“Oh sure. Do whatever you want. We have your work number. If anything comes up we’ll track you down. Do you have a cell phone?” Stockton asked.
“Yes but I don’t answer it while driving. I have never had something so important that I had to call while driving. That’s for people who think they are more important than they really are. Snob stuff. I just don’t go in for it,” he told them.
“Fine Mr. Ashton. You try not to worry too much. I know that’s easier said than done. Hopefully, she will turn up in a few hours and everything will be back to normal. In the meantime we will put out a BOLO for the car,” Stockton said, closing his notebook and heading to the door.
Officer Martin had the picture that he had taken out of the frame.
“What do you think?” Martin asked when they got into the squad car.
“I’m not really sure. He seems like he is okay. Nice house, expensive cars, obviously he makes good money. I don’t see him as the type who would get rid of his wife but then I’ve been wrong before. People do some strange shit,” the older cop said.
“Look at this chick. Nice looking. You can almost see it in her eyes. The ‘I’m too good for just one man’ look is there. She took off with someone,” he stated.
“Give me a break. Just because she is nice looking doesn’t mean she isn’t a good wife. Man, you are a work of art,” Stockton said, shaking his head.
“I’ll bet you ten bucks. I can smell it. This poor schmuck is sitting home worrying about what has happened to his wife and she has dumped him for some other guy and is off having a good time,” Martin said assuredly.
“I’ll take that bet. I think something has happened to her. Maybe something bad,” the older officer said.
“Nah, she took off. You wait and see,” Martin replied, picking up the mic and telling central they were rolling again.
****
Ashton wandered around the house for several minutes, not really concentrating on a plan of action. He was just killing time. Finally he decided to call Terry and see if he or Carla might have any idea as to Stephanie’s whereabouts. It was 8:10 a.m. when he called.
CHAPTER SIX
“Carla? It’s Jim. Is Terry still home?” he asked.
“Actually no, Jim. He is at that show in Atlanta. Remember? I know he called just before he left,” she said.
“Oh that’s right.” Jim said slapping his forehead with the palm of his hand, “It just totally slipped my mind. I’m sorry to have called so early,” he apologized.
“Don’t worry about it. I was just getting dressed anyway. Is there something you need to tell him? I expect he will call sometime today,” she asked.
“Do you happen to have his cell phone number? I never got around to putting his new phone number in my cell. I forgot to ask where he was staying,” Jim replied.
“He called me last night but it was so late I didn’t ask where he was staying either. I usually always ask. I just didn’t get around to it. He seemed really bushed,” she told him.
“Alright, I doubt if he could help anyway. Listen Carla, I know this is going to sound a little strange, but I was wondering if you have happened to talk to Stephanie lately?”
“No. I haven’t talked to her in, oh, I guess, several weeks. Why is something wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing really,” he lied.
“You sound stressed. Are you sure you’re all right?” she asked.
“I’m fine, really. It’s nothing. I’m just like Terry, too much work and not enough time to get caught up on rest,” he told her.
“You two. You both need a good long vacation,” she said.
“When Terry calls have him give me a buzz too. I’ll either be at the office or at home,” he told her.
“Is everything all right with Stephanie?” Carla suddenly asked.
“Ah. Sure. Why?” Jim stammered.
“Jim. You don’t call here very often. Is everything okay?”
Ashton didn’t answer for a few seconds then said, “I don't know. Stephanie didn’t come home last night and I am really worried. I’ve even called the police,” he told her at last.
“Oh my. Oh dear,” was all she could think of to say.
“I’m sure she is all right but nevertheless, I am concerned,” he told her.
“I should think so. Oh Jim, I hope Stephanie is all right. I mean the world is so crazy any more...,” she said not finishing the sentence.
“I know. That’s why I called the police. Listen, if you hear anything from her, will you call me immediately?” Jim asked.
“Of course. Jim, I am sure she is all right,” Carla offered.
Stupid. Really, really, stupid, Ashton thought to himself as soon as he hung up the phone. Why didn’t he keep his mouth shut? Carla was the type to start ‘trying to help’ even if it wasn’t needed. If he had remembered that Terry was in Atlanta he would never have had called in the first place.
He finished dressing and decided he might as well go to work. He was doing nothing productive walking through the house over and over.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The rain was coming down in waves that completely blocked vision for seconds at a time. The officers in the patrol car were barely moving along. Most of the traffic had come to a halt as the water rolled over the vehicles.
“Man, this is crazy,” Jerry Hartman said, trying to peer out of the windshield. He had slowed down to a virtual crawl.
“Maybe we should do the smart thing and pull over,” his crusty old partner of twelve years said, trying to wipe away some of the fog that had formed inside the windshield.
Hartman didn’t bother to answer. Bill Smithers, his partner, had been like a mother hen since the day they were teamed up together.
They continued to creep along until they came to the Delta Basin turnoff. Hartman turned right, heading toward the boat launch.
“Where you going?” Smithers asked, squinting his eyes in an attempt to see more clearly.
“To the boat launch area. We can pull off there. Shouldn’t be any cars around there today,” Hartman informed him.
“Worried about our image? Heck you should have thought about that ten years ago,” Smithers kidded him.
Hartman had a reputation for totaling police cars. In the twelve years they had been together he had totaled seven cars and seriously damaged four others.
“Give me a break, I’m getting old,” Hartman shot back.
They came to the boat launch ramp a few tense minutes later. They sat in the car as the rain continued to wash over them. It was blowing almost vertically as the storm front came through.
“Got anything to munch on?” Smithers asked after a few minutes.
“Half a box of cream filled cupcakes,” Hartman informed him.
“I knew there was a reason I stuck it out with you,” Smithers joked.
“You stayed because you are cantankerous, mean, and no one else would put up with you,” Hartman joked back.
“Well, there is that too. Give me one of those cupcakes and quit talkin’.”
Jerry tossed him two of the wrapped Hostess Cupcakes they both loved so much.
“Got anything to drink?”
“On the floor in the back, same as always,” Hartman said rolling his eyes.
Smithers fished around and found the thermos under the seat. He poured some coffee into his always ready cup and poured some for Hartman as well. They sat there eating cupcakes for several minutes. Finally the storm front passed through and almost as quickly as it had started, the rain came to a sputtering halt.
The inside of the windshield was completely covered with moisture from the officers' breath and hot coffee. Hartman rolled down his window and looked out. Tree limbs and trash were blown all over the area.
He was surprised to see a car parked just a few feet from them. They could easily have hit it in the storm. The car immediately started up and drove off. Hartman and Smithers waited a few more minutes before deciding to move.
&nbs
p; Jerry put the car in reverse and was turning around when Smithers said, “Hey, wait a minute. Something doesn’t look right.”
“What? Lose one of your cupcakes?” Hartman asked.
“No. Really. It kind of looks like there’s a car in the water,” he said seriously.
“Oh man. You don’t suppose someone drove into the lake thinking this was the road?” Hartman said, slamming on the brakes. They quickly jumped out of the car and walked over to the boat ramp.
“I don’t see anything,” Hartman said.
“Look. Just there. See the taillights? No. Over here,” he said moving Jerry’s head with his hand to the spot he was looking at. “See it? Doesn’t that look like the back of a car?”
“I can’t tell. Let’s go; you lead and I’ll follow.”
Both officers took off their gun belts, shoes and socks and waded out into the water. It was much colder than either had expected it to be. It had been a slow summer and the lake was not even close to its usual seasonal temperature. They walked out until they were almost chest deep. Smithers reached out with his leg until he felt something rake his shin.
“Something is there all right. I just bumped it with my leg,” Smithers informed him.
“A car?”
“No, an elephant,” Smithers shot back, “How do I know? It’s a car, truck, or something. I’m gonna duck down under the water and see if I can get a better look. You hang on to the back of my shirt. I ain’t that good a swimmer,” he told Hartman.
“Just be careful,” Hartman said, as Smithers ducked under the water.
The water was stirred up from the violent rain and he could only see a few inches in front of his face. He reached out and felt the smooth metal of what he judged to be a car. He felt for the bumper, grabbed hold, and pulled himself closer. He could see a license plate but he was running out of air and had to surface before getting the number. He broke the water surface and gasped. Jerry helped him find his footing.
“You okay.?”
“Oh sure. I always take a bath this way,” Smithers said, spitting out water.
“Like you ever take a bath,” Jerry said and added, “What ya got?”
“Definitely a car. I couldn’t get the license number. I need to go back down and see if anyone is in the car,” he told his partner.
“Okay, but be very careful. I won’t be able to hold on to you.”
“I know, but we gotta know if someone is in there.”
Smithers took four deep breaths before plunging back under the murky water. He pulled his way alongside the car and found the door handle. He tried to open the door but there was no way. He pressed his face to the rolled up window and could just barely make out the inside of the car. He could see no one inside. It was very hard to see but he was reasonably sure there was no one in there.
He splashed to the surface, gasping for air. Jerry quickly grabbed hold of him and pulled him to where he could stand.
“I...didn’t...see...anyone,” he gasped while trying to take in gulps of air.
“Okay, okay. I suppose you tried the door?”
Smithers just shook his head.
“Alright. Let’s get out of the water and go call this in. There is nothing we can do here even if someone is in the car,” Hartman said leading his partner toward the ramp.
They sloshed their way back to the car and Jerry started the engine and turned on the heater full blast. There was no real need to hurry. If someone was in the car they were long dead by now.
They called in the report and waited for the wrecker and ambulance to arrive. Several backups arrived within a few minutes and they brought out the yellow tape and cordoned off the area.
Almost immediately it was decided that in order to attach the chain to the car a dive team was going to be needed so one was called in. Smithers had just about stopped shaking by the time they got a chain around the axle and started winching it out of the water.
As it slowly inched its way from the murky gloom, water poured out of the door seams and from the trunk. It took a great deal of effort to pull the car with the additional weight of the water up the steep incline.
Once it was secure, one of the officers opened the driver’s door and water gushed over his legs and shoes. He let out a round of profanities as the others laughed. A search revealed that no one was in the car.
“Go on. Open it,” Hartman said.
“I can’t. It’s locked,” the officer said, pushing the button on the trunk lid.
“Get a jimmy then,” he said and went back to his car to check on Smithers.
“Can’t get the trunk open?”
“Yep. Got to pry it open. You might as well stay in here and keep warn. You starting to feel better?”
“Some. I got water in my ear and it won’t come out. I sure hope I don’t get an ear infection. I used to get them all the time when I went swimming as a kid,” Smithers said.
“Humm. That explains why you don’t take showers very often,” Hartman kidded.
“Yuck it up. I have sick time coming and I hope they stick you with ‘Jaws’,” Smithers shot back.
“Ohhh. You get mean when you’re wet.”
“Hey, they are waving at us. Guess we had better go see. I sure hope there isn’t a body stuffed in the trunk,” Smithers said in an ominous tone.
“Me too, brother, me too.”
They arrived at the car just as the lid popped open. They all looked inside and to everyone’s relief, there was nothing but the spare tire, pair of tennis shoes and a jacket inside.
“Any name on the jacket?”
“Nothing,” the man said, checking the pockets thoroughly.
“What about the glove box. Anything in it?”
“Nothing. Not a scrap of paper.”
“One thing is for sure. It didn’t get here by accident,” Hartman said.
“Get the VIN number off it and let's run it through records. We need to find out who this belongs to and see what’s going on.
Smithers wrote down the number and they called it in as the wrecker was winching it onto the flat bed to be hauled to impound. The officers made a sweep of the area but found nothing relevant.
“Central,161.”
“161, over.”
They called in the number.
“VIN number WBDC7404F0650709, Black BMW 545 is registered to a Stephanie Jean Ashton. Residence is 23 Dover Lane,” the report came back.
“Copy, central,” Smithers responded.
“It looks like we had better get over to 23 Dover Lane and find out what this is all about.”
They stopped by the precinct along the way and changed into dry uniforms before heading back out. They arrived at the Ashton house and found no one home. They called in and got his work address before heading off again. They arrived at the DigitCom front gate and were immediately shown to the main building. Jim Ashton was anxiously waiting when they came in the front door.
“Mr. Ashton?”
“Yes. You found my wife’s car? Your headquarters just called a few minutes ago to find out my location. Did you find my wife as well?”
“I didn’t know she was missing. All we know at present is that we recovered a Black BMW registered to your wife from the boat launch near Holcomb Bridge Lane. License STEPH 1. We are just here to investigate the circumstance surrounding that event,” Smithers said, sounding official.
“But, my wife is missing. I reported that early this morning. Don’t you know anything about her whereabouts? I don’t care about the car being recovered unless she was with it,” Ashton said in an exasperated voice.
Smithers and Hartman exchanged glances and then called in to report the latest development. They found that there was a record of the missing wife but she would not be listed as an official missing person until the 48 hours had elapsed. The discovery of the car changed everything.
A team was immediately dispatched to the lake to start a search while another recovery team of divers was called in as well. The pace quic
kened rapidly once the pieces started to fall in place. The officers spent an additional hour with Jim and he had to relate the story in detail once more. Smithers took meticulous notes as he explained the details.
“And you haven’t heard a thing from her?”
“Not a word.”
“Mr. Ashton, I have to ask, with your wife missing, just what in the heck are you doing here at work?”
“To tell the truth, I wasn’t sure if I should come in but I was just walking aimlessly around the house and I didn’t know what else to do with my time,” he told him.
Smithers looked at him a long time before starting to write in his notebook again.
“This will get kicked over to Missing Persons almost immediately if it hasn’t been already. Your report, along with the recovery of your wife’s car will take it out of our hands. Someone should be contacting you within a few hours to get your statement,” Hartman told him.
“Again? I’ve already told both you officers and the ones this morning, everything I know,” he said.
“And I would imagine you will have to tell it several more times. It’s the only way we can solve this,” Smithers said harshly.
There was something about Ashton that he didn’t like. He couldn’t put his finger on it directly but there was definitely something. Ashton was able to sense Smithers hostility as well. He noticed that the officer never took his eyes off him except to write something down.
He wondered what he had done to cause this kind of reaction. He was looking at Smithers when Hartman said, “Don't mind him. He doesn’t like anyone,” as if reading Ashton’s mind.
Jim looked startled but didn’t say anything. They asked him a few more questions before departing. Martha came into his office as they left.
“Are you alright?” she asked in a concerned voice.
Ashton put up his hands and said, “I don’t even know what to do next. Something has happened to Stephanie and I’m sitting here on my duff, doing nothing to help.”
“What can you do? This is a matter for the police. You can’t just take off searching the entire world. I know it’s difficult but there is really nothing you can do other than wait. Do you want me to cancel your appointments for tomorrow? It might do you good to get away from here for a day,” she offered.
Avarice or Innocence (JOHN LOGAN FILES Book 1) Page 4
