There was no sign of a disturbance having even taken place, as the room was in perfect order.
A seemingly finely calculated murder.
“Jesus Christ...” Sandy muttered with a shake of his head as Millie took a photo of the victim’s face with her cell phone. “How long ago do you think this happened?”
“Been dead a few hours, at least. I know you guys are working this case now...”
“Yeah, yeah...” Sandy said, nodding and then shaking his head again at the gruesome scene. “Car’s out in the parking lot, child’s car-seat in the back.”
“We have an I.D.?”
“Name’s Katherine Curtis, at least we think that’s her name.” the officer said.
“What do you mean?” Sandy asked, as Officer James handed him some papers.
“According to this, she’s a security guard at the hospital where that baby was stolen from the uh....” He said, snapping his fingers as if trying to remember the name.
“We know where it is. What else?” Millie interjected as she gave Sandy a look that told him Officer James was working her last nerve.
“No sign of the baby and the manager states that he never saw it when she checked in.”
Sandy took a good long look at the dead woman, realizing that it was the woman from the photo holding the baby. If she was here, then where was the Ashby baby?
“Anything on the phone?” Sandy inquired.
“Just one number, incoming a couple of times over the last forty-eight hours, and we’re putting a trace on it now to see whose it is. It keeps coming up as unknown.:”
“But why would she use her own phone? Most people would have gotten a burner phone....”Sandy pondered aloud.
Millie was staring at something just out of view on the stained carpet, underneath the hem of the ugly coverlet on the neatly made bed.
The object almost blended in with the nasty-looking carpet, and she’d barely seen it.
“You mean like this one?” she asked, squatting down and using her pen to move it from underneath the bed.
“Let’s get forensics on it.” Sandy said, “Probably belongs to the killer. Maybe we can get some prints off of it.”
Officer James nodded and headed outside and the manager took the opportunity to call into them.
Sandy noted that was a sad sack of a man, looking like the world was on his shoulders the way he stooped over as he moved closer to the doorway of the room. He had his eyes glued to Millie’s slender frame, a greasy smile appearing on his wrinkled face as he ogled her lustily. The minute she turned to face him, however, his entire demeanor changed.
“Hey, when are you guys getting out of here. It’s bad for business.” He snarled, peevishly.
Millie stared at him for the briefest of moments before a beguiling, but phony smile spread across her pretty face.
Sandy shook his head, exhaling heavily as he stared at the idiot manager who was about to get his ass handed to him on a platter.
“Since you have so much to say, Dwight.” Millie began, putting emphasis on the name she’d read on the plastic tag clipped onto his ratty shirt, “perhaps we can take a little walk to your office. We need to see your security footage and then we’ll be out of your...hair.”
“No way! I have to protect the privacy of my customers....”
“You mean the hookers that come through here every two hours whose pimp pays you to look the other way?” Millie asked, sweetly as the pudgy man’s face paled. “Maybe you’re right, I mean after all, we wouldn’t want to have to bring more attention to your motel now that the media is out there over the murder that just occurred here....”
“All right, all right....” The slimy guy said, grunting angrily as he muttered underneath his breath and gruffly ordered them to follow him.
Sandy and Millie followed the manager to the office, if you could call it that.
Old, yellowed glass surrounded the small building and inside was a beaten-up old counter surrounded by an iron cage-like structure to protect the occupant behind the desk. The floor was a black and white checkered design straight out of the sixties and looked as if it had been there as long. An old cigarette vending machine stood in one corner, a mangy old cat laying on the worn sofa next to it as it stared at them.
“She checked in a couple of days ago.” Dwight said, allowing them behind his counter and into the small room he used as an office to let them view his screen. “Told me she was staying just two days. Checkout’s promptly at eleven....”
“Anyone else with her?” Sandy interrupted brusquely, thinking of the baby clothes and formula.
Millie was starting to rub off on him.
“Nope.”
“Anyone unusual hanging around that you can remember?”
“No more unusual than normal, and I am familiar with most of my customers. Wait....there was this one couple.” The manager said, so very helpful where just moments ago he hadn’t been. “I’m not into all that girl-on-girl stuff, but I guess to each his own. Those two stood outside my front window for ages. I remember them now, because of the squalling brat they had with them. Got on my damned nerves.”
“What was so memorable about them?” Millie asked, impatiently, wishing that these people would just learn how to spit it out.
“They asked if they could wait for their ride inside because of the rain. Guess they were afraid that the kid would get sick.”
“Well, let’s have a look.” Sandy urged as the man nodded.
Dwight tapped a few keys as he searched for the video he was looking for.
“All up in each other’s faces...even with the baby there and all..ugh...” Dwight said, the disgust in his voice evident. “Just as I was about to tell them to take that shit somewhere else, some blonde guy pulled up in a black SUV and they all left.”
“When did all of this happen?” Sandy asked.
“Early this morning. Here we are.” Dwight said as the two detectives looked at the video of Joan Addams in a lip-lock with Carrie Ashby, who held her baby in her arms.
***
Sandy drove along the quiet street that Ryan and Carrie lived on and slowed down as he passed their house. Both cars were gone and the house was dark.
“Shit.” He hissed, as he drove on and parked on the corner, in the shadows before killing the engine.
“Want me to call it in?” Millie asked, as Sandy shook his head and sat back.
“Not just yet. I want to see if he’s going to come home. I dunno, Millie. Maybe the two of them orchestrated this. People sending in money and whatnot. That GoFundMe account is already in the one-hundred thousands. I checked. We both know that the Ashbys were having financial issues.”
“How do you think that?” she asked, her brow furrowing as she checked the passenger side-view mirror, “I don’t think the husband’s involved. Not if that video of Carrie Ashby is any indicator.”
“Maybe, but we talked to both of them at length and they appeared to be frantic parents, as would anyone who just had their child snatched.”
The blow to the victim’s head had been barely visible beneath her dark hair and there hadn’t been much blood. It was almost as if a professional had done it.
“What if he hired someone to do it.” Millie said, reading his very thoughts.
But before he could answer her, a grey Saturn VUE drove up to the Ashby house and turned into the driveway, slowly.
“It’s him, but I don’t see the wife.” Sandy said, pulling around the corner so that they could re-enter the block. He didn’t want Ryan to think that they’d been waiting for him.
Calm and cool.
They were just asking questions and seeing how much he knew.
He knew that this whole thing was going to get very nasty in the long run.
***
“Mr. Ashby.” Sandy called out as he approached the young man, who turned in surprise, “Can we have a moment of your time?”
“Detective Chandler?” Ryan said, relief on his face, �
��I am so glad you are here. I don’t know what’s happened to her....”
“To whom?” Millie asked.
“Carrie. Carrie is missing.” Ryan said, almost as if he couldn’t believe they didn’t know about it already. “That’s why you’re here right? I have been calling everyone we know to see if they’ve seen her. I get it. She needs her space, but I just want to be sure that she’s all right.”
“When did you see her last?” Sandy asked carefully, as Ryan sighed.
“Two days ago. We’ve been having....some....problems adjusting and she’s been under a doctor’s care. She left here Monday night, telling me that she was checking into some hospital. I just came from there and there’s no record of her.”
Sandy nodded thoughtfully, catching Millie’s eye.
“We’re definitely going to look into that, but we have some questions for you first. May we come in?”
“Sure.” Ryan said, leading the way as they all went inside the house.
He cut on the lights in the hallway and then went into the living room, turning a lamp on inside there as well. “Please.”
The detectives sat down on the sofa and he chose the loveseat across from them.
“You called us a few days ago and mentioned that Joan Addams moved away suddenly?”
Finally, Ryan thought, something is going to get done about her.
“She just vanished into thin air. We had no idea. My wife was very upset about that.”
“They were close friends, weren’t they?” Millie interjected.
“Pretty much.”
“What kind of relationship did you have with Ms. Addams?”
Ryan frowned as he shrugged in an off-hand manner.
“She was over here all the time, but mostly to visit Carrie. What’s going on with the search? She’s been gone for days now, no one’s telling me anything about our baby, and now my wife is God knows where!”
“Ryan, please understand that we are doing our best.” Sandy tried to assure him, using a gentle tone to show that they were trying to help him. “We have to get as much information as we can to help us get this taken care of.”
Ryan sighed heavily and was about to speak when Millie’s cell phone rang.
“Excuse me.” she said, answering it as she left the room and went into the hall. Sandy watched Ryan as he jiggled his leg nervously as he sat with his head in his hands.
The guy was a mess, and to the naked eye Ryan Ashby appeared to be a worried husband and father. He just couldn’t peg this guy for kidnapping his own daughter.
Primarily, they had checked out the bar that Ryan said he’d been at when Joan called him, so his alibi was solid.
A cafeteria worker confirmed that Joan had indeed been there buying coffee when the baby was moved from Carrie’s room to the nursery. That whole phone call in the stairwell thing was still sketchy though, and now they had no idea where Joan or Carrie were.
They needed to find the two women, and fast.
“Dee.” Millie called to him, ducking her head back into the room, her pretty blue eyes alight as Sandy nodded and stood up.
“We’ll keep you posted.”
“Please.” Ryan said, his eyes becoming moist as he shook his head. “I can’t lose them both.”
“I understand.”
Sandy heard the unmistakable sound of Ryan stifling his sobs as he left the Ashby house.
chapter seven
“Excuse me, sir.” Charles Armbruster’s secretary said, shooting an apologetic look at him for disturbing his telephone conference with the legal department of the hospital. “But there are a couple of detectives here to see you.”
“Show ‘em in.” Charles said, as he quickly ended the call and promised to get back to them shortly.
A large, middle-aged black man with salt and pepper hair and a stunningly beautiful young blonde woman walked into his office and he came around the desk to greet them.
“Charles Armbruster.” He introduced himself as they all shook hands and then he gestured to the two chairs in front of his desk.
“Mr. Armbruster.” The man returned the greeting. “I’m Detective Chandler. This is Detective Harvey. We’d like to ask you some questions in regards to the events that took place here with the Ashby baby.”
“Sure.” Charles said, eager to get through this mess as easily as possible. He only hoped they didn’t ask for Dave.
When he sent the kid packing, it hadn’t gone too well.
He had threatened to sue the hospital and him personally for wrongful termination. But the facts hadn’t lied.
The video files pertaining to the Ashby incident were found in a folder created on his terminal, which was password-protected by Dave, and that was all the evidence Charles had needed, even though Dave maintained that he hadn’t downloaded the files at all.
It was going to be a hassle, he could tell.
“Coffee, sir?” Maria said, as Charles looked at the pair in front of him, who shook their heads.
“No thanks, Maria. Kill the phones for a bit, would ya?.” He said, as the young woman nodded and then left them alone., closing the office door.
“So, what can I do for you?” Charles asked, watching the blonde as she stared back at him thoughtfully.
She was a pretty little blue-eyed thing that reminded him of his teen-aged daughter, Hannah. He couldn’t believe that she was old enough to be a cop, much less a detective, especially since she didn’t appear to be much more than twenty or so.
God, he felt old if they were letting little girls onto the police force now.
He pulled his attention away from her and back onto Detective Chandler, who was watching him with an amused expression.
“Mr. Armbruster...”
“Mr. Armbruster was my father.” He said with a chuckle as he relaxed a bit, “Please, call me Charlie.”
“Charlie.” Detective Chandler said, “We have some updates in regards to the Ashby abduction.”
“Did you find the baby?”
“No, but there have been significant changes. Do you have someone named Katherine Curtis working here?”
“Kathy? Yes, she works here.”
“And was she working the day of the incident?”
“I don’t believe so, but I’d have to double-check. Maria!”
The office door opened and Charles’ secretary appeared damn-near instantly.
“Yes, sir?”
“Can you pull the employee security check logs for the week of September fourth?”
“Right away.” Maria said and she was gone.
“What’s this about? Kathy in some kind of trouble?” Charles asked, not missing the look that the two detectives shared.
“We’re sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but Katherine Curtis has been murdered.” Sandy said.
“What?” Charles said, as his face paled and then he put a hand over his mouth. “Christ Almighty. When?”
“She was found this morning at the Dewdrop Inn out on Sunrise Highway. But that’s not the most disturbing thing about this situation. She was found wearing a pair of pink nurses scrubs, similar to the ones worn by the woman who stole the Ashby baby.”
“Waitaminit, hold it, stop.” Charles said, anger filling his voice now, “Are you trying to say Kathy did this? Kathy Curtis?”
“It appears that way.” Millie said, wryly.
“But I’ve known her since she was a kid. No way would she do something like this.”
Sandy and Millie looked at each other and then Millie pulled out her cell phone.
“Charles, can you tell us who this woman is?” she asked, showing the man the photo of the victim’s face she’d taken with her cellphone.
“They’ve got similar features, I’ll give you that.” Charles said, squinting at the phone, “I don’t know who that is, but it’s definitely not Kathy Curtis and she would hardly steal a kid. Kathy is happily married with three kids, lives out in Valley Stream.”
“Sir?” Maria said
from the doorway, holding up a sheet of paper.
“Come in, Maria...” he beckoned the young Latina, who hurried to give him the paper.
Charles looked it over, tapping a line on the sheet.
“There.” He said, triumphantly as he swiveled it around so that they could see it, too. “She clocked in as usual but....huh...”
Charles looked at another sheet.
“That’s funny.” He murmured, still looking.
“What.” Millie asked.
“There’s a notation here by her name, due to a sudden change in schedule. All departments do it so we can keep track of employees coming and going for data purposes. Well, according to this here, she clocked out in the middle of the day for some reason....but I tell ya, Kathy didn’t do this. Maybe one of her rugrats got sick or something and she had to leave early. Kathy’s a good kid.”
Sandy held his hand out for Charles to hand him the paper, and he looked it over.
Katherine Curtis clocked out at approximately one-fifteen in the afternoon. Right around the time that the Ashby baby was stolen.
Sandy knew exactly where this was going.
Someone had gotten Katherine Curtis out of the way in order to impersonate her and steal the baby.
These were professionals and he didn’t know how many people were involved at this point, but he was going to get answers.
That was for damned sure.
***
Joan sighed heavily as she waited in the line at the McDonald’s drive-thru to get their food. As usual, she had been delegated to servant any time he was around. But Carrie had promised that the asshole was just helping them get their documentation together to get out of the country, and nothing more. She didn’t like the way he stared at Carrie all the time, his eyes lingering on her curves. Joan hated even more that Carrie seemed to be oblivious to it all, telling her to lighten up.
Zach had always been a little too slick for her liking. All she wanted to do was get away from him so that they could go on about their lives, live in Canada like they’d always talked about.
“May I take your order?” the voice warbled, barely distinguishable through that stupid box.
Joan put in the order, and then pulled around to pay and then to the next window to pick up the bags of junk food that Carrie swore she just had to have.
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