by R E Gauthier
“Say hello to her for me, and tell her I miss her.”
Kelsey nodded as her call went to voicemail. “Hi, Rachel; I had hoped to reach you. We’re going to need some help on this case, and I thought you might know of a few new agents that may fit the bill. Give me a shout when you can, and Nikki and I miss you.”
Pulling into the Village Inn Motel parking lot, Nikki stated, “this is the cheapest, cleanest motel off of I-95. I wanted to find an easily accessible motel, where we can get in and out of fast.”
“I hope we won’t have to stay here long, but we do need a base to come and go from easily. I don’t want to tip Washburg off to our presence here until we can discover his plans and catch him.”
***
After settling into the motel room, Kelsey called and spoke to Miranda. Kelsey was upset that she was away from Nanna and her fiancée but knew this was their best way to catch Paul Washburg. Nikki called her friend in the FBI Academy and asked her to put out feelers for a few recruits. Torres called Kelsey and said she could be there the next day; Kelsey told her that they could use her help but wished they could ask her to stay put. Torres had helped them longer than she should have and she wasn’t even FBI any longer. The last time Nikki had mentioned Torres going back to her private investigator job, Torres had flatly said that she wanted to see this one through. She had a personal investment in this case and wanted to see Paul Washburg caught and punished for his killings.
Nikki and Kelsey were sitting on the one double bed waiting for the call they had made to Ashley Foster to go through.
“Maybe she’s already in bed; it is late,” Nikki whispered.
The phone rang a fourth time and voicemail came on.
“Ashley Foster, this is Detective Kelsey MacGregor with the Lansing Police Department. I’m calling to speak to you about Kyle Nolan. Please give me a call at one, eight, five, five, six, eight, zero, one, seven, ten. Thank you.” Kelsey had bought a burner phone for calling and decided to use the police department as a way to reach out to Ashley Foster. They had no idea how far Washburg ensconced himself into Ashley’s life. They couldn’t risk him finding out they were onto him.
“Mack, we should call Detective Watters to let him know we’ll be staying in town and investigating Kyle’s disappearance. He can help head-off any suspicions that may come our way if other police get wind of us talking to people about Kyle.”
“Great idea, you should do it; he likes you. You can flirt with him into keeping our presence here secret for a while longer.”
Nikki made a face. “I’m sure he’ll listen to you—”
“I can’t I’m getting a call on my phone, it could be important. Maybe Rachel is calling me back.”
Nikki made a face.
Kelsey didn’t recognize the number. Wondering who could be calling her, she punched the accept icon. “Hello, Senior Special Agent in Charge Kelsey MacGregor, speaking, who is this?”
There was a silence at the other end before a familiar voice said, “Congratulations on your promotion; when I heard, I knew what I had to do.”
“Thank you, but you still haven’t told me who you are. How did you get this number?”
“You gave it to me. You may not remember me, but I worked with you on a case last year in Baltimore. You made such an impression on me; I decided to make a change in my life and career. I’m Deborah Norman. I worked with the Salisbury Investigative Bureau as a detective, but I’ve recently graduated from the FBI Academy and want to learn under the best agents in the FBI.”
Kelsey’s head spun trying to grasp what the voice said on the other end. Deborah Norman? Then her recollection stepped in; Detective Deborah Norman had impressed her very much in the Baltimore case. The woman’s level-headedness and quick mind reminded her of some of the young FBI agents who graduated from the Academy with her. Smiling she said, “I remember you. I’m flattered that my influence helped you to make such drastic and smart choices in your career; you must have heard that we were looking for agents to join our unit.”
Nikki looked up surprised and smiled broadly.
“I only called because I’ve yet to get my assignment. My advisor asked me if I had any preferences where I would like to go. I told him that I needed to reach out to you first. I wasn’t sure your unit would be looking for new members, but I have my answer. How fortuitous that I called when I did.”
Kelsey smiled back at Nikki. “How soon can you be in Lansing, Michigan?”
Deborah Norman didn’t answer right away. Then she softly asked, “does that mean I have the position? I mean you don’t want to interview me or anything?”
“Nikki and I are working on a case right now, and we need more people to help. You may be doing grunt-work. You could be making calls, taking calls, messages, sitting around and waiting for things to happen. It could be boring and not all that glamorous.”
“I didn’t become an FBI agent to be glamorous. I wanted to do what you and SA Hyland do; catch the criminals that others cannot.”
“Well then, I speak for Nikki when I say, you have a position in our unit. Get here as soon as you can.” Kelsey gave Agent in Training, Deborah Norman the address and told her that the Cold Case Behavioral Unit would pay for her expenses.
Cocking her head, Nikki asked, “who was that? I thought we would be interviewing recruits for the unit.”
Kelsey shook her head. “Fortuitous indeed.”
“What?”
Kelsey chuckled. “That was Deborah Norman. Do you remember her from the Baltimore case? She was—”
“You don’t need to remind me.” Nikki quickly interjected. “I remember the cute, butch Detective Deborah Norman of the Salisbury Investigative Bureau. Why was she calling you and why is she coming here, and why did you tell her she has a position in our unit?”
Shaking her head, Kelsey chuckled. “The universe is smiling down upon us. Deborah Norman decided to become an FBI agent after working with us. She just graduated from the Academy and wanted a job.”
“When I called Todd, I didn’t think he’d tell the new graduates straight away.”
“No, he didn’t. That’s why I said fortuitous indeed. Newly minted Agent in Training, Deborah Norman called us on her own. She wanted to ask me, herself if she could learn under us. How is that for a haphazard incident? What chance is there that at the same time we’re looking for someone, that someone is looking for us?”
“How did you know I would want her?”
“That’s a loaded question there my dear Nikki. I recall how you used to look at her. And I also know how impressed you were with her mind, what better person to help us, than someone we both can trust. We’ve met her, so there won’t be any awkward getting-to-know period, and we both know how she works. What more do you want? We need someone now and don’t have time to interview anyone.”
Nikki made a face before she responded. “Well, I cannot argue with you there; Deborah has a good head on her shoulders.”
“Not to mention the fact she is adorable. That won’t be a problem, will it? You won’t have trouble keeping your mind on the case and not on getting Deborah in bed, will you?”
Nibbling on her lower lip, Nikki shook her head. “It’s been a few months, but I think I can manage to keep my mind off the more pleasurable things and keep them on the case. I am a professional after all.”
“Good, because at the first whiff of a problem, and I’ll have Torres work with Deborah. Wait till she finds out she’ll be working closely with the infamous Torres; she’ll forget all about me being her mentor.”
“Don’t underestimate your influence on young impressionable minds. You’re an awesome FBI agent any new agent will look up to.”
“Then you make sure you don’t influence her impressionable mind. I don’t need drama at work.”
“I promise Mack; you won’t have any drama. It’s going to make our jobs easier, having more help. Just think of it. We can call our new unit the Lesbo Cold Case Behavioral Unit.”
<
br /> Kelsey chuckled and shook her head. “Let’s not add to the already long list of nicknames the other units are calling us.”
Chapter Nineteen
Village Inn Motel, Holt, Early Morning, March 13, 2012
Kelsey’s burner phone rang. She had to remember to answer it using her Detective MacGregor persona. “Detective MacGregor, how can I help you?”
A quiet female voice answered, “this is Ashley Foster, you left me a message to call you back about Kyle. I haven’t even called anyone, so I don’t know how you got my name.”
Kelsey looked up to see Nikki come in from outside the motel room. Nikki mouthed the words: who is it? Kelsey covered the phone and said, “it’s Ashley Foster, please get me Kyle’s file,” in a hushed voice. “I’m sorry for the mix-up, but your name turned up while we’re investigating Kyle Nolan’s disappearance.”
“What?! Kyle is missing?! Since when?!”
Looking at the file Nikki had put down in front of her, Kelsey read that the detective wasn’t able to reach Ashley Foster. She could have sworn she understood that he spoke to her. Now, she had to be the one to tell Kyle’s girlfriend that he was missing. “Kyle’s parents reported him missing two weeks ago.”
“Are you crazy? Kyle isn’t missing. His parents don’t want me in his life, so he’s just not calling them.”
Kelsey thought about this and wondered if they had it all wrong. Could Mr. and Mrs. Nolan have reported their son missing and he was just not happy with them and their restriction on who he dated? She wrote the phrase, is Kyle Nolan missing, down on a piece of paper and showed it to Nikki. “Is Kyle with you? Have you seen him?”
Ashley snorted. “We fought the other day after he pushed me around, forced me…to… I threw him out, but yeah, I’ve seen him.”
“Kyle forced you; do you mean he raped you?” Rape after finding a vulnerable woman was Paul Washburg’s usual MO. Could Washburg have assumed Kyle’s identity and raped Ashley Foster, already? “Please, Miss Foster, I need you to meet me somewhere to talk. Can you come to the police station?” Kelsey hadn’t thought about how they would speak to the woman but knew it had to sound plausible. There was a long pause of silence on the other end of the phone. Kelsey worried that she might have lost Ashley Foster. “Miss Foster, are you still there?”
A soft voice responded, “he never hurt me like that before. He scared me and told me, that if I said anything, he’d kill me. I decided it was best if I didn’t report it because of my history.”
“Miss Foster, we don’t care about your history. If Kyle Nolan raped you, you need to report it. If Kyle Nolan is alive, his parents deserve to know, so they can stop worrying.”
“I’m afraid he may be watching me, if he is, he’ll know I went to the police.”
“Do you know how to get to the Village Inn Motel in Holt?” Kelsey decided that if Paul/Kyle were watching Ashley Foster, he wouldn’t be suspicious if she went to a random motel room off of I-95.
“Yes, but why would I go there?”
“Because we need to talk to you and we don’t want Kyle to know you spoke to us. We can help you, and you can help us.”
“I’m not sure if that is such a great idea, what if he finds out I talked to you?”
“He won’t find out. But we need to talk to you. Do you know where Kyle is right now? Do you have a way to reach him?”
“I don’t know where he is exactly, but he said something about staying with a friend in East Lansing. I have his cell number, although I haven’t spoken to him since he was here the other night. I was mad at him and told him to leave me alone. He has texted me and said he was sorry for what he did; I don’t care what he said, I trusted him.”
“Please, Miss Foster, if you need a drive, I can send someone to pick you up, but we need you to come to talk to us. I’m sending my partner, Detective Nikki Hyland, say you’ll be home and will go with her.”
Ashley Foster answered Kelsey with a quiet yes and ended the call.
“Is she going to be there?” Nikki asked.
“Yes, get there as quickly as you can. I don’t want Ashley to decide to run. I do think Washburg disguised as Kyle may have raped her already.” Kelsey explained to Nikki about what Ashley Foster said about Kyle Nolan not being missing. The young woman thought Kyle was not calling his parents.
“Are we sure that it was, in fact, Washburg and not just Kyle who isn’t missing?”
Kelsey knew she had doubts when Ashley first said that Kyle Nolan was upset with his parents, but now that she knew Ashley Foster was raped, she didn’t doubt it was Washburg. “Why did I have the vision then? If Kyle isn’t the man who Washburg is impersonating, then why did he have a picture of him? Why was he making a mask that looked like Kyle? Why did Kyle’s parents think he is missing? We know Washburg is good at convincing his women victims that he is their boyfriends.”
“I just wouldn’t want us to be following this lead, if it’s a dead-end or a wild goose-chase, Washburg has devised for us.”
“His co-workers haven’t seen him; he is not staying at home. Does that sound like a man who is just trying to stay away from his parents? It’s normal for Washburg to keep the girlfriend in the dark about their boyfriend’s disappearance. Once we speak to Ashley in person, we can determine what she knows and doesn’t know.”
“Okay, I’m going. I’ll call Ashley with your phone and let her know I’m outside her apartment. I don’t want to take the chance that if Washburg is watching, he will see me and recognize me.”
Kelsey nodded. “Yes, get there as quickly as you can. I’m going to call Miranda and see how things are with her and Nanna. Then we can find out what Ashley Foster can tell us about Paul Washburg.”
***
“Ashley, can you think of anything different about Kyle the other night?” Kelsey asked the petite blonde woman who sat with her eyes on the floor. Since she had arrived, Ashley Foster didn’t look up but kept her eyes down. Nikki whispered to go easy on the woman when they entered the room earlier. Kelsey could see the young woman looked like she wanted to run at any moment. Trying to reach the woman, Kelsey tried a different tactic. “Would you like to sit down and Nikki could go get you a drink? Would you like a coffee or maybe something to eat? The woman didn’t look like she had eaten in days. Remembering what Kyle’s parents said how the woman’s family disowned her because of drug abuse and said they wouldn’t take her in unless she gave up the drugs, made her think she wasn’t getting by easily.
Nikki touched the blonde’s shoulder. “I can go get you anything you’d like. Just tell me what you’d like.”
“I love the cheddar and bacon burger, and pickle fries at Buddie’s down the road. I haven’t eaten today.” Ashley shrugged. “I just had enough to pay my rent this month.”
“While Nikki goes and gets your meal, can you tell me as much as you can remember about the night you last saw Kyle. We don’t have to talk about anything that makes you uncomfortable. I’ll let you decide what we talk about, okay?”
Ashely nodded.
Nikki said, “Do you want anything to eat, Detective MacGregor?”
Kelsey shook her head. When Nikki left the room, she asked Ashley to sit down on the bed opposite her. “Do you think you can talk about that night?”
Ashley nodded. “I’ll try, but I spent most of the night high and tried to keep my eyes closed. I just wanted him to stop.”
“That’s okay. I need you to tell me if Kyle sounded different. Was there anything about him that wasn’t familiar to you?”
Furrowing her brows, Ashley asked, “why would you asked that?” Are you saying it wasn’t Kyle that night?”
For a woman reported to be a drug addict, Ashley Foster was quite astute. Kelsey wanted to hide the fact that Kyle may not have been the man in Ashley’s bedroom that night, but Ashley picked up on the question. “Kyle’s parents reported him missing; then he turned up at your place two nights ago. I need to know as much as you can tell me.”
&nbs
p; “Well, I did think there was something odd about his voice. It sounded like he had a cold. It sounded deeper than usual.”
“Did you see his face?”
Shaking her head, Ashley closed her eyes. “No, it was dark. I could see his features and knew it was him from his cologne and the fact he had a key to my place. When I said his name he said, he’d missed me, and that’s when he shoved me down on the bed and tore my clothes off.” Tears welled up in Ashley’s eyes. “He knew how damaged I felt after the rape in high school; I don’t know why he would do this to me.”
Kelsey’s anger boiled to the surface. The fact that this sick bastard targeted a previous rape victim made her sick to her stomach. “Has Kyle ever acted that way before?”
Shaking her head, Ashley said, “no, he’s always been such a gentleman to me. He even hates that I take drugs. I’ve been trying to kick the habit but after the rape in high school, my father…I couldn’t handle things. First, it was alcohol, but then I needed something stronger.” Wiping her nose with the tissue, Kelsey offered her, Ashley said, “he even wanted to help pay for rehab when my parents said they wouldn’t help me unless I came home drug-free.”
“Did Kyle say anything about where he has been since the last time you saw him?”
“No, but he did say something about staying with a friend in East Lansing.”
“Yes, you said something about that earlier on the phone. Did Kyle say where in East Lansing?”
“No.” Ashley looked around like she wanted to run.
“What is wrong? I told you, you are safe here. Kyle didn’t follow you. Nikki, I mean Detective Hyland made sure of it.”
“I’ve been so scared to go anywhere since that night. I can barely sleep or even shower. I’ve been afraid he’d come back and do it again. I cannot go through that again.” Ashley’s weariness was evident from her stiff posture and darting eyes.
Kelsey had already been thinking of what their next move would be once they spoke to Ashley. They needed to catch Paul Washburg and knew he would make his next move on Ashley to kill her now that he raped her. Washburg’s MO was to blame it on the boyfriend, Kyle Nolan. Knowing she should talk it over with Nikki first, Kelsey made a promise; she wasn’t sure how she would keep. “You’ll be safe from now on. We won’t let Kyle hurt you.” Not sure how they would keep the promise, Kelsey knew she’d do whatever it took to keep Ashley Foster safe. We’ll protect you until we can arrest Kyle.” Ashley Foster didn’t need to know, that most likely, Kyle Nolan was dead and a more immoral man had her in his sights. We’ll cross that bridge when the time comes.