it was too late. Detective Williams was speaking into his radio. “Dispatch, I’m in the SunTrust bank on East Jackson Street. I have a report of a gun here in the bank. I need some unis down here. We may be under fire.”