Chapter 48

After an hour of banging on the walls no one had answered Ashley’s cries for help. She had tried the door to no avail. The walls had been no better. Julia and Kayla were no longer with her. There had also been no sign of Lizzie or Kyle. But then again she didn’t even remember being moved into this room. Their captors had given them some water in the back of the van. Desperate for any hydration or food they had all drunk their water bottles down. Obviously something had been mixed in the water.
She stood on the bed again to look out her small window. Still she saw water. But now if she looked really hard to her right she could see the edge of land. And not just a beach, it looked like the port. Maybe they had yet to leave. She vaguely remembered one of her captors saying something about them not leaving until tomorrow but since she had been drugged she had no idea how long ago that was. She prayed silently that they had yet to leave the port and that maybe in the little time they had left Nate and the FBI would be able to find them.
“Lord, direct their steps. Help them find us. Keep us safe till then.” The words flowed out of her in surprisingly easy fashion. It had been years since she had talked to God. Years since she had even seen the need. Sure her parents had prayed for her. They told her that all the time. Every time they called her to see how she was they said they were praying for her. She had always responded by telling them they were wasting their time. She knew there wasn’t a God but if there was she had no use for Him. Her mother would just sigh and say “You never know Ashley, there may come a day when you find you do need God and when you do He will be there for you. Just wait and see.”
Ashley was pretty sure her mom did not have this in mind.

“You are going to tell me where they are and you are going to tell me now!” Nate repeated himself for the third time his level of agitation rising each moment he didn’t have an answer. Nate was once again in the olive concrete interrogation room. This time he was sitting across from Lawton Rawlings and his attorney, Roger Walsh. Roger was just as harsh looking as Lawton but much skinnier. In fact, Nate was worried if he blew too hard the man would blow away he was that thin. But what he lacked in weight he made up for in height standing a good four to five inches above Nate’s six foot frame. His graying hair was wound tight in curls all over his head. If he was losing his hair Nate couldn’t tell. Roger continuously cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. At first Nate thought it was a nervous gesture but after just a few minutes of talking Nate realized it was a gesture he used to make Nate think he was nervous. It seemed that Roger Walsh counted on his opponents underestimating him and that would account for the smug look on Lawton Rawlings wide face.
“I don’t believe that Mr. Rawlings has anything to say to you,” Ralph said. His irritating gestures were accompanied by a nasally tone in his voice.
“I believe you are wrong, Mr. Walsh. Lawton Rawlings has a lot of things to tell me. What I want to know is where he is keeping three missing girls?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lawton said but one look at the man across from him Nate knew he was lying.
Roger held up his hand to stop Lawton from speaking further. “My client has no information on your missing persons.”
“Your client impersonated one of my deceased girl’s fathers. Your client owns the false corporations that include a shipping company called Tate Shipping International. Tate Shipping owns a shipping container where we have uncovered evidence of three of our missing persons.”
“Well you obviously didn’t find anything or you wouldn’t be here,” Lawton said.
Roger’s hand went up again. “My client doesn’t have anything to say to these accusations.”
“How about this? We have live video of three of our missing persons in your container. They were able to tell us where to find them. Arriving at the shipping container they specified we found the mattresses that they lay on the corner they used for a toilet. There’s plenty of DNA in there and it will take me all of a week to match that DNA to my missing girls. You are the owner of that shipping container and I am holding you responsible for their disappearances. If they are not found alive I am holding you responsible for their deaths whether I have a body or not.” Nate paused and waited for a response. When none came Nate knew the man sitting across from him was guilty. Any innocent man would have defended himself. Instead this man sat quietly and let his attorney talk for him.
But Nate didn’t hear a word the attorney had to say because nothing he had to say would tell Nate anything. He was interested only in what Lawton Rawlings had to say. Before Nate could ask another a question a knock came on the door. Nate excused himself from the table and stepped out the door to see what Eric had for him. Normally Eric would be in an interview with Nate but tonight he was going through all the paperwork and pictures that the detectives had recovered from Lawton’s home. Nate assumed that’s what Eric finally had for him.
“We’ve found something,” Eric said.
“More photos? We’ve got two men on possession of child pornography but none of these pictures are of the missing girls. I hope you have something more.”
“If you’d let me finish I could tell you,” Eric said. Nate held up his hands in apology but said nothing more. “We’ve found Harvey Brandt.”
“What?”
“We found Harvey Brandt’s body. Detective Williams took a group of men to issue a search warrant on the Brandt’s property. They found Harvey’s body buried in the backyard.”
“Could they tell what the cause of death was?”
“Hard to know for sure, the body was badly decomposed. ME thinks there was a gun shot wound in the chest but she’ll have to do the autopsy…”
“Dr. Folek will do the autopsy.” Nate wouldn’t allow any of the bodies in this case to be touched by anyone else but Dr. Folek regardless of how many years experience Kelly had.
“Right. Either way I’m thinking Lawton stepped into their lives for a while until he found the right time to take Daisy Brandt and get rid of Jennifer Brandt.”
“I agree but it doesn’t explain the murder,” Nate said. “Why would he go through all that trouble and then just kill the girl?”
“I don’t know, we’re going through his financials now. He has a number of offshore accounts and we’re looking into those. Here are the photos we recovered from Lawton’s home. Maybe these will help him open up.” Eric handed Nate a manila folder that contained photos of naked children. Nate was disgusted by the sheer amount of child pornography that both Lawton and Michael had. “There are also some financial papers you’ll be interested in.”
“Let me know if you find anything else.” Nate thanked Eric for the information and headed back into the interrogation room. Lawton and Roger were sitting with their heads together. As soon as Nate opened the door they sat up straight and stared at Nate. “Thank you for your patience.”
Nate walked to the table and set the folder in front of him. “I think you know what I have in here.”
Lawton made no reply.
Nate pulled pictures out of the folder just as he had with Michael Fleming. Setting each picture in front of Lawton.
“These pictures mean nothing!” Roger said as he adjusted his glasses.
“I can hold your client on possession of child pornography.”
“You have the same thing on Michael Fleming. What does this mean to me?” Lawton said.
“How did you know about Michael?”
“Doesn’t everybody?” Lawton flashed Nate an enormous smile. Did this man think this was a game?
“No, not everybody does.” Nate glanced down at the financial papers that Eric had given him. On the first one three large amounts were circled. Adding them up Nate came up to more then a million dollars. Next to each amount was the name of each girl who had been found murdered. Eric had written “Human Trafficking” across the top of the page. On the bottom he had written, “This is what he was paid for the girls.”
“If this is all you have on my client then we’re done here. If he’s under arrest then process him so we can post bail.” Roger cleared his throat, pushed back from the table and stood. Lawton followed him.
“You may want to sit back down. I have just a little bit more information for you.” Nate pulled out the financial document and handed it to Lawton. “It seems we have some proof that you have been paid for three dead girls.”
For just a moment Nate thought he saw fear in Lawton’s brown eyes but it was quickly gone. “This means nothing. So, I got some big payments.”
“Mr. Rawlings, my partner is no idiot. If he wrote these things then he can prove them, in court beyond a shadow of a doubt and there’s absolutely nothing your attorney here can do about it.”
“Don’t listen to him Lawton, he’s playing you.”
“Trust me, Lawton I am not lying to you. I will pin all three of these girls’ murders on you. I will watch you die. You will rot in jail until they drag your sorry self to Starke to sit in the electric chair.” Nate paused for effect. “Do you know what its like to die by the electric chair? It’s a painful death. Your brain and organs fry from within…”
“Stop! I didn’t kill those girls,” Lawton said.
“But you know who did.” Now it was Nate’s turn to stand up and point his finger at Lawton’s chest.
“I didn’t kill them.” Lawton sunk into his chair. His attorney sat next to him.
“Lawton, you don’t need to talk to this man.” Roger sniffed and pushed his glasses further up his nose.
“Shut up, Roger. I didn’t kill those girls. I am not going down for that.”
“Tell me who did.” Nate attempted to appear as casual as possible but inside he was sitting on the edge of his seat waiting for this man to implicate himself in an attempt to clear himself.
“That idiot Gardner. He killed them. He wasn’t supposed to but he did.”
“How did he kill them?”
“I think he strangled them. Idiot told me he did it. Thought I’d be happy. Cost me more than a million dollars.”
“So you had him killed.”
“You don’t have to answer that,” Roger again.
Lawton ignored him. “I had him killed. I can’t have that. Do you know how much danger I was in? I had three dead girls.” Lawton was crumbling. The large man was no longer in control. He looked at Nate. “I want protection.”
“Protection from what?”
“I have to deliver these girls or they’re going to kill me.”
“Who?”
“The Thai. Do you know how much American white girls go for over there? Travelers will pay thousands of dollars for one night.”
“And you were hired to find the girls?” The pieces were finally beginning to fall into place. The reason the girls were taken. The reason the girls were killed.
“It was easy. I found fathers who needed money and who had some secret to hide. Most of them were into child pornography. Easy pickings.”
“What about Harvey Brandt?”
“He said no. I took care of him. No one said no again,” Lawton said. “I want protection.”
“I understand Mr. Rawlings but I can’t help you unless you get me all the information I need. Why are three girls dead?”
“I told you Gardner did it.”
“What about Jessica Rappaport?”
“What about her?”
“Jonathan Gardner didn’t kill her.” Lawton gave Nate a look Nate couldn’t read. And Nate knew he had guessed correctly.
“No, Gardner killed her,” Lawton said.
“Here’s the thing Lawton, I don’t believe you. I think Jonathan Gardner killed Daisy and Emma because they were resisting him and he got carried away. But Jessica was different. Jessica was pregnant, she was used goods and you didn’t like that. I think you killed her and then you led Ashley Parks to the body.”
“You don’t know what I’m capable of!” The Lawton who was afraid of his life was replaced by one who looked ready to kill Nate where he stood. As Nate had guessed when he had met the man named Harvey Brandt a week ago this man was very good at covering his emotions. He was very good at making people believe what he wanted them to believe.
“Did you threaten Ashley Parks?”
“Not me, but I had guys do it.”
“What about Jimmy Livingston?” Nate said.
“What about him?” Lawton said. Roger was fidgeting in his chair. It was clear he wanted to put an end to this interview but he was unsure when to insert himself. Maybe he was as nervous and scared as he looked.
“His name was signed on a note that was given to Ms. Parks. How did you know about him?”
“Michael told me. Told me she was afraid of him. Thought she would back off.”
“And did you kill Detective Cole Easton?” Might as well ask every question while the man was talking.
“No, but I had him killed. I hoped you would back off,” Lawton said and checked his watch. Was he waiting for something? Did he expect something to happen? It always made Nate nervous and suspicious when someone he was interviewing began to check their watch. It was never a good thing.
“What are you waiting for?”
Lawton feigned a blank look so Nate repeated his question.
“Nothing for you to worry about.”
“Tell me!”
Lawton shrugged as if he had no choice. “In three hours Ashley and your missing girls will be leaving the country and you will never see them again.”
Nate had had enough. He moved around the table and stood over Lawton. He grabbed Lawton by the shirt and threw him against the wall. “You are going to tell me because so help me if I don’t get those girls back you won’t live long enough to see Starke.”
The door opening interrupted Nate’s demands. It was Eric again. “Forget him, Nate; he’s in here for life. We’ve found the girls.”
“Where?” Nate asked.
“They’re on Lawton’s yacht. He’s guilty as sin, confession or not,” Eric said.
Nate walked to the door, looked back at Lawton who was leaning against the wall trying to catch his breath. “Mr. Rawlings I will find these girls and you will never see the light of day again. You’d just better pray that I find them alive.”